Top Gear Tonight: McLaren 12C, Ferrari 458, Audi R8 V10 Convertibles & Benedict Cumberbatch SIARPC

McLaren 12C Spider, Ferrari 458 Spider & Audi R8 V10 Spyder (pictured) on Top Gear in Spain

This weekend may be petrolhead heaven at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but FoS visitors can have an extra fix of high octane fuel when they get home tonight with episode 3 of series 20 of Top Gear.

Tonight, it’s a Top Gear road trip, and this time they’re quite close to home – Spain. It seems the mission is to help Spain’s struggling economy by taking a trio of the very best convertible supercars to the Iberian Peninsula – the McLaren 12C Spider (not the MP4-12C any more), the Ferrari 458 Spyder and the Audi R8 V10 Spyder.

We’re not entirely sure how taking a trio of supercars worth £500k is going to help the beleaguered Spaniards (perhaps the boys think it will inspire them to work harder and have bigger aspirations?) but Spain does make a great backdrop for the road trip.

Jeremy plays the Brit with the McLaren, Hammond gets the Italian Ferrari and May has the German efficiency of the Audi and they seek out everything from mountain passes to scenery that’s been created by Spain’s disastrous flirtation with the Euro.

That means deserted towns, an abandoned airport and old bangers on stunning motorways, but the boys make the most of an abandoned development in Madrid to set up a street circuit for a race.

It is sure to be watchable, but hasn’t the whole 12C vs 458 thing been done to death? And the R8 V10 is now well past its sell-by date.

Tonight’s star in a reasonably price car is Sherlock Holmes –  Benedict Cumberbatch – now a rising star in Hollywood too with his role in the new Star Trek Into Darkness film. Benedict takes to the Top Gear track at Dunsfold in the new reasonably priced Astra to set a lap time.

Top Gear Series 20 Episode 3 is on BBC2 tonight at 8pm.

By Cars UK