VIDEO: Top Gear electric car build-off, Aussie rules

While they might lack the comedic punch of their seasoned British co-frères, the presenters at Top Gear Australia don't seem to have any electric car "issues." Indeed, in a recent episode they even held their own battery-powered build-off. Presenters Warren Brown and Steve Pizzati each took a car of their choosing, stripped out all the combustive components and inserted a rough and (mostly) ready electric drivetrain, before meeting up on a racetrack to compete for bragging rights.
Realizing that a decent electric vehicle shouldn't be too heavy, Pizzati decided to go with the featherweight Suzuki MightyBoy while his competitor settled on that great Australian classic, the HZ Holden Kingswood. This hulking station wagon weighs in somewhere between the QEII and the state of New Hampshire. While we won't tell you which conversion won straight out, we will throw out the hint that the triumphant strains of "Football meat pies kangaroos electric cars" could be heard coming from the passenger compartment of the conquering contestant. Hit the break for the segment in two parts – as well as a bonus video of a very nice MightyBoy conversion.
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
srue 5:38PM (5/28/2009)
Cordless drills? What was he thinking?
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downtoearth 6:39PM (5/28/2009)
How do they get so many people in the studio? Do they pay them for coming? Or maybe there is so little to do in the Land Down Under that they come?
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CaramelZappa 7:06PM (5/28/2009)
Those are some pretty bad examples of electric conversions...
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CaramelZappa 7:07PM (5/28/2009)
Then again I suppose they had a ridiculously low budget.
russellgeister 7:34PM (5/28/2009)
you bet the budget sucked this is australian public television but i whatched this the holden was a traditonal conversion with a forklift motor and lead acid batteries and would have gone even better if he had removed a lot of the weight
russell 7:34PM (5/28/2009)
yep this guy's a professional idiot a mixture of the hampster with a large dose of clarkson
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Mike!!ekiM 8:09PM (5/28/2009)
Disappointing, such a poor effort in the conversion, it's a wonder either car worked.
Maybe that was the point. To portray electric car conversions as hack jobs.
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