08 June 2009
by Stuart Milne
Here's a close shave from the Top Gear boys and we dont mean new haircuts all round.
These sensational pictures, which have been leaked onto the 'net, show what happens when TG tries to defend itself against the army and results in an Evo almost having its roof blown off.
The white Lancer Evo had half of its roof caved in and the windscreen pillars wrecked. And although its a mystery how the damage occurred, it's likely the fearsome army Mastiff patrol vehicle pictured was involved.
The Mastiff is a six-wheeled mine-protected vehicle, which is used by the Royal Engineers and bomb disposal teams. The vehicles, which have racked up more than 100,000 days of service in Iraq and Afghanistan and can reach almost 60mph more than enough to blow up an Evo on rough terrain.
But it's likely the Top Gear team were more interested in its 7.62 general purpose machine gun, 50mm canon and 40mm automatic grenade launching capabilities.
The pictures were posted by an Evo-owning fan of the show, after the filming at a tank range in Dorset, and provoked strong reaction from the Mitsubishi Lancer Register Forum.
Smartymarty said: "WOT!!!??? Why would they do that?!?!?!?!", while Boxman2000 commented "What a waste of a car, even for breaking!"
Its not the first time a car has felt the full force of Clarkson's military might in one of his annual DVDs, he let a moving Corvette have it using a helicopter and a Gatling gun.
The full story will be revealed when series 13 of Top Gear airs later this year.
