Tinie Tempah fronts new TV show ‘Bangers: Mad for Cars’ – can it fill the void left by Top Gear?

With iconic BBC show Top gear It looks like it will be crushed and sent to the scrap heap, but there is an opening for a new TV car series that will capture the hearts of car enthusiasts.

And a series starting tonight just might do that, with Channel 4’s Bangers: Crazy about cars debuts. The show celebrates iconic cars from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

It will be led by musician Tinie Tempah, alongside F1 analyst and stunt driver Naomi Schiff, and will feature bikes that many of us will remember from our past, including the Citroen Saxo, Ford Sierra Cosworth and Peugeot 205 GTI.

As is typical of Top Gear, there are problems along the way.

The series will feature the Brit Award-winning artist, who has seven British songs, including the first hit Pass out in 2010 – crash a rare 1990s Honda NSX supercar.

The four-episode series pits some of the best modern classic cars against each other in a ‘Battle of the Bangers’ to decide which is the best in its class.

Tempah, 34, and Schiff, 29, will each nominate their favorites from a range of vehicle sectors and compete against each other to choose which one is most deserving of the crown.

They will also speak to experts from across Britain to delve into the performance, history, culture and iconography of each car, before the final challenge to decide which comes out on top.

In the series, the ‘Frisky’ rapper gets behind the wheel in a number of challenges.

This sees the artist attempt to pilot a six-wheeled Land Rover Defender through the affluent streets of Chelsea, navigate the quarry slopes in a Suzuki Jimny and try his hand at rallies in a Peugeot 205 GTI.

The show will also see Tempah crash a 1990s Honda NSX supercar while driving around the track.

The trailer shows a clip of the singer sliding off the asphalt and crashing powerfully bumper-first into stacked tires on the side of the track.

While pristine, low-mileage examples of the first generation NSX are now considered an extremely valuable collector’s item, fetching retail prices of up to £110,000, the versions Tinie puts in the tire wall are relatively well used.

Despite being an early 1991 version of the sought-after Japanese 3.0-liter V6 supercar, capable of reaching 60 mph in 5.7 seconds and with a top speed of 168 mph, the crashed NSX has more than 270,000 kilometers on the odometer.

A quick check of the online MOT history report shows that the car was last tested in March at a stated mileage of 170,000 miles. It worked despite a small oil leak and a noisy front wheel bearing on the side. However, it is now declared SORN and has been removed from the road, which could be related to the recent shunt on the camera.

When he’s not destroying classic Japanese supercars, Tinie meets passionate car owners in Britain who try to convince him to choose their model to become champion in the Focus segment that week.

Other engines to get your nostalgia juices flowing include the BMW Z3, ​​Lotus Carlton, Mazda MX-5, Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, Renault Espace, Saab 900 Turbo and TVR Cerbera.

The series also promotes the use of high-quality used vehicle parts purchased from eBay’s Certified Recycled Hub.

The marketplace giant says that to date, UK consumers have collectively saved £99 million and more than 16,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions by simply choosing not to buy a box-fresh part.

Each week Tinie and Naomi will also feature a different celebrity guest talking about their car life, from their first car to the cars they wish they had – including former footballers turned experts Ian Wright and Patrice Evra, comedian Guz Khan and chef Tom Kerridge.

Tinie said: ‘Cars are so embedded in pop culture that they are more than just a means of transportation that they say something about who we are.

‘I’m excited to discover the origins of some of the most iconic cars and learn how the industry became so intertwined with the British psyche. And of course – to ride some serious bangers.”

It comes as BBC bosses say they have yet to make a decision on the future of Top Gear, following reports it will be axed.

Producers are said to be looking for other work and considering legal action over loss of income, amid reports that the show will be axed after 46 years following Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff’s horror crash during filming in late 2022.

The former England cricket captain was “lucky to be alive” after his three-wheeled Morgan Super 3 open-top car, which had no airbags, rolled over on December 13 last year, leaving him with serious facial injuries and several broken ribs. .

The Ashes hero had to wait 45 minutes for an air ambulance, with the BBC later apologizing to him.

The Corporation has faced major questions since Flintoff’s crash, especially when it emerged that the father-of-four had raised safety concerns with the Top Gear crew on the day of the stunt.

But insiders say that almost ten months later, production staff have been told to look for other work, which will likely bring the curtain down on the beloved car show that first started in 1977 with Angela Rippon as host.

Responding to reports that the show had already been axed, a BBC spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘A decision on the timing of future Top Gear shows will be made in due course.’

Episode 1 of Bangers: Mad for Cars airs tonight (Tuesday 17 October) on Channel 4 at 10:15pm. Each performance lasts one hour