Fifth Gear Coming Stateside

While Top Gear continues to build its fan base in America, its UK rival program is largely unknown here. All that is about to change as Fifth Gear is coming to American television

Hosted by race drivers Tiff Needell and Jason Plato, Fifth Gear is a more cerebral show than Top Gear. You won't have many laugh out loud moments watching Fifth Gear, but you will learn a lot about the new cars that they test. Yes, the are a lot of tire smoking sequences when high powered motors are put through their paces, but there are also a lot of segments about classic racing, concours competitions and more pedestrian modes of transport. 
 
The host team is rounded out by race driver Vicki Butler-Henderson and presenter Jonny Smith with occasional appearances by Ben Collins, the driver who portrayed The Stig on Top Gear a couple of years ago. 

Fifth Gear will be on Velocity, one of my new favorite cable channels now that Fox has dumbed SPEED TV down to room temperature I.Q. levels (with the notable exception of their race coverage).