Top Gear (1977 TV series)/Series 23/Episode 1

Episode 1
Louise Aitken-Walker celebrates on the podium.
Prod. code	NBMN306A
No.	199
Runtime	30:11
Prev ep.	Series 22, Episode 11
Next ep.	Series 23, Episode 2
Airdate	27th March, 1990

Series 23, Episode 1 of Top Gear aired on the 27th March, 1990. It was the first episode of Series 23; the 199th episode of Top Gear overall, including compilations. It was the 190th episode since Top Gear entered national broadcasting in 1978, and was the 1st programme to air in 1990 out of a total 18. Series 23, Episode 1 was originally broadcast in 576i at a 4:3 Standard aspect ratio on British television channel BBC Two. The episode was primarily presented by William Woollard, Tony Mason, and Sue Baker, with additional segments presented by Chris Goffey.

Synopsis

As narrated by William Woollard:

• Scotland's Louise takes on the world's best at Monte Carlo;
• How to reduce the number of children killed on our roads;
• The cars of the '90s on show at Geneva.

Top Gear ushers in the 1990s with a brief stay at Duns, the place where famous racing driver Jim Clark grew up and home of the Jim Clark Motorsport Museum. It is also the birthplace of rallying legend Andrew Cowan. The museum contains some of the trophies Clark won during his short but illustrious racing career.

Monte Carlo Rally

^{Unabridged article: Monte Carlo Rally}
Though few British drivers have entered the event in recent years, the Monte Carlo Rally is as important a rallying event as ever, and Tony Mason was there to investigate. He takes a look at Louise Aitken-Walker, one of the event's two female entrants, who has been practicing throughout the entire winter period. Together with Swedish co-driver Tina Thörner, Louise aims to do well in this event with her Group A Vauxhall Astra. Miki Biasion in his Lancia Delta would lead the rest of the entrants at the start of the rally, with team-mate Didier Auriol storming ahead during the early stages. Louise manages to maintain a decent pace in her Astra, due to an unusual lack of snow, and leads Paola de Martini at the end of the first night, placing 13th overall. Though Louise would experience some problems on the second day of the rally, she comfortably maintained her early pace and wound up finishing 11th overall, ahead of de Martini, winning the Coupe des Dames. Didier Auriol would keep the lead in the Lancia Delta, narrowly fending off Carlos Sainz in his Toyota Celica.

Child Pedestrian Safety

Woollard wraps up the prior segment by stating that things didn't go well for Louise Aitken-Walker following her triumph at the Monte Carlo Rally, as she had a big wreck the following event at Portugal where her Astra tumbled down a cliff before landing on its roof in a lake. Both Louise and Thörner escaped, and have since recovered. This segues into the following segment by means of accidents that happen closer to home, particularly traffic incidents where children were the victim. In 1988, 267 children were killed as part of 5,000 road fatalities, alongside 23,000 injuries.

Rally Quest '90

For the third year in a row, Top Gear is running its Rally Quest programme, which allows a viewer of the show to enter in the Lombard RAC Rally completely free, with a car provided for them. Details on how to enter are contained on page 80 within the then-current issue of Radio Times, and must be returned by the 10th of April, 1990 in order for an entrant to be eligible.

Further reading

This article is intended serve as a basic summation of all the content depicted within Series 1, Episode 8, and deliberately omits or abridges certain details in order to ease reading comprehension and reduce overall page length.
For a fully detailed, in-depth analysis of this episode, please visit Top Gear (1977 TV series)/Series 23/Episode 1/Unabridged.

Trivia

• This is the first episode of Top Gear to air in the 1990s.
• The episode survives in a wholly intact form thanks to early digitisation efforts made in the mid-2000s.