Top Gear (2002 TV series)/Series 13

Series 13 (2002 format)
Just a few of Series 13's many highlights.
Episodes	7
Originally aired	21/06/2009 - 02/08/2009
Original network	BBC Two
Resolution	576i
Aspect ratio	16:9 Widescreen
Uncut length	430:53
Preceded by	Series 12 (2008)
Superceded by	Series 14 (2009 - 2010)

The thirteenth series of Top Gear premiered in the United Kingdom on the 21st June, 2009, and concluded on the 2nd August, 2009, after a run of 7 episodes. The series' main host was Jeremy Clarkson, and he was accompanied by Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig as co-presenters. The series was produced at Television Centre in Wood Lane, London, and aired on BBC Two in a 60-minute studio format. Series 13 attracted an average viewership rating of 7.17 million viewers per episode, with a peak of 7.86 million viewers for Episode 1, and a low of 6.38 million viewers for Episode 3.

Highlights from this series include the Race to the North in the first episode, which along with the "unmasking" of The Stig, made it one of the show's most significant episodes. This was followed by the Teenage Car Challenge the week after, the first Cheap Car Challenge of three to be held that season, and a series finale where Clarkson and May were tasked with producing an advertisement for the Volkswagen Scirocco, with predictably entertaining results.

Home video distribution

^{Main article: Top Gear (2002 TV series)/Home Video Releases/Series Box Sets/Series 13}
Series 13 would first be released on home video on 28th September, 2010 in the United States and Canada as a Region 1 release. The series would then be released in Australia on the 4th November, 2010 as a Region 4 release in an orange steelbook case, before making its way to its native United Kingdom on the 8th August, 2011. Minor cuts were made to the content of the episodes, including a depiction of suicide being removed from one of the adverts produced for the Scirocco challenge, and lasts for 423:23, with just 7 and half a minutes of footage redacted from the original broadcasts.

All home video releases of Series 13 were on DVD only. The Region 1 release featured more significant cuts, reducing the box set's length down to 366 minutes, but featured several bonus features that had appeared, or would appear in other Top Gear home video releases, including an extended Spitfire scene from the Series 11 finale, an extended interview of AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson from the series' sixth episode, and an extended interview of 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button from the subsequent series.