500 kmh and 100 hp. Beat that!

Omg claskssons hair!

Got a chance to work with Jon a few times years ago. Such a smart yet down to earth guy. It was a real pleasure and great opportunity to learn from him. Hope he is still doing well & going strong! Thanks Jon!

This just happened this weekend. I live less than two miles from the airport and have been watching and hearing aircraft flying around all week, today with the races over many aircraft are flying out, some going over My house. Love the idea of this and want to see it for Yourself, then by all means GO! Reno isn't expensive, get a room at one of the casinos a few days before, get the full admission including pit pass and head over a few days early to get to see everything up close. Talk to the mechanics and pilots, look at everything. Nothing else like it in the world anymore!

Compare Clarkson's hair and waistline to recent GT episodes!

Turn left- that's very American

300+mph from 100hp. extraordinary!

500lb with an engine? Goddamn that's very light, love the double horizontal stabilizers too

infinite number of lines but just one turn hehehehe how's the race going Bob? THEY'RE STILL TURNING LEFT!!!

That's not far from my hometown. I still drive over the hill to watch those every year now and they are amazing. Not just to watch but the aircraft they have on display is phenomenal too. Just hearing those planes in that clip of one of the heats brings back so many memories.

If you have never seen or been to an air race. GO see RENO ! . sit in the stands and enjoy one of the great things in this country !........ IT IS SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH.

"This is the fastest of the lot - the winged Williams". Oh, how times have changed.

We raced with Jon at his very first air race. He did very well. Got a picture of him receiving his trophy. He looked like a junior high kid when he got that trophy & a peck on the cheek from the girl handing them out! A couple years later he designed his first cowling & he gave us a copy for our cassutt. Nice guy...

Awesome! I remember years ago asking my dad why there wasnt any airplane racing. And now ive discovered this video completely by accident :).

this song is perfect...

The express of those people in the croud are priceless !

I think this might be my favorite top gear clip; planes are more fun than cars IMO. it would be cool if they had some sort of aircraft review show. Top Prop? Haha

Love it! Cant wait to go some day. Gonna be at Oshkosh next week though!

RIP Galloping Ghost.

Wow great song!thank you :-)

“the winged Williams”. That didn’t age very well.

I go to Reno every year to see these. Watch all the video of this you want, NOTHING in this world will prepare you for the shock you will experience the first time you see planes race. It is surreal.

Watching this after just getting back from the last ever Reno Air Races in 2023.

I didn't knew this episode of Top Gear and my favorite formula one race!

I'm a car guy and I completely agree with you, YOU'RE FLYING! You're not used to the hard road that we have become so accustomed to.

dear santa ...

wats the 1st song??

AWESOME!!!!

Wow. That is cool!

god, those are some gorgeous planes

Incredible

2:57 bless up airman!

I live in Reno so the planes fly over my house lol it wakes me up!

wow, that would be so much fun

No way! I didnt know Air races where real!

My first racing plane I've seen was Sawbones at my first airshow where Sierra Sue II is based.

Judging by Jeremy's hair I'd say late 90s - Early 00s

that's the one - cheers mate! :D

this is beaufifullllllllllllllllllll...

nice seeing cloud dancer

“the winged Williams” - so it finishes in last place?

I used to race in the formula one class, I flew a highly modified LongEazy. I hope to race again this year when I'm done rebuilding.

Clarkson + born slippy = euphoria

POWER!!!!

@kirk2425 I'm glad to hear it! Hopefully that will allow the racers to use those rather than the genuine "numbers-matching" antique engines. A similar thing was happening with the 426 Hemi, which was produced in limited numbers. They were getting hopped up to the balls, with drag-racers and tractor-pullers burning through original blocks like corn chips. But now you can get a 426 Hemi, brand new in aluminum, from Mopar, allowing the originals to be enjoyed in non-competition cars.

w0w amazing... . . i didn't know, aircraft use in the race ^^

I second the Corsair

I live in Reno and I never thought about the air races that Mitch until I looked at it from an outside perspective

strega and dago red was built in our shop in Bakersfield, ca. . back in the earlier years these two planes has broke records. strega just was painted just before the air races in reno and when they flew strega to reno the paint was still little wet. lol my faverate plane is strega.

You can tell how heavy those WWII birds are in comparison to the F1 planes. The WWII birds need like 5000 HP to do 500-600 mph vs 300 mph on just 100 hp.

Well, planes are just better than cars. And that's a rock fact

I went to the races one year, it was amazing. But, by the end of the races, you get real tired of looking UP

Hey, we applaud you! Don't be pissed.

please get that apple watch commercial out of my face

I think Jeremy should bring that look back!

Jeremy looks hylarious!

I agree that the mustang is not "half british", however the RAF was able to improve the Mustang's high altitude performance by replacing the original engine by a Rolls Royce Merlin engine. This was eventually the reason of the huge success of the P-51 in WWII.

parasitic drag on an aircraft < parasitic drag on a car + rolling resistance

LOL @ his hair

Croft, Goodwood, Castle Combe, Dunsfold (Top Gear), Anglesey, Donington, Llandow (not GREAT but close to where I live) Oulton Parl, Rockingham, Soon to be a huge one in Ebbw Vale which is also near where I live. There's loads but I can't think of them all at the top of my head.

True unless you are using fractiles, then you could have a limited space but unlimited lines.

underworld!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who remembers the film planes

The Unlimited Class is the equivalent of Group B rally racing

:57; a La-7 Lavochkin!? Nice. Those little buggers are pretty cool, but they'll never be like a 2,000 HP warbird. Thank god for air racing, otherwise there wouldn't be anything to DO with all these old planes but look at them. This way, they're still doing battle, in a sense.

Modified Yakovlev Yak-11 trainer. Instead of the orignal 700 hp 9-cylinder radial, it has a 1,400 hp pratt & Whitney 14-cylinder radial.

Mustang 1204 - I've read some reports from the pilots of the FW-190. They hated it... They said the ME-109 was much better, I'll never fly either of them so I won't know... I'm kicking around a turboed Honda Vtec in a Stretched BD-5...

@yoshyoka The slalom style of the Red bull Air Race is carried out in completely different planes like german extras which have been specifically constructed to perform as aerobatic or lightweight racing planes they are made of carbon fiber composites and can perform tighter turns. The machines used in the Reno Air race are mostly souped up fighters from the WWII and Korean War era, P 51 Mustangs, Thunderbolts, Hellcats Hawker Sea Furys with radial engines. They are extremely strong and fast but compared to an extra 230 they turn like a schoolbus, because the huge engines are very heavy and produce a lot of torque that plus a construction of aluminium hide over a part steel skeleton makes them sluggish. aerobatics planes on the other hand mostly feature lightweight air cooled boxer engines wich react a lot more sensitive to the throttle and don't produce as much torque as a Rolls Royce Merlin or a Pratt and Whitney Double Wasp engine.

Thumbs up for Born Slippy :)

Actually yes there are sensors that tell the plane that the pilot is not responding. So siren like alarms go off in the cockpit until the pilot turns them off. Very cool really! It uses laser rangefinders to draw a 3D image of whats ahead so it can fly low while not hitting things!

In The Meantime by Spacehog... great song

Outlawed 'types' 😃

they should make a figure 8 course for destruction derby stages XD

jeremy clarkson had an FRO !!! lol

the song is, Underworld - Born Slippy Nuxx

this yeIIow one Iooks Iike the japanese shinden!

Nighthawk0077, they still run the Formula races at Reno/Stead, as well as the big boy unlimited racers. Redbull is a completely separate entity, and most Reno Air Race fans find the Redbull Air Races boring.

what song was that at tthe beginning of this vid??

what kind of race was this - the pilot he interviewed said the fastest plane there does 310 or 312 - does the unlimited race let you use any engine etc - i would love to learn to fly them

in the Red Bull air race they get in trouble if they pull more than 12 - and lol it happened at the last round

@yakovlev3a The problem is that once you start getting much faster than these guys it starts taking exponentially more power. Take a look at the Nemesis NXT, that thing can go around 420 on 350 horsepower. Both were designed by the same guy, and both have gone nearly undefeated. Or in the case of the F1 here, totally undefeated.

Any one no the name of the song that plays from about 1m 23s video showing yellow F1 rear engined plane.

Keine Abdichtbänder am Leitwerk der Nemesis! Die Motorflieger, lol...

he didn't say it was laterial g's, he said they pull 6 g in each turn if theirs a car that can make 4 gs ( other then a crash) im quite certain it would at least have proper seats

Wow--Jeremy has rich curly hair! But then again, the F1 racer they show at 1:26 is Pushy Galore (actually, its relative the Miller special), which means this was made in the '90s. Also Jeremy mentioned "Sure, jets are banned"--the Jet class was inaugurated in the year 2000. Nice video!

Nice Underworld soundtrack, there

Yes... That's what I was getting at.

hahaha look at his 90's flow!

Come to San Diego. We got Red Bull's air races :D

"Go fast and turn left"....Its just flying nascar :-D

now jon sharp has the NXT that does well over 500 mph!!

goodness this is so surreal, i thought air races were fake and sci-fi-ish but geez didnt know they were real

*the beginning music*

I think the Reno Air Races should add a new class that's dedicated to supersonic aircraft. Bring in all the big military forces and have them race their Flankers, Eagles, Mirages, Typhoons, etc. That should add a whole new dimension to the game.

@ezeflierid I have to admit that - after looking at the Reno Air race course records the some of the single lap speeds, especially during qualifying, have steadily increased over the past 40yrs. Rare Bear peaked @ 495.03mph and Strega hit 507.10mph with September Fury topping out @ 478.51mph. However it should be noted that all of these top speed runs were reached on the 67mile qualifying course lap and not the 9 mile lap.

one other thing, the F-22 airframe can handle 40+Gs! And if you black out...it will keep flying and avoiding stuff until you wake up! All the while trying to wake you up!

I miss all the top gear with the boys

Damm he's young here :D

Damn Jeremy! Rocking some hair bro! So funny, I'm sorry I haven't seen more early episodes. You knew you were going to be a star, very smart of you. Thank you for such dedication.

Clarkson as Leo Sayer!