RTE takes on Top Gear with new car show

Caroline Gittens

MOVE over Clarkson, RTE is hot on your tail.

In a bid to rival Top Gear, RTE2 have come up with their own twist on the hit BBC show.

The programme will test motorists' abilities with different vehicles and reward the best driver with a training session in a Formula One car.

The new show, Training Days, will be aired on RTE2 next autumn and the producers are currently trying to raise €100,000 from sponsors to seal the deal.

AMAZING

Ordinary drivers will be put through their paces in various driving disciplines from racing cars to limousines and emergency service vehicles.

Presenter Neil Briscoe told the Herald: "I know what it feels like to be provided with a great car and to do amazing things with it.

"To get out of a car and know something you couldn't do before is a great feeling. Ultimately the ambition is to have six members of the public drive different vehicles, and then we'll take people who scored the best and reward them.

"They'll be taken off in a Formula One car and they'll be taught how to drive it. That's the ultimate reward."

CENTRE

He added: "Driving is a skill which one can hone, and learn, and they can get better at. To learn how to drive properly is really important as well because a lot of people drive without thinking about it."

Neil insists he will not be the next Jeremy Clarkson from BBC's Top Gear, since Training Days will be more about the drivers themselves than the cars. "Ultimately the cars aren't the centre of the show," he said.