Top Gear Winter Olympics Special

The team journeys to Norway’s winter landscape to see how a selection of cars perform in Olympic‑style events. Their rigorous trials include firing a rocket‑powered Mini off a ski jump and tackling the biathlon using 4×4s on the snow‑covered course.

The Top Gear Winter Olympics Special is a stand‑alone episode of the long‑running motoring programme Top Gear. Framed as a winter‑themed edition, the show blends the series’ usual car‑centric format with the atmosphere of the Olympic Games. It takes the familiar format of testing vehicles and places it against a backdrop of snowy, alpine sport. In this instalment the presenters travel to Norway, where they put a varied selection of cars through a series of Olympic‑style challenges. One highlight sees a Mini that has been fitted with a rocket motor hurled off a ski jump, while another segment pits four‑wheel‑drive machines against the rigours of a biathlon course, testing speed and handling on snow. The Norwegian terrain supplies a frosty, snow‑covered setting that forces each vehicle to contend with low temperatures, icy surfaces and steep gradients typical of winter sport venues. By using the ski jump as a launch ramp and the biathlon track as a test circuit, the team creates a direct comparison between conventional athletic competition and automotive performance under identical conditions. Throughout the episode the focus stays on evaluating how the chosen cars cope with these unusual, cold‑weather tests, highlighting the contrast between high‑speed engineering and the demanding environment of the Winter Olympics. The special therefore mixes Top Gear’s characteristic humour with a series of practical trials, using the winter sport backdrop to showcase each vehicle’s capabilities in a novel context.