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Independent Newspapers<\/p>\n
The Top Gear trio have jetted into Durban ahead of the Festival weekend. Photo: Jacques Naude<\/p>\n
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Related Stories<\/p>\n
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The roaring of engines and screeching of tyres has started. The Top Gear extravaganza \u2013 one of the biggest motoring events in the world \u2013 has arrived in Durban and with it the familiar faces of BBC presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond. <\/p>\n
The trio landed in Durban yesterday and were soon up to their usual high jinks during their first public appearance at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. <\/p>\n
Clarkson apologised for \u201cbeing late\u201d and blamed one of the show\u2019s crew before telling Hammond to stop looking up a photographer\u2019s trousers when the gathered media started snapping pictures. <\/p>\n
May, on the other hand, maintained his usual quiet decorum. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the best stadium in the world,\u201d said Clarkson, when asked how it felt to be back in Durban, adding that the city had the \u201cbest audiences\u201d, too. <\/p>\n
BIGGER, BETTER, FASTER<\/strong> <\/p>\n Hammond, ignoring Clarkson\u2019s mocking, promised that this year\u2019s show would be \u201cbigger, better, and faster\u201d than last year\u2019s production. <\/p>\n Below, on the customised tarmac track around the grass pitch, tyres screeched and high powered engines revved as cars were tested ahead of the weekend\u2019s action. <\/p>\n The three presenters briefly answered shouted questions from journalists and appeared to be in an amicable mood, but they were quickly whisked away by the show\u2019s support staff. <\/p>\n Outside Moses Mabhida Stadium, cars were moving at a much slower speed \u2013 road closures meant traffic was bumper-to-bumper. <\/p>\n Masabalala Yengwa (NMR) Avenue, the M4 Ruth First Freeway, Sandile Thusi (Argyle) Road, and Snell Parade were all cordoned off as final preparations to the street circuit were under way, resulting in uMgeni Road being used as an alternative route in and out of the city. <\/p>\n Metro police spokesman Eugene Msomi said the police were manning all road closures and alternative routes to ensure smooth traffic flow with 240 officers, plus additional \u201cgeneral patrol\u201d police working the routes. <\/p>\n \u201cWe try our best to make sure the road closures minimise backlogs, and the plan has been extensively advertised,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we have learned from the past, and this is well thought out.\u201d <\/p>\n NO-GO<\/strong> <\/p>\n Msomi did warn that if drivers did not need to venture into the vicinity of the stadium they should steer well clear. <\/p>\n \u201cThe stadium precinct and the North Beach area should be no-go if you are not going to Top Gear this weekend,\u201d said Msomi. <\/p>\n He added that if people did need to visit the surrounding area they should plan alternative routes before they left. <\/p>\n The manager of Pennylane Cars in uMgeni Road, Pravesh Ramsoonder, said that traffic had been \u201cchaotic\u201d and his customers had battled to get to their showroom. <\/p>\n \u201cI hope the festival makes lots of money and it comes down to the people,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Ramsoonder said that taxis and buses had \u201cbeen doing their own thing\u201d on the road, too, and not adhering to the no-stopping signs put in place by traffic officials. <\/p>\n This, combined with the extra traffic, saw him taking \u201croundabout routes\u201d and an extra 30 minutes to get out of the area. -The Mercury <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Independent Newspapers The Top Gear trio have jetted into Durban ahead of the Festival weekend. Photo: Jacques Naude Related Stories Action stations for ‘Top Gear’ fest Why Top Gear’s Hamster likes SA Celebs get a quick spin with The Stig Top Gear tech challenge for SA pupils Production Cars to storm Durban TG The roaring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-20445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}