Clarkson, Hammond and May are set to return to the stage, having officially launched this year’s Top Gear Live World Tour from London’s Royal Geographical Society in true style; suspended below a hot air balloon.

In preparation for their latest tour, which will play to over 340 000 Top Gear fans worldwide, the crew have been hard at work to create a completely new live experience.

Fans can expect flaming rally cars, extreme underground street racers and cars which change colour in the blink of an eye. Other sequences will feature the infamous Stig who will be leading a troop of international stunt drivers via a mix of hand gestures, sonic pulses and Morse code, showing audiences the ultimate in precision driving.

Rowland French, Executive Producer, Top Gear Live said: “I for one am hugely excited about this coming Top Gear Live tour. We had a fantastic response last year, but to ensure we keep the audience on the edge of their seats once again, I’ve developed some truly groundbreaking machinery for the 09/10 tour.”

The task of putting on a show for 340 000 fans across four continents requires 135 trucks, 3 ships, 1 freight plane and 94 cars with 150 sets of tyres – a subtle hint at the tyre-frying antics we should expect.

The Top Gear Live 2009/2010 World Tour will premiere in the UK as part of the MPH show in London before finally reaching the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg from 4th to 7th February 2010.

Each leg will consist of ten shows presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May or, outside Britain, a combination of Jeremy and Richard or Jeremy and James, who will team up with local presenter, in our case, Sasha Martinengo.

Tickets are available through CompuTicket.

TOP Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson has been told by BBC bosses to ditch £200,000 supercars and review budget models instead.

He and his co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May have been ordered to downsize because of BBC spending cuts.

Producers also want the show to reflect the changing interests of viewers hit by the credit crunch and show “more sedate cheaper, greener” models.

Plans to feature the likes of a Lamborghini, Ferrari and a Porsche have been axed.

Clarkson had vowed to ignore the BBC’s budget squeeze but executive producer Andy Wilman, said that the show could not ignore the recession. He said: “This series we were going to film a road trip with a Lambo and a Porsche. Now it will be cars like the Toyota iQ because they’re smart and clever and you can sense the mood. We’re not that thick.”

He said BBC2 were thinking of screening a version called Boring Top Gear, featuring “down-to-earth” consumer advice rather than blowing up caravans or playing darts with scrap cars.

Earlier this year Clarkson said he would ignore the 30% cuts. He said: “We’ll keep going till the cash runs out.”

The presenters’ salaries have not yet been hit. Clarkson is believed to get £2million a year, while Richard Hammond and James May get £25,000 a show.

Adapted from Daily Star