Top Gear Thursday: Clarkson Reviews the Warthog from ‘Halo 4′, James May Hits the Death Valley Dunes

• Jeremy Clarkson has lent his voice as well his wit to a promo for the upcoming Forza Motorsport 4 racing game for Xbox 360. In this clip, he gives a tongue-in-cheek tour of a completely imaginary vehicle from another game, the Warthog from the yet-to-be-released Halo 4. You can almost hear Clarkson raising an eyebrow as he muses on the Warthog’s fictional “specs.” (via MTV’s Multiplayer Blog)

• If you’re around your TV this Labor Day weekend, there will be a Top Gear marathon starting Sunday, September 4th at 6 am/5c.

• In the next episode of Top Gear (airing September 5 at 9/8c), James May rough-rides the Victoria Beckham-designed(!) Range Rover Evoque through the sand dunes and suffocating heat of Death Valley. But he has a destination in mind – Sin City – and he picks up a beautiful stranger along the way:

• In this extended clip, James takes his Range Rover into “sand mode” as he rolls through Death Valley. But out of nowhere, our Captain Slow is confronted by a gang of “yobbos” in dune buggies:

By the way, James quite liked the Range Rover Evoque, he tells TopGear.com. And that includes Mrs. Beckham’s contributions.

• An English metal processing plant has seen its fortunes rise due to a simple quiz over at TopGear.com. As the Express & Star newspaper reports, “More than half a million people have taken part in a quiz on the BBC’s Top Gear website featuring Dudley-based Surface Processing Ltd.

“The company, which strips the shells of old cars to remove rust and old paint, attracted the attention of the show’s producers who were looking for a new game for the site.

“Players must guess the make and model of the car correctly from looking at a picture of a stripped-down body shell without any paintwork.”

• Dunsfold Park, the UK home of Top Gear, hosted the Wings and Wheels show, an event celebrating aircraft and vehicles, this past weekend. BBC News has photos.