SNEAK PEEK: Top Gear back on track as the gang road test some tanks and Alice Cooper drives the Reasonably Priced Car in new series



They've always been keen to try out the world's most unusual vehicles - and the lads at Top Gear are taking a heavy duty approach to the task when they test drive some tanks on the new series of the show, starting tomorrow.



Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and co get behind the turrets of the armoured cars in the 17th season of the hit BBC2 show.



Elsewhere, the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type is marked with a test drive of a new £500,000 version of the classic and a formation of the cars at Beachy Head for a birthday party involving live music, classic fighter planes and the Royal Marines.

Scroll down to see the trailer for the new series of Top Gear...



Tanks very much: Top Gear returns tomorrow with the lads test driving some armoured vehicles

Military precision: Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May know exactly what their petrolhead fans want to watch Officer and a gentleman: Richard Hammond gets dressed up for one of the segments on the show, the first in the 17th series

Hammond goes to South Africa to try out a new alternative to Hummer’s SUVs and May races Winter Olympic gold medal-winning skeleton sled-racer Amy Williams in the latest Mini rally car. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next Shaken but not stirred: TOWIE star Sam Faiers gets in the... That's a bit brave, Michelle! First Lady and daughters go... Share this article Share The Stig returns to take a BMW 1-series M coupé around the test track and Alice Cooper is the star in the Reasonably Priced Car.

Other guests during this run include Rowan Atkinson, Sebastian Vettel and Bernie Ecclestone. Rumours of Prince Harry making an appearance are still being denied.

Back in the driving seat: Jeremy Clarkson marks the 50th birthday of the E Type Jaguar on the first show of the new series

In a spin: The team try out a raft of different vehicles on the 'world's favourite programme about cars and middle aged men falling over'

It comes just after the BBC upheld complaints over comments made on the show including that Mexicans were 'lazy, feckless [and] flatulent'.



A ruling by the BBC's editorial complaints unit (ECU) found that while the remarks made on the show on 30 January were meant to be humorous, they gave 'the impression of reinforcing, rather than ridiculing, the stereotype'.



The unit received complaints from 11 viewers as well as the Mexican branch of the Latin American Studies Association about the comments.



At the time, the UK's Mexican ambassador Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza had condemned the show for the 'outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable insults.'

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However, Top Gear was cleared of breaching Ofcom's broadcasting code, with the media regulator ruling that the Mexican comments had the potential to be 'very offensive' but were justified by the programme's 'irreverent style and sometimes outspoken humour'.



After Hammond's quip, May described Mexican food as 'like sick with cheese on it', while Clarkson predicted they would not get any complaints about the show because 'at the Mexican embassy, the ambassador is going to be sitting there with a remote control like this [snores]. They won't complain, it's fine.'



The Guardian reports that the ECU upheld the complaints and said the issues arising from the ruling had been discussed with the Top Gear production team.



The first episode of Top Gear airs on BBC2 and BBC HD this Sunday at 8pm.

