General consensus among Top Gear fans wasn't too positive for the first season of Top Gear USA. For anyone who'd caught episodes of the UK version and enjoyed the crazy antics of Clarkson, Hammond and May, it just wasn't up to scratch.

Heck, even if you'd not seen an episode of the UK series it wasn't that great.

Luckily the History Channel gave Top Gear USA another chance. That perseverance has paid off with better ratings, and season two is now being extended by a further eight episodes.

Season two, which premiered back in July, has seen 30 percent more people watching Tanner Foust, Adam Ferrara, and Rutledge Wood each week and the extended run should see even more fans tuning in.

Plans for future episodes include an experiment to find dangerous ways of charging an electric car (beat that, Top Gear UK!) and Tanner Foust driving the Noble M600 supercar on its home turf in the UK. Another challenge will involve creating stretch limos from unusual cars to chauffeur celebrities to the Emmy Awards, a popular idea used by the UK Top Gear crew a few seasons back.

The new episodes are already in production and are set to premiere in early 2012.