Netflix’ ‘Hyperdrive’ mixes the ‘Race of Champions’ with ‘Fast and Furious’

Netflix will have three car-centric shows ready for binge-watching shortly. One is the second season of “Fastest Car,” which pits supercars against sleepers. The other two are brand new, starting with “Car Masters: Rust to Riches,” a car makeover show hosted by Mark Towle of Gotham Garage. The last and wildest is “Hyperdrive,” the Netflix synopsis being, “Elite street racers from around the world test their limits in supercharged custom cars on the biggest, baddest automotive obstacle course ever built.” Much better is a quote from one of the show’s executive producers, Chris Cowan, who told Entertainment Weekly it’s “‘American Ninja Warrior’ meets ‘Fast and Furious.'” The second line of Cowan’s description is even better: “We wanted to create a groundbreaking spectacle that you could only find on Netflix — something that was too stupid to attempt anywhere else.”

Casting directors spent a year finding 28 racers at venues around the world, from drag strips to the ‘Ring, men and women, all specialists in various disciplines. Then show creators built a 100-acre “proving ground” in Rochester, N.Y., that incorporated “all the different competitive car events into one competition,” as well as a few surprises like a teeter-totter and a slide rail. The 28 racers compete in a run-what-you-brung tournament to “compete for something that really matters,” although we don’t yet know what that is other than the Hyperdrive Championship. A spy video posted on the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reveals part of the course and some of the metal involved, the escapade looking like “Gymkhana” for grease monkeys. Among the highly modified home-brew machinery we spied was a first-gen Ford Mustang, a second-gen Chevy Camaro, what looks like an E93 BMW M3, and a 1969 Dodge Charger that Dominic Toretto could have driven to the set.

Four hosts marshal the action: Rutledge Wood, famous for “Top Gear USA” and “Lost in Transmission”; retired MMA fighter Michael Bisping; and Fox Sports broadcasters Lindsay Czarniak and Mike Hill. All 10 episodes for the first season will be loaded on Aug. 21, each episode running from 44 to 51 minutes. If you need any more convincing to click the My List button, Netflix’s guidance to series reads, “This show is: Exciting.” Bring your heart medication.