Jeremy Clarkson, the bombastic host of the hit BBC show Top Gear, has run down his short list of best and worst cars of 2008 -- and surprisingly for the man who has a known unfavorable taste for American cars -- he has picked the 638-hp 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 as his car of the year.

To start, Clarkson outlined some of the year's disappointments in his Sunday Times column .

Some people are saying that the new Nissan GT-R is one of the first real Japanese supercars, but how does it stand up against the Chevy Corvette ZR1?

With GM development engineer Jim Mero behind the wheel, the 2009 ZR1 Corvette paced the Nurburgring in a time of 7:26.4.

Leaded Fuel:  The Department of the Environment has delayed action for one year on a SAN-opposed proposal to terminate the current exemption for leaded gasoline used in competition motor vehicles. Under the revised regulation, the exemption will remain in place until January 1, 2010. The extension will allow all racing events in 2008 and 2009 to proceed while providing time for regulators to conduct further studies on the health risks of leaded fuel at race facilities.

The SAN based its opposition to the original proposal on the fact that Environment Canada relied on no scientifically documented test data to provide evidence that increased exposure to emissions created from leaded gasoline causes adverse health effects and that competition motor vehicles use only 1.5% of all leaded gasoline consumed in Canada. According to the International Hot Rod Association, drag-racing competitions and related expenditures by race teams, event organizers and tourists amounts to a multimillion dollar windfall for regions hosting these events.

Source: SEMA