apparently thats why they have green lighted TAR 13 so fast - if the writers strile continued I wouldn't be surpsrised to see the race start just after xmas as they are actively recruiting right now, and it be on the TV in january/feb.
Apparently in TAR4 (according to former racers that post on tarflies) they had the first few episodes in the can and ready to air before the race was even finished. So they had done the first few legs into prpgrammes before the winner was even known... So its definitely do-able.