The Sun Sets on the Grand Tour
Friday 13th is an ominous date for some and this September it certainly was for fans of The Grand Tour, the car show hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. It was on that day that the last ever episode was screened, leaving petrolheads and lovers of the show everywhere feeling bereft. But if we can't see more of them, at least we can look back on some of the highs and lows of the trio's 22 years together, starting with…
Toyota Hilux
Top Gear's association with the pick-up goes back to the Polar Challenge Top Gear Special of 2007 when Clarkson and May driving a Hilux prepared by Arctic Trucks raced Hammond, in a dog sled, to the magnetic North Pole. The trio reached neither the magnetic nor geographical North Poles but that was never the point…
The Hilux's next outing was in Series 3, Episodes 5 and 6 when the team attempted to destroy it by a variety of means, finally placing it on the roof of a 23-storey building that was then demolished. Even after that, it still started and is now at the National Motor Museum.
Smallest car
Who can forget the Peel P50 microcar that Clarkson drove into the lift at BBC Television Centre in Series 10, Episode 3 of Top Gear? It sparked huge interest in the little car which, today, is made by an independent company and marketed as the P50. Blue, the colour of the car Clarkson drove, is its best seller.
Top Gear Specials
These shows, which took the three presenters all over the world, would be the origin of The Grand Tour with the first, the Winter Olympics Special, broadcast on Top Gear in 2006. The trio's fondness for upsetting the locals was demonstrated in the Patagonia Special when Clarkson's numberplate provoked fury and in the USA Special when they narrowly escaped with their lives after painting their cars with offensive slogans.
The Stig
Top Gear's anonymous, helmeted driver was named after the new boys who joined Repton School, Clarkson's alma mater, a nickname inspired by the children's story, Stig of the Dump. In 2003, racing driver Perry McCarthy was exposed as the driver and subsequently replaced. As a joke, during Series 13, Episode 1 F1 driver Michael Schumacher revealed himself to be the Stig.
Accidents
Unfortunately, in Series 9, Episode 1 of Top Gear Richard Hammond suffered a brain injury when the rocket-propelled Vampire dragster he was driving burst a tyre at 288mph. While filming an episode of The Grand Tour in 2017, he had another accident when he lost control of a Rimac Concept One supercar, this time only injuring his knee.
Star in a Reasonably Priced car
Over the years, four cars featured in this staple of Top Gear. Starting with the first, they were the Suzuki Liana followed by the Chevrolet Lacetti, Kia Cee'd and Vauxhall Astra. Excluding changes in cars, weather and track design, F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo set the quickest time, driving the Liana.
The Cool Wall
This other Top Gear favourite saw the presenters decide which cars were, in ascending order of coolness, Seriously Uncool, Uncool, Cool and Sub Zero. A fifth category was reserved for cars cooler than Sub Zero. The only cars in it were the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage.
Essential Top Gear shows
According to the Royal Television Society, the best moments from the Clarkson, Hammond and May era are the Bugatti Veyron vs Eurofighter Typhoon (Series 10, Episode 3), the trio's caravan holiday (Series 8, Episode 6) and their journey along the treacherous Yungas Road, nicknamed Death Road, in Bolivia (Bolivia Special, Series 14, Episode 6).
Grand Tour locations
Each episode of the first series was filmed from a tent based in different locations including Southern California, Lapland and Loch Ness. For Series 2 and 3, the show settled on a fixed location in the Cotswolds. For Series 4-6, the show dispensed with the tent and its audience and focused on road trip specials including Cambodia, Eastern Europe and, for the last episode titled 'One for the Road', Botswana, a tribute to the Botswana Top Gear Special of 2007.
Nicknames
James May is called Captain Slow and Richard Hammond, The Hamster. Clarkson has been called Orangutan.
Favourite cars
Richard Hammond has said the Opel Kadett that he drove in the 2007 Botswana Challenge Special is his favourite car. He called it Oliver and liked it so much, he bought it. Jeremy Clarkson's favourite is the Lexus LFA about which he has said, "If I could have any car ever made given to me I'd pick a dark blue Lexus LFA." In 2010 an LFA recorded the quickest wet lap of the Top Gear test track. James May's favourite car, or at least one of them, is the Fiat Panda.
Electric cars
Top Gear had a rather cool relationship with EVs. In Series 10, Episode 10, the G-Wiz electric car won Top Gear's Worst Car of the Year award. Clarkson said of it, "If you buy a G-Wiz, plainly you are not interested in style, or comfort, or speed... or practicality, or driving pleasure, or safety, or your dignity."
In Series 12, Episode 7 the presenter stated the Tesla Roadster had run out of power after 55 miles and that recharging it would take 16 hours. Tesla rejected the claims and in 2011 sued the BBC for libel, a case that Tesla lost.
In the final episode of the Grand Tour, Clarkson said of electric cars in general, "I'm simply not interested in electric cars. They are just white goods, they're washing machines, they're microwave ovens. You can't enjoy them."
Despite their on-screen antipathy, Hammond has personally owned a Tesla Model X and a Mercedes EQS and May, a Tesla Model S.
They said…
"It's as stupid and as wonderful as owning a pet elephant." Clarkson on the Dodge SRT-10
"You could stick a BMW badge on a dead cat and people would still buy it." Hammond on the BMW Z4.
"Would the Element be a car for people who like hip-hop or for people waiting for a hip-op?" May on the Honda Element
