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"But the moral of that is, if you're going on an expedition and you're absolutely dependent on your car for your life, get a John." - James May on John

John was the name of the self-constructed vehicle built near the Gobi Desert by Jeremy Clarkson , Richard Hammond , and James May for the Mongolian Special of The Grand Tour , which aired as the thirteenth and penultimate episode of the show's third season .

When Clarkson brought up the subject of a name, May suggested 'Genghis Car' that he'd thought up earlier which the three agreed was clever, but quickly rejected due to the namesake having been "quite murdery and very rapey." Clarkson later came up with 'John', which was agreed to be solid, honest, unpretentious, and dependable.

For six days, the trio drove John across the largely untamed wilderness of Mongolia towards the town of Mörön, navigating treacherous sand dunes, steep hills and deep river crossings. Though fuel ran low and strain was occasionally put on the John's rear-mounted transmission, causing it to "hop" when traversing a steep incline or loaded with all three presenters on board, the car made it to Mörön in one piece, only blowing a fuse when its lights were initially incorrectly intersected.

Due to legal reasons, John was scrapped shortly after filming, and it couldn't even be sold as a car. Clarkson noted in 2020 that it was heartbreaking that they couldn't export John back to Britain.

• 2 Cheap Car Challenges
• 3 Hammond's Rimac Crash (TGT)

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The Grand Tour episode 12 is the best in the series so far

By Ally Heath

The Grand Tour episode 12, coming again from the shores of Loch Ness , focused its attention on a three-way comparison between a trio of British SUVs. An excellent film consisting of the new Jaguar F-Pace, the huge Bentley Bentayga and the ever-present Range Rover .

They weave their way between Austria and Germany, enjoying a route through sleazy towns whose names they might struggle with during their BBC reign, but under their own license, they relish in being naughty. Their lustful journey starts at "Wank" which Jeremy pronounces dutifully using the German enunciation, of "Vank" and they head onto the town of "Fucking". You can sense the teenager still living in all of them – trying not to chuckle, like the day in the back of the classroom when they discovered there was a place in France called "Brest".

Read more: Clarkson stands up for women in the Grand Tour episode 11

It's an interesting trio of cars and they are happy partners in a joyous combined test. The film is enjoyable, the company is entertaining, and the final race between them is stunningly shot and invigorating to watch.

Each of the three cars are fascinating cars in their own way and seeing them on the same scale makes them all the more intriguing. It's worth noting that the top spec F-Pace Hammond drives is cheaper than the extras alone on James' Bentayga.

Read more: The Bentley Bentayga is a £140,000 luxury dune smasher

The engine of the mighty Bentayga is a almighty 6.0 W12 complete with twin turbos. Despite weighing well over two tonnes, it builds speed at a remarkable rate. Slice that engine in half and you have the dimensions of the Jaguar, a 3 litre V6 growler with a supercharger. With aluminium weight saving applied to the Jag’s chassis, it's seriously quick and nimble too. Power and speed is one thing, but little prepares you for seeing these beasts fly and achieve air during their wonderful racing laps.

The Bentayga at first seemed like a clumsy accident, but as GQ accurately predicted at the time of its launch, the Bentley seems to have grown into it.

Read more: The ultimate weekend getaway: Polo at Coworth Park with a classic Range Rover

However, the other two wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the success of the old Range Rover. Let’s not forget, the Range Rover wasn’t designed to attractive a wealthy elite and footballers who wanted chic, understated luxury and prowess on the road – it just happened that those audiences decided to love it anyway. And so all the competitors followed, trying to get a slice of the same audience, now they knew what that audience liked.

This is why the Range Rover is the real winner. It was designed not for a target audience, but for a purpose. To climb any mountain and ford any stream, without sacrificing any comfort or ability on the road. It’s the original. It’s stayed true to its ethos and really can achieve anything off-road, as the Grand Tour trio demonstrated.

Read more Grand Tour episode reviews

By Owen Gough

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By Robert Leedham

By Daphne Bugler

These are all the cars in The Grand Tour Season 2 so far

The cars are the stars in the latest series of the grand tour.

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• 2016 Honda NSX first drive
• The 221mph electric hypercar Hammond crashed
• No replacement for displacement: the 25 cars with the biggest engines

The race to Niagara Falls

Quite simply, to find out what’s quicker to Niagara Falls: the Ford GT or an airliner. Obviously, Clarkson takes the 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged 647hp GT, hoping to make some use of the 216mph top speed and 2.8 sec 0-60mph time. May, on the other hand, will be using public transport.

Hammond on crutches

May thinks he’s got this race in the bag, before Clarkson points out that he’s “got a handicap”. The camera then pans to Richard Hammond, who arrives on crutches. He’s suffering from the effects of his crash in the Rimac Concept One, much to the annoyance of ‘Mr Slowly’. Later, May points that they missed a train because Hammond doesn’t know how to slow down when it says ‘finish’ across the road. Ouch.

The race is on

There’s a feeling that we’ve been here before. A Clarkson vs. Hammond and May battle, complete with photo finish finale. Who will emerge victorious following the 420-mile race? That would be telling.

Hammond and May

It’s fair to say that Hammond and May aren’t huge fans of American public transport. Hammond is body searched at JFK airport, while the pair have to endure the indignity of flying economy class. #FirstWorldProblems

“I have been turned into Richard Hammond by six hours in that car,” said Clarkson, as he makes his way from the Ford GT to the finish line. This follows a claim that the GT has “literally the hardest ride of any car he has driven”. Not that he didn’t enjoy it, comparing the fast Ford to a “mad Caterham” when you put your foot down.

Mercedes-AMG GT R

Back in the UK, Jeremy Clarkson takes to the Eboladrome to test the Mercedes-AMG GT R. The ‘Beast of the Green Hell’ is powered by a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8, developing a mighty 585hp. It will accelerate to 62mph in 3.6 seconds, before going on to reach a top speed of 198mph. The price: £143,260.

If you want a Porsche…

But Clarkson and the team aren’t fans, claiming that if you want something that’s like a Porsche, you should buy a Porsche. On the plus side, the GT R sets the third fastest time around the track, sitting behind the Aston Martin Vulcan and McLaren 650S.

Celebrity Face Off

In this week’s Celebrity Face Off, it’s cricket vs. baseball, as Kevin Pietersen takes on Brian Wilson. Both drivers take to the track in the Jaguar F-Type Coupe, to find out who is the fastest person who makes a living by throwing and hitting and catching small balls. Who wins? Put it this way: it’s extremely close.

Season 2, Episode 1

If you missed the first episode of The Grand Tour (where have you been?), he’s a recap of what happened when the boys went to Switzerland. The challenge was, quite simply, to find out which is best: the past, the present, or the future? Over to you, Jezza…

Supercars do battle

“We all know how that ends,” quips Jeremy Clarkson as the first challenge of the new season is introduced. Yes we do: with Hammond, in an air ambulance, after crashing. Again.

Things started out bang on form: Clarkson, the Neanderthal, was representing the past, with the 730-horsepower Lamborghini Aventador S, all 6.5-litres of snorting, gasoline-guzzling V12. In far-from-subtle bright yellow.

Destination: Switzerland

James May, the “crisp and contemporary” sophisticat of the trio, was showing off the present, with the hybrid Honda NSX. It has 581hp, from combining a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 with three electric motors. It can both run on electric and do 0-60 mph in under 3.0 seconds.

Hammond, we know, is in the future – the all-electric Rimac Concept One . The Croatian company was founded by Mate Rimac, and Forbes described the firm as “a company that’s cooler than Tesla”. The Concept One is an all-electric supercar described as having around 1,200 hp.

The location for the challenge was Switzerland. Rather improbably, the boys’ base was a natural detox retreat.

Burning rubber

It was EV-driving Hammond who was in charge of the challenge, and he even chose the hotel, despite it not serving beer or anything tasty. What was he thinking? We can’t imagine. Hold on, what’s that in his hand…

Naturally, after driving through beautiful mountains and scuppering Hammond’s plan to keep driving in between electric chargers, the boys decided to have a race.

Clarkson was, of course, brimming with confidence, as his car was the lightest, and the noisiest, and the thirstiest. With an empty airfield to play with, Clarkson of course decided to then have a hoon. Which resulted in the destruction of one massive Lamborghini rear tyre. “The tyre pressure warning light came on,” he said. “I ignored it.”

Run to the hills

And then to the big finale – and THAT incident. Although you can’t go circuit racing in Switzerland, you can go hillclimbing. And it was only 200 miles from the hotel. “Which was fine, for some of us,” says Clarkson.

As for Hammond’s range-limited EV, well… “People don’t ride their race horses to the Grand National, do they,” he muses…

They finally got there, to “the most beautiful hillclimb event in the world”. First up, Clarkson, who discovered he couldn’t actually fit in the big Lambo with a helmet on. But who’s that over there – why, it’s Lamborghini test driver Giacomo Barri, who has curly hair and looks a bit like an early-1990s-spec Clarkson. Jezza had a plan…

May was next, sauntering up the hill with inevitably the slowest time to his name.

Burning batteries

Then, Hammond, in the Rimac – but first, a ‘pep talk’ from Clarkson and May, about how the whole of Croatia was there expecting him to set a new course record.

This was Hammond’s face just before he set off…

… and this was the result. Yes, that crash, another Hammond crash, with another air ambulance summoned for him. But did he get the fastest time before crashing after the finish line? 

Celebrity Face-Off

Celebrity Brain Crash is no more. “You all hated it,” said Clarkson. Instead, it’s a new spot, Celebrity Face-Off, where two people working in the same field go head-to-head in a Jaguar F-Type Coupe (a 300hp 2.0-litre turbo). This week – which is the fastest former talent show judge, Ricky Wilson or David ‘The Hoff’ Hasselhoff?

Kaiser Chief’s Wilson looked pretty handy on the new Celebrity Face-Off course, which is part tarmac, part gravel. The Hoff, meanwhile, was less handy. On his practice lap, he stopped just shy of the finish line, for no discernible reason. He did get better on his timed lap – you’ll have to head over to Amazon Prime to find out just how well he did.

Electric dreams

Oh, and that drag strip race? Yes, it was the Rimac that won, by a ludicrous margin. It’s worth tuning in just to see how much faster than the Lambo and Honda it is. The future wins this challenge: can it beat the past and the present to grab overall spoils in The Grand Tour’s first Season 2 challenge, though?

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Man Accuses The Grand Tour Of Stealing Mongolia Special Idea, Show Denies All

Partisan Motors' founder claims the show used his idea for the road trip episode and threatens to sue

by Dan Mihalascu

If you watched the 13th episode of The Grand Tour’s third season , you know that it was probably the best since Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond started the Amazon Prime Video-hosted show.

For their Mongolia road trip, the three hosts were faced with the difficult challenge of assembling a vehicle they would then have to drive across some of the most difficult and beautiful terrains our planet has to offer.

For the job, they assembled a vehicle chassis using parts from various sources, including a Land Rover Defender . Then they fitted it with a makeshift bodywork that Clarkson, May, and Hammond had to build themselves using wood planks from the boxes in which the chassis parts came. As it turned out, the vehicle was a good choice as it soldiered on until the end of the road trip with only one minor problem, a blown fuse — earning the affectionate nickname of “John” in the process.

The start of the episode that aired on April 5 has to be one of the most captivating so far: a helicopter dropped the car parts in boxes to the unsuspecting hosts who were waiting in the middle of nowhere to be handed over the challenge set by Andy Wilman, the show’s executive producer.

Partisan Motors’ founder claims he gave The Grand Tour the idea

There might be some controversy over the Mongolia special, though, as a man claims he was actually the one who came up with the idea for the episode. Juri Postnikov, the founder of Germany-based Partisan Motors, says he was approached in December 2017 by Gavin Whitehead, the director of The Grand Tour, with a proposal for cooperation. Mr. Whitehead “showed genuine interest in the possibilities of using the car developed and built by us in his media project,” Partisan Motors’ founder alleges in an email sent to Carscoops .

That car he’s talking about is the Partisan One electric off-roader prototype . Mr. Postnikov says he developed a script for the show revolving around the fact that the Partisan One car can be delivered to the customer in a box for independent assembly.

He states that he handed over a script proposal to the producers of The Grand Tour in which the Partisan One, which was supposed to be on the show, was dropped from a helicopter in disassembled form for the hosts to build in a tent camp. He also claims he sent sketches to the producers, which he also forwarded to us and you can see in the gallery below.

Original sketch dated January 24, 2018, that allegedly accompanied the script proposal Juri Postnikov claims to have sent to The Grand Tour

A lawsuit against the show is coming up

Juri Postnikov claims Gavin Whitehead “enthusiastically agreed” to the idea and the two sides started work correspondence to sort out all the details. However, after a while, the exchanges stopped. When he asked the director what was wrong, he was told that the show didn’t have sufficient funding and had to freeze all projects.

Partisan Motors ’ founder says he was surprised to see his ideas used in the Mongolia special. That is why he plans to sue the show, demanding that the episode is retaped.

“We will demand through court that the 13th episode of the 3rd season of The Grand Tour, shot in our script, be reshot with the participation of the car Partisan created and that all copyright issues be settled with us, and only then can it be shown to a wide audience,” Mr. Postnikov says in the email sent to us.

Partisan Motors’ founder Juri Postnikov in the Partisan One electric off-roader

Executive producer rejects any wrongdoing

Since all of the above are very serious accusations, we reached out to The Grand Tour to hear their side of the story and were contacted by Andy Wilman, the show’s executive producer , who completely denied Mr. Postnikov’s allegations.

“He did not come up with the idea of the three guys being dropped in the middle of nowhere and assemble the vehicle to reach civilization. We had that idea ourselves already, which is why we were looking around in the early stages of the story for ways in which to make that story happen,” Mr. Wilman told us over the phone.

He admitted to having talked to Partisan Motors’ founder early on but said the talks didn’t materialize in any way. “We had discussions with him in the early stages of development, but when we contacted him we already knew what our story was going to be,” Andy Wilman added. “I think the point is we would never contact anybody unless we already had the idea, we knew what we wanted to do,” he stressed.

Partisan One was indeed among the cars The Grand Tour considered for the Mongolia special – but it wasn’t the only one. “In the early planning stages, we looked at vehicles that already existed such as his vehicle [Partisan One] and the OX , which is a British vehicle that can be assembled on the ground. But in the end, we decided to build our own vehicle which was a hybrid of components,” the show’s mastermind explained.

The Grand Tour hosts during final assembly of the “John” off-roader

So, why did they decide to build their own car instead of going with the Partisan One? “It was last year, so I have no memory of why we didn’t go with his vehicle. I can’t remember why we never used his particular car.”

As for Mr. Postnikov’s threats to file a lawsuit against The Grand Tour , Andy Wilman said: “He’s not contacted us, so we have no idea what he’s saying. We’ve no comments on that because we’ve got no contact from him.”

We contacted Partisan Motors’ founder via email yesterday and we relayed to him what The Grand Tour’s executive producer had to say about the allegations. We haven’t heard back from Mr. Postnikov yet.

Obviously, we’re not in a position to say who’s telling the truth. However, these are some very serious allegations, so if Mr. Postnikov goes ahead with his lawsuit, one of two things can happen: provided that he can back his claims with solid proof, he might get what he wants or, at the very least, a compensation. If not, then he could very well be countersued for defamation and anything else the show’s attorneys may come up with.

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The Grand Tour: Series 1, Episode 2 – Operation Desert Stumble

• Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May pitch their travelling tent in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• They attempt to become special forces soldiers in Jordan.
• Jeremy Clarkson power tests the Aston Martin Vulcan at the Eboladrome.
• James is forced to try something called spinning.

Sign up for Amazon Prime . For those who live in countries where Amazon Prime is not available, using a VPN service such as Pure VPN might help.

Episode Guide

The tent is at the Cradle of Humankind nature reserve overlooking Johannesburg. The presenters discuss President of South Africa Jacob Zuma, the Nkandla compound firepool controversy and carjacking.

Clarkson tests the Aston Martin Vulcan at the Eboladrome.

Producer Andy Wilman sends the presenters to the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Centre (KASOTC) outside Amman, Jordan for a SAS-style military training exercise. Car-builder Johan Ackermann shows his self-built replica of a Sauber Mercedes C9.

May visits Soweto to take part in South African motorsport of “Spinning” where cars generate smoke by performing doughnuts set to rap music until the tyres blowout.

A person introduced as actress Charlize Theron is pounced on by a lion and “killed”.

Finally the presenters return to KASOTC in Jordan to review an Audi S8 Plus while rescuing a VIP and transporting them to the “British Embassy”.

Eboladrome Lap Times

Aston Martin Vulcan 1:15.5

Screenshots

Clarkson angers Gypsies with insurance joke on The Grand Tour

Viewers divided over the grand tour episode 2; was both ‘dull’ and ‘incredible’, related posts, the grand tour: series 1, episode 13 – past v future, the grand tour: series 1, episode 12 – [censored] to [censored], the grand tour: series 1, episode 11 – italian lessons, the grand tour: series 1, episode 10 – dumb fight at the o.k. coral, the grand tour: series 1, episode 9 – berks to the future, the grand tour: series 1, episode 8 – the beach (buggy) boys part 2.

Very funny. I have rarely laughed so much in front of a show like this.

I’m glad you enjoyed it….. 🙂

this is the grand tour version of call of duty or other war games like halo or counter strike

Look at this screenshot from The Trailer and Episode02 of The Grand Tour So what we see on the screen is not actually there! It’s just “After Effects” http://img.overpic.net/images/1/y/d/x1ydvt9742x7867mdw6aj.jpg

Or they could have done multiple takes.

The problem with the episode is episode 1 . It was never going to be as good as the premier we had last week but sure it will pick up again next time

There is no doubt these guys know how to make a beautiful car film. Stunning stuff. Loved the fun film like the Tom Cruise movie… you know, Cocktail. Nothing scripted here… no sir, just factual entertainment. 🙂 I’m not sure about the celebrity brain squeeze bit… it has been 2 episodes and it already feels old and tired.

This episode was brilliant. Miles better than the first which was already awesome. But that Aston is plain stupid. 1.8mil and all you get is 0-60 in 2.9 and 208 mph.

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Everything You Should Know About The Cars On The Latest Grand Tour Special: “Celebrated By Driving Into A Wall”

The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick , is now available to watch on Prime Video. Plenty of fans have realised that this episode is much more car focussed than the episodes preceding it, and because of this a lot of love has been thrown at these three rally-inspired cars.

Here’s what you need to know about the cars on the latest episode, plus what the presenters told us in interviews with the press, including Grand Tour Nation.

Jeremy Clarkson in the Audi RS4 B7

Jeremy had already revealed that he’d bought an Audi RS4 for the show many, many months ago, but before seeing behind the scenes photos of the filming of this episode, we didn’t know it would be for this.

Obviously, the connection to rally here is the Quattro term that Audi now uses for its all-wheel drive system. But let’s explore this car a little further.

It was released in 2005 by Audi, and while the look of the car didn’t blow people away, the 4.2-litre V8 engine did with direct fuel injection and maximum revs of a shrieking 8500rpm. It produced 414 horsepower, with these horses being delivered to all four wheels. There was only one gearbox available, but surprisingly it was a manual with six speeds and, once you pressed the sport button, the throttle response would make this delicious powertrain even more exciting and bypass valves would make it sound as good as it went.

The exterior still felt very sedate, but now offered wider arches over the standard A4 as well as aluminium front wings and bonnet. And a bit later on, the RS4 badge was placed onto the wagon version, too.

Aw you saw in the episode, Jeremy’s car was outfitted with Quattro colours, a number of Cibbies on the front bumper, and gets completely frozen over thanks to Hammond before Jeremy sets it on fire. A flame-thrower was also fitted to the exhaust.

Richard Hammond in the Subaru Impreza WRX

We first saw the Subaru WRX in an Instagram post by Jeremy Clarkson , but it’s confirmed that it’s being driven by Richard Hammond who has driven one of these cars before in the Africa special of Top Gear .

These cars are pure rally inspired and burble as much as a cat trapped in a corner thanks to its Boxer engine. Many Subaru fans weren’t completely taken with the looks of the ‘Blob eye’ Impreza, but since its release it has become motoring legend thanks to its connection to rally and its insane performance.

Its engine is a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder Boxer engine with help from a single turbo. It’s low on weight and has a low centre of gravity, and gives it the car its iconic sound as well as 261 horsepower. It’s not quite as potent as Jeremy’s RS4, but with its trick all-wheel drive system and a bit of talent behind the wheel, it could well keep up with it in the corners.

In this episode it’s been given the Martini colours, but we can see later on that the ‘I’ at the end of ‘Martini’ has been coloured in.

Hammond had the following to say about the Impreza:

“I’ve always loved them. I was just delighted at the opportunity to take one and unleash it a bit. We wanted rally-bred cars, but mine is the only one that, out of the rallying, came first.

“It was built as a rally car, then compromised and turned into a road car. Whereas James’s is the other way around, and with Jeremy’sit was never a rally car. They did make one, but it wasn’t that one. So I was more than happy with my choice.

“I love the Subaru because it’s analogue, and I’m analogue. It’s not a digitally enhanced car. It’s just built to do what it does, so it’s technically inclined to do what it does. It doesn’t need persuading by a computer. I love that.”

James May’s Mitsubishi Evo 8

The car of the hour, this Mitsubishi Evo 8 driven by James May has had quite a life. It was initially crashed by the presenter at a high speed during a tunnel run, and later crashed through the ice into a lake. Because of this, it’s also the only car that doesn’t undergo any visual modification during the episode. Unless you count damage, of course.

The Evo 8 was launched in 2003 in Japan and saw immediate success thanks to its potent turbocharged 4G63 4-cylinder engine. This produced 289 lb ft and 276 horsepower, but its excellent all-wheel drive system pushed its performance high enough to battle with supercars of that era.

Its chassis was stiffer than the outgoing Evo 7, and the car was treated like it was going to hit a rally stage at any moment with the chassis being spot welded, suspension mounts upgraded, and the suspension itself having an improved MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension setup.

The new bodywork also allowed for better cooling and higher performance aerodynamics.

James May had the following to say about his beloved Evo:

“Well, it’s quite an old car now. Like a lot of cars in that era –including my own 911, which is coming up to 12 years old now –they’re not classic cars. They’re still relatively modern, but they feel quite old-fashioned, because in recent years cars have become a lot more connected and a lot more touchscreen-y, and they just have more stuff on them.

“So the Evo just has some analogue instruments and a few buttons to press, and that’s about it. It’s an austerity spec car. Apart from the race-bred engine and a rally pedigree, in every other respect it’s a bit like an airport hire car. I like that all the effort has gone into making it work very well as a car, I suppose is what I mean.

“I also think it looks good, and it’s yellow. I always like yellow cars; they really give me a proper fizz. So when I saw it for the first time, before we left, I thought, ‘Wow, I’m really, really going to like two weeks of driving around in this car.’ I haven’t driven one for ages, but I remembered that they were great when they were new, and that was all tremendous. And then I celebrated that by driving it into a wall.”

Andy Wilman, the series producer, talked about the focus on the cars:

“We wanted to  celebrate these road-going rally cars because, in a snow and ice scenario, that’s what you would use. They’ve all got a track record, apart from Jeremy’s, of doing well in snow rallies, Finnish rallies, and so on, so they were the perfect cars because they’re exciting, and they have a passionate following. It was a no-brainer to pick those. Once you decide, ‘It’s about time we went and did some snow and ice,’ you do quickly get to those cars. You’re not going to do 4x4s, they’re boring by comparison.

He continued, adding that the edit favoured the cars over the location:

“Scandinavian culture is not that far removed, ultimately, from our viewers’ culture. There are differences, but it’s not something worth majoring on. It’s not like being in Vietnam, where the culture is fantastically different, or Central Africa. This is a completely different thing. It’s still Europe,so that’s one reason we didn’t do that. The other reason is it bounds along at quite a lick. It found its own pace. The first cut we did was two and a half hours –of very usable stuff –so almost an hour was cut out.

“Once you start that editing process, because the scenes are big and it’s a bit movie-like, you start to accelerate the pace organically. Whereas if we were in Africa or something like that, the journey is slower-paced, and the chit-chat is more prevalent. This one is a little bit more of a roller-coaster. Once you start doing that, culture doesn’t really get in –it’s about the three of them.”

Alex Harrington

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Richard Hammond to make Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show debut

Richard will be at the show on Friday 18 March as his 1972 MGB GT, the last car he drove on Top Gear, will be on the MG Car Club Young Members display in Hall 5. He will be filming for the second series of Richard Hammond’s Workshop which will feature some exciting plans for the GT.

He will also appear on the Practical Classics Classic World stage for an interview with editor Danny Hopkins at 3:15pm, where they will talk about the ‘Hamster’s’ adventures and his new restoration business.

This second series of Richard Hammond’s Workshop welcomes viewers back into the workshop as one of the UK’s most recognisable TV personalities continues to build his prestige classic car restoration business, The Smallest Cog, alongside the hardworking local family team of expert mechanics.

He said: “I’ve spent 25 years critiquing other people’s cars and now I’m putting my own work out there. My grandfather was an automotive craftsman, who knows, maybe I’ve inherited some of his skill!”

Richard will appear alongside other discovery+ favourites including Mike Brewer and Marc ‘Elvis’ Priestley who will be talking about the new series of Wheeler Dealers: Dream Car, which is available to stream on discovery+, as well as offering expert advice to visitors.

Former Wheeler Dealers mechanic Ant Anstead will also be at the show and will be building a Tipo 184 over the three show days with his team from Dowsett Classic Cars.

This kit car is a tribute to the iconic grand prix racing Alfa 158 that Ant created on his show Master Mechanic and is available as a factory-built car or a self-assembly kit, using a Mazda MX-5 as its donor car.

Ant will also be talking about the rebirth of Radford, the iconic motoring brand, with former F1 World Champion Jenson Button and his new discovery+ show Radford Returns.

• Final Carole Nash Barn Find display list revealed
• The National Car Club Awards return to the show with Judges Special Recognition award

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The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown

• Episode aired Jul 30, 2021

The presenters are celebrating the great 70s American cars they saw in TV shows, as they road trip around Scotland, creating chaos on the streets of Edinburgh and building a homemade floatin... Read all The presenters are celebrating the great 70s American cars they saw in TV shows, as they road trip around Scotland, creating chaos on the streets of Edinburgh and building a homemade floating bridge across the Hebridean sea. The presenters are celebrating the great 70s American cars they saw in TV shows, as they road trip around Scotland, creating chaos on the streets of Edinburgh and building a homemade floating bridge across the Hebridean sea.

• Phil Churchward
• Jeremy Clarkson
• Richard Hammond
• 77 User reviews
• 2 Critic reviews

• Self - Presenter
• (as Fat Frank Clarkson)

• (as Clint Hammond)

• (as Elvis May)

• Self - Driver
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia The pontoon bridge constructed by the National Pontoon Adventure Consultancy with some assistance from Clarkson, May and Hammond spanned around 1,000 feet from the coast near Griminish, North Uist to the nearby uninhabited tidal island of Vallay. The "spiky building" Clarkson suggests visiting with Hammond - supposedly the site of the fictitious town of Hammondsburg - is in real life Taigh Mòr, which in English means "Big House". The well-appointed Edwardian mansion boasted running water piped in from North Uist as well as fireplaces in every room. It was built in 1905 for Scottish textile manufacturer, historian and landscape photographer Erskine Beveridge, one of the heirs to the estate of an internationally-renowned tableware manufacturer. After his passing in 1920, the property was inherited by his son George, who drowned in 1944 while attempting to make the crossing from North Uist to Vallay at high tide. With no heirs, the mansion was abandoned soon after his death and its staff dismissed. In the three-quarters of a century since it has gradually become a ruin, and its story has been documented by Scottish-Indian writer, musician and academic Arun Sood, whose grandmother Katie MacNaughton was one of the last to leave the island.
• Connections References Cannon (1971)
• Soundtracks What Makes A Good Man? (uncredited) Written and Performed by The Heavy

User reviews 77

• lawrencelawrence86
• Jul 29, 2021
• July 30, 2021 (United Kingdom)
• United Kingdom
• Shaw Ridge Leisure Park, Swindon, England, UK (Stand in for American Car Commune, Outer Hebrides)
• Expectation Entertainment
• Television Interactive Network Agency
• W. Chump & sons
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 30 minutes

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Key Takeaways

• Top Gear trio, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, returned with The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime after leaving the original show.
• The Grand Tour evolved over 5 seasons, ditching the Top Gear format for adventure-based episodes filmed around the world.
• The Grand Tour will conclude in Zimbabwe after over 20 years of automotive adventures, as the trio pursue new projects individually.

If you were around, conscious and a self-proclaimed automotive enthusiast in the early 2000s, then you should distinctly know three names: Jeremy Clarkson , Richard Hammond and James May. These three British car enthusiasts hosted one of (if not) the most prolific automotive review shows, that started in 2002, named " Top Gear ." Top Gear was a no-holds bar, British automotive enthusiasts' show that had glitz, glamour and the Stig.

They had several different segments that covered automotive news, hot laps with new cars, celebrity guests and eventually turned it into a touring series where they would globe trot, partaking in all kinds of adventures with different automobiles. Unfortunately, the beloved TV series did not come without its fair share of controversies. As a result, Jeremey Clarkson was fired from the series. James May and Richard Hammond subsequently resigned in 2014.

Fast-forward to 2015 and rumors starting swirling around the internet that the three automotive musketeers were going to make a comeback in a "Grand" style. By the time 2016 rolled around, there was an official announcement that they were coming back to host their own TV series called, " The Grand Tour ." The Grand Tour is a carbon copy of Top Gear that has the guy's own twist on the series. We're going to go over the synopses of the series, tell you where you can stream it and cover the fact that it may be on its last tour.

HotCars has sourced information from IMDb and Amazon Prime, in order to bring you everything you need to know about streaming The Grand Tour .

Here's What Top Gear's "The Stig" Now Does As A Day Job

For years, Ben Collins was the silent driver in the white suit pushing supercars to their limits, and today, he continues that on the silver screen.

Here's Where You Can Stream Every Episode Of The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour consists of five seasons. Each episode is between one hour and 90 minutes in length. The first couple of seasons have a similar format to the original Top Gear. Instead of a dedicated location, they would film in a massive tent in different locations around the world. Finally, they ended up staying put in The Cotswolds, England.

When the third season premiered, they had completely trashed the idea of carbon copying Top Gear. Instead, they focused on making it a show of their own and really leaning into the "Grand Tour" aspect of the show. They sacked the studio audience, the tent and the hot laps for going on season-long adventures around the world .

When it comes to streaming these three famous gear heads, you have two options. It originally (and still does) air on Amazon Prime here in the US. Prime TV is included with your Amazon Prime membership, but if you do not want to buy a Prime membership for $140 a year, you can buy episodes in a pay-per-view format. You can also watch it for free (with advertisements) on FreeVee.

Where To Watch

• Amazon Prime: $14.99 per month.
• FreeVee - Free with created profile.

This Is The Best Road Trip Ever From A Top Gear Special

The Patagonia Special was arguably one of Top Gear's most memorable, with it being much more than Clarkson, Hammond, and May just driving cool cars.

The Grand Tour Seasons 1-3 Synopsis

Season one premiered November 18th, 2016 and is currently sitting at an 8.6 out of 10 rating on IMDB, titled: The Holy Trinity. The set-up of the first couple of seasons mimicked the format of Top Gear . The difference is that they re-titled the different segments to not only not be sued by the BBC, but also to give them their own style and flair. The first season had 13 episodes, and they went all over from Nambia to Stuttgart in Germany, engaging in their usual wacky antics.

They even poked fun at their last series. Whenever they have a "celebrity" on, they would have them perish in some horrendous accident behind the tent that was all a stunt to make fun of the "stars in a reasonably priced car" segment from Top Gear. There were hot laps, a news segment called "conversation street" and a Stig-like stand-in, who would actually show their face while driving the car of the week. Instead of the Stig, they employed "the American." Mike Skinner is his name, and he is a NASCAR driver that they would poke fun at while he was driving whatever car they threw at him.

The Contraversial Segment Top Gear Couldn't Air, According To The Stig

Ben Collins, aka The Stig, decided to reveal some of the most fascinating pieces of trivia from across his long career in TV and racing.

The Grand Tour Seasons 4-5 Synopsis

Releasing in December 2019, the producers scrapped the knock-off Top Gear format and instead stuck to their name and actually took the guys on a "Grand Tour." No longer was the studio audience, the segments, or the Stig with a face. In its place, they traveled to Cambodia and Vietnam, and even to Scotland. The year 2020 saw the inevitable COVID-19 pandemic which halted production.

Naturally, the pandemic caused complications for filming, but the trio persevered. In order to abide by UK laws at the time, which instructed individuals to restrict who they mix with, they each purchased a caravan in which they could travel in whilst filming, which was also the basis for the camera crew. By following these guidelines, the GT team were still able to deliver a new episode.

The Grand Tour Turned To "Special" Feature-Length Episodes

With the unfortunate rise of the pandemic, production of The Grand Tour turned season 4 into shorter specials that highlighted different adventures . Each episode was titled along the lines of: "The Grand Tour Presents: *Insert Special Title Here*" This is where the true nature of grand touring came into play. They took a detour from their typical four-wheeled vehicles and traded them in for speed boats to travel around Vietnam in "The Grand Tour Presents: Seamen."

The "Lochdown" episode is a cheeky title based on the fact that the guys take three of their favorite vintage American cars on a trip around Scotland. The final special consisted of the guys absolutely destroying different French cars by any means necessary and even driving some strange plane-type car.

Jeremy Clarkson Isn't The Only Top Gear Alumni That Now Has A Farm

Ben Collins AKA The Stig, decided to purchase his very own farm to produce cider.

The End Of The Grand Tour Has Been Announced

In November 2023, it was announced that the series would be coming to an end. In an interview with Variety magazine , Jeremy Clarkson actually stated that, "I’m unfit and fat and old." Unlike the end of Top Gear , the guys are going to be ending it on their own terms because, in all honesty, they've been doing it for over 20 years at this point. When announcing the end of The Grand Tour in the final 'normal' episode, Jeremy was understandably emotional.

They have climbed the highest peaks, crossed the hottest deserts , driven the nicest cars possible and are basically throwing in the towel. Maybe Jeremy just wants to tend to his farm. The final episodes are currently streaming on Prime and Freevee. The last episode will take place in Zimbabwe, but there has not been an official announcement on the release date. The three gearheads now enjoy unique projects of their own, such as Jeremy's new show, Clarkson's Farm , which is also available to stream on Amazon Prime. James May also enjoys a number of his own shows, in addition to having recently set up a gin company. Hammond runs his own classic car workshop, with a show on Discovery+, dubbed Richard Hammond's Workshop .

Sources: IMDB , Amazon Prime , Variety