- 2 months ago
In Episode 6 of Season 15, Jeremy, Richard and James review their dream machines — the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and Ferrari 599XX — to find out how far performance can go beyond normal road-legal limits. They also take part in a wedding chauffeur challenge in four-door luxury cars across Europe. Guest Cameron Diaz takes a lap in the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
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MotorTranscript
00:00:00Tonight, Richard wears a towel, James and I eat some crisps, and the fly is in our reasonably
00:00:20bright car. Hello, hello, thank you, thank you so much, thank you very much. Now, now there's
00:00:36a new Ferrari has come out, and the obvious person to test it is of course James May, because
00:00:42he actually owns a Ferrari. No, no, he does, he doesn't like to tell people, oh no I have,
00:00:48I've just told them, but anyway, because he likes to keep it a secret, someone else had
00:00:54to do it.
00:01:18This is all a bit strange. Because the 458 has a paddle operated gearbox, someone obviously
00:01:28thought that life back here would be a bit complicated if there were traditional indicator
00:01:34and wiper stalks as well, so they've got rid of them. The buttons which control these things
00:01:41are now on the steering wheel, along with other buttons for the headlights, the suspension
00:01:47settings, the dim dip, the side lights, the traction control, and the starter motor. And
00:01:55you don't have to drive very far to realise the problem this creates. The thing about a
00:02:01steering wheel is, it moves. So none of the buttons are ever where you left them. I mean,
00:02:08if I want to turn left now, I have to push this one on the right. Now that's the right,
00:02:14that's the left hand indicator. And if I want to turn on the lights, er, oh no, that's not
00:02:22it. This isn't like driving, it's like playing Pelmanism. And there's more. You see, there are
00:02:29two screens on either side of the rev counter. The one on the left tells me all sorts of
00:02:34things I'm not really very interested in. Er, the one on the right is a speedo or a sat-nav
00:02:41screen. You can't have both at the same time. So, you know where you are, you just don't
00:02:47know how fast you're going. This is likely to make life a bit body clenching when you go
00:02:53past the speed camera. Still, at least when you do and they send you a snap, you'll be
00:03:00able to pin it on the wall. And that'll be nice. Because, my God, this car's pretty.
00:03:06Of course, you probably think all Ferraris are pretty, but truth be told, the majority
00:03:13aren't, not really. Striking, yes, but pretty, no. This one, for example, is just vulgar.
00:03:22And even James' Ferrari, the 430, was a bit wrong. That smiling front end, it looked like
00:03:29a simpleton. Should have been called the 430 speciali needs. This, though, I think this
00:03:40is the first properly pretty Ferrari since the 308 came along back in 1975. Interestingly,
00:03:49though, Ferrari say it isn't art. They say it's science. For example, they say that when
00:03:55a wheel is turning, it forces air to move around in here, creating a high pressure. So,
00:04:01they've fitted these vents here, which channel air along here, pushing the car back down again.
00:04:08They say, too, that these vanes here on the front are forced down when the car's going
00:04:13quickly by 20mm, and that channels more air underneath the car, creating more downforce.
00:04:20Now, all that may be true, but I still maintain that those chiselled front wings,
00:04:25the way they go, they're like Kristin Scott Thomas' cheekbones.
00:04:33And it isn't just looks where it keeps ahead of the old 430.
00:04:39That car produced 483 horsepower, so, of course, you'd expect this to produce a bit more.
00:04:46490. Maybe 495. But you'd be wrong.
00:04:56Because this produces a stratospheric 562 horsepower.
00:05:02It would be interesting, therefore, to see how much faster this is than the now defunct 430.
00:05:10But there's a problem. You see, this is James' actual car.
00:05:14The car in which he keeps a little brush for cleaning the air vents.
00:05:17And he said we could borrow it, providing we didn't fiddle with any of the settings,
00:05:21or make it dirty in any way.
00:05:24These chocolate bars just go everywhere.
00:05:31Anyway, he also said I wasn't to drive it quickly.
00:05:37He made me promise that I wouldn't, for instance, do a drag race with it.
00:05:41And I said, James, I give you my word.
00:05:44I will not drive your car fast at all.
00:05:50I didn't, however, say anything about him.
00:05:54Okay, we're both going to use launch control.
00:06:00Push that button there.
00:06:01That absolutely knackers the clutch in a 430.
00:06:07Be okay in this, though, because it has a double-clutch system.
00:06:12Three, two, one, go!
00:06:15Whoa, that is 0-60 in 3.4 seconds.
00:06:28James' car is gone!
00:06:31It's just a humiliation!
00:06:33Four and a half litre V8 rubbish to 9000!
00:06:46I have no idea how fast I'm going now.
00:06:50I just know I'm somewhere near Guildford.
00:06:53So, the new car doesn't just beat the old one, it humiliates it, destroys it, crushes it.
00:07:09I think if I'd just bought a 430, I'd be feeling suicidal now.
00:07:14That sense that you could never drive it again, that you'd just look like such an idiot.
00:07:19Oh!
00:07:22But now it's time to answer the big one.
00:07:25What's the 458 like as a driver's car?
00:07:28What's it like when you show that glorious, finely-boned nose a whiff of track?
00:07:34You probably think it'll be brilliant.
00:07:38You probably imagine all Ferraris are magnificent when you put the hammer down.
00:07:43But again, the truth is, they aren't.
00:07:47The 348, for example, felt like it had tyres made from wood.
00:07:52The 275 had milk bottle tops for brakes.
00:07:56The engine in an F50 felt like it was bolted directly to your spine.
00:08:00And the 400 was simply awful in every way.
00:08:09So, the 458 then.
00:08:13All face and no trousers?
00:08:16Let's find out.
00:08:26Oh my God!
00:08:31This is incredible!
00:08:36It just feels so light!
00:08:43Never used to like flappy paddle gearboxes, but this is just sensational!
00:08:48What an astonishing car!
00:08:54Because the rear of the car is so planted,
00:08:59thanks to its new suspension system,
00:09:03they've been able to fit super-fast steering.
00:09:07Bang! The nose just darts in.
00:09:09What a machine!
00:09:10This is beyond anything!
00:09:23And listen to that noise!
00:09:27Sounds like a bear!
00:09:30A burning bear!
00:09:31A burning bear!
00:09:32A burning bear!
00:09:40I know this is £170,000 and that's a lot, even by Ferrari standards.
00:09:48But I don't care.
00:09:49I don't care about the Blanca's dash!
00:09:52I wouldn't even care if this thing ate one of my legs!
00:09:58The 458 is one of the all-time greats,
00:10:02and I promise I'm not saying that just to upset James.
00:10:05It really is absolutely, unbelievably, mesmerisingly brilliant.
00:10:18I think it might have been a bit ambiguous, that's the only trouble.
00:10:32Because I really, genuinely believe this...
00:10:36I think this is better than an F40.
00:10:39I never thought I'd say that, but it is unbelievably good.
00:10:42Let me just get this straight, then.
00:10:43In, like, evolutionary terms,
00:10:44Ferrari started with, like, an amoeba.
00:10:47Yeah.
00:10:48And then they evolved a bit to plankton.
00:10:49Yeah.
00:10:50And then there's some sort of creature that crawled out of the slime.
00:10:52That's where James brought in.
00:10:53That's the Ferrari.
00:10:54Yeah, he stepped in there.
00:10:55And then they leapt forward, really.
00:10:57And what we ended up with is Stephen Fry with Keira Knightley's face.
00:11:00So one massive leap!
00:11:01Yeah, one massive leap, just after...
00:11:03From where James' was to the next one.
00:11:04Yeah, you stepped in.
00:11:05Are you quite finished?
00:11:06No, you are.
00:11:07Yeah, completely.
00:11:08Well, not in the house of daylight, anyway, no.
00:11:10No, you can't.
00:11:12You ate a chocolate bar in my car.
00:11:14Well, it doesn't matter.
00:11:16You can't drive it anymore.
00:11:17Anyway, we must now find out how fast, well, how much faster this goes round our track
00:11:23than your useless old car that you can't drive anymore.
00:11:26That, of course, means handing it over to our tame racing driver.
00:11:30Some say that he's recently been releasing pop records under the pseudonym of Lady Gaga.
00:11:36And that, under his race suit, he also wears a red G-string and suspenders.
00:11:45All we know is, he's got the Stig.
00:11:49And he's off.
00:11:50No drama.
00:11:51No fuss.
00:11:52Launch control.
00:11:53Taking care of everything.
00:11:55Already looking better than a 430 or the idiot's Ferrari, as it's now known.
00:12:00Smoothly through the first corner.
00:12:03Very nice, indeed.
00:12:08Is that bald-headed woman?
00:12:10Weird lyric.
00:12:11Right, okay.
00:12:12Out of Chicago.
00:12:13Still looking pretty tidy.
00:12:14And very pretty, indeed.
00:12:16Hammerhead.
00:12:17Will this expose any problems?
00:12:20Not a bit of it.
00:12:22If I had a criticism, it's this car is almost too technical.
00:12:25Too precise.
00:12:29Still better than a 430.
00:12:31Now, follow through.
00:12:32Yep, lovely.
00:12:33Around 570 horsepower.
00:12:34Working hard.
00:12:35Quick through the tires and sounding good.
00:12:39Two corners left.
00:12:40Like Tom Cruise in our Kia.
00:12:42This car is so smooth.
00:12:43Makes it look effortless.
00:12:45Through Gambon on all four wheels.
00:12:47The cluster line.
00:12:50Okay.
00:12:52Now.
00:12:55Here's James' car, look.
00:12:57The Ferrari 430.
00:12:58One month, 22 days.
00:13:00Uh, and nine hours.
00:13:04458.
00:13:06119.1.
00:13:09So, look at that.
00:13:10Almost exactly the same time.
00:13:13As in Enzo.
00:13:15Kind of makes the Enzo make a mistake, doesn't it, really?
00:13:18And I'll make James to get an Enzo now.
00:13:21Couldn't be the right car.
00:13:22Now.
00:13:23Um, just briefly.
00:13:24Has anybody this week seen this in the newspapers?
00:13:27I mean, it's the most ridiculous.
00:13:29I think it was actually an accent thing.
00:13:31No, it was an accent.
00:13:32Because what she actually said was revolting, but it came out like fantastic.
00:13:36That's what she was saying.
00:13:37No, it's just, it's just.
00:13:38No, I think actually what's happened here, um, is they, they've had to cut the quote to make it fit on the newspaper.
00:13:42And they've had to take out an imbecile but James May is.
00:13:45Yeah.
00:13:46Which would have gone with that.
00:13:47No, she didn't say that James, because you didn't say one word to her when she was down here.
00:13:52Or you.
00:13:53Honestly, Tom Cruise arrived last week.
00:13:55These two.
00:13:56Ooh, Tom, I've got an old motorbike as well.
00:13:58Would you like to come?
00:13:59If you'd rather have her trousers and go off into the countryside and drink orange juice.
00:14:02No.
00:14:03We couldn't get near to Cameron because she was entirely surrounded by you.
00:14:07Oh.
00:14:08She, she hugged me three times.
00:14:11She's an actress, she was pretending you might.
00:14:14Not in my mind she wasn't.
00:14:16In her mind she was remembering the advice.
00:14:18Now, Cameron, hug the big monster and pretend it's not scary.
00:14:23She was sick, I saw it.
00:14:24I'm now on her to-do list.
00:14:28You're on her restraining order list, May, it's the only list you're on.
00:14:32Anyway, the news.
00:14:33Now, as you probably saw if you were watching the Grand Prix coverage last weekend,
00:14:36the Williams team bought Rubens Barrichello a t-shirt.
00:14:40Here he is wearing it.
00:14:44He looks really happy.
00:14:45Yeah, well, he is really happy.
00:14:46He's so happy, in fact.
00:14:47He's bought all the other Grand Prix drivers who've been down to Top Gear over the years t-shirts.
00:14:51And here's Jenson Button wearing his.
00:14:53Aww.
00:14:56I think that demonstrates that somebody in Formula One has got a sense of humor.
00:15:00Makes you wonder though, I wonder what Fernando Alonso's t-shirt would say.
00:15:06I made Felipe Massa give me this t-shirt.
00:15:10Did anyone see the Grand Prix last weekend?
00:15:14Yeah.
00:15:15The controversy.
00:15:16For those of you who didn't, what the rules say, rule 39-1 to be specific says,
00:15:21no team is allowed to, I think it's interfere isn't it, with the race result.
00:15:26What that means is you can't tell one of your drivers to pull over and let the other one go by.
00:15:30Okay?
00:15:31You can't do that.
00:15:32And to make sure the teams don't cheat, the stewards monitor the radio traffic between the pits and the cars.
00:15:37Okay?
00:15:38So Ferrari needed last week for Massa to get out of the way and let Alonso go by, so they used a coded message.
00:15:45Do you want to guess what it was?
00:15:46Was it, uh, Felipe, the rain in Paris falls in May?
00:15:51No it wasn't.
00:15:52The code was the blue badger flies over to the crafty cow.
00:15:55I don't know it's a code.
00:15:56No it wasn't that.
00:15:57What it actually said was, Fernando is faster than you, can you confirm you understand this message?
00:16:05It's not much of a code is it, really?
00:16:07It's not much breaking.
00:16:09If the German Navy had had a code like that in World War II, we'd have beaten them in about a week.
00:16:13Because it would have said, the destroyers are to the left.
00:16:18The interesting thing for me is the punishment.
00:16:19You may remember last year before, McLaren were caught looking over somebody's shoulder and copying their homework.
00:16:24And they were fined a hundred million dollars and had all their points taken away.
00:16:28Ferrari, for this infringement, were fined a hundred thousand dollars, which is what they pay Alonso every day.
00:16:35Really?
00:16:36That's all they were fined for completely corrupting the outcome of a World Championship.
00:16:40It's disgusting and actually the only honourable cause of action is that for all Ferrarians, all of them,
00:16:45to go outside now and smash their cars up.
00:16:48Yeah.
00:16:49I think burn them.
00:16:50Yeah, and then kill themselves.
00:16:51Yeah.
00:16:52Just because it's the only decent, the decent thing to do, really, all Ferrari owners.
00:16:56What I actually think, I'm not just saying this because of all that stuff you've just been through,
00:16:59but I think Ferrari were right, actually, to do that.
00:17:02I couldn't agree with you more.
00:17:03I mean, team orders, they should allow them, no question.
00:17:05Because if I run a team, I'd have one really fast car.
00:17:07Then I'd have some, well, me, basically, driving around at the back.
00:17:09And anyone who tried to lap me, I'd shoot them with a BB gun.
00:17:11That's a tip.
00:17:12Yeah.
00:17:13Or a paintball going...
00:17:15Yeah, just fit your second car with a massive wing that nobody can get past.
00:17:18It is.
00:17:19At the back, nobody can get past.
00:17:20Yeah, I'd definitely do that.
00:17:21Now, Peter Mandelson, you may remember, he introduced the scrappage scheme.
00:17:24The idea being that if you bought a new car, you could get 2,000 pounds, four-year-old one, irrespective of its actual value.
00:17:31Now, so many people took him up on his offer, they couldn't crush the cars fast enough.
00:17:36Seriously, they were building up on airfields.
00:17:38We've got a picture of the scale of the problem.
00:17:40Oh!
00:17:41They're all...
00:17:42I'll teach you not.
00:17:43Now, if you zoom in on the cars here that we're talking about, look at this.
00:17:46That's a Mercedes A-Class.
00:17:47That's a Mercedes E-Class, yeah.
00:17:48I thought I was Freelander then.
00:17:49I know, it's just...
00:17:50These are just cars.
00:17:51I mean, it's just fantastic.
00:17:52No, there's another picture here.
00:17:53There's some 4x4s there.
00:17:55I'm sorry, but look at that.
00:17:56There's Cherokees and Shoguns.
00:17:58Oh, Ted.
00:17:59I know, a Land Rover as well.
00:18:00The thing is, why didn't they just ring the Taliban and say, look, if you stop shooting
00:18:05at us, we'll give you a 1997 Shogun we've got part of here.
00:18:08We ought to make it clear, actually, that under this scrappage scheme, the cars that were
00:18:13taken off the road under the scheme when they were part of here have to be scrapped.
00:18:16They can't be sold.
00:18:17They have to be destroyed.
00:18:18All these cars have to be scrapped.
00:18:20If you think about it, all the energy that went into making these cars in the first place,
00:18:23now all the energy that's going to go into crushing them.
00:18:25And then all the energy that goes into making new cars for people who wouldn't otherwise
00:18:29have bought new cars if it wasn't for this scheme.
00:18:31It's all true.
00:18:32The BBC got some stick this week for allegedly over-promoting Peter Mantleson's new book,
00:18:38so let's redress that balance.
00:18:39Don't buy it.
00:18:40Nice.
00:18:41Let's balance it up a tree.
00:18:42That's even.
00:18:43That's fair.
00:18:44Well, folks, the BBC is welcome.
00:18:51Now, there's a new Nissan Micra out, and that is the end of the news.
00:18:56Now, a while back, our producers said to us that we ought to make a film except for
00:19:00we ought to make a film explaining why classic British sports cars like these were so awful
00:19:05and terrible and horrible in every way that people went out and bought hot hatchbacks instead.
00:19:11Yeah, but we didn't agree.
00:19:12We said, no, British sports cars weren't horrible.
00:19:15And then there was a bit of a rat.
00:19:17Huge rat.
00:19:18Massive.
00:19:19And what we then said to the producers was,
00:19:20now, look, Top Gear is shown all over the world.
00:19:23And even if British cars were terrible...
00:19:25Which they're not.
00:19:26No, they weren't.
00:19:27Even if British sports cars were terrible, we're not going to rush around the country
00:19:31saying, oh, everything's all horrible here, are we?
00:19:33No, exactly, you see, because Crocodile Dundee never went into the outback and said,
00:19:36oh, it's terrible, it's too hot, and it's full of spiders.
00:19:38No, I know.
00:19:39Jack Bauer doesn't run around America saying, don't come here, it's all full of terrorists,
00:19:43does he?
00:19:44The producers, though, were most insistent.
00:19:47So they gave each of us £5,000 and told us to buy a classic British sports car with it.
00:19:52And then we were told to report with our cars to the Lotus factory in Norfolk,
00:19:56where, as usual, we would be given some challenges.
00:20:00I was the first to arrive in a car from my era, the superb Jensen Healey.
00:20:11This is a beauty.
00:20:14Built by Jensen, designed by the father and son team that brought us the Healey 3.
00:20:21Styled by the same man who did the Aston Martin Lagonda and powered by a twin cam Lotus engine.
00:20:29You really can think of this, then, as being like one of those old 70s supergroups.
00:20:34Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
00:20:37Well, Young, but...
00:20:39Oh, there you go, here we go, speak of the devil.
00:20:42James, that is magnificent!
00:20:46A TVRS from your period.
00:20:48It is, it's TVRS 2, actually.
00:20:50It is too.
00:20:51Yeah, 170 horsepower Cologne Ford V6 from the Granada.
00:20:55Absolutely.
00:20:56No, this was superb.
00:20:57And the other thing as well about these, can you open the boot?
00:21:00Yes.
00:21:01Yes, I can.
00:21:02Because you know on the Antiques Roadshow...
00:21:03Yes.
00:21:04...they always look behind the clock face and they can tell who made it.
00:21:07Oh, the maker's mark.
00:21:08Yeah.
00:21:09Well, normally, on a TVR, if you look underneath the carpets or the roof lining or something like that,
00:21:15you often find a clue as to who built the car.
00:21:18Have you got something?
00:21:19Yes.
00:21:20There you go.
00:21:21This was made by a man called...
00:21:22Nobby?
00:21:23Nobby, I think.
00:21:24Yes, Nobby.
00:21:25So you just don't get that on a...
00:21:26On a Golf, say.
00:21:27Or a Ferrari.
00:21:28Yeah.
00:21:29When we admired our wonderful cars, Richard arrived in a little gem from his youth, a Lotus Elan.
00:21:39Oh, yes!
00:21:40Yes!
00:21:41Ho-ho!
00:21:42It's come back!
00:21:43Oh, yeah.
00:21:44It's come home!
00:21:45Yep, it has.
00:21:46Isn't this...
00:21:47It's a poetic moment, actually.
00:21:48The last Elan here, back at Lotus.
00:21:51That's terrific.
00:21:52It's magnificent.
00:21:53It is.
00:21:54It came out.
00:21:55That square stance it had.
00:21:56Nobody built a square car before.
00:21:57No.
00:21:58Nobody had done that.
00:21:59It was...
00:22:00Yeah, there were reasons for that.
00:22:01Apparently that the plastic used to shrink.
00:22:03And they didn't know that the suppliers had come with a new plastic that didn't shrink.
00:22:06So it was wider than expected.
00:22:07It was wider than expected.
00:22:08But...
00:22:09This is ingenuity, making the best of it.
00:22:10I mean, it was the same, the TBR, plastic.
00:22:12Okay, plastic.
00:22:13There's something...
00:22:14Plastic.
00:22:15Plastic body.
00:22:16It just sounds like...
00:22:17And the engine in this wasn't Lotus, was it?
00:22:18No.
00:22:19It's Isuzu.
00:22:20But that's Japanese reliable.
00:22:21When they tested one of these, they ran it round a race track for 24 hours straight.
00:22:24Yeah.
00:22:25For 22 of those hours, it didn't break down.
00:22:27Seriously?
00:22:28As we chatted, a challenge arrived.
00:22:31You read it, Hammond.
00:22:32You will now race around the Lotus test track to see which of your ridiculous cars is best.
00:22:37Ridiculous?
00:22:38Does it say ridiculous?
00:22:39Steady on.
00:22:40It actually says ridiculous.
00:22:41It goes on.
00:22:42And then you must put the Stig in a car that wiped your British sports cars off the map.
00:22:47A Peugeot 205 GTI and set a time.
00:22:51What, it seriously thinks a crummy little French hatchback can beat these purpose-built cars?
00:22:57Have we got to get the Peugeot?
00:22:59It says we've got to put them in it, yes.
00:23:01First, though, we did some laps in our classic British sports cars.
00:23:11Oh, this is a stirring scene.
00:23:13Three great British sports cars pairing across the British landscape.
00:23:20I love the sound of a twin cam.
00:23:23Engine noise you're hearing, not the trickster.
00:23:26Engine noise you don't want to do, no.
00:23:28Engine noise me.
00:23:29Engine noise you want to say no.
00:23:30Engine noise.
00:23:31Engine noise you must do.
00:23:32Engine noise.
00:23:39There's 987 kilograms because it's made from canoe building materials.
00:23:45Sorry, scrum, no, because it's made from composites.
00:23:48Critically, the Elan is front-wheel drive because it's just better.
00:23:55At the same time this car was coming out, Mazda were bringing out the MX-5 rear-wheel drive, old-fashioned.
00:24:02And as a result, the MX-5 never really caught on.
00:24:06And it sold in massive numbers for decades.
00:24:10But it didn't have the same exclusivity that the Elan did, which never sold in the same vulgar, brash numbers.
00:24:20Sometimes with this engine you do notice that the oil pressure could drop alarmingly in a fast corner.
00:24:26It's okay, the engine would never blow up because normally the water pump would go first.
00:24:30A very useful feature, that.
00:24:32When you press the throttle in the TVR, there is a slight delay before anything happens.
00:24:38A lot of people thought this was a fault, but actually a very innovative safety feature.
00:24:43I'll demonstrate. Driving along, you press the throttle and the car says, are you sure?
00:24:49Are you sure?
00:24:51Oh, all right then.
00:24:54Look at that TVR in my mirror.
00:24:56And that gents cornering so flat.
00:24:59A little bit of history for you.
00:25:05After the Second World War, which we won, Britain was littered with disused airfields.
00:25:13And many of them, like this one in fact, were converted into racetracks.
00:25:17And it was on these twisting, turning racetracks that the lightweight, nimble British sports car was sort of developed and honed.
00:25:28We could have gone round all day, but the producer said we must pull in and post our lap times.
00:25:39The time has come, Hammond, would you reveal your fastest lap?
00:25:42My fastest lap in my Lotus Elan was two minutes and nine seconds.
00:25:46Two minutes and nine seconds.
00:25:47Blistering.
00:25:47That is, there's no other word.
00:25:48It is?
00:25:49There is no other word blistering, James.
00:25:50It felt right here.
00:25:51TVRS 2, my fastest lap time was 215.9.
00:25:56215.9.
00:25:57And here, the 1970s, Jensen-Healey, 217.9.
00:26:01So what we can see here is progress.
00:26:03Well, as you'd expect from the British sports car industry, that's very good.
00:26:06Mm-hm.
00:26:07That's even better.
00:26:08The cars have come on decade by decade.
00:26:10Absolutely.
00:26:11And now it's time to find out how fast the Stig can go round in this Peugeot 205 GTI.
00:26:17It doesn't look like a GTI.
00:26:19No, no, I couldn't get a GTI, so I got a diesel, and they're basically the same.
00:26:23I get the same thing, pretty much.
00:26:24Okay, Stig, start it up.
00:26:29The Stig wound up the Peugeot and began his flying lap.
00:26:33Here we go, and...
00:26:34Time in.
00:26:35Go!
00:26:36Okay, we're off.
00:26:39I think the reason I couldn't get a GTI, I suspect, is because they've all rusted away,
00:26:45or been crashed, or fallen to pieces.
00:26:48The handling was terrible on there, so they were crashed a lot.
00:26:51Oh!
00:26:52Any thoughts with your car?
00:26:53No.
00:26:54Any thoughts with yours?
00:26:55No, and did you know, in the whole history of TBR, there is no recorded incident of one ever breaking down.
00:27:00I've heard that.
00:27:02And here he comes.
00:27:05Yes!
00:27:06209, 215, 217 for us.
00:27:11222.0.
00:27:14Point, I think.
00:27:15I don't think we need to go on.
00:27:16Let's be honest.
00:27:17Which we all know.
00:27:18Exactly.
00:27:19Well, we seem to have another challenge here.
00:27:20I don't know what it can possibly say.
00:27:21You will drive from the Lotus factory, which is now owned by the Malaysians because the British made such a mess of everything,
00:27:28when they were in charge, that's not strictly true, to the grave of TBR in Blackpool via the site of the long gone Jensen factory in the West Midlands.
00:27:38This is a journey of 280 miles, and that in kilometres is 5,000.
00:27:43Yes, just over there.
00:27:44Which is impossible in your cars, but no problem at all for the Stig, who will be shadowing you in a practical, well-made, much faster Vauxhall Astra GSI.
00:28:01We lined up on the start line for our trip across Britain's historic and beautiful Midlands.
00:28:08I've never looked forward to a journey more.
00:28:12We do have a magnificent flag in Britain.
00:28:15I mean, that one's on upside down, but...
00:28:18Beautiful flag.
00:28:19Okay.
00:28:20Let the journey commence.
00:28:27Oh, Lord.
00:28:32Oh, dear.
00:28:33Is that the Astra?
00:28:34Yeah.
00:28:35It was a known fault that they would blow up sometimes.
00:28:38Don't you remember that?
00:28:39Yeah, yeah.
00:28:40I had two friends who had those, and they blew up.
00:28:41Yeah, absolutely.
00:28:42It's really annoying, because if you're late for something, I'll get in the car, bang!
00:28:45Oh, it's...
00:28:46Oh, dear.
00:28:47Yeah.
00:28:48So, there we are.
00:28:49There is the German-made hatchback.
00:28:52The German-made hatchback has exploded, and all the British-made sports cars are working perfectly.
00:28:59Hang on.
00:29:00What?
00:29:01Won't start.
00:29:02Oh.
00:29:04In a jiffy, though, we got the fabulous TVR going again, and set off.
00:29:15It is extraordinary when you look at the British car industry today to think what it was like in the past.
00:29:20I mean, in 1913, there were 140 different car makers in Britain.
00:29:27140!
00:29:29In 1946, we exported 98,000 cars, and imported 63.
00:29:37Not 63,000.
00:29:3963, in total.
00:29:41Just beggars belief that it's all gone so wrong so fast.
00:29:51Ah.
00:29:52Yeah, that's...
00:29:53That's one of the clips that holds the roof on at the front.
00:29:58Fallen off.
00:30:01But here's the thing.
00:30:02Lotus has always been about lightness.
00:30:05And by shedding parts, like this roof clip, that's proven to be extraneous, it can survive perfectly well with just one on this side.
00:30:14It's making itself lighter.
00:30:20Look at England.
00:30:23It's beautiful.
00:30:25I'll just wipe the windscreen so you can have a better look at it.
00:30:31It's marvellous.
00:30:35Just noticed Richard Hammond's lumber plate.
00:30:38It's an anagram of Liar, which today is very appropriate.
00:30:43Oh, and James' look, that's an anagram of Gosh, and that fits as well.
00:30:48A lot of anagrams going on here.
00:30:57This is very clever.
00:30:59The neat venting system around the driver's window here, that allows the cooling, refreshing breezy to keep you alert, also allows just enough rain to come in.
00:31:10Just splash gently against your face and let you know it's raining.
00:31:15Be careful.
00:31:16That's a safety feature.
00:31:19Another safety feature were the fantastically uncomfortable seats fitted to a Jensen, which meant you couldn't drive too far without taking a break.
00:31:29Ah.
00:31:34Yep, yep, yep.
00:31:36There you go.
00:31:37We've done about 20 miles so far, which, if you're watching this abroad, is about 700 or 800 kilometres.
00:31:42Oh, dude, come on.
00:31:48My back, I mean, after a distance like that, your back is going to suffer a bit.
00:31:521989, this car had a mobile phone fitted.
00:31:56I imagine it was enormous.
00:31:5937 pounds, 38 pounds to fill it up.
00:32:03It's about 50 US cents to fill it.
00:32:07Just pop that shut.
00:32:09While they attempt to, um, close my petrol filler cap, I'm going to choose some music for the next leg of my car.
00:32:30And the good thing about having an eight track is that, um, you can't get N-dubs in this format or basement jacks.
00:32:49It's just good stuff.
00:32:50Blue Oyster Cult, Elton John, Bowie.
00:32:53We ploughed on and soon we reached the beautiful city of Birmingham.
00:33:09There are more shopping trolleys in the canals here than there are in Venice.
00:33:14But this is right in the heart of car building territory.
00:33:18I mean, my grandfather was in the car building business.
00:33:21Everybody was.
00:33:25Eventually, we arrived in the beauty spot that is Carter's Green, West Bromwich.
00:33:32And it was here, in this very factory, that Jeremy's Jensen was born.
00:33:41Think of all the people who ran in through doors full of optimism and went, I have a brilliant idea!
00:33:46Through there? Yeah.
00:33:47They also made the Interceptor FF here, the first ever four-wheel-drive production car.
00:33:56It was the brainchild of this man, Major Tony Rott, one of the team behind the glider that was built in Colditz.
00:34:04I wonder what he'd actually feel if he could see this place now.
00:34:10He'd probably wonder why he ever bothered trying to escape from Colditz, to be honest.
00:34:14In the mid-1970s, 26% of the British workforce was employed in some way by the manufacturing sector.
00:34:28Today, it's 9%.
00:34:30It's not that we don't make sports cars anymore.
00:34:36We don't make anything.
00:34:44As darkness fell, we headed on to our overnight stop.
00:34:47You know, Artie has realised something.
00:34:51It probably looks as though I'm driving along, huddled in a towel, to keep warm and dry because the window won't shut and it's raining in.
00:35:00But that's not the case.
00:35:02The window's open because it's so warm.
00:35:06And a little bit of drizzle, let's not call it rain, is keeping me cool.
00:35:08Eventually, I became so hot, I decided I had to pull over to try and seal the gap.
00:35:15Hammond, why are we stopping here?
00:35:18Fearful the producers might be listening, Hammond had to think fast.
00:35:22Picnic. I fancied a picnic. Just, you know, soak it in. Enjoy the view.
00:35:28Do you want some crisps?
00:35:29Yes, please.
00:35:31Cornish pasty.
00:35:33See that church?
00:35:34Mm.
00:35:36That was built in the Italian Renaissance.
00:35:38Yeah.
00:35:39You can see the frescoes inside.
00:35:40Mm.
00:35:58Picnic over, we cruise to our overnight halt, with our cars still running beautifully.
00:36:04Hold on now.
00:36:10Have you just run something over?
00:36:14Just a warning noise to tell you you're on full lock.
00:36:18Yeah, that's a safety feature.
00:36:20Edit that out.
00:36:25We'll set that up later on.
00:36:27But now it's time to put a star in our reasonably priced car.
00:36:34A couple of weeks ago we had Andy Garcia last week, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.
00:36:39So we were thinking, well, there's no way we'll be able to get a big Hollywood name this week.
00:36:44But then we remembered, hang on, Jonathan Ross isn't on anymore.
00:36:48So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome star of two of the highest grossing films of all time.
00:36:55Jeff Goldblum!
00:36:56Jeff Goldblum!
00:37:02What an honor!
00:37:04Another, um, not as good as Cameron's.
00:37:08Jeff Goldblum, everybody, is here!
00:37:09On our Pokey Motoring Show!
00:37:13Yeah, thank you.
00:37:15And, um, what an absolute honor to find someone who's the right size.
00:37:22Now, obviously we had Tom Cruise last week.
00:37:24Yes, sir.
00:37:25Spoke a lot about fighter planes.
00:37:26I'm thinking we won't be doing that with you.
00:37:28Fighter planes?
00:37:29No.
00:37:30Although I was in the right stuff.
00:37:32Of course you were.
00:37:33I had a little part in the right stuff.
00:37:34I wasn't one of the fighter pilots.
00:37:35I was a...
00:37:36You were the man that ran into the room and said...
00:37:38They beat us.
00:37:39Sputnik.
00:37:40Here comes Sputnik.
00:37:41It's called Sputnik.
00:37:42It's called Sputnik.
00:37:43It's called Sputnik.
00:37:44That's right, that's right.
00:37:45That was your line.
00:37:46But, of course, the films we know you best for.
00:37:47The three, well, the three big ones.
00:37:49Obviously, The Fly and Jurassic Park and Independence Day.
00:37:53You play a boffin.
00:37:54A what?
00:37:55A boffin.
00:37:56How do we say boffin in American?
00:37:57Anybody?
00:37:58It must be British-speak.
00:37:59I've never heard that word.
00:38:00Yeah, but not really.
00:38:01Geek.
00:38:02I don't say geek.
00:38:03You can't read the Jeff Goldblum.
00:38:04I want to say geek.
00:38:05Geek, no.
00:38:06But boffin, that's the British...
00:38:07Boffin means...
00:38:08Techno...
00:38:09Person.
00:38:10Kind of mathematician.
00:38:11Academic.
00:38:12Yeah.
00:38:13Yeah.
00:38:14I have to ask this.
00:38:15You know Independence Day.
00:38:16You get up there.
00:38:17Yeah.
00:38:18You insert the virus.
00:38:19Yeah.
00:38:20How do you have the right lead?
00:38:21Because I...
00:38:22I never have the right lead for my computer.
00:38:24And yet you're in this alien spaceship and I thought that was pretty bloody clever.
00:38:27I was supposed to be very smart.
00:38:29You're really smart.
00:38:30Figuring things out that you didn't even know I was figuring out.
00:38:33Yeah.
00:38:34I was very impressed with that.
00:38:35Nevertheless.
00:38:36So you're over here in London right now appearing in...
00:38:39A lovely play by Neil Simon, the great Neil Simon called Prisoner of Second Avenue.
00:38:43You're at the Vaudeville Theatre eight times a week, 7.30 at night, 2.30 on Saturdays
00:38:48and Thursdays.
00:38:49Until the end.
00:38:50And ticket prices.
00:38:51Comfortable seats available.
00:38:52Available well within the reach.
00:38:53And we do it till the end of September.
00:38:54One of the things I must have actually fascinated by is you are, let's be honest, a big name,
00:38:59okay?
00:39:00You've appeared in, as I said, two of the highest grossing films of all time.
00:39:04So what is it that causes you to say, right, I'm going to go and appear and play in London?
00:39:09Why do you want to do that?
00:39:10Well, the theatre in London.
00:39:13London is, first of all, a world, one of the great cities of the world.
00:39:16It's just a thrill to be here.
00:39:17And the theatre here has a tradition and a standard of excellence that is the highest anywhere.
00:39:24And so this is the height for me.
00:39:26So it's acting is what we're talking about here.
00:39:28It's because you have a great love of acting.
00:39:31I do.
00:39:32Now, cars.
00:39:33What do you drive now?
00:39:34I've got an SUV Mercedes M-Class.
00:39:37Here's how the story, it's kind of an interesting story or not so interesting, but here's the
00:39:40story.
00:39:41In 1990, whenever the second Jurassic Park came out.
00:39:43The Lost World.
00:39:44The Lost World.
00:39:45You know, they introduced on film the M-Class, that SUV Mercedes in that film.
00:39:49They were camouflaged and we took them on the adventure.
00:39:51They told me a few months later when the film came out, hey, if you show up at one of our
00:39:55international sales meetings and say hello to everybody, we'll give you one.
00:40:00I said, okay.
00:40:02I did like that.
00:40:05They gave me one and that's the car I'm still driving.
00:40:08So you just got a free car and then, well, just stick with it.
00:40:13That's correct.
00:40:14Now, in the meantime, and I know you have a sort of strong feelings about this, but I
00:40:18got a Prius several years ago.
00:40:20No, no.
00:40:21There they go.
00:40:22I just want to make this quite, since Cameron came here last week and she's very much in
00:40:26love with me and she's converted me to environmentalism and I like the Prius now because she's got one.
00:40:32Sweet, sweet.
00:40:33Well.
00:40:34Just because she didn't fancy you lot.
00:40:37So I, but I want, but I want a new car maybe and I'm open minded to what is the most environmental
00:40:43because I like that idea.
00:40:45As do I.
00:40:46You know.
00:40:47But I want a fun car too.
00:40:49Let's see if we can't work out what this car should be.
00:40:52Come on.
00:40:53What do we think?
00:40:54What should Jeff drive?
00:40:55A Bugatti Veyron.
00:40:56I'm not sure that fulfills the environmental side of it.
00:41:00I see you in something Italian.
00:41:02Well, my older brother had a love affair with the Lancia Aurelia.
00:41:06Really?
00:41:07Years ago.
00:41:08Yes.
00:41:09And had one.
00:41:10He was a car fanatic and he was restoring it and tinkering with it every day.
00:41:12Tinkering with it when you have a Lancia is another way of saying, trying to make it
00:41:16start.
00:41:17Just so you know.
00:41:18Yeah, I don't know.
00:41:19Just go to a Lancia and, okay, I better just tinker with it for a bit and see if we
00:41:22can coax some life into the thing.
00:41:23Has anyone else got any more thoughts?
00:41:25An Evo?
00:41:27Do you, how stupid do you think he looks?
00:41:32An Evo?
00:41:33No.
00:41:34An Evo, it's a car driven by people who look like this.
00:41:40When you say to them, what do you drive?
00:41:41I say, I've got an Evo.
00:41:43Evo.
00:41:44Evo.
00:41:45Yeah, that's it.
00:41:46You could have one actually.
00:41:47You're very good at that.
00:41:49Anyway, we get on to the whole business of the day here.
00:41:53You arrived and you had, like Christopher Eccleston, the actor, the former Doctor Who,
00:41:58who came down, he could not drive a manual car.
00:42:01So we found an automatic and you say it broke down.
00:42:04Here's what happened.
00:42:05Yeah.
00:42:06They didn't tell me that the automatic, even at its best, would be slower.
00:42:10Yeah.
00:42:11Did you not feel that?
00:42:12One second slow as a 60.
00:42:13Well, I didn't know.
00:42:14I mean, I hadn't done the other one.
00:42:15But anyway, luckily it broke down.
00:42:17And I thought, oh no, what do I do?
00:42:20Now, I have to really learn the thing.
00:42:21So I learned the thing and then they told me, well, you know, this is going to be a little
00:42:24faster car.
00:42:25Anyway, I said, oh, well, that's good.
00:42:26So you went to the manual.
00:42:27Now, here's what a little bird has told me.
00:42:29You did the entire lap apart from the stars in third gear.
00:42:36Well, this is the first I've heard that that might not be advisable.
00:42:42I said, I was the great teacher.
00:42:45Yeah.
00:42:46The wizard was, I said, I, I, he said.
00:42:49The Stig you mean?
00:42:50Yes.
00:42:51The wizard's, he's a wizard as well now.
00:42:52I didn't know he was a wizard.
00:42:53He can do anything.
00:42:54He's a magical, magical man.
00:42:55He, he, you know, he got me through the first, here's first, second.
00:42:58And I said, and third, he said, stay in third.
00:43:00Now, why would the Stig do that?
00:43:02And I'm sure he had his reasons.
00:43:04He was masterful and I, I, I adore him.
00:43:07But, uh, what happened?
00:43:08It was not, not good to stay in third?
00:43:10No, really.
00:43:11No, no, no.
00:43:12Cause coming down the back straight, you need to be in fourth and even fifth.
00:43:15Cause the car will go to a hundred miles an hour, but not in third.
00:43:17Well, it will, but vowels will come out.
00:43:19I'm very upset cause I was thinking I was enjoying it no end.
00:43:24And, and once I, you know, it's got, got the hang of what to do.
00:43:27When you're coming, when you're really, uh, pressing it and you're going on,
00:43:30I went, geez, I wish there was more car under me.
00:43:33You know, I wish it would do more.
00:43:35But is it something you've done before ever driving around a track?
00:43:38No, no, never, never, never, never in my life.
00:43:41Never in my life.
00:43:42No, this was.
00:43:43Yeah.
00:43:44But who would like to see Jeff slap, bearing in mind,
00:43:46he's never driven around a track before and was in third the entire way.
00:43:51Yeah.
00:43:52Go on then Jeff.
00:43:53Let's have a look here.
00:43:54Okay.
00:43:55All right.
00:43:56You see that's first and then second and third.
00:43:59I understand.
00:44:00Yeah.
00:44:01That's second.
00:44:02I saw it change.
00:44:03All right, baby.
00:44:04Feeling better with that, uh, stick.
00:44:07Feeling stick.
00:44:08That's gear, gear lever.
00:44:10Oh, that's late break.
00:44:12So still in court.
00:44:13Yes.
00:44:14Okay.
00:44:15Well, there we are.
00:44:16He got round nicely.
00:44:17Very nicely, actually.
00:44:18Really?
00:44:19Yep.
00:44:20Can you believe that?
00:44:21No.
00:44:22Watch this.
00:44:23Don't say watch this.
00:44:24It's the international precursor to all big crashes when a man says,
00:44:26Watch this!
00:44:27Really?
00:44:28But you didn't crash having said watch this.
00:44:30I wish it was faster right here.
00:44:32I'm putting it to the floor, but I wish I had more car.
00:44:34That's what I said.
00:44:35Yes, go into fourth.
00:44:36That's what I said.
00:44:37Second gear here, or were you in third still?
00:44:39Third.
00:44:40I didn't know fourth.
00:44:41I did not know fourth or fifth would give me more power.
00:44:44Yeah, that's a third.
00:44:45Yes, you need to go in second, and then that'll go a bit more.
00:44:49Yeah, I wish I had more stick.
00:44:51I didn't do that.
00:44:53The stick.
00:44:54Pull the stick back.
00:44:55Listen to it.
00:44:56Oh, my God.
00:44:57Valves are bouncing out through the bonnet.
00:45:00Third gear, listen to the little thing.
00:45:03Absolutely.
00:45:04You must have been sitting with the revs right on the red line.
00:45:07Oh, that's a good line through that corner.
00:45:09That is third.
00:45:10And here we go.
00:45:11All four wheels.
00:45:12Yes, very un-Tom Cruise-like.
00:45:14And there we are.
00:45:15First line, everybody.
00:45:24That's a whole new thing.
00:45:26Anyway, here are the people who've been around so far.
00:45:30We've got the 144.2 sitting at the top with Mr. Cruise.
00:45:33Yeah.
00:45:34And then the 149.9 was the slowest we've ever had around here,
00:45:38who's a man called Nick Robinson.
00:45:40So, where do you think you've come?
00:45:42I mean, I must come last.
00:45:44I must be in last.
00:45:46You...
00:45:47Yeah.
00:45:48Yeah.
00:45:51Oh, this is a bitter pill.
00:45:52Because on the track, they were saying, you know,
00:45:54as I was doing another lap or two, they were saying, you know,
00:45:57jeez, and you just learned this may be a very happy ending.
00:46:01Uh, uh, just fix another thing or two.
00:46:03And I thought I was, like, breaking records or something.
00:46:07You were breaking records.
00:46:08Uh-oh.
00:46:09Uh-oh.
00:46:10No, no, no.
00:46:11You did it.
00:46:12In third gear.
00:46:14In one.
00:46:15Forty.
00:46:16Nine.
00:46:17Dead.
00:46:18You did not hurt.
00:46:19Despite that.
00:46:20You're a first jet.
00:46:21And a piece of 23 to a message.
00:46:24Congratulations.
00:46:25Thank you very much.
00:46:26Yeah.
00:46:27Really lucky.
00:46:28Are you pleased?
00:46:29Are you proud?
00:46:30Yes.
00:46:31Yes.
00:46:32I'm happy as a clam.
00:46:33Excellent.
00:46:34Ladies and gentlemen, how are you?
00:46:35Has that been a pleasure?
00:46:36Are you pleased?
00:46:37Are you proud?
00:46:38Yes.
00:46:39Yes.
00:46:40I'm happy as a clam.
00:46:41Excellent.
00:46:42Ladies and gentlemen, how are you?
00:46:43How are you pleased?
00:46:44How are you?
00:46:45How are you?
00:46:46a clam excellent ladies and gentlemen what a huge pleasure to have you here very best of luck with
00:46:51the play Jeff Goldblum everybody now tonight we are on a quest to prove that old British sports
00:47:04cars were brilliant yeah meanwhile our producers are on a quest to prove that the reason they were
00:47:10killed off by hot hatchbacks is because they were better so we now rejoin the action for a safe
00:47:16test at the top-secret pro-drive test track just off the a4177 between Honolulu and Battlesley Clinton
00:47:27to try and show us that hot hatchbacks are safer than our cars the producers asked the stick to
00:47:32get into a Citroen ax GT which would then be dragged by a special cable into the side of a lorry at 50
00:47:40miles an hour didn't do well at all did it well there it is that's the benchmark and that is that's
00:48:01a fail isn't it that's a fail yeah we then decided that because we're a team only one of us needed to
00:48:09actually do this test should I wear a crash helmet oh if anything goes wrong here a crash helmet will
00:48:16make no difference it'll make it easier to find his head in one place this is the safest thing anyone has
00:48:23ever done this is look at the inertia reel seatbelt you get in the Jensen could you just make that go a
00:48:29bit further in the back I don't want you ever to say that to me again you see how cheerful am I about
00:48:39what I'm about to do yeah I'm gonna have Tony Christie on in the 8-track seatbelt is on strong dependable
00:48:52how safe is this car that's a pass that is a pass that's a pass thank God he wasn't in that little
00:49:19Citroen having proved as a team that our cars are safer than hot hatches we continued onwards and
00:49:28soon we were in a very special place this is where Richard Hammond was actually born this is a
00:49:38beautiful town Richard you're very lucky to have been born here Hammond am I ever fond memories
00:49:44as mania complete home furnishings that's where the Queen buys all her furniture happy communities
00:49:53man cleaning windows was he breaking in no he's cleaning yeah sadly my trip down memory lane was
00:50:03interrupted by the producers who said we must go to a petrol station where they would test our cars
00:50:10waterproofness Shakespeare country this I know I noticed Shakespeare's estate agent yeah very much
00:50:16I presume we're having to do the tests of the waterproofing of the cars in a car wash because
00:50:21it's so rarely rains in Britain yeah when would it happen so we need to do that yeah okay what is
00:50:27that nothing it's um I've parked over an oil spill can I just check that yeah well you parked over a bit
00:50:35of hanging off bodywork as well to try and stop the producers endlessly filming the boring oil spill James
00:50:42started the test do your worst a lot of people do like to turn up and watch cars being washed around
00:50:50Solihull and Shirley edit that out the TBR passed with flying colors Death Valley
00:51:02and so did the Jensen nuclear submarines have more leaks than this does so then I lined up the Lotus
00:51:14there's a bit there is a bit coming in I'll be honest yeah some let's have a look I'll be
00:51:23staggered if he's dry no it's fine yeah I spilt my drink oh just as it was it just water yeah just
00:51:31just water and a bit of soap to then prove again to the producers why hot hatchbacks were so poor we
00:51:39asked the stick to take a Ford Escort XR 3i through the same car wash stick ever been to a car no it'll be
00:51:49a whole new experience for it so what do you think well it's got a solid roof
00:51:59what is that coming out of the sky now that's a bit of overspray from the car wash
00:52:07he's coming now gentlemen here he comes now oh it's not gone well oh my god actually now I come to
00:52:23think of it this is the main reason I didn't buy an XR 3i I lost a couple of friends like it and it's
00:52:30one of the reasons the insurance premiums were so yes hi it's because of this leaking issue
00:52:37boys by yet another victory we rolled on up our equivalent of highway 1 towards Blackpool
00:52:50God now this is something like if you're watching this abroad it's something I've never seen before
00:52:56road works on a British motorway that's that is unusual but then we were made to turn off highway 1
00:53:06I don't know why the producers have made us come through Stoke rather than round it but I'm mighty
00:53:13glad they did we three can count ourselves amongst the four million tourists visiting Stoke every year
00:53:21the key cars beginning to smell like I need a picnic again what do you fancy oil sort of biscuits
00:53:32one of the more popular places in England this for a picnic the reason is that house there you see
00:53:38the lilac one for a long can you see that Robbie Williams lives there you admired it for long enough
00:53:45yeah sure it's a good idea when you stop to check your engines still there anyway you may well just
00:53:49you know look that's nice lovely better for seeing that have you had your picnic I've had a lovely
00:53:55picnic and I'm absolutely full again would you be needing a picnic again another hour or so and I
00:54:00want a quick picnic before Blackpool just a little one Blackpool was now just 15 miles away but the
00:54:09producers infuriated by our good progress ordered us to pull over at a garden centre for yet another
00:54:15challenge one of the main reasons people switch from British sports cars to European hot hatchbacks
00:54:24apart from reliability price comfort speed and handling I don't think so as we've proved is
00:54:30practicality to prove this point you will load up a golf GTI with items from the garden centre and then
00:54:37you'll see how much you can get in your cars this is a mark one GTI the first of the breed the breed
00:54:48that killed the British sports car so let's see what we can get in to that boot whoa careful I shall
00:55:00open the boot we'll just oh you need to take my parcel shelf down yeah there it is there you go lovely
00:55:09no ah no there you see if you can't get a rose arch in a golf GTI what can you get exactly after a
00:55:24quick shot we hit the road and made our point here's the thing if you've gone to the garden centre with a
00:55:40hot hatchback the biggest thing you could have brought home is a pansy I'm going home with a
00:55:46bamboo and a conifer TDR a car that came out of a shed now underneath one you see awkward a bottom is
00:56:00quite close to my face there was however a serious point to be made here we were all rather dazzled by the
00:56:13the XR3 I and the Golf GTI and so on but really it was a bit of a fad nobody these days is saying oh I'd
00:56:21love an old XR3 but a Jensen Healey a Lotus a TVR yes as we neared journey's end Richard became a bit
00:56:33emotional I think driving to a British seaside resort Blackpool in a funny little British sports
00:56:41car with a naked lady statue and a giant urn on the seat next to me is above all else fun and for
00:56:51all our serious side the British have always been rather good at fun but the whole experience is
00:56:56tinged at all times with the knowledge that we're doing something that's ended
00:57:04and finally we end with James's TBR coming home
00:57:10this is the home in question the factory where it was made this one I remember I remember this
00:57:24because they had they made them everywhere didn't they they were in that one and that one and this
00:57:30one and this one it was busy it was and everything got moved about wasn't efficient no but busy and
00:57:36they made stuff oh my god look at that oh I remember those that they were Tamsin the Tamsins and then
00:57:44there's the the gray one was a three-liter that was there the Tamar because it wasn't a little burst
00:57:49was it's not like they gave it a go for a while it was a few decades 1947 TBR started same as Land Rover
00:57:56that's actually a part of the manufacturing process they're dumped on the floor a huge amount of work made
00:58:03and went into making that
00:58:11isn't that the mold for the bonnet of your car
00:58:19there's nothing quieter than a no longer functioning factory is that it's a particularly noticeable quiet
00:58:26I hate it my car was in here once though yeah going through here being built and and it was all new
00:58:37and somebody was very excited about it somewhere my TBR is coming next week it's an s2 yeah what have you
00:58:52found some more knobby work yeah oh really I'll lean on that bit oh that's really sad let me just see
00:59:02what the word was and get the earth also it was horrible to walk around this industrial wilderness
00:59:11there were so many memories so many thoughts of what might have been
00:59:46There are, of course, good reasons why almost all these great names are gone.
01:00:00But after our journey across the width of Britain, we really couldn't remember what they were.
01:00:16The weird thing is, I think, when you drive a car like that, you actually can't help becoming a bit sort of misty-eyed and wistful.
01:00:31Yeah, you drive them really with rose-tinted spectacles on. You really do.
01:00:35Exactly. And there was a little piece of music in the first part of the film that summed it up perfectly.
01:00:39They are diamond dogs.
01:00:41They are. You're exactly right. And I have to say, this hurts, but Richard, I think yours was the best.
01:00:48No, you see, I think James' was the best.
01:00:50No, no, no, sorry. I have to disagree with both of you. Your car was definitely the best.
01:00:53Why don't we just say that they were all the best?
01:00:58Let's agree on that.
01:00:59And on that unusually harmonious bombshell, it is time to air not just the programme, but the whole series.
01:01:06Thank you so much for watching. Take care. See you soon.
01:01:08And that's the final part in this current series of Top Gear here on BBC HD.
01:01:17Tomorrow, we're stepping into the Dragon's Den at nine, but back to tonight now, and we'll meet a modern master next.
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