- 2 months ago
In Season 15 Episode 1, Jeremy Clarkson reviews the mighty Bentley Continental Supersports, the fastest production Bentley yet. James May drives a Toyota Hilux up an active Icelandic volcano in an extreme off-road test, while Richard Hammond says farewell to the old “Reasonably Priced Car” and presents the new Kia Cee’d. Meanwhile Clarkson attempts to drive the quirky Reliant Robin through Sheffield with predictably chaotic results.
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MotorTranscript
00:00:00Tonight, in new serious Top Gear, James catches fire, Richard knocks something over, and I crash a Reliant Robin into a lamppost.
00:00:21Hello! Hello! We're back! We're back! We're back, and we are more sensible than ever. Well, we're starting sensibly anyway, with this, the Bentley Continental GT.
00:00:43It's not my cup of tea, if I'm honest, but if you live in Cheshire, and you have to travel great distances at high speed, in drinks-globe luxury, it really is in a class of one.
00:00:56Now, however, there's a new version, which is a bit different.
00:01:00It's called the Continental Supersports, and this is it. The fastest, most outlandish car Bentley has ever made.
00:01:21First of all, it's been lightened. The rear seat has been replaced with air.
00:01:28The sofas up front are now racing buckets, trimmed in the Duke of Westminster's smoking jacket.
00:01:36And there is carbon fibre on the dash, rather than walnut.
00:01:41The result is dramatic, because that car weighs just two and a quarter tonnes. About the same as a three-bedroom terraced house.
00:01:56Still, it's not like there isn't enough power to deal with the bulk.
00:02:02It has the same engine as before, a six-litre twin-turbo W12. But now, it produces 621 horsepower.
00:02:18The result is 0-60 in 3.7 seconds.
00:02:23That is 167, 168. And it's still pulling!
00:02:45Flat out, it will do 204 miles an hour.
00:02:52Even if you fill the tank with Jerusalem artichokes.
00:03:04That engine has been designed to run on something called bioethanol, fuel made from plants.
00:03:10And if you use that rather than petrol, the power output remains the same.
00:03:15But you get fewer carbon dioxides coming out of the back.
00:03:19Sounds wonderful, if you believe in this carbon malarkey.
00:03:26But there are a couple of drawbacks.
00:03:28First of all, there are 8,850 petrol stations in Britain, but only 20 of them sell bioethanol.
00:03:38And secondly, when you're running on maize, it's not what you'd call economical.
00:03:47Honestly, it gets through veg faster than Paul McCartney's ex.
00:03:53The super sports, then. It's all much as you'd expect.
00:03:59Very fast, very heavy, and at speed, about 6 miles to the gallon.
00:04:04But don't be fooled by the headlines.
00:04:11This is spooky.
00:04:16I've got an automatic gearbox and air conditioning and satellite navigation, and it's very quiet.
00:04:21It's just like a normal Bentley.
00:04:24But look at the way it changes direction.
00:04:36This car is like an elephant with the reflexes of a water boatman.
00:04:41And if you're watching in Poland and you don't know what a water boatman is, it's like an Evo 10.
00:04:47It really is.
00:04:49And if you're watching an Ethiopia and you don't know what an Evo 10 is,
00:04:53what I mean is it does things rather well.
00:04:57No, not well.
00:04:58Why did I say well?
00:05:00Oh, God.
00:05:04Then you have the brakes, which can tear your face off.
00:05:08Ready?
00:05:10Now.
00:05:12Ooh!
00:05:19To make the Bentley a racetrack screamer,
00:05:22it's been fitted with carbon ceramic discs,
00:05:26new suspension bushes and different anti-roll bars.
00:05:30Though when I say different, I mean, of course, enormous.
00:05:34They've also reprogrammed the four-wheel drive system so that now,
00:05:38most of the power goes to the back.
00:05:46Imagine then that if you mass the throttle into the carpet halfway around the corner,
00:05:52it will spin up its rear wheels and hang its tail out like a small dog.
00:05:57Sorry, that was a dreadful simile. Dogs don't have wheels. Unless they've been in an accident.
00:06:04But here's the extraordinary thing, OK? It doesn't.
00:06:11Going up to the hammerhead, going the wrong way. Halfway around. Foot hard down.
00:06:15It doesn't. It just grips.
00:06:26Of course, you can make it misbehave if you go way too fast and poke it with a stick.
00:06:35But even if you do that, the computer steps in, sets power to the front wheels, and bang, everything is sorted out.
00:06:51It is uncanny.
00:06:57It is a very impressive car, this. But I don't like it.
00:07:02What they've tried to do here is turn an ocean liner into a speedboat.
00:07:07And, yes, they have sort of pulled it off.
00:07:16But it still feels very big and very heavy.
00:07:21Oh, dear.
00:07:33Whoa.
00:07:34So big and so heavy, in fact, that I believe it has just shredded its rear tyres.
00:07:50Oh, dear.
00:07:52I don't think that's legal anymore.
00:07:55Or safe.
00:07:56The upshot, then, is simple.
00:08:05If I wanted to spend £163,000 on a speedboat, I'd buy something that was designed to be a speedboat in the first place.
00:08:17In short, I'd buy an Aston Martin DBS.
00:08:21The Upshot
00:08:39Ready to go back?
00:08:45Really?
00:08:46You would have the acid.
00:08:47Oh, yeah.
00:08:48No, it's more nimble, it's got two more seats, it doesn't weigh the same as a church.
00:08:53It doesn't eat its own shoes.
00:08:54No, this is the best car in the world.
00:08:56No, it isn't.
00:08:57Yes, it is.
00:08:58Anyway, we must now find out how fast the Wilmslow Express goes around our track,
00:09:04and that, of course, means handing it over to our tame racing driver.
00:09:08Some say that his discharge is luminous.
00:09:15And that even as we speak, he is appearing on the main stage at Glastonbury,
00:09:20performing his most famous hit, Superstition.
00:09:27All we know is, he's called the Stig.
00:09:31He's off.
00:09:33No, the flag's there.
00:09:34Stig displaying his support for the Norwegian football team.
00:09:37Tried to explain.
00:09:38They aren't actually in the World Cup, but this made him very angry.
00:09:42Here he is, first corner, looking nice.
00:09:45Yes.
00:09:49Interestingly, he's the only person in the world who likes the sound of the Vuvuzela,
00:09:53because, of course, he invented it.
00:09:55There he is, round Chicago.
00:09:57Very tidy for a big car.
00:09:58Now, Hammerhead, this should be astonishing.
00:10:03Oh, no, it's exploded.
00:10:05It's rolled end over end.
00:10:07This is incredible.
00:10:08But Stig's out of the wreckage.
00:10:10He's dodging the naked waitresses and even though he's on fire.
00:10:14He's now coming up to Gambon.
00:10:15No, no, he's taking his helmet off.
00:10:18It's hard.
00:10:19Right, round the Tiger.
00:10:21He's just shaking hands with Elvis, and there he is.
00:10:23Across the line.
00:10:26I don't believe that.
00:10:27The most exciting thing I've ever seen.
00:10:29And some idiot at television centre cut to an advertisement for a stupid little Korean hatchback.
00:10:36It's a good job ITV didn't cover the moon landings.
00:10:38Ten foot.
00:10:40Beep.
00:10:40Five foot.
00:10:42Beep.
00:10:42If you like a lot of jobs, I don't need this.
00:10:46Anyway, I have the time.
00:10:48And it did it in 1.24.9, which puts it there.
00:10:54And that's not bad, really, for a small moon.
00:10:58Anyway, now we must turn our attention to the Icelandic volcano.
00:11:02Because although it went on to become global news, the actual eruption itself started out quite small.
00:11:08And that got us wondering, how close could you get to it in a car?
00:11:13Now, obviously, this was a job for a rugged, outdoorsy sort of a chap.
00:11:18Unfortunately, Jeremy was on holiday.
00:11:20So James went.
00:11:28It's very hard to drive across Iceland at the best of times.
00:11:31But luckily, I had just the vehicle for the job.
00:11:39This looks exactly like the Toyota that Jeremy and I drove to the North Pole.
00:11:47More to the point, this has been to the North Pole with us.
00:11:50But you never saw it, and it never got any of the glory, because it was the one driven by the camera crew.
00:11:56After we got back from the pole, our car went off to a museum, whereas this one was just left to rot.
00:12:05Today, though, I'm going to bring it back to life and give it one more mission.
00:12:15Wow.
00:12:16I never actually thought I'd be so pleased to see one of these again.
00:12:20This really brings it all back.
00:12:21The ice going on and on forever.
00:12:24The boulder field going on and on forever.
00:12:26I can hear Jeremy going on and on forever.
00:12:31Oh, God.
00:12:34No matter.
00:12:35My job is to turn this into the world's first volcano-proof car, which means a visit to Emil,
00:12:43the 4x4 genius who built it in the first place.
00:12:48I mean, what are the unique risks to volcano driving, apart from obviously being consumed by molten lava and burnt to a crisp?
00:12:54It depends on how close you want to get.
00:12:56Very close.
00:12:57Very close.
00:12:57As far as I can work out, no one's ever actually driven right up to the mouth of an active volcano in a car, so it's another top gear first, if we can do it.
00:13:05Yeah.
00:13:05Some people claim you can walk on hot coals if you wet the bottom of your feet.
00:13:11I was just wondering, if there was some system of continuously wetting the tyres, would it be possible to drive across the hot lava?
00:13:21If you don't fall through, possibly, yeah, if you drive fast.
00:13:24Emile didn't look very confident, but we set to work anyway.
00:13:35And by the next morning, the volcano buster was ready.
00:13:38I know I look a bit like a petty thief on my way home from some corrugated roof robbery at the allotment, but there's a very good reason for all this.
00:13:51The lava occasionally goes over an area of water, and that causes an explosion, throwing bits of lava and rock up into the air.
00:14:00So that's there to stop those lumps coming down and breaking the windscreen, or my head.
00:14:08We have also fitted our new and pioneering tyre cooling system.
00:14:13There's an oil drum on the back, full of water, and pipes feed the water to the tyres.
00:14:18Now, obviously, there's a risk of it freezing, and we can't put antifreeze in the water because that pollutes the glacier, so we've added a dash of vodka.
00:14:30As I drove onto the glacier, I stopped to hook up with a volcanologist, who couldn't get to the volcano because of the weather.
00:14:43And it is fantastically windy. I've never seen or felt a wind like it.
00:14:48Because of this storm that has been raging for the last few days, we haven't really been able to visit the area to see what's going on there.
00:14:56So, at the moment, with this weather and this whiteout, really, nobody knows what's happening up there.
00:15:02Exactly. Nobody can see.
00:15:06As night fell, the storm became worse.
00:15:09It was so bad that by morning, it had taken the lives of two locals.
00:15:17This is what we're seeing, or what we're not seeing, I should say.
00:15:20Visibility is probably less than 10 metres.
00:15:28We reckoned that as long as we could follow the car carrying Emil and the camera crew, we'd be OK.
00:15:35Yeah, there he is.
00:15:38But we weren't.
00:15:41Oh, I've lost the tail lights.
00:15:44Wow, that is dark.
00:15:46Soon, we were completely lost.
00:15:50Can you see any red lights?
00:15:52I don't see anything.
00:15:54Oh, God.
00:15:58Right.
00:15:59We are now effectively driving on instruments.
00:16:02Outside the window is just...
00:16:04It is a complete sheet of white.
00:16:06There's a blizzard going.
00:16:07The windscreen itself is freezing up.
00:16:10The windscreen wipers have frozen up.
00:16:12It's quite unnerving.
00:16:13Eventually, I had to get out to unjam the wipers.
00:16:19Oh, I won't do it.
00:16:20Oh, my God.
00:16:21It's blinding.
00:16:24Look at that.
00:16:39Good job.
00:16:39God, I've never...
00:16:43That is just...
00:16:44I've never known anything like that.
00:16:46I hadn't realised how strong that was, being in here.
00:16:49I could hardly stand up.
00:16:52We ploughed onwards until, at last, salvation.
00:16:57Lights!
00:16:58Look, lights.
00:16:58There they are.
00:17:00Thank God.
00:17:00Eventually, the storm cleared, and we arrived at our overnight stop, where we were greeted by a spectacular sight.
00:17:12Wow, look at that.
00:17:14Beautiful.
00:17:17How far away is that?
00:17:18About one and a half kilometres.
00:17:21I can hear it as well.
00:17:22It's like cannon fire.
00:17:26That's fantastic.
00:17:33Whoa!
00:17:35The next morning, still with no idea how big this eruption would become, I dropped off the professor...
00:17:42Thanks for a ride.
00:17:45...and headed on alone, until, at last, I got my first close-up look at the volcano.
00:17:51Oh, God in heaven, look at that.
00:18:09Lava was spewing out at a temperature of 1,200 degrees centigrade, and right in front of my eyes, a brand new part of the world was being created.
00:18:17It was now my job to test our volcano car by driving up to the crater and scooping up a fresh piece of landscape as a souvenir.
00:18:27And to help me with that, they've given me a garden trowel on an extending pole, held on with sticky tape, and a bucket.
00:18:37And, of course, I have my corrugated roof, and I am in the best off-road vehicle I've ever driven.
00:18:45So, piece of cake, really.
00:18:47Here we go.
00:18:47It does look quite angry.
00:19:04Oh, God, look at that.
00:19:06Even though I was driving on lava that had fallen days ago, it was still red-hot, and the Top Gear vodka tyre cooling system was working overtime.
00:19:18Right, what I need is for a piece to land quite near me, and then I can reach out of the window and grab it.
00:19:25Bravely, I decided that was far enough.
00:19:32Oh, my word.
00:19:34I don't know if you can see this as well as I can, but there's raining red-hot lumps.
00:19:39It's quite...
00:19:41God, that's hot.
00:19:44It was time to break out the lava scoop.
00:19:47Oh, hell.
00:19:48What the size of that?
00:19:49A piece of that would do nicely.
00:19:50Whoa!
00:19:51Yes, yes.
00:19:52It's still glowing slightly.
00:19:53Ye-hey!
00:19:54God, that's hot.
00:19:55Whoa!
00:19:56Whoa!
00:19:57Whoa!
00:19:58Whoa!
00:19:59Whoa!
00:20:00Whoa!
00:20:01Whoa!
00:20:02Whoa!
00:20:03Whoa!
00:20:04Whoa!
00:20:05Whoa!
00:20:06Whoa!
00:20:07Whoa!
00:20:08Whoa!
00:20:09Whoa!
00:20:10Whoa!
00:20:11Whoa!
00:20:12Whoa!
00:20:13Whoa!
00:20:14Whoa!
00:20:15Whoa!
00:20:16Whoa!
00:20:17Whoa!
00:20:18Whoa!
00:20:19Whoa!
00:20:20Whoa!
00:20:21Whoa!
00:20:22Oh, that's getting a bit frisky.
00:20:23In the excitement of bagging a souvenir, I'd stayed still for too long.
00:20:26They're on fire.
00:20:34Right.
00:20:35I'm off.
00:20:36With the tyres steaming, I beat a retreat from the volcano, clutching my brand new piece of planet
00:20:42Earth.
00:20:44I claim you for Queen Elizabeth and Top Gear.
00:20:53And best of all, the unsung hero finally got the recognition it deserves.
00:21:13And here is the piece of lava that I brought back for you.
00:21:26What a souvenir.
00:21:27Do you know, it was quite interesting, I asked a volcanologist the other day,
00:21:31what caused that small eruption we saw in the film there to become so massive,
00:21:35you know, shut down all of Europe's airspace,
00:21:37and he said there must have been a trigger of some kind,
00:21:41a disturbance near the actual crater itself.
00:21:44Yeah, something to do with weight, he said, it would need about two tons.
00:21:47Yeah, anyone who would do that could be in the right place, it could trigger all of that.
00:21:51That's not strictly true, is it?
00:21:52James, have you been working recently on any oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico?
00:21:58Let's do the news.
00:21:59I'll tell you, just before we do,
00:22:01I don't know if you've heard, you know, Barack Obama's been prattling on about British Petroleum,
00:22:06and this is 9-11 times a thousand, this oil spill.
00:22:09Did you hear how the English football fans responded during the American game the other day?
00:22:13Did you hear that?
00:22:14They were actually singing,
00:22:15You're not swimming anymore!
00:22:20That is classic.
00:22:21Right, let's really do the news.
00:22:23Yes, the news.
00:22:24Ferrari, okay, has broken the lap record at the Nürburgring for production cars,
00:22:28okay, with this, the 599XX, it did it in 6 minutes, 58 seconds.
00:22:33The Nürburgring!
00:22:34That's faster than Clay Rackersoni's lap record in an F1 car.
00:22:37I know the track's a little bit shorter now,
00:22:39but that is almost unbelievably fast for a road car, for a production car.
00:22:44That is incredible.
00:22:45Well, it does have a 6-litre V12 and 772 horsepower, and it costs 1.2 million pounds.
00:22:56And, and, you can't actually have it.
00:22:59Well, not unless you've got 1.2 million pounds on it.
00:23:02No, but that's the thing, you can buy it, okay, and you own it, but then they don't let you have it,
00:23:06but they do let you drive it occasionally, if they feel like it.
00:23:09Can I just say that this was the actual photograph that Ferrari sent to us to show what the car looked like
00:23:14at the Nürburgring.
00:23:15Now, I'm not sure it's particularly brilliant.
00:23:17If we look at the graffiti on the track...
00:23:22That's not enough of the Nürburgring, is it?
00:23:24No.
00:23:24I just...
00:23:25They didn't see it!
00:23:26They didn't see it!
00:23:27You've seen it now, it's too late.
00:23:28And I have to say,
00:23:29I have to say, the man who is responsible for this piece of graffiti has also been at work in Russia on a drawbridge.
00:23:35I've got a picture here.
00:23:39We've got to be...
00:23:40We're supposed to be being serious.
00:23:41Yeah, we are.
00:23:42According to the newspapers...
00:23:43Haven't we just shown two crawly drawn images of a man's private parts?
00:23:46Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:23:47It's not very...
00:23:48According to the newspapers, Top Gear has now become serious.
00:23:51Yes.
00:23:52So here we go.
00:23:53Yes.
00:23:54Gentlemen, tell me, since we were last here, what is the best car you've driven?
00:23:58Good question, glad you asked it.
00:23:59It would be this, Lamborghini Gallardo.
00:24:01This is the Superleggera, the new one, 570.
00:24:04It's magnificent.
00:24:05Lightest, different, faster.
00:24:06570 brake horsepower.
00:24:07Really?
00:24:08And I haven't actually driven it as such.
00:24:11Well, I've looked at that picture of it on the desk.
00:24:13570.
00:24:14570.
00:24:15That's very interesting.
00:24:16Because the standard car has 560, doesn't it?
00:24:19Yeah.
00:24:20And then Ferrari brought out the 458, which has got, I think, 560?
00:24:23Two?
00:24:24Yes, two more.
00:24:25And then, mysteriously, Lamborghini came back with 570.
00:24:29All of a sudden.
00:24:30We all know why it is.
00:24:31It's because Lamborghini are owned by Audi, so the Germans do the actual building of the
00:24:35cars, and then they let the Italians do the brochure.
00:24:38So they just fill in the numbers.
00:24:39It's got a million horsepower!
00:24:41Yes!
00:24:42100,000?
00:24:43It's invisible.
00:24:44And it's got cannons.
00:24:45What about you, then?
00:24:47Come on.
00:24:48Best car I've driven?
00:24:49Yeah.
00:24:50I have actually driven it.
00:24:51AMG SLS.
00:24:52It is a mental.
00:24:53We've got a picture of it here.
00:24:54Honestly, it is insanely fast.
00:24:55The only thing I don't like about it, really, are the doors.
00:24:58It's got gull wings.
00:24:59So I'll probably wait for the convertible.
00:25:01Well, how can you have gull wing doors on a convertible?
00:25:04They'd be all floppy.
00:25:05You'd have normal doors on a convertible, and then it would be fantastic.
00:25:10No, that was awesome.
00:25:11So, James, you?
00:25:12Well, to be honest, I think it's got to be the new Boxster Spider, which I'm driving next
00:25:16week, actually.
00:25:17So you haven't driven that either?
00:25:18No.
00:25:19He means...
00:25:20I've driven it, but I'm...
00:25:21We're doing...
00:25:22It's on the program next week.
00:25:23It's on the program next week.
00:25:24Yeah.
00:25:25You recorded it.
00:25:26Yeah.
00:25:27Now, have a look at this.
00:25:28This is a device.
00:25:29It fits on the exhaust pipe of your car, and as you drive along, it cooks a burger for
00:25:34you.
00:25:35It's brilliant.
00:25:36What?
00:25:37In the exhaust fumes?
00:25:38No, no, no.
00:25:39The exhaust fumes don't cook the burger.
00:25:41It's like a toasted sandwich maker.
00:25:43The hot gas in the exhaust heats it up, and then it griddles the burger in between the
00:25:47two bits.
00:25:48It's a bit close to the whole exhaust process for food.
00:25:51Well, testies are close to your bottom, but you still play with them all the time.
00:25:56Hammond.
00:25:57Yes.
00:25:58A normal Nissan GTR costs, what, 60 grand?
00:26:0060 grand, yeah.
00:26:01Okay.
00:26:02Well, this is the new one.
00:26:03It's the Spec V, the V-Spec GTR.
00:26:05That is £125,000 all of a sudden.
00:26:09Yeah.
00:26:10Why is it £125,000?
00:26:11It's difficult to tell.
00:26:12I've had a look.
00:26:13I mean, it doesn't have any more power than the normal car that I can see, but it does
00:26:16something called a boost control device.
00:26:18Basically, it's a button.
00:26:19When you press it, it spools up both the turbos and releases a sudden burst of more power.
00:26:24I just hope that button is mounted on top of the gear lever under like a little cage,
00:26:28and you lift it.
00:26:29Oh.
00:26:30And then you've got another code word before you put that in.
00:26:32And then maybe two keys in the dash have to be turned simultaneously before you...
00:26:35Yes.
00:26:36Like on a nuclear submarine.
00:26:37Yes, that's what I'm thinking.
00:26:38And then you turn them...
00:26:39Permissions from the president.
00:26:40It's a go.
00:26:41I want that.
00:26:42I want that just for that button.
00:26:43Yes.
00:26:44I'm going to point out, because this is Sensible Top Gear, that it also comes with a very competitive
00:26:47three-year warranty.
00:26:48Yeah.
00:26:49Yeah.
00:26:50Oh, now, are there any girls here?
00:26:53Well...
00:26:54Good.
00:26:55Don't ever faint in Holland.
00:26:56That would be my Top Gear top tip for the night.
00:26:59We've got some footage here that explains what I'm on about.
00:27:01It's the start of a race.
00:27:02That's the grid girl.
00:27:03Oh, she's got a bit wobbly.
00:27:04And...
00:27:05She's fainted.
00:27:06There you go.
00:27:09So you're thinking, poor girl.
00:27:11Yeah, you're thinking, oh no, now she's lying on the track.
00:27:13So as we can see, men in high visibility jackets have come over to make sure she's okay.
00:27:18Oh, are they making sure she's okay?
00:27:20How do you make...
00:27:21Oh, put your hand on her bottom.
00:27:23That's the ticket.
00:27:24That's what he's done.
00:27:25He's checking for a pulse.
00:27:26Now let's hear what the driver's got to say.
00:27:28Check my auto.
00:27:29Oh, pull my auto.
00:27:30Pull.
00:27:31Pull.
00:27:32Pull.
00:27:33Pull.
00:27:34Pull.
00:27:35Pull.
00:27:36Pull.
00:27:37Pull.
00:27:38That's a racing driver, isn't it?
00:27:39All over.
00:27:40Everybody, good news.
00:27:41No wait.
00:27:42It's better than you think.
00:27:46The new Dacia Duster...
00:27:50...is coming to the UK.
00:27:52Okay.
00:27:53How about that?
00:27:54That's great.
00:27:56Yeah.
00:27:57Now, that's great.
00:28:00That's great good now for this new series of top gear. We have a new reasonably priced car
00:28:05I know exciting, but it gave us a dilemma what to do with the old one
00:28:13Every year in Britain over two million cars go to their deaths and
00:28:19Frankly, it's a pretty cold and clinical affair
00:28:23tires are made into carpet underlay
00:28:25Dashboards are melted down to make garden furniture the once sleek body gets reincarnated as a washing machine
00:28:36All in all a lot of eco worthiness, but absolutely no emotion
00:28:44And that's quite sad when you think about it because the car doesn't just carry people carries memories
00:28:51Take this one for example
00:28:56It's an ancient Mazda 323 that'll never go up the hill at Goodwood or turn on a plinth at a motor show
00:29:03But it's been with the Lister family at Maidenhead for 23 years
00:29:09It took mum to and from hospital when the kids were born
00:29:13it did years of school runs and
00:29:15And when Daniel and Rachel turned 17 they learned to drive in it and then adopted it as their passport to teenage freedom
00:29:27Sadly the Lister's 323 is soon to be scrapped and it makes you realize that when a car dies
00:29:34It should be treated like a death in the family
00:29:38And today we find ourselves in that very position because it's time to say goodbye to a special member of the top gear family
00:29:50Our old reasonably priced car the Chevrolet Lissetti as a machine
00:29:56It was never destined to set the automotive world and light, but it's certainly got some memories
00:30:02Think of the real fear and exhilaration experienced by real-life celebrities in this car
00:30:12The celebrity sweat from celebrity bums in this seat
00:30:18What a life it's been
00:30:32But now the chevy is at the end of its useful life and because it's been such a hard life
00:30:46We're not allowed to sell it. So with regret the Lissetti must die
00:30:52But the thought of it being crushed and recycled
00:30:55Of these tires Michael Gambon's tires being turned into carpet underlay. I'm sorry
00:31:05So instead we've decided to give it a Viking burial
00:31:11These magnificent chimneys were built in 1969
00:31:16They're 550 feet high and they weigh 7 185 tons each
00:31:22Except today they weigh a little bit more because each has been stuffed with 25 kilograms of nitroglycerin
00:31:31In a few minutes that'll go boom and these will come crashing down
00:31:36And in the process they'll create a fitting tool for our heroic little car
00:31:43Look I can see already this is the right thing to do
00:31:45It's if I were a reasonably priced car that have been driven around a television shows test track hundreds of times by celebrities from all over the world
00:31:53That is the way I would want to go
00:31:57I've never thought about it, but that is how I'd want to go
00:32:01With the assembled mourners looking resplendent in high visibility jackets the funeral service was about to begin
00:32:15And there we are a dignified viking
00:32:45Burial
00:32:47Nearly
00:32:49Yeah
00:32:50You know I think I can just see the nose of the car sticking out
00:32:54Which is pretty shoddy
00:32:58I mean you're supposed to cover the whole body aren't you? That's the basics
00:33:01You don't walk away with an arm sticking out of the ground and go well that's that done that's auntie mabel gone
00:33:06You cover it all up
00:33:12Oh my god
00:33:15You did it
00:33:17You did it
00:33:17You did it
00:33:17You did it
00:33:18What?
00:33:18It was
00:33:19You can't really bury a car
00:33:20How was I to know?
00:33:21How was I to know?
00:33:22I nearly, I nearly buried so nobody nearly buries anything
00:33:27Anyway we are very sad to say goodbye to the Lissetti
00:33:31No we're not actually are we never really liked it
00:33:33It was rubbish to be honest
00:33:34Anyway now it's time to unveil its replacement and here it is anybody want to guess what's under here
00:33:39What do we think it is?
00:33:40Want to guess?
00:33:41A Lamborghini no no it isn't look it's the same height as him so it can't be a Lamborghini
00:33:46I just haven't got this at all
00:33:47No
00:33:47Shall I just reveal it?
00:33:48Are we ready?
00:33:49Here we go
00:33:50This is a big moment
00:33:53It's a Kia
00:33:54Sorry I'm an alley
00:33:56Look at that
00:33:57I mean specifically the Kia the Kia C apostrophe D the only car in the world that actually has an apostrophe in its name
00:34:12And what a machine it is it has a 1.6 litre engine which means it can go from 0 to 60 in a dazzling 10.4 seconds and it'll go on to a mind-boggling top speed of 119 miles an hour
00:34:27Engineered in Korea built in Slovakia finished in brown it is on sale to you for an incredibly reasonable 14,000 pounds
00:34:38That's that's amazing
00:34:39It is incredibly reasonable
00:34:41It is astonishing but there is one more issue because new car means we've got a new lap time board
00:34:47We couldn't just invite a celebrity tonight and ask them so where do you think you came on the board because there's no other names on it
00:34:53So we thought of a way of getting lots of names on it all at once by inviting lots of celebrities
00:34:59To an all-star celebrity summer barbecue festival event
00:35:07Since it was going to be a celebrity packed day we arrived at the track good and early to sort out the catering
00:35:13I've got 32 sausages that's going to be enough
00:35:16I've got a cauliflower for if a vegetarian comes with the barbecue lit we turned our minds to the guest list
00:35:22Well, I know we've done i've invited harrison ford johnny depp
00:35:26Oh, you invited johnny like johnny depp. He's been invited twice be one
00:35:31Uh
00:35:31I've invited her look if you invite angelina. I have she won't come she will this year this year. We're bigger than ever before she will
00:35:40By 9am our spread was ready and we'd laid out a selection of toys to keep our a-listers entertained
00:35:48I can't give harrison ford this do you think she saw when we went to vietnam on those bikes
00:35:53No, she isn't
00:35:57And she wasn't
00:35:59That's not angelina
00:36:01I know who that is
00:36:03Nick robinson bbc political editor
00:36:05Yeah, I knew that
00:36:06Nick
00:36:07Jeremy how are you
00:36:08Nick was looking forward to driving our new reasonably priced car over there in brown
00:36:13The kia c apostrophe d now. That is my sort of car dull. It's slow
00:36:18But the political editor's start was far from slow
00:36:27Oh, I like the smell of burning rubber. God, that's addictive. It would have been polite to show an interest in nick's lap
00:36:34Here we go
00:36:36Don't break
00:36:38But we got distracted by our next guest
00:36:40l murray
00:36:42Hi pickled cucumber
00:36:43Who is my kind of guy my favorite medium tank of the war
00:36:47T34-85 with a larger caliber gun that could take on a tiger
00:36:52As nick was on his hot lap we should have paid attention
00:36:57But sadly we got distracted again
00:37:09Oh, I love it just give me a news conference now
00:37:11I'll tell you what no politician is safe
00:37:14It was time to put the first ever result on the new board
00:37:18Here it is
00:37:21Nick robinson 149.9 fast
00:37:24You're the fastest amazing the fastest man ever to go round this track in that car
00:37:30Oh
00:37:36As al murray roared off
00:37:37Turn turn turn turn turn your dynamo
00:37:41Tall dragon peter jones arrived
00:37:44My day just immediately takes a downturn no offense
00:37:47With the hellos over peter unleashed his killer instinct to win
00:37:56Wait a minute
00:37:58He's supposed to let the other person
00:38:00How competitive he's actually playing himself
00:38:03With the game over we should have turned our attention to al
00:38:06Oh yes
00:38:10But at that moment a page three girl arrived peter 23 from s6
00:38:14Hello jeremy clartson from tops gear
00:38:16How at tops gear how are you
00:38:19Come along you're not jewish are you i'm not good so we've got we've got sausages and we've got bacon and everything
00:38:26peter didn't fancy ham and sausages or my vegetarian option so at last we turned our thoughts to al
00:38:33Just as he crossed the finishing line
00:38:38One
00:38:39Yes thank god this is the one
00:38:4140 yes yes ballpark
00:38:45eight
00:38:48You sir the fastest a fact that al was keen to point out to nick robinson whenever i see you on tv now
00:38:56i think quicker than him whatever your downing street analysis might know more about the inner workings of the coalition but i am quicker than you
00:39:07As the competitive dragon pounded round we decided to spy on him
00:39:13he doesn't know we can see him
00:39:15come on baby light my fire
00:39:17next to arrive was johnny vaughan
00:39:22vaughan
00:39:23all right clarky
00:39:24who was a former star in the car was keen to gen up on the c apostrophe d
00:39:29we're talking 124 brake horsepower
00:39:33what was the last one the last one was 119
00:39:36okay okay so we're packing we're packing five more here five more horses in the stable
00:39:39the competitive dragon had finished his hot lap
00:39:47please tell me that was quick now we would find out the difference between our old chevy and the new
00:39:52kia this is where all of south korea is sitting going do we make a faster car than chevrolet seriously
00:39:59can we go toe to toe with the north across the bamboo curtain this is it where were you in the old car
00:40:06146.9 you did it in one minute oh jeremy
00:40:1340
00:40:165.9
00:40:18yeah
00:40:20that's gonna take some untangling that's a second faster
00:40:25as peter 23 from essex hit the track i cannot change game
00:40:30hammond's dreams finally came true
00:40:33make-up does a lot now you might gain a few pounds on the telly but it doesn't do that it does
00:40:39it does look because if when angelina you've bent the badge when she arrives she'll be crying
00:40:43you can't have it out on the track it was starting to get wet and slippery
00:40:49and the chaps were desperately concerned for peter's welfare when does the gazebo become a tent all
00:40:54right this is this is not even a tent is it it is
00:40:57it's a casino no it's not it's not even that despite the rain peter matched nick robinson's time
00:41:07then johnny vaughan set off ignore the weather to an inspiring soundtrack from angelina
00:41:14don't lose your bottom don't lose your bottom keep your foot down keep your foot down keep your foot down
00:41:23the weather got worse and worse
00:41:29what
00:41:30someone left the cake out in the rain
00:41:34this is where you got up the balls this is where it counts
00:41:41meanwhile i'd spotted our next guest someone i'd first encountered on the jonathan ross show oh my god
00:41:47oh my god it's angelina jolie no haven't i've just remembered what it's june the 10th isn't it
00:41:54uh yes it is my wife's birthday what today yeah idiot i'm gonna no seriously i'm going to go now this
00:42:02second what what now this second and i'm going to get her a birthday present next guest is here
00:42:09he's brilliant absolutely brilliant real man's man you know i'm honestly i'll be back i'll be back
00:42:14what's i look after this yes yes what's he called louis jeremy going hello all right i'm bill hello
00:42:23louis seem very friendly all minds are getting dribbled there darling it's just dribbling on you
00:42:30yeah it's dribbling on you johnny was still out driving come on come on come on come on
00:42:38bill went bird watching and that left me all alone with my new best friend
00:42:49i'll be over here i'm just having a little stretch just before i get in there
00:42:53try it do what flap back over and just stretch out your hamstrings i've i've i've got a ball wound
00:42:59from fighting a no no no no honestly would be surprised with jeremy's still not back the
00:43:07celebrities were getting more and more unruly bill get off the track are you doing bill the
00:43:14racetrack is no place for snacks on fancy cakes do you want something to eat all right then custard
00:43:18cream if you're asking and one two three five six seven eight and five two three four cats take it
00:43:26down walk around walk around flip ball chains flip ball chain step turn step turn in and look
00:43:36mercifully i had to go and put johnny's time on the lap board but even that was stressful we knock five
00:43:42seconds off or we had five seconds for a wet lap in our mind so it's five seconds we're still johnny
00:43:53then started giving advice to louis like what's your big end as you slide through your back end
00:43:59will slide out if you don't get the purchase up there but also watch your helmet against the steel bars
00:44:06clarkson finally got back hammond just as the fire was being put out don't put the fire barbie
00:44:12you out i wanted one of those sausages louis what have you done with the fireman that was in that
00:44:17jacket and helmet has things not been going smoothly since i just yeah it's gone well has it
00:44:24as angelina wrestled with the care turn turn we get out of the turn with speed yes because speed is
00:44:31our friend our next guest arrived amy williams britain's only gold medalist at the winter olympics
00:44:38what's what is it that's worrying you i'm quite scared and i'm worried that i'm just going to skid
00:44:44off course by trying to be too quick wait a minute you earned your notoriety from let's be honest
00:44:50skidding down a mountain at extremely high speed sophisticated skidding
00:44:55i think it was a crow was it a crow was it a raven in the celebrity gymnasium i too
00:45:04was enjoying a spot of bird watching take your arms up to the side
00:45:11ah squat seat while richard hammond is with louis spence
00:45:15and you go flat out uh through there and then you come to a tight left here right
00:45:20what a wide bit of the track there so you can just go back to the flat out bit up here
00:45:25this tight bit here it's you just go flat out through there and then black out around there
00:45:31and then and then it's so why am i so tight up to the edge here as jeremy tried to impress amy
00:45:38i'm extremely fat i don't think a lot of people realize that angelina was finishing her lap confident
00:45:44that she'd beaten johnny ball he was 153.3 you did it in one 50 yes 0.8 now that oh that's good
00:46:00when louis out on the track where's that corner there it is i wanted to say hello to amy but
00:46:08unfortunately she was still being monopolized i can do congratulations you ready yeah
00:46:25despite a few pirouettes louis finally banged in a lap
00:46:30you did it in one 50 3.69 which is just louis was very unhappy i gave a better show than johnny
00:46:43i mean he took no chance no chances at all so i left him and hammond to say a tender goodbye
00:46:50i have my helmet back there take it off and escorted amy to the car okay so here we go but in a car
00:47:01i was looking forward to watching her lap but hammond kept shouting at me i've been running
00:47:07all of this i have been in charge of everything you see here and this whole operation takes a lot
00:47:13of looking after i've been back for hours yeah standing on a wobbly machine with a sports girl
00:47:18why can't i look after the girl you can i'd like to talk to the girl maybe you could have talked to
00:47:23louis for a couple of minutes i did i said goodbye out on the track amy was displaying all of the raw skill
00:47:31that had won her a gold medal in my mind she was brilliant
00:47:40watch watch watch watch
00:47:43clap no amy you did it in now bear in mind we've got a 153
00:47:55seven and a 150.8 these are the wet times yeah you did it in 150.9
00:48:05so you're there well done yeah i'm just disappointed about that i think i do have
00:48:09to come back and i'd be delighted if you came back absolutely thrilled when it's not raining
00:48:15and maybe use a faster car come back and move in practice constantly why not why not
00:48:20with amy gone jeremy decided there was no reason to stay
00:48:28so i sat down to wait for the real angelina
00:48:33so let's give it another hour
00:48:45let me ask let me ask
00:48:47did she turn up yep really no no i didn't think she would
00:48:52anyway i would now like you to have a look at this motorcycle now i know it isn't a motorcycle okay
00:48:59but the government says it is they say that because it only has three wheels it's not a car
00:49:06and as a result you save 55 pounds a year on your tax disc now obviously the best way of exploiting
00:49:13this loophole is to take a wheel off your car and drive around on the other three but we don't recommend
00:49:18that so is there another way
00:49:30this is a reliant robin and on the face of it it's hard to see how it ever caught on
00:49:40because even though it was made from plastic rather than steel it cost more when it was new
00:49:45than a mini
00:49:49catch on it did though the american embassy in london ran three as diplomatic cars princess anne had one and
00:49:56here in the north of england it was such a hit that by the middle of the 1970s reliant was the
00:50:02largest consumer of glass fiber in europe even to this day this remains the second best-selling
00:50:10plastic car in history after the chevrolet corvette
00:50:16unlike other three-wheelers the reliant single wheel was at the front rather than the back and i've
00:50:22always been rather worried that this might have a profound effect on the handling
00:50:31that's why i'm so scared about the challenge which has been set for me today because i have to drive
00:50:38that car all the way from here on the outskirts of sheffield to a pigeon loft here in rotherham
00:50:46that is a distance of 14 miles
00:50:53on the way there will be many perils such as roundabouts pedestrian crossings pedestrians and traffic lights
00:51:05that's why i'm wearing a helmet it's also why i insisted the car was fitted with a four-point
00:51:11safety harness because i really genuinely believe that what i'm about to do is as dangerous as
00:51:17inviting your mum around for an evening on chat roulette
00:51:22why
00:51:27here we go
00:51:29reliant robin
00:51:29oh no
00:51:38i've crashed it i've crashed it almost immediately i mean literally 20 feet
00:51:44well i can't get out obviously i'm completely stuck
00:51:49luckily people in the north of england are friendly and keen to help out excuse me
00:51:55oh heavens look who it is it's phil okey
00:52:04do you think you could push me back on my wheels
00:52:07yes certainly thanks very much
00:52:09no here maxi
00:52:11you're
00:52:12thank you so much
00:52:16thank you very much phil okey out of the human league pleasure
00:52:19i suppose as a sheffield boy phil okey spent a lot of his youth
00:52:27putting um robin reliance back on their wheels when he wasn't rescuing waitresses from cocktail
00:52:38help again help where's martin fry out of abc when you need him
00:52:50that's a useful feature
00:53:00in the early days the robin had a 750 cc engine
00:53:06with 32 brake horsepower on tap 0 to 50 took 22 seconds 0 to 60
00:53:12it wasn't really possible
00:53:16in 1975 though reliant fitted an 850 cc engine this improved the acceleration enormously
00:53:25but the consequences were catastrophic
00:53:38the big engine increased the top speed too it would now do 85
00:53:44and that was catastrophic as well
00:53:50no not again
00:53:53oh no
00:53:57i'm 50 years old
00:53:59i'm on the side on a street in sheffield
00:54:01oh is that the sound of somebody hello help peter stringfellow
00:54:14were you just walking by or
00:54:18oh nearly yes thank you so much peter stringfellow out of lap dancing
00:54:24my pleasure really i can't thank you enough
00:54:30to try and understand why the robin was so popular up north i pulled over to chat to some enthusiasts
00:54:37how do you drive a reliant
00:54:46straight lines you don't go around roundabouts you get to it and you see where you're coming off and
00:54:51you go straight across right try to avoid dill in the middle right
00:54:58cement yeah sack of cement on passenger seat helps balance why do you think reliant owners have big
00:55:03toolboxes to weigh it down i was going to say your teeth did you lose these in a reliant accident
00:55:11you did didn't you why do you think everybody reliance was so popular at north a lot of miners
00:55:17used them yeah but why because they were more expensive than minis no because a lot of a lot
00:55:22of miners originally started with motorbikes and they didn't have a full driving license so to get
00:55:28out of weather in winter when it were absolutely silent it down they bought a reliant so it was
00:55:34just because miners didn't have a driving license some of them but other ones that also in winter
00:55:40with them being light you'll get your normal car stuck in snow or whatever these just
00:55:47simply glide over the top of it until you get to a corner as long as you live somewhere with
00:55:52straight lines at pit soon i was back on my perilous journey in this it feels like i'm driving through
00:56:05south yorkshire in the 1970s again because i grew up not far from here so did james may for that matter
00:56:17when i was a lad around here old rich people them just could afford four wheels on the car they all
00:56:24had ladders lardy dars we called them you didn't want to hit one of them and tell you that for no
00:56:30they would build that tanks one of the best ways to protect your robin was to lavish it with an exotic
00:56:39paint job such as this starsky and hutch homage the idea was that having spent many hours with the
00:56:47spray cans and the masking tape you'd drive more carefully but this didn't always work
00:56:53it really is a wonder how anyone in the north survived the 1970s of course
00:57:07a lot didn't in 1971 the population of sheffield was 573 000 since then it's dropped to just 513
00:57:20000. some of the lost 60 000 moved down south of course but many many many more were wiped out by their
00:57:32three-wheelers
00:57:37today of course most of the robins are gone and people up here drive keirs and high-end eyes instead
00:57:45and this means the local tv news channel has to think of things other than reliant
00:57:50crashes to put in its bulletins okay to braithwell in south yorkshire now and a blooming mystery
00:58:03that's baffling its green-fingered residents harry is there for us harry what's going on
00:58:09welcome here to beautiful braithwell you can see the sun exploding on a kaleidoscope of color
00:58:14and i have to say there's been a real area of controversy here because oh my god
00:58:23are you all right sir are you all right yeah i'm getting used to it now thanks
00:58:26oh thanks very much if you could just pop me back on the wheels
00:58:34thank you so much thank you harry grayson out of lukemore pleasure thank you so much
00:58:44the reliant three-wheelers soldiered on until 2001 but then with the mines gone the customer base
00:59:02dried up and it was gone too i don't know why jasper carrot ever thought that this could be the basis
00:59:11for a joke i don't know why we all laughed at dell boys were like because it wasn't funny
00:59:18it was a complete menace
00:59:29oh god oh dear oh dear look at the page i'm very glad i put these safety things in
00:59:38that's marvelous thank you oh yes that's comfortable thank you very much this dicky bird mbe out of
00:59:47cricket umpiring here he's not pleased we'll pick it back john here
00:59:51after this latest accident i decided to see if there was some way of correcting the
01:00:07car's flawed design i therefore found a workshop and cued the music
01:00:13oh god i've driven into the inspection pit soon though the car was out and we set to work
01:00:33what staggers me most of all is that the reliant was engineered and built in tamworth in staffordshire
01:00:40and tamworth over the years has produced many many brilliant men it was a tamworth man who captured
01:00:47one of the enigma coding machines from the germans in the war it's a tamworth man who fronts the teardrop
01:00:53explodes i mean how many more do you want so how come no one in this town of excellence was able to see
01:01:03that the reliant could be fixed in a trifle
01:01:13how brilliant is this it's still a three-wheeler you still only pay motorcycle tax but now
01:01:20thanks to these stabilizers it can't roll over anymore
01:01:32i only had six miles of the journey left but with my new anti-capsize solution in place
01:01:39i knew nothing could go wrong
01:01:41and i knew that right up to the moment when it did oh my god
01:01:57it's not broken and brown
01:02:07i can't do it lots of that hurt
01:02:09so you can save 55 hangs off your annual motoring costs yes you can but you will be killed doing it
01:02:18yes you will and on that bombshell it is time to end what i think has been a very serious show and
01:02:23i think we we should congratulate ourselves on that well done well we'll see you next week
01:02:29for more sensible buying advice thank you so much for watching and do please remember drive safely good
01:02:40there's another match from the last 16 in the world cup here on bbc hd tomorrow from half past two
01:02:46when the netherlands take on slovakia next tonight though music from the final night of glastonbury 2010
01:02:53the final night of glastonbury 2010
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