#TheGrandTour #OneForTheRoad #ClarksonHammondMay #FinalLap #ZimbabweSpecial
After 22 years of automotive mayhem, the trio—Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May—have reached the end of the road. In their final special, "One For The Road," they head to Zimbabwe in three cars they’ve always wanted to own: a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri, and a Triumph Stag. We dive into the most emotional moments, the stunning African landscapes, and the legacy left behind by the men who changed car television forever. Goodbye to the best car show in the world.
#AmazonPrime #CarReview #JeremyClarkson #RichardHammond #JamesMay #AutomotiveHistory
After 22 years of automotive mayhem, the trio—Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May—have reached the end of the road. In their final special, "One For The Road," they head to Zimbabwe in three cars they’ve always wanted to own: a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri, and a Triumph Stag. We dive into the most emotional moments, the stunning African landscapes, and the legacy left behind by the men who changed car television forever. Goodbye to the best car show in the world.
#AmazonPrime #CarReview #JeremyClarkson #RichardHammond #JamesMay #AutomotiveHistory
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MotorTranscript
00:20Hello and welcome to a Grand Tour special, which begins with this, the Volkswagen Beetle.
00:27It's a car we hate very much, because it appeals only to Nazis and hippies, and we are neither of
00:34those things.
00:36However, if you remove the bodywork and replace it with something a bit more fun, something like this, you end
00:43up with a beach buggy, and that's brilliant.
00:46We love beach buggies, however Mr. Willman disagrees.
00:50He says that if they'd been any good, they would have caught on, and he points out that they didn't.
00:56So he hatched a plan, and it's this.
01:01He said all three of us must buy a Volkswagen Beetle, turn it into a beach buggy, and then report
01:07with it to a wild, rugged, and extremely remote place here, on the coast of Namibia.
01:39This is what I've built.
01:42It's as close as you can possibly get to the original 1964 beach buggy, built by Bruce Myers.
01:52Underneath, it is a 1950s Beetle.
01:56Beetle floor pad, Beetle suspension, Beetle engine, Beetle gearbox.
02:00It's got Beetle lights on it.
02:02I've even got a Beetle speedometer and Beetle hubcaps.
02:06It's brilliant.
02:11This is a beach buggy very like the one that Steve McQueen drove in the original Thomas Crown Affair.
02:17And if he's going to have a...
02:19Oh, God.
02:21Ha ha!
02:22I've been joined by the 1970s.
02:30Yes!
02:31James May has built what a beach buggy was.
02:35What I've built is what a beach buggy can be.
02:41If you have a bit of imagination and some purple metal flake paint.
02:47Ha ha ha ha!
02:49When adventure is on, I wanna be your boy.
02:55There, I believe, is the star point of our adventure.
02:59I wanna be your boy.
03:05What an extraordinary place.
03:08It's amazing, isn't it?
03:09I mean, more seals.
03:11What David Attenborough never told us about those is how bad they smell.
03:17Sadly, before our nature documentary could go any further,
03:21Richard Hammond emerged from the mist.
03:25Oh, hello.
03:26That's not a beach buggy.
03:28Is it?
03:29Well, I wouldn't call that.
03:31Ha ha!
03:31Oh, jeez.
03:33Ladies and gentlemen, Dick Tari.
03:36Behold!
03:38What are you wearing?
03:39What are you wearing?
03:41Well, I'm in Africa.
03:42These trousers did not say in the shop,
03:45I'm afraid they are yellow, sir.
03:47When he left, they went,
03:48Yes! 20 years we've had those on the hangar!
03:51Shut up!
03:52And then, we must move over to this.
03:54Yeah.
03:54We were told to build beach buggies.
03:57Yes.
03:59Beach buggies.
04:00It's not a beach buggy.
04:01It isn't, Hammond.
04:01It is a beach bug.
04:02It isn't a beach bug.
04:04It's got a room.
04:04There's no beetle in here at all.
04:06Yes, there is.
04:07Beetle engine in there.
04:09Hammond, okay.
04:09This space frame chassis.
04:12Yeah.
04:12Is it from the beetle?
04:13No.
04:13These enormous suspension components.
04:16Yes.
04:16That don't even fit under the body work.
04:18Well, you've got two lots of suspension at the back.
04:21Twin shocks.
04:22Twin shocks.
04:22Well, you know, I like an off-road sort of vibe.
04:26To get here, we had to drive on a beach.
04:28Yeah.
04:29Ours have made it.
04:30Look, I didn't need two lots of rear suspension on that.
04:32Neither did I.
04:33Look, we were told to come to Africa.
04:35Yes.
04:35If we'd been told to get a Santa Monica beach, then this, with its incredibly vivid paint,
04:43that's the most metal flake I've ever seen.
04:45Any beach in the world.
04:48Hang on, what's that?
04:50What?
04:50That's the engine.
04:51What engine is it?
04:52V8.
04:53I've put a V8 in a beach buggy.
04:55Well, no, you haven't.
04:56You've parked your beach buggy quite close.
04:58It's not in it.
04:59It isn't in it.
05:00No.
05:01You've reversed into a V8, but not quite hard enough.
05:03It's only gone in a third of the way.
05:05Do you have any idea how difficult it is to fit a V8 to a beach buggy?
05:09Well, it does fit.
05:09It's obviously impossible.
05:10It is impossible.
05:12This is no wooden V8.
05:13It started out in life as a 3.5-bit V8 from a Range Rover, but I've modified it.
05:19So it produces 180 horsepower.
05:22Can I just say, you were doubting the credibility of mine as a beach buggy?
05:27The defining characteristic of a beach buggy is an air-cooled, blackboard, vehicle engine.
05:32Ahem.
05:33No, that's not an engine, James.
05:34That's just a fan.
05:35How many horsepower does yours have?
05:3794.
05:38So I have twice as many horsepower.
05:40Shall I tell you something?
05:41They're not in the car, though.
05:42They are, they're near it.
05:44Yes.
05:44It's interesting, isn't it?
05:45I mean, that is interesting.
05:47Nothing about that is interesting.
05:48Well, this is a blank canvas onto which you can paint your personality.
05:51Yours has got a prolapsed V8 hanging out of its backside and terrible paint.
05:55Mine is a rather magnificent Daktari-themed off-roader.
05:58That has got nothing on it.
06:00This is a bit boring, James.
06:03You can express all your personality and it's standard.
06:04It's not...
06:04What do you mean standard?
06:05It's a beach buggy.
06:06It's tasteful.
06:07What?
06:10Oh.
06:11The bat sap phone.
06:12We've got a message from...
06:15Mr. Wilman.
06:16Right, go on.
06:18Since you're in beach buggies...
06:19Well, us two are.
06:21Since you're in beach buggies, you will now drive to the beach.
06:26Er...
06:27Er...
06:28Er...
06:28I think he's taken leave of his senses.
06:30Well, he was never that good at geography, was he?
06:32No, he wasn't.
06:33You'll now drive to the beach.
06:34Oh, no, there's more.
06:35The beach to which you will drive is located on the crocodile-infested Queen River
06:42at the northernmost point of Namibia where it meets Angola.
06:47It's a thousand miles away.
06:50A thousand miles?
06:52A thousand.
06:54What we needed at this point was a map.
06:57So, we decided to head north up the coast and find the nearest town.
07:02Let the journey begin!
07:08And what a journey it would be in these cars.
07:12Cars that were born in interesting times.
07:17So, it's 1964.
07:20The word teenager has started to appear in the world's dictionaries.
07:25People are listening to new types of music.
07:28They're smoking new types of stuff.
07:30And then, in California, the beach buggy arrived.
07:39It was perfect!
07:42Girls and boys, beach barbecues.
07:44The first design criteria was that the front fenders were flat so you could stand the fear on it.
07:50That's how you design a car.
07:55Jimi Hendrix had a beach buggy and President Nixon didn't.
08:00Tells you all you need to know.
08:05What I really like about the beach buggy is that it's a testament to the ability of the human spirit
08:10to triumph.
08:12Because somebody looked at the beetle and said, well, that's the legacy of the world's worst dictator.
08:18Let's turn it into a beach car.
08:24After a lonely hour of driving north through the swirling mist, we still haven't found a town.
08:30But, we did find something else.
08:35Jesus!
08:57I tell you what, he must have been going at a right old lick when he hit the beach.
09:01He must have been.
09:03Right, the sea is there. That's half a mile away.
09:06Yeah, I'd say so.
09:07So, he got it up the beach and then sort of did a handbrake turn.
09:10I was sliding it in.
09:11How do you do the handbrake?
09:12How did it get here, seriously?
09:14Can I just say, my nipples are erect.
09:18Is it, is it his jacket?
09:20No.
09:20Oh.
09:21It's cold.
09:21It is, isn't it?
09:22It's cold.
09:24Staying on, that's an unwise wardrobe strategy.
09:26Yeah, well, you know, Africa on a beach, I thought.
09:30So did I.
09:30I'm surprised.
09:33The beach has got the sea har on it.
09:36Mist, fog, cold.
09:39If you look over there.
09:40Hmm.
09:41Sunshine, blue sky.
09:42Why don't we just go inland?
09:45Coast road.
09:46Find the coast road.
09:47Yeah.
09:47Which will take us to a town.
09:49And that'll be in the sun.
09:49That's a better idea.
09:51When the plan worked out, it was time to get moving again.
10:00Oh dear.
10:01Did you modify the battery as well?
10:04Oh.
10:04Oh.
10:06It's obviously not charging up.
10:08No.
10:08Because I didn't modify it.
10:10Yeah.
10:11I'll just see if mine works.
10:15Oh yeah.
10:16Let me just try mine.
10:18Yeah.
10:20Push.
10:21Hmm?
10:22Can I have a push?
10:27After the film crew had got me going, I used my massive horsepower to catch the others.
10:40But, by the time we were back together again, it was going dark.
10:46The sun, as you can see over my shoulder, has set, and we still haven't found a road.
10:52It's also going to be very, very, very cold.
10:57Lights on.
10:59Lights on.
11:06We've got to find this road.
11:09This is not going to be too clever.
11:12In the dark.
11:20I've rather crudely rigged up my torch wedged in the windscreen rail.
11:25In the hope that you can see my last pieces to camera.
11:33Oh, bollocks.
11:40Oh, cold.
11:45Finally, though, it looked like our luck had changed.
11:49Oh, hello.
11:50Hello.
11:51What's that?
11:59It's not a hotel.
12:00No.
12:03Smells of excrement.
12:05Oh, wow, look at this.
12:07There's still, like, plates and cups and saucers and things in here.
12:10I'll tell you exactly what this is.
12:12It's an abandoned mine.
12:14They do mine round in Namibia, don't they? What do they mine for?
12:18Diamonds.
12:19Diamonds?
12:19Yeah, but they wouldn't have left if there were any.
12:22And they obviously left, and not yesterday.
12:27Look.
12:29There's no road here, is there?
12:30No.
12:31No.
12:31Apart from anything else, we can't find our way around in the dark because we can't navigate.
12:35Oh, I can't.
12:36How?
12:37How?
12:38Stars.
12:39No, you can't.
12:40I can't.
12:40No, you can't.
12:40I can't do very many things, I admit.
12:44Anything.
12:44But I can do that.
12:45Okay, how do you navigate by the stars?
12:47Uh, find the Southern Cross.
12:49Yeah, but that's really complicated.
12:51Right, do you want to sleep in the excrement mine?
12:53No.
12:54This is out.
12:54So, we have to keep going, whether we like it or not, till we find it.
12:58We have to.
12:59So, listen.
13:00I shall find the Southern Cross.
13:03You can't find the Southern Cross with a hammer.
13:05I've found it.
13:05Ha!
13:05I've found it.
13:06It's there.
13:08It's like a kite.
13:10That one there?
13:10Yeah.
13:11There's a kite shape.
13:12It's sort of...
13:13Now, you take the long axis, yes?
13:17Yes.
13:17And draw an imaginary line through it, down to the horizon.
13:23Yes?
13:23Now, you intersect it from a line drawn between two other stars, and where those two imaginary
13:29lines meet, directly underneath it, is due south.
13:34So, I...
13:35If it's those two, which it is, I'm sure of it...
13:39If you draw a line...
13:45Oh, this is a bad idea.
13:48We are now trusting our lives to an orangutan who thinks he's plattering more.
13:55There it is.
13:57There's the two stars.
13:59Draw a line.
14:02Not getting many directions from you, Jeremy.
14:05Is this right?
14:06You're heading a little bit too much to the right.
14:09You want to go left a bit.
14:11Good, good.
14:12Oh, I'm so confident.
14:14You two are going to be eating humble pie when the sun comes up.
14:19You two are going to be eating humble.
14:20You two are going to be eating humble pie.
14:23Despite the confidence of Jeremy Columbus, no road appeared.
14:29Oh, this is grim.
14:35Excuse me.
14:38Been on the go a very, very long time now.
14:43Guys, I'm sorry.
14:46I'm not driving another inch. I can't do this.
14:50It's 3 o'clock in the morning. I'm exhausted.
14:53He does have a point.
15:01The next morning, we woke having slept on the sand,
15:06huddled round our engines for warmth.
15:25Ackman!
15:37You muppet! What's that?
15:41Erm...
15:42Erm what?
15:43I never knew Namibia had two seas.
15:47It doesn't have two seas.
15:48No, it has one massive sea in it, one massive stupid sea
15:52that's navigated us back to where we started.
15:54Can I just say...
15:55Why did we even believe you can navigate?
15:58You can't even read a compass.
16:00There are two seas, there's two seas here
16:01for believing that that sea could navigate us.
16:04No, you're right.
16:05I couldn't possibly...
16:06That's really... I don't understand that.
16:09Freezing cold, sandpapered on the face.
16:11You've got a coat on.
16:13It's thin, have you felt it?
16:14No, I haven't even got a thin coat.
16:16I've only got a t-shirt.
16:17Anyway, I'm not going to be competitive with you about who's the coldest.
16:21I'm the coldest.
16:21We're all the lostest.
16:23Never mind, look, let's not get bogged down with whose fault it was.
16:26There's no being bogged down with it, is there? It was yours.
16:30We can either go back into the desert to look for a road,
16:33or we can just do what we were doing yesterday and stay on the beach.
16:38At least we know if we keep the sea on our left, we're going north.
16:41Yes.
16:42That's a fair point.
16:43Let's navigate by the sea.
16:44Yes.
16:47With our new, well, new-ish plan in place, we set off once more.
16:53Right, so here we are.
16:55These are our wheel marks from yesterday.
16:5924 hours of cold misery to achieve exactly nothing.
17:05I mean, it is exactly nothing.
17:07But, apart from that and the weather and Jeremy Clarkson,
17:13it's all going really well.
17:15As we continued north, the misery of the previous day was banished
17:20by the sheer bigness of our surroundings.
17:24Oh, this is an astonishing place.
17:29I've got a June the size of Mount Everest to my right,
17:33the Atlantic Ocean to my left.
17:38This is absolutely epic.
17:49This is proper beach buggy driving.
17:51Sun's out, sea's out with the surf.
17:54It's like being in the beach, boys.
18:01Amidst all this loveliness, though,
18:03there was one small elephant edging its way into the rock.
18:09Chaps, I don't like to say this, but is the tide coming in or going out?
18:16I'm guessing in.
18:21There's no way up the sides of that.
18:24And if the tide comes in that far, which it does, we've had it.
18:30We've got to keep moving here.
18:31We cannot afford to get stuck.
18:37With some generous use of the throttle,
18:40we managed to get clear of the sea and sand dune pincer movement.
18:44But then we had another problem.
18:50I'd say that was the end of the beach.
18:54How does that just end like that?
18:56It does just end.
18:57That's it. That is the end.
18:58And the Namibian government doesn't allow us to drive on the salt pens,
19:01and that's what that is.
19:03This meant, according to James, we had only one option.
19:07We've got to go back the way we came.
19:09Yeah, but if the tide's coming in,
19:11that narrow bit will have become impassable.
19:14Yeah, exactly.
19:15That's why I think if we see a good opportunity to turn left,
19:18like we did last night, we do it.
19:20You're honestly suggesting we go back in the...
19:22Well, where else can we go?
19:24We'll either drown or starve otherwise.
19:31We've got to go back before the tide comes in.
19:38That is getting closer to that.
19:41When that happens, we've had it.
19:47But as we thundered along,
19:49the dunes refused to open up and let us in.
19:54That's the sea.
19:56It's the sea there.
19:59Oh, it's coming at me.
20:03I still say we can't get out of here, look.
20:06No left turn at the moment.
20:12This is where you need a V8.
20:18Oh, shit.
20:20Oh, Jeremy's in trouble.
20:23That is not looking good.
20:26Come on, come on.
20:27Whoa.
20:30Oh, no.
20:34Oh, no.
20:35No, no, no, no, no.
20:35Not a good place.
20:37Oh, God.
20:39I'm in the sea.
20:42Because it was a bit of an emergency,
20:44my colleagues decided to help for once.
20:47Go.
20:50No.
20:51Is that just spinning?
20:53It's beached under there.
20:54I don't see why I can't push him with that.
20:56All right, then, try.
20:59James, count us in.
21:00Three, two, one, away.
21:08Yes.
21:10Right, let's go.
21:11No.
21:13Me getting beached cost us time we never had in the first place.
21:18And we were still trapped.
21:23Jesus Christ.
21:27It's coming in.
21:32Come on, come on, come on.
21:36Come on.
21:38Come on.
21:45Oh.
21:48Oh, it's bad.
21:53Shit.
21:54Oh.
22:00Come on, baby, come on.
22:01Come on.
22:04Mercifully, the dunes finally started to fall away,
22:08and we were saved.
22:13And we're through!
22:14We are. We are.
22:16That's a relief.
22:20So nearly got stuck, then.
22:25We'd now been on the go for 36 hours,
22:29and we were pretty much back where we started from.
22:32Again.
22:33We were also soaked, frozen, worn out,
22:37and because we had no food with us, we were also hungry.
22:40But then, Bear Clarkson came to the rescue.
22:45Could you go and get some driftwood for a fire,
22:48and could you fashion a rudimentary barbecue grill of some sort?
22:52Okay. Can I just... Where did you get the fishing rod from?
22:55It's my whip aerial. It's a beach buggy. I thought of that.
22:58And the fishing rods.
23:06This is gonna make a perfect little fish grill thing, look.
23:14You got a fire lit, yeah?
23:16I thought you were fishing.
23:17I am fishing. My car's fishing.
23:20Look.
23:20Yeah, look, I've got the rods attached.
23:24What's that?
23:25That's the grill.
23:26So we hold that with the pliers from my multi-tool,
23:28cut the fish up, fillet it.
23:30Can you do that?
23:32There's no point asking here. We can open a tin.
23:35Can you fillet a fish?
23:36Well, is it only fish?
23:37Well, it's the sea.
23:38Well, what did you think I was gonna catch a chicken?
23:40Oh, my God!
23:47Oh, no, wait!
23:49Yes!
23:52While Hammond went off to get more driftwood,
23:55James and I set about gutting the catch.
23:58Use his car as the table.
24:01There we go.
24:03Well, that's his gut, look.
24:04Yeah, yeah, look.
24:05Oh, God, shit, look, it's all gone literally onto his exhaust.
24:09Oh, no. Never mind, look, I need your help.
24:11Right, sort his head off.
24:14Ah, there we go.
24:16Excellent.
24:17I think, but I'm not sure if he's doing anything.
24:19He's gonna lose seat.
24:20Oh, no, is it?
24:21It's all right, I'll get it out later.
24:27Oh, it's done a treat, this.
24:29Look at this Hammond.
24:33Mmm.
24:35Oh, that's all right, isn't it?
24:39Oh, there we go.
24:45Tastes like fish, doesn't it?
24:49Okay, does anybody want a beer?
24:52Have you got some?
24:53No.
24:53Oh, you...
24:56That deserves a stabbing.
24:58That is a proper stabbing.
25:01Ha, ha, ha.
25:05After lunch, we set off once more into the dunes.
25:11Right, so let's keep heading east.
25:14And we must come to a road.
25:16So there has to be a road.
25:19But for mile after mile, there wasn't.
25:35It's the Namib Desert.
25:37Namib in the local dialect means speak nothing.
25:46It must be the prettiest desert in the world.
25:51It's just a sea of dunes.
25:58Dunes which were getting bigger.
26:02Bloody Nora, look at the size of that.
26:07Engaging 180 horsepower.
26:11Climbing them in our two-wheel-drive beach buggies was becoming tricky.
26:17Come on, you can do this.
26:20You can do this.
26:23But by deploying the V8, I was sort of all right.
26:28Yes!
26:32Hammond had grippy tires, so he was all right too.
26:36Please make it!
26:38Please!
26:40Please!
26:43Ho-ho!
26:45There you go!
26:47However, back in the 1960s...
26:52Come on, little car.
26:55Oh no, no, no!
26:57No, no!
26:58No!
27:10Stuck?
27:11Yes.
27:11Two problems.
27:12Number one, he's put a 90 horsepower engine in it, which actually is probably only 40.
27:17Yeah.
27:18And number two, he will not use full power ever.
27:22Well, he's got a 90 horsepower engine, but a five horsepower foot.
27:27And they bet you any money, he said, well, I had a misfire.
27:38You've got to push the accelerator all right.
27:40I know that.
27:42Occasionally, it has a little misfire moment, and then I lose it.
27:44But it does!
27:46He said it!
27:48And so, the afternoon continued.
27:51The grunt machine and the grip machine would forge ahead.
27:55There is no way in hell I'm doing this!
27:59Yes!
28:04You star!
28:06And then there'd be the inevitable radio exchange.
28:10We're said to be a man down, Jeremy.
28:13James May, where are you?
28:20Because we spent so much time waiting for Captain Misfire, we were still in the desert as dusk fell.
28:28And failing light meant it was hard to spot obstacles.
28:33Right.
28:34Sit there.
28:36Christ!
28:40Holy!
28:44Oh, my God!
28:47Oh, shit!
28:49Look at it!
28:50Oh!
28:51Look at it!
28:51Oh, fuck!
28:52I've got to have a look!
28:56Oh!
28:57Oh, mate!
28:59I was in front!
29:00Look!
29:01I locked up!
29:02He's buried!
29:04You buried the front where you were locked up.
29:06I was completely locked up, because I would have gone down that.
29:09Look at it!
29:11Oh!
29:13My close shave was a reminder that after dark, these dunes would become very, very dangerous.
29:25It's getting harder and harder to read the terrain now.
29:29Is that a drop?
29:29Is that a hill?
29:30Is that going up?
29:31Is that a cliff?
29:32What is it?
29:35Peril.
29:36Peril.
29:38Oh, shit!
29:39Oh, I think there's a drop off there.
29:43This is a black abyss.
29:45That could be a huge cliff again.
29:51Eventually, we could take no more, and we had to settle down for a second night around our engines.
29:58Oh!
30:22We will find a road.
30:24There must be.
30:25I mean, it can't go on.
30:26It can't go on forever, can it?
30:27No.
30:27It has to.
30:28There will be a town, a road, something.
30:34Unfortunately, to find salvation, we still had to climb more dunes.
30:41Climb them, and then get down the other side.
30:45Oh, my God!
30:48Well, that's just a cliff!
30:51Oh!
30:53Oh!
31:00Whoa, this is a monster.
31:04Oh!
31:05What the heck can do!
31:07Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho.
31:21Here we go. All three of us simultaneously.
31:29Holy shit.
31:31Oh shit!
31:42I wasn't scared.
31:47Oh my God. Guys, this is the biggest yet by a country mile.
31:58Is that the size of the drop or what's happened to his penis?
32:04Right then, let's see what all the fuss is about.
32:07Holy shit.
32:20And now straighten those wheels, Richard. Straighten them.
32:24Because you've got to go down straight. Holy shit.
32:27Oh shit!
32:30That is frightening.
32:37I love this desert.
32:40I'm never, ever, ever happier than I am when I'm in a desert.
32:44And this, this is the best desert I've ever been to.
32:51You can never really lose sight of the fact though that what it actually is,
32:55is a big orange killing engine.
32:59Now, big crest coming up. No idea.
33:03Gentle rolling hill or massive cliff.
33:06I don't know! Hammond!
33:08Hammond, seriously?
33:11Shit, he's gone.
33:13Hammond's gone, everyone. Hammond's gone. Big one.
33:15Hammond!
33:17Hammond!
33:18Hammond!
33:19Oh, f*** me!
33:27How the f*** did you get down that?
33:32With my eyes shut!
33:35That was terrifying!
33:37Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
33:40Jesus!
33:50As we continued to head east, the terrain eventually leveled out.
33:58Which meant we swapped terror for extreme discomfort.
34:05Ah! Oh, God! Oh, my God!
34:08I don't think these cars were actually designed to take this much punishment.
34:14Ah, no, we weren't.
34:17The only thing is, James' car rides lower than this and will be worse.
34:22Ah! Ow!
34:25Ow!
34:26Ow, ow!
34:29Ah!
34:31Soon, the relentless battering started to cause breakdowns.
34:37Sand. Sand in gear shift.
34:41My throttle is jammed wide open, people.
34:54The problem is that every time the air filter here turns as I'm driving along, which it does,
35:00it's jamming the throttle.
35:05What's going on here?
35:08What's up?
35:10The throttle is now jamming fully open all the time.
35:13Oh, no problem.
35:16Oh, no problem.
35:33Oh, God.
35:35It's still moving.
35:38Ugh!
35:40Many miles ahead, we'd pulled over for a break from the endless bumps, and James was being very interesting.
35:52The thing about this hat is you can angle it at like a heliostat to where the sun's coming from.
35:57Yes, that's true.
35:58You still look a tit.
36:00Luckily for Hammond, you could do with the company.
36:04I was back on the move.
36:06Right, a new style of driving is now required.
36:10This arm for steering, this arm for changing gear, and then another arm for decelerating, like so.
36:20Yes!
36:22Accelerate.
36:26Decelerate.
36:26Sometimes, if you listen very carefully, you can hear my genius.
36:34Back as a threesome, we continued with our seemingly endless journey to the east.
36:40You just need to find a road now. This is not funny anymore.
36:44Enough desert.
36:46I don't want another night in the desert.
36:50I smell pretty bad.
36:53I suspect that if we manage to find somewhere tonight, near civilisation, we should probably have a ceremonial bonfire at
37:00the underpants.
37:02In truth though, I thought we'd be in the desert forever.
37:06But then, late in the afternoon...
37:11I'm looking ahead and I'm not seeing an endless sea of sand.
37:17I'm seeing green.
37:20Trees!
37:22Those are trees and shrubs!
37:28Pylons!
37:29Pylons!
37:30That means electricity!
37:36Oh yes!
37:39Civilisation!
37:42And then, best of all...
37:46Oh my God!
37:47Oh my God!
37:56I honestly thought we had another night of sleeping...
37:59Oh...
38:00...in the sand, but no!
38:02Look at it!
38:05Nicest thing I've ever seen!
38:10I could go east, I could go west, it's all...
38:12Whichever way you go, it goes somewhere!
38:14That's the point!
38:15It's a road, it goes somewhere!
38:17You know what we've just done, don't you?
38:20We just crossed the Namib Desert in three beach buggies.
38:24We had, we had.
38:24We did.
38:25We did.
38:27There is literally nothing can stop us now.
38:35Admittedly, our crossing had not exactly been as the crow flies, but we had found our road, and that's all
38:42that mattered.
38:44Oh yes!
38:45This is the best thing I've ever seen!
38:48Yes!
38:49It is the road to freedom!
38:52What the hell is that?
38:56Something has just exploded at the back of my car.
39:00Oh dear!
39:02By the time my colleagues had got back to me, I'd worked out what the problem was.
39:07It's really straightforward, okay?
39:10The top bolt has come out of the shock absorber.
39:13Right.
39:13It's shot up, buoyed into the coolant pipe, and three gallons of water have simply burst out going everywhere, except
39:22into the engine.
39:23Right.
39:24So all I've got to do is reattach the top bolt, mend the pipe, and find three gallons of water,
39:30which I shall get from a passing motorist.
39:35Of course.
39:35And I'll be on my way.
39:37Right.
39:37All I could do with a hand with is just lifting the car up so I can reattach the, um...
39:42Yeah.
39:43Well, I don't know.
39:43Is there anybody here?
39:45I suppose the motorist will pass it instantly.
39:46The one that gives you water...
39:48Yeah.
39:48...will also lift it up for you.
39:50You could just lift it up a little bit.
39:51Or we could go and have a beer.
39:53I hear traffic.
39:55Yes.
39:55We'd better not be here.
39:56We don't interfere when you're trying to talk, because we might put them off.
40:04Right.
40:16Somewhere along here, there will be a place, and that place will have a bar in it that will contain
40:25beer.
40:25Yeah.
40:30Do you have any water?
40:32Water.
40:33Because the radiator has blown, so I need just three gallons.
40:37No, you've got some water there.
40:39Just a bucket.
40:43It's an actual water lorry, leaking water, and you won't give me any.
40:54Eventually, I flagged down a local who had water to spare.
41:00And then, I got on with the repairs.
41:04There's one reassembled shock absorber.
41:08That's reattached.
41:09So that's the cooling system back in one piece.
41:16After an exhausting five-hour drive, Richard and I finally reached a tank, which turned out to be Namibia's capital
41:24city, Windhoek.
41:26And we, too, were taking on liquids.
41:55Back out on the highway though, things weren't so good.
42:00What I'm driving here, or attempting to drive, is Apollo 13.
42:05There's some air trapped in the system, and I've had to make a small hole in the front to get
42:10at the radiator.
42:11Bled that. Bled all the stuff going into the engine.
42:14This is the header pipe.
42:15Everything is bled, and yet, you do a mile, it overheats.
42:20Another mile, overheats.
42:32Well, we've covered 20 miles in four hours.
42:52This is the sixth time in 30 miles that's happened.
42:57Whilst my colleagues embraced beer and bed, I steeled myself for the longest, coldest, most frustrating night of my life.
43:13The roads are getting worse.
43:15Honestly, my bones are going to shatter.
43:18Oh, my God!
43:25What if I had a great idea?
43:29Oh, no.
43:31Oh, shit, it's really high!
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