#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
00:00:00.
00:01:07Thank you, everybody. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And welcome. And in today's incredibly topical show...
00:01:21Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.
00:01:25Some angry cyclists.
00:01:28And I throw a sandwich out of the window.
00:01:34APPLAUSE
00:01:36All that...
00:01:39All that is to come.
00:01:41But first, Aston Martin has just launched a new car.
00:01:45And here's Richard Hammond to tell us all about it.
00:01:48Yes, sir.
00:01:50Yes, sir.
00:01:52Yes, sir.
00:02:24This is the new V8 Vantage.
00:02:30And, well, it's not an ugly car, is it?
00:02:37I mean, I'm not sure about this colour.
00:02:39You'd be on the phone to your doctor if your wee came out like this.
00:02:42But the shape itself is stunning.
00:02:49This is one of those superstar cars that leave a wake of dropped jaws and phone camera flashes.
00:02:59And as the smallest, hunchiest, sportiest car in the Aston line-up, it's fast too.
00:03:070-60 takes three and a half seconds.
00:03:14So you're not going to be embarrassed by 911 Carreras.
00:03:20Top speed, 195.
00:03:24But here's the thing.
00:03:26Aston's have always been beautiful and fast in a straight line.
00:03:31But when you're making a sports car, that's the easy part.
00:03:35It was when you dug deeper under the skin, into the areas you couldn't see,
00:03:40that in the past, they often came up short.
00:03:43The trouble is, the company has never had the money or the manpower of Porsche or Ferrari.
00:03:49And you could sense that in their cars.
00:03:55They just didn't feel as well-made or well-engineered as some rivals.
00:04:02That means they sold mainly to people listening to their hearts and not their heads.
00:04:08Because your heart says, I want an Aston.
00:04:11Even when your head says, that door doesn't fit properly.
00:04:16But this is 2018.
00:04:18Good looks and speed aren't enough if bits are coming off in your hand.
00:04:23This car can't be nice to drive for an Aston.
00:04:27It can't be well-made for an Aston.
00:04:30It's got to be good, full stop.
00:04:34So let's start with the interior.
00:04:37A place that normally tells you straight away if corners have been cut.
00:04:43And the news in here is good.
00:04:46Everything you see is brand new, not warmed up leftovers from an older model.
00:04:51And it all feels properly put together, as it should in a car that costs £121,000.
00:05:00And if you push down on the electric height adjuster, it has the lowest driving position of any car I've
00:05:07ever been in.
00:05:08I mean, I wouldn't claim to be a tall man, but this is low.
00:05:13I feel seven.
00:05:16Then we come to the engine.
00:05:18It's a four litre V8.
00:05:21It has twin turbos.
00:05:23It makes 510 horsepower.
00:05:26And...
00:05:27It's German.
00:05:29Specifically from the AMG division of Mercedes.
00:05:32Now, yes, this will make people of a Brexity persuasion choke on their real ale.
00:05:37But look at it this way.
00:05:39Why waste money you don't have developing an OK engine when you can buy in a brilliant one?
00:05:47Besides, there's a plaque here that says, look, it's been inspected by somebody at Aston Martin.
00:05:53Presumably to make sure those slapdash German engineers have done things properly.
00:06:00But although the Vantage has Mercedes lungs, the engineers have tried to make sure it sings with an Aston voice.
00:06:13Yeah, in an AMG this engine doesn't make this noise. In a Merc it's all oompa bass.
00:06:19Whereas Aston Martin have added some British gravel to the mix.
00:06:32So, it's handsome, quick, tuneful and feels well built.
00:06:37But now we come to the acid test.
00:06:40How the new Vantage handles corners.
00:06:44And on paper at least, things seem promising.
00:06:49It's built on an all-new chassis, a shorter version of the one under the DB11.
00:06:53And it's the first Aston Martin to be fitted with an electronic diff.
00:06:58A very expensive but very valuable weapon of war.
00:07:03So, let's see what's what.
00:07:16Yeah, it works.
00:07:26This is in control of its power. It really is.
00:07:31It's been set up by a man who used to work at Suspension Masters Lotus.
00:07:37And you can tell.
00:07:41This just feels fabulous.
00:07:51This knows what it wants to be.
00:07:56There's no soft GT mode like you get in the DB11.
00:08:01Your entry level setting is sport.
00:08:03And then it goes sport plus and track.
00:08:06That's what I want. It's a sports car. I don't want a soggy setting.
00:08:16Yeah, this is superb.
00:08:21Of course, it's still a car from a small British company.
00:08:25So, there are a few issues.
00:08:29Visibility is not brilliant.
00:08:30For me, sitting down here, it's like trying to drive a car from the back of a crowded lift.
00:08:35There's no glove box.
00:08:37I don't like the sound of the indicators.
00:08:39It's like a 1980s Casio keyboard. Listen.
00:08:45And there's too much Alcantara.
00:08:47This will be all right when it's new, but buy one of these second hands and it'll be like using
00:08:51somebody else's flannel.
00:08:55Still, in the big scheme of things, these are just niggles.
00:09:02Because overall, the Vantage is fantastic fun.
00:09:08In the past, you could buy an Aston and love it, but still know deep down that a 911 was
00:09:14a better car.
00:09:16With this new Vantage, that gap has been closed to a point where it doesn't matter.
00:09:24It's not just brilliant for an Aston Martin.
00:09:29It's brilliant, full stop.
00:09:44Good job.
00:09:45It's a good car.
00:09:47I can see you.
00:09:48Can you? Can you really?
00:09:50I really can see you.
00:09:52We agree with you on that.
00:09:53It's a brilliant, brilliant car.
00:09:54But one thing I ought to mention, you know all that tech inside it?
00:09:58Yeah.
00:09:59That is Mercedes stuff, but it's last generation Mercedes stuff.
00:10:03Yes, but it's still better than all the stuff that Aston used to fit.
00:10:06That's true. Is it not?
00:10:07No, that is true.
00:10:08And the other thing, you express surprise that it's got that AMG engine.
00:10:11You've got to remember the Aston V12 they've been using for years, that's German.
00:10:14Well, it's made in Germany.
00:10:16Yes.
00:10:16That makes it sort of German, doesn't it?
00:10:18No.
00:10:19No, no, no.
00:10:19It's where it's designed and developed that matters.
00:10:22No, it's got a point.
00:10:23Yeah.
00:10:23I mean, your autobiography, you could get it printed in Germany, but it would still be dreary because
00:10:29you designed and conceived it.
00:10:32Can't argue with that, mate.
00:10:34It would be.
00:10:35Let's not get bogged down with what's German and what's not.
00:10:38The point is, okay, unlike the previous Vantage, that is way, way more than a pretty face.
00:10:44I mean, a lot more.
00:10:45But now let's find how fast Abby can get one around the Ebola drone.
00:10:53And away it goes with a little bit of wheel spin and a wiggle of the hips under power,
00:10:59but Abby's got it under control, hammering onto the isn't.
00:11:04Working away there at that unusual and frankly stupid square steering wheel.
00:11:10And already we're at the drop down into your name here.
00:11:14Is that a four-wheel drift?
00:11:16And with another one and now hard braking.
00:11:20Ooh, look at that.
00:11:21Turns in well.
00:11:22And that looks quick.
00:11:26Seems a bit lively there as all that turbocharged torque tries to kick the tail out.
00:11:31This run was at night, should be in trouble because the Vantage's headlamps are woeful.
00:11:36But no complaints about the speed, that's for sure.
00:11:41Okay.
00:11:42Ooh, coming in wide for old lady's house.
00:11:45But keeping it neat round there.
00:11:48And now the short squirt down to substation.
00:11:54Floaty under braking.
00:11:56Flicks it in.
00:11:57Just feel the sheet to go.
00:12:01Surprisingly unsliding and across the line.
00:12:04Looks exciting.
00:12:06It does.
00:12:07Like an old-fashioned racing car that's moving around.
00:12:10The old days.
00:12:11It's a good-looking lap, that.
00:12:13Right, let's find out where it ended up on our lap board, shall we?
00:12:17Here we go.
00:12:19Ooh!
00:12:21Exactly the same speed as a 911 GT3 RS.
00:12:26Yeah, and when you think the Aston doesn't have a massive wing and scaffolding in the back,
00:12:29that is pretty impressive.
00:12:31Very impressive.
00:12:31Yeah, but never mind that.
00:12:32Look, it's no faster than a BMW M5.
00:12:35Yes, but look, I think what that says, James, is the M5 is seriously quick.
00:12:40What, five? Yeah.
00:12:41You do forget just how fast that thing is.
00:12:44It is, it certainly is.
00:12:45But now it is time to buy a four-pack of chat...
00:12:51..from the off-licence of debate...
00:12:55..on Conversation Street.
00:13:02I remember that.
00:13:03I remember that.
00:13:04I enjoyed that one a lot.
00:13:07Anyway, Volkswagen, they've come up with a new one-off racing car,
00:13:11all-electric, all-wheel drive.
00:13:13It's called the IDR.
00:13:14I've got a picture of it here.
00:13:16Now, what interests me about it is that there's a claim
00:13:19that it generates so much cornering force, it can cause the driver to black out.
00:13:24Is that a good idea?
00:13:26A car that renders its driver unconscious?
00:13:29Well, I mean, I just don't believe it.
00:13:31I know Kimi Räikkönen goes unconscious, but that's normally after the race in the hotel bar.
00:13:36Yeah, that doesn't catch.
00:13:37It is.
00:13:37That is Kimi's problem.
00:13:39Well, the other problem with that is it's not lateral G that makes you go unconscious, is it?
00:13:43That's G from side to side.
00:13:45Exactly.
00:13:45Lateral G is what you get in a car, and it's where the blood goes from this, you know, and
00:13:49it can only got that, and I'm wide, but it only goes that far.
00:13:52Yeah, exactly.
00:13:52So in your head, you've got one bit, yes, it's a bit drowsy and blackouty, but the other side of
00:13:57your head, where you're going around a corner, is really all that, because it's full of blood.
00:13:59Well, it's more interesting than that, because different sides of your head do different things, don't they?
00:14:03So go that way, and you go, I want to be really precise and do science, go this way, you'd
00:14:07be all creative.
00:14:08I just want to paint.
00:14:09Algebra.
00:14:10I just want to sing.
00:14:12You know when motor racing commentators always talk about, that car's got 5G going through that car, you think it's
00:14:175LG.
00:14:18Yes, exactly.
00:14:19It's not the same 5G you get in a fighter plane, when you've got the bloods going effectively from the
00:14:23top of your head down to the bottom of your feet, which is a very long way, so your head
00:14:28empties, and that's when you do blackout.
00:14:30Yes, exactly.
00:14:31And it used to be alleged that Douglas Bader could pull tighter turns in his hurricane than other pilots, because
00:14:36he didn't have any legs, so the blood couldn't go into them, it stayed in his body.
00:14:40I didn't know that.
00:14:41Yeah, apparently so.
00:14:42Didn't that mean he'd just get a big stiffy?
00:14:45Well...
00:14:45Because all his...
00:14:46All his...
00:14:47It's science!
00:14:48That is medical science!
00:14:50That's right.
00:14:51All his blood went there.
00:14:53He did.
00:14:53He used to be known during the Battle of Britain as Douglas Boner.
00:14:56No!
00:14:58His grand...
00:15:00My joystick's broken, I've got the wrong one.
00:15:02Oh, I love a dogfight, and I...
00:15:05We can move on.
00:15:07Now, you might be wondering why we haven't featured the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, their new sort of super luxury SUV,
00:15:13on this series, and that's because Rolls-Royce did express some reservations about lending us one, because they said they
00:15:20were worried we might say it was ugly.
00:15:23Why would they think that?
00:15:25Because they've seen it.
00:15:28You've actually got a picture of the Cullinan here.
00:15:31There it is.
00:15:32Yeah.
00:15:33Oh, sorry.
00:15:34Yes, it's a very interesting car for sure, and I don't doubt that it's exquisite to drive and to sit
00:15:39in.
00:15:39But it is disgusting to look at, isn't it?
00:15:42That's the main thing.
00:15:43I've been thinking about this, OK?
00:15:45You might want to drive one, you might want to own one, but at some point you're going to have
00:15:47to come out of your house and walk up to it, and you're going to see it.
00:15:50So I was wondering, could you dig a tunnel, if you had one, from your cellar, and then that emerges
00:15:56underneath it?
00:15:57Then you wouldn't have to look at it.
00:15:58Exactly.
00:15:58No, wait, you'd have to cut a hole in the bottom of your Rolls-Royce to get in, and nobody's
00:16:02going to do that.
00:16:03Well, what if you fitted the Cullinan with, you know that magic glass that is clear when you look through
00:16:08it at right angles, but if you look through it at any other angle, it's sort of frosted, so you
00:16:12can't...
00:16:13That won't work.
00:16:14How do you know?
00:16:14Because I've got that, and I genuinely have got that, in the bathroom in my flat in London.
00:16:19Right.
00:16:20Now, for six years, I've been taking showers by the window, cleaning my gentleman's area very thoroughly, and sometimes quite
00:16:30quickly.
00:16:31OK.
00:16:35And...
00:16:38They were actually not making this up.
00:16:40The floor is six storeys down, the pavement.
00:16:43You go, well, I can't see that, so nobody down there can see me, but a friend came round the
00:16:48other day and said, you know, you can be seen from the street.
00:16:51Oh, my God.
00:16:51Seriously.
00:16:52But you can't see out when you're in the shower?
00:16:54No, exactly, I said.
00:16:55Well, the builder put the glass in the wrong way round, didn't he?
00:16:57Yeah, I think that builder saw you coming.
00:17:09I think the only answer for Rolls Royce...
00:17:11Hold on.
00:17:13I just heard...
00:17:13Is there a phone in there?
00:17:14No, you had a stroke.
00:17:15Again.
00:17:16I'm sure I had a phone.
00:17:17Wait a minute, wait a minute.
00:17:18No, my school alarm, I'm sorry.
00:17:19Was it you?
00:17:20It was my school alarm, I'm sorry.
00:17:22Your what alarm?
00:17:23My school alarm to pick my kids up from school.
00:17:25Oh, well, you're a terrible parent!
00:17:32Oh, ladies and gentlemen, the art of great parenting.
00:17:34I was going to say, we're going to call the NSPCC on you.
00:17:48Oh, my God.
00:17:49I wasn't that interested.
00:17:53We've established they're not in their 30s, is what I was trying to say.
00:17:58Meanwhile...
00:17:58Yes?
00:17:59I don't think that that one-way glass that isn't one way is going to work.
00:18:02I think, really, Rolls Royce's only hope with that new car is they're going to have to hope they can
00:18:07find a lot of very rich people with absolutely no taste.
00:18:11That's the only chance they've got.
00:18:12Well, where are they going to find people like that, I wonder?
00:18:15Well, there's Cheshire.
00:18:16Yeah.
00:18:16Dubai.
00:18:17Solihull, Monaco, Moscow.
00:18:19Beverly Hills.
00:18:20Yeah.
00:18:20They're going to sell millions of them.
00:18:24Massive hit.
00:18:25Now, there's a man in Nottingham.
00:18:27He's building a house and he's told the planners that outside the big empty area is actually a landing
00:18:32pad for a self-driving electric flying car.
00:18:36Yeah, that sounds like what is built as a helicopter landing pad.
00:18:39Yes, it does.
00:18:40It does sound very like that.
00:18:41Yeah, unless, unless he's planning to land there in this, the new Aston Martin flying car.
00:18:45Looks very cool.
00:18:46No, no, Hammond, that's not a flying car.
00:18:48That's just a drawing of something that'll never happen.
00:18:51It won't.
00:18:52No, it won't, but somebody has actually made a real flying car and I've got a picture of that.
00:18:55That is...
00:18:56That's practical.
00:18:57...pretty dreary, actually, isn't it?
00:18:58The first is that you can't drive that on the road, because if you took it into town and someone
00:19:02dinged the bottom of the folded away wing, you couldn't fly it then.
00:19:05You know, he flies in a bent aeroplane.
00:19:07No, exactly.
00:19:07And when are people going to get it into their heads that a flying car is an aeroplane?
00:19:12Because if your car flies, why the bloody hell would you drive anywhere?
00:19:17I mean, it just doesn't make sense.
00:19:18Or worse, you're driving that, not feeling at all self-conscious around the M25.
00:19:23You hear that there's a bit of a traffic jammer head, so you think, right, I'll lower the wings,
00:19:27build up to a take-off speed of, what, 120, 150, the police are going to go,
00:19:30what the bloody hell are you doing?
00:19:32Yeah, they're going to learn.
00:19:33Anyway, you'd need to get a pilot's licence to operate that, and that takes months from people...
00:19:37And then you'd have to learn to talk that gobbledygook, you two.
00:19:39No, you'd have to learn to communicate in the air with...
00:19:42You two don't talk English when you get up in there.
00:19:45No, there's a language that's just so you can pass information quickly and clearly.
00:19:48What do you think you were in alphabet for?
00:19:50Did you come in, did you come through the alpha vector on the three,
00:19:54approach to four LH, cool!
00:19:56I had to get on the tower and say I was...
00:19:58It's about controlled airspace.
00:19:58I'll say I was mug, paper, picture Oscar.
00:20:03Why do you have to have a word for a letter?
00:20:06So if you know what the letter is, because a P and a B on a crackly radio sound the
00:20:10same.
00:20:11Exactly.
00:20:11Is that why you call him a bunt all the time?
00:20:12Yes.
00:20:14That's exactly why, so that it's clear.
00:20:17Now, there is a new report which says the Scottish are the best drivers in the world.
00:20:22And if you think about it, they've got Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, David Coulthard, Frank Kitty, Alan McNish, what?
00:20:29No, not best in that way, they mean the safest drivers in the world.
00:20:33That's what they mean.
00:20:34Well, the safest drivers aren't the best drivers.
00:20:35Well, they sort of are.
00:20:36Well, they aren't.
00:20:37No, because if that were true, if you think about it,
00:20:39then I would be a better driver than Jackie Stewart because I've had fewer crashes.
00:20:43But I'm not better, am I?
00:20:45No, you're emphatically not.
00:20:47Exactly.
00:20:47But what they're saying is actually it's 51% of Scottish drivers have never been in an accident.
00:20:5451%.
00:20:54That's not that good, though.
00:20:55That means that 49% of Scottish people have been in an accident.
00:20:58That's nearly half of them.
00:20:59Well, no, but it's never is the big word, though, isn't it?
00:21:03I mean, never.
00:21:03Who here has never had an accident?
00:21:07Never?
00:21:08But how long have you been driving?
00:21:10Um, one month.
00:21:13Well, well done.
00:21:15There you go.
00:21:17Keep it up.
00:21:19Keep going.
00:21:22Well, that's better than you did.
00:21:24That's quite a record.
00:21:26I'd love to.
00:21:2736 hours before I was off the road with no wheels on the car.
00:21:30Oh, they would drop that.
00:21:31Yeah, well, that hasn't worked out quite as well as I'd hoped.
00:21:36That is the end of Conversation Street.
00:21:38Yes.
00:21:39Thank you very much.
00:21:42Lovely, lovely.
00:21:47Now, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first landings on the moon,
00:21:52and I thought I should take a little celebratory look back
00:21:55at that truly historic mission.
00:21:58James, this isn't a grand tour of whatever is in your head.
00:22:01You do know it.
00:22:02No, no, but I promise there will be some cars in this film.
00:22:06Eventually.
00:22:10I believe that this nation should commit itself
00:22:13to achieving the goal, before this decade is out,
00:22:18of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.
00:22:22When President Kennedy made that speech to Congress in 1961,
00:22:26he gave the scientists at NASA a planet-sized headache.
00:22:32Now, let me try and put the size of that headache
00:22:34into some sort of perspective.
00:22:35When Kennedy said those words,
00:22:37America's total experience in space amounted
00:22:40to just one 15-minute suborbital flight
00:22:43that reached an altitude of just 116 miles above the earth.
00:22:49By contrast, a journey to the moon was 238,000 miles,
00:22:54and no rocket existed that was powerful enough
00:22:57to get the astronauts there.
00:23:00And even if they did reach their destination,
00:23:03there was then the immense challenge of getting them home again.
00:23:07Now, let's imagine this basketball I'm holding is the earth,
00:23:10in which case the moon can be represented by a baseball 23 feet away.
00:23:15There it is over there.
00:23:16All the space exploration that had taken part so far,
00:23:19so all the mercury capsules, all the Soviet stuff,
00:23:22that happened about there.
00:23:26Now, the thickness of this piece of paper represents the corridor
00:23:30that the astronauts would have to fly along to get home safely.
00:23:35Now, to do that, obviously,
00:23:36you'd want some sort of guidance computer on board.
00:23:39The problem is, the computers of the time were so huge and so primitive,
00:23:43they lived in their own buildings.
00:23:45And the president wanted all this done within the decade.
00:23:49People thought he was mad.
00:23:52Nevertheless, the brains at NASA knuckled down
00:23:55and throughout the 1960s set about developing and testing
00:23:59the rockets and the technology that would be needed
00:24:02to crack this monumental nut.
00:24:06However, machinery on its own was not enough.
00:24:10Equally important to the success of the space programme
00:24:12were the astronauts.
00:24:15Now, these men were generally of a type.
00:24:18They were fighter jocks and test pilots
00:24:20and they were very familiar with moving around at very high speed.
00:24:23So, and I did promise we'd get some cars into this,
00:24:26when it came to moving around on the face of the earth,
00:24:29there was one car they favoured above all others.
00:24:43The Corvette, America's premier sports car.
00:24:50The big love in between the American astronauts and the Corvette
00:24:54started with Alan Shepard,
00:24:56the first American in space in 1961.
00:25:00And on his safe return to earth,
00:25:02he was given a free Corvette by General Motors,
00:25:05a sort of medal for services to the country.
00:25:10However, even though Shepard was deemed worthy
00:25:13of a ticker tape hero's welcome by the American public,
00:25:17NASA saw astronauts like him as government employees
00:25:21and, as such, unable to accept free gifts.
00:25:29So, an enterprising Corvette dealer
00:25:31near the Cape Kennedy Space Centre in Florida
00:25:34came up with a cunning idea.
00:25:39They offered the astronauts a special deal
00:25:41whereby they could lease a Corvette
00:25:43for the enormous sum of one dollar.
00:25:48NASA couldn't complain about that
00:25:50because, technically, the cars weren't free.
00:25:52They were being paid for.
00:25:54So, all the astronauts bit his hand off.
00:25:57Gus Grissom, the second American in space, had one.
00:26:01So did Gordon Cooper, a man so cool
00:26:04he actually fell asleep on the launch pad
00:26:07while waiting for lift-off.
00:26:08Jim Lovell, the hero of the ill-fated
00:26:11Houston-we've-had-a-problem Apollo 13 mission,
00:26:15he, too, was a Corvette man.
00:26:17Basically, in the 60s and 70s,
00:26:20Cape Kennedy and the surrounding roads were awash
00:26:22with spacemen driving one dollar Corvettes.
00:26:29But it was the holy trinity of Shepard, Cooper and Grissom
00:26:32who were the real petrolheads.
00:26:34The good news for them was that the space centre here at Kennedy
00:26:38was criss-crossed with lovely wide straight roads
00:26:42which NASA engineers used to move stuff about, i.e. rockets.
00:26:47But that meant, as far as those three were concerned,
00:26:51they were in heaven.
00:26:53They'd come to places like this after work
00:26:55and just drag-raced the hell out of their cars
00:26:58and then they'd have them modified
00:26:59and then they'd drag-raced them a bit more.
00:27:01Gordo Cooper allegedly had his car modified
00:27:04up to 180 miles an hour
00:27:06and he and Gus Grissom even used to go
00:27:09and pit crew for a racing team
00:27:10if they had a weekend off.
00:27:12They liked cars.
00:27:15Then there was astronaut John Glenn,
00:27:18the first American to orbit the Earth
00:27:21and, as a test pilot,
00:27:23the first man to cross the American continent
00:27:25at supersonic speeds.
00:27:28clearly this was a man comfortable with putting his foot down.
00:27:32However, the car he drove was not quite as sporty as a Corvette.
00:27:39Yes, John Glenn, holder of supersonic flight records
00:27:43and the first American to orbit the Earth,
00:27:45drove this.
00:27:49It's called a Prince.
00:27:51It's made by the long-dead German carmaker NSU
00:27:55and it's a microscopic economy car.
00:28:00It has an engine of just under 600cc, two cylinders.
00:28:060-60, 35 seconds.
00:28:14But Glenn wasn't worried about the sedate pace.
00:28:18He lived out in the sticks.
00:28:20He had a long commute to Cape Kennedy
00:28:22and he wanted a car that gave him good gas mileage.
00:28:26Well, let's give him some beans and see what it'll do.
00:28:32That's what it'll do.
00:28:36Oh, man!
00:28:42I've read accounts by the astronauts
00:28:43of what the rocket launches were actually like.
00:28:46A lot of noise, a lot of clattering, a lot of banging.
00:28:50Well, John Glenn was ready.
00:28:56By 1969, just inside Kennedy's deadline,
00:29:00NASA was ready to try landing some men on the moon.
00:29:05The astronauts chosen were Buzz Aldrin, who drove a Corvette,
00:29:09Neil Armstrong, who drove a Corvette,
00:29:12and Mike Collins, who drove a Beetle.
00:29:16Presumably that's why they left him in the command module
00:29:19and didn't let him walk on the lunar surface.
00:29:24The rocket that would take them there, the Saturn V,
00:29:27was and remains the most complex machine ever built.
00:29:36It was constructed of three million components,
00:29:39all of them provided, as the astronauts used to joke,
00:29:41by the lowest bidder, and it stood as tall as a 30-storey building.
00:29:47Ignition sequence start.
00:29:49Six, five, four, three, two, one, zero.
00:29:56All engines running.
00:29:57Lift off. We have a lift off.
00:29:59Six, six minutes past the hour.
00:30:02Shift off on Apollo 11.
00:30:04At blast-off, these five engines produced
00:30:07seven and a half million pounds of thrust.
00:30:10The rocket produced enough power to light the whole of New York
00:30:13for 75 minutes.
00:30:17It burnt its fuel at a rate of 20 tonnes per second,
00:30:21and just two and a half minutes after launch,
00:30:24nearly all of it was gone,
00:30:27leaving just enough to take the three astronauts to the moon
00:30:31and return them safely to Earth.
00:30:34And even though 411,000 of America's brightest minds
00:30:38were fully engaged in this perilous endeavour,
00:30:41sending three men to the moon, bringing them home safely again,
00:30:43they were still very much constrained by the technology of the day.
00:30:47If you have a Ford Fiesta,
00:30:49the engine management system in your car has 10,000 times
00:30:53the computer processing power that they had.
00:30:57Eagle, Houston, we have you now. Do you read? Over.
00:31:00Power and clear.
00:31:01When the astronauts finally approached the surface of the moon,
00:31:05the landing was not without drama.
00:31:08OK, off-flight controllers, gonna go for landing.
00:31:10The designated spot was full of craters.
00:31:14Joe, Houston, you're a go for landing.
00:31:16Forcing Armstrong to fly manually
00:31:19and look for another place to set down.
00:31:21Forward forward, drifting to the right a little.
00:31:24OK, engine stop.
00:31:26Control both auto decenition command override off.
00:31:28We copy you down, Eagle.
00:31:31Drifting, uh, Tranquility base here.
00:31:34The Eagle has landed.
00:31:36When they finally landed,
00:31:38they had just 20 seconds of fuel remaining.
00:31:41But no matter, they were down.
00:31:44On the moon.
00:31:46That's one small step for man.
00:31:52One giant lead for mankind.
00:31:59Back on Earth, a hero's welcome awaited.
00:32:03And once he got home, Armstrong, like so many astronauts,
00:32:07would swap the seat in his spacecraft for a seat in a Corvette.
00:32:24And when I say Corvette,
00:32:26I mean this actual Corvette.
00:32:31This one.
00:32:33This was his.
00:32:40Oh, my word.
00:32:45I'm turning on to the space shuttle runway.
00:32:50It's three miles long.
00:32:55Here are some enormous skid marks left by the wheels of the space shuttle.
00:33:01But this is Neil Armstrong's Corvette.
00:33:20The first person to set foot somewhere other than the Earth.
00:33:27I mean, almost a quarter of the world's population watched him live.
00:33:33The first person to set foot somewhere other than the Earth.
00:33:36The owner of this car, when he realised what it was he'd found,
00:33:40decided not to restore it.
00:33:42He would leave it exactly as it was.
00:33:44He would just do enough to make it run.
00:33:47So he hasn't done the paint.
00:33:48He hasn't replaced bits in here.
00:33:50This is all exactly as he found it.
00:33:53There's patina on the bonnet there.
00:33:55There's a scuffed bit on the door.
00:33:56It's real.
00:33:59Hello, rev counter.
00:34:01Neil Armstrong's looked at you, hasn't he?
00:34:06Oh, I think a Huey is coming.
00:34:10There's Mr Huey.
00:34:11There's the evocative wump.
00:34:16Those are the two sounds of the 60s, aren't they?
00:34:18Bat wump.
00:34:19The sound of Neil Armstrong speaking from the moon.
00:34:25Neil Armstrong's Chevrolet Corvette.
00:34:32Love it.
00:34:33Love it.
00:34:34Love it.
00:34:38What an honour.
00:34:53I forget that I could take up 6 times on that remote.
00:34:57Easily...
00:34:58CHEERING,じ Then...
00:35:01Hold on.rąghts.
00:35:04What's gone wrong with
00:35:05astronauts?
00:35:06they don't go to the moon anymore no no no they used to be rock gods I mean if you
00:35:11think about
00:35:12it they would drive their Corvettes into town get hammered get chlamydia and the next morning they'd
00:35:19be upside down in a starfighter whereas I met one not that long ago he was the first astronaut ever
00:35:25to dock the space shuttle to the space station in space and he turned up for the interview in a
00:35:30maroon Toyota Camry and and he had his polo shirt tucked into his chinos your point about the polo
00:35:40shirt is my point is very simple okay you look at pictures from the space station I follow it on
00:35:46Instagram look at this I mean I'm sorry they look like people who run a portaloo rental company if
00:35:53you go for an audition with NASA yeah and you don't arrive in the car park in this program and
00:35:58replace
00:35:58it with some flamboyance you probably need a little bit of maths no you don't you just want
00:36:03them to be funny no that's that's children's entertainers you're thinking of Jeremy not not
00:36:08astronauts Buzz Aldrin a flamboyant man used to wear shirts like that I met him he had an excellent
00:36:12shirt on exactly also very funny one of my favorite stories about Buzz Aldrin remember second man on
00:36:17the moon you mentioned him in your film he was being interviewed many years after the moon landing
00:36:21very nervous young reporter standing there live interview this was and they're going right we're
00:36:26going over live now and the director's going in five or three and on three Buzz Aldrin lent
00:36:31the reporter meant nothing about the moon okay anyway that's enough about space now I want to move it
00:36:43on because I came into the office the other day and told these two that the Citroen c3 aircross that
00:36:50I've been driving was very good and they said it wasn't because it isn't yes it is and I decided
00:36:56to prove that it is by doing one of those very thorough tests where we cover all the things that
00:37:02matter in a car of this time now wait a minute is this going to be one of those stupid
00:37:07films where
00:37:07you do ridiculous tests to discover if a car can drive faster than itself no this is the car in
00:37:16question it's a five-seater front-wheel drive hatchback prices start at 14 720 pounds and it looks rather
00:37:26funky with those splashes of orange paint here and there it's also easy to see out of because the
00:37:39windows are made from glass and all the controls fall easily to hand because they're on the dashboard
00:37:45or the steering wheel rather than under the carpet in the boot
00:37:52but you may be wondering what makes it so special well to find out I've decided to break the test
00:37:59down
00:38:00into segments so that all the important questions can be answered to find out we've come here to the banked
00:38:13Millbrook Bowl in Bedfordshire Citroen say that because the quite small 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine in
00:38:25this particular version of the Aircross is turbocharged it produces 128 horsepower and now it's time to see
00:38:35what that means in terms of top speed and here we go obviously you can't go as fast on a
00:38:47bank track as
00:38:47you can on the straight and level I was going to ask James May why this is so but um
00:38:54I was frightened
00:38:55he might tell me so I so I didn't it's 100 moving up into the fifth way in the lane
00:39:04of terror
00:39:08114 there it is and I think that's it top speed is 150 no the little car has more to
00:39:17give
00:39:21right I think we've established there that this car's top speed here on the Millbrook Bowl
00:39:27is 115 miles an hour and that for a practical high riding family SUV which can do 50 miles to
00:39:35the gallon in ordinary driving is not bad but can it do better okay what I've done now is hooked
00:39:45up to
00:39:45the back end of a Bentley Bentayga now this is a car with a top speed of 180 miles an
00:39:51hour
00:39:57what it's doing is it's punching a hole in the air for me and I'm driving along in a vacuum
00:40:05so that should mean I go faster let's find out
00:40:11that's 115 easily 116 117
00:40:20I'm also using less fuel so this is good for the environment as well 119 120 miles an hour now
00:40:29121 this is flying 122 miles an hour 123 what we're doing now is proving that the Citroen
00:40:39C3 aircross can go faster than itself 124 god's truth it's like being in Bluebird my only worry is
00:40:51that I just saw a single magpie and it is Friday the 13th as I do this so now I'm
00:40:57gonna ease out of this
00:40:58dangerous situation
00:41:08well if the space is smaller than the aircross then the answer is no
00:41:16but if the space is bigger then the answer is yes and with that sorted out it's time for one
00:41:25of the most important tests a little car can face
00:41:35to find out I've come to Southampton docks where obviously I've been forced to wear a hard hat in
00:41:42case a ship lands on my head anyway as you can see the little car has been attached by rope
00:41:50to the
00:41:50enormous car transporter which I've just noticed has a face it's boating the boat face the challenge
00:42:05I'd come up with was to see if the one-ton c3 could pull the 13,000 ton ship a
00:42:13distance of 25 meters
00:42:17right now I should explain that my colleagues may and Hammond think this is a stupid test they say the
00:42:24aircross only develops 151 talks and that that isn't enough to pull a medium-sized child I however disagree
00:42:36let's do this
00:42:45oh Christ there's some elasticity in that rope
00:42:48oh hello why is it going backwards this is a bit of a worry
00:42:57is that ship the ship's going back look the ship is going back what the situation's bad
00:43:10as we reattached the tow rope I wondered what had gone wrong why did did he put his engines in
00:43:17reverse as a sort of amusing joke I mean he is Greek the captain we're not German it's we didn't
00:43:22mess
00:43:23your economy up with the rope reattached we began the test again here we go
00:43:36that's just clutch spin that's just clutch that's clutch traction control off it's the only solution
00:43:55I think we're getting further and further with each pull
00:44:05I think we're getting further and further with each pull
00:44:23you know how to do this
00:44:23come on Bootsie move you vicious boat
00:44:33give it a bit of left and right
00:44:46what a machine this is
00:45:01the power and strength of the citron
00:45:11that
00:45:16that is Boaty McBoatface admitting defeat
00:45:20and with that sorted out
00:45:23it was time to address the C3's practicality
00:45:37now I should explain these are not actually Angelina's children they're
00:45:41much cheaper let's just get your names first of all your cardboard
00:45:47satisfied customer satisfied customer don't go to this place in a way
00:45:53dislocated elbow enjoy is that right I don't want to mispronounce it and your
00:46:01Vauxhall Vauxhall right come on let's see how many of you can get into the
00:46:06citron
00:46:13that's my seat belt hang on Vauxhall's got a problem what is it Vauxhall no seat belt
00:46:19there is a seat belt there is a Vauxhall there must be a seat belt look there we
00:46:24are it's somewhere in here you just have to
00:46:27well you probably your mom your dad's left home to be with a French woman my
00:46:32dad is in America your dad's Brad Pitt not your real dad you were bought from a
00:46:37market somewhere no I found it look
00:46:41oh no come on Vauxhall sit properly ha they're all in no space I'm afraid for
00:46:48whether of you you've had it can I say in the boot in that with the boot well no
00:46:53because you see if your mom goes into town or to Africa and buys a disabled
00:46:57child where would his wheelchair go
00:47:12I'll say I I am surprised I thought horses were bigger than this anyway come on let's
00:47:17see if we can uh get you in come on up you come up you come there you go up
00:47:24you go oh yeah sit and
00:47:28say that this has the biggest booth in its class
00:47:41to answer this we've come to France where an armed robbery is in progress
00:47:48I am so sorry to put the
00:48:17I am so sorry I have to say that this is a
00:48:18Now making their escape in a red 1972 De Tommaso Pantera GTS.
00:48:28What?
00:48:33J'ai avu 5x5.
00:48:35Eh oui.
00:48:37Au-dessous est sortier.
00:48:42Right.
00:48:51Let's do this!
00:49:05All around the world, police forces normally have pretty good cars.
00:49:10Americans have Crown Vicks, Germans have BMs, Italians have Alphas.
00:49:15But France has always been a bit of a burgling free-for-all because you knew that you were only
00:49:22ever going to be chased by Inspector Crusoe in a diesel Renault Megane.
00:49:27Well, not today, because I'm in an aircross and I've got a moustache.
00:49:34To make my life a bit tricky, the robber's Pantera wasn't standard.
00:49:41It had an all aluminium 7 litre V8, producing 550 horsepower, four times more than I have.
00:49:59Soon, I caught up with them.
00:50:04But to get ahead, I decided to take a shortcut.
00:50:14Digger, deploy skill.
00:50:22Skill used.
00:50:29I don't need to slow down because of my raised suspension.
00:50:34Come on, dogged little Citroen.
00:50:41Oh, you couldn't have done very good to myself.
00:50:50Where is he? Where is he?
00:50:56I can hear him. It's like an Australian. You can hear him before you see him.
00:51:01Right, I'm going to cut him off.
00:51:05Ha-ha! Got him!
00:51:32I know where he's going and I know I'm going to get there first.
00:51:44Oh, heavens!
00:51:47Oh, damn it!
00:51:48Oh, my God!
00:52:00Oh, my God!
00:52:03Oh, my God!
00:52:03There he is!
00:52:05Oh, my God!
00:52:11We're just not such a serious situation, it would be a good laugh.
00:52:30Ultimate baddies car, of course, the Dutamazo Pantera.
00:52:33It even has an Argentinian flag on its badge.
00:52:47Oh! Deploying skill!
00:52:53Skill success... Oh, not skill not successful. Sorry, my bad.
00:53:00Oh, no, he's going right!
00:53:07Oh, I think I hit one.
00:53:09Did I? Oh, no.
00:53:13It's okay, I've got them all now.
00:53:16Come on, get back in the chase here, man.
00:53:20Payback!
00:53:27A little bit bumpy.
00:53:29There's the car!
00:53:32It was beginning to seem that, despite my best efforts, I wouldn't be able to catch the Pantera.
00:53:40But then, when all seemed lost, the Citroen played its trump card and didn't break down.
00:53:47Whereas the Pantera reverted to time and did.
00:53:57There you go, son.
00:53:58There you go, son.
00:54:00There you go, son.
00:54:00Oh, God.
00:54:02He's using hair dye.
00:54:04Anyway, it's now time for the final test, the big one.
00:54:09The answer to the question, I'm asked five or six times a day.
00:54:19Italy is a difficult country to invade because it's surrounded on three sides by sea and on the fourth by
00:54:26mountains.
00:54:33But back in 218 BC, a Tunisian general called Hannibal did cross those mountains using elephants to carry his gear.
00:54:43And what I want to know is, could he have used an air cross instead?
00:54:47I mean, obviously, the air cross wasn't invented 200 years before the baby Jesus, but, if it had been, could
00:54:54he have used it?
00:55:03We know that the Citroen is powerful and torquey, but what really matters on a job like this is traction.
00:55:14And that's where this knob down here comes in.
00:55:18It engages something called the grip control system, and that sounds like a gimmick, but it isn't.
00:55:27Last winter, Britain was hit with a weather bomb which became known as the beast from the east.
00:55:34Everything stopped and nothing was moving apart from me in an air cross.
00:55:41I genuinely couldn't believe it. I put it in snow mode and it was going through drifts up to its
00:55:47door handles.
00:55:50So, let's see if it can pull off the same trick here when the track runs out and the going
00:55:55gets tougher.
00:56:01Yes! Look at the little Citroen, clawing away!
00:56:09No elephant could do this!
00:56:11Yes! I am zooming up here!
00:56:20God knows what sorcery the computers are using to keep me going here, but they are.
00:56:31The downhill stretch here, so engaging the hill descent control, take your foot off the clutch and off the brake.
00:56:41You can hear the anti-lock brake system working, keeping me in check, stopping the backsliding round, stopping me accelerating.
00:56:49That's so clever in a little car like this!
00:56:54But, as the climb resumed, the going got really rough.
00:57:00No! No!
00:57:03Let's just pop it into... mud mode.
00:57:12There we go. There you have it.
00:57:15Come on, little car. Come on, little car.
00:57:18As the engine mountings, you can hear wobbling away, but the good news is the engine is still in.
00:57:27With the sat-nav telling me Italy was just two miles away, I found another path.
00:57:35We've been past 2,000 metres here.
00:57:40Christ, if I go over the edge now...
00:57:43Oh!
00:57:48Finally, the border...
00:57:52...hoved into view.
00:58:03Come on, little aircross!
00:58:07There you are! Clever car!
00:58:18So, there we are. Faster than itself at the test track, strong enough to pull a ship.
00:58:25Big enough for the entire Jolly family and a horse, and better at invading Italy than an elephant.
00:58:33APPLAUSE
00:58:36You know what I mean?
00:58:40How a machine.
00:58:41Fuck your little car.
00:58:43Very good.
00:58:47Are you all right?
00:58:49In the head, I mean.
00:58:50What do you mean?
00:58:51We learned nothing.
00:58:53You did. You learned it could get to the top of that mountain, even though it doesn't have four-wheel
00:58:57drive.
00:58:57Yeah, but what about things that matter to people who buy that sort of car?
00:59:00What about, you know, boot, interior, space?
00:59:03I did boot!
00:59:04OK, safety, insurance group, all that.
00:59:07It's a bit boring.
00:59:08And are you seriously expecting us to believe that a little French hatchback can catch a tuned De Tomasso Pantera
00:59:15on a mountain road?
00:59:16Well, you say that.
00:59:17James Bond, golden eye, you may remember.
00:59:19He's in his Aston DB5.
00:59:20He's chasing the Ferrari 355.
00:59:22He caught up with it.
00:59:23Then there was the other Bond film.
00:59:24What's it called?
00:59:25Um, quantity of porridge, something like that.
00:59:28He's in his Aston DBS, Italian police, diesel-powered Alpha 159.
00:59:33Keep up with him.
00:59:34No problem at all.
00:59:35You do know they're not documentaries, don't you?
00:59:38There was The Rock.
00:59:39The Rock was.
00:59:40Hummer and a Ferrari again.
00:59:41Look, can we try and salvage some useful information out of this?
00:59:46There's no need.
00:59:47No, there is.
00:59:47I mean, OK, let's...
00:59:48Isn't that Citroen basically, tell me if I'm right, the same car as the Vauxhall
00:59:53Crossland?
00:59:53It is.
00:59:54Yes, it is.
00:59:54Good point.
00:59:55So, for instance, would you buy one of those instead?
00:59:58Good.
00:59:58Well, you can't have the Vauxhall with the grip control system,
01:00:02so it's no good as an elephant.
01:00:04No, the elephant test isn't actually relevant.
01:00:07Is there not something...
01:00:08OK, the Vauxhall, is it...
01:00:10How easy is it to vacuum out the interior?
01:00:13There you go.
01:00:13I knew you were going to mention that, so what I did was I took the Vauxhall
01:00:17down to a man who knows a thing or two about vacuuming,
01:00:20none other than Sir Dyson.
01:00:27Could you get that bit in there?
01:00:43Any good?
01:00:43Brilliant.
01:00:44Is it?
01:00:45Very easy.
01:00:46Brilliant.
01:00:47Sir James Dyson, doing a test of important test scores there.
01:00:54Actually, was James Dyson...
01:00:56Just a minute.
01:00:57What?
01:00:58Sir James Dyson is developing a new solid-state battery.
01:01:01Yes.
01:01:01He is working on the future of global personal transport.
01:01:05Yep.
01:01:05And you've wasted his whole afternoon vacuuming out the interior of the Vauxhall.
01:01:12Yes.
01:01:12You have literally speeded up the end of the world.
01:01:16Yes.
01:01:16Yes, I have.
01:01:17And on that terrible disappointment, it's time to end.
01:01:19Thank you so much for watching.
01:01:20See you next time.
01:01:21Goodbye.
01:01:21Goodbye.
01:01:22Goodbye.
01:01:23Goodbye.
01:01:34Goodbye.
01:01:38Goodbye.
01:01:40Goodbye.
01:01:41Goodbye.
01:01:43Goodbye.
01:01:44Goodbye.
01:01:45Goodbye.
01:01:46Goodbye.
01:01:49Goodbye.
01:01:49Goodbye.
01:01:51Goodbye.
01:01:51Goodbye.
01:01:51Goodbye.
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