#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
00:28Transcription by CastingWords
00:44CastingWords
01:01Thank you all for this
01:02Thank you so much, thank you
01:18And coming up in this week's show
01:20James stands next to a car
01:24Richard pulls a face
01:28And some Toblerone falls over
01:38It is an action-packed show
01:43But we start with Lancia
01:45I've said many times that over the last hundred years
01:49No one has made more truly exciting cars
01:53There was the Integralia and the Stratos
01:56And the Fulvia and the 037
01:57The list goes on and on
01:59And yet all they make today
02:01Is a steaming pile of augeur
02:04Called the Ypsilon
02:06Look at it
02:07I would rather have a maggot-infested wound
02:10Than drive one of those
02:11Honestly makes me sad
02:13That they've been reduced to making that
02:15And it turns out
02:16I'm not the only one
02:29There's a man in Italy
02:30Called Eugenio Amos
02:32Who looked at the old Delta Integrale
02:35And found himself wondering
02:41What would it be like
02:42If Lancia made it today?
02:45How would it feel?
02:46How would it go?
02:48And then he stopped wondering
02:50And decided to find out
03:03This is what he came up with
03:16The engine is a 16-var of 2-litre turbo
03:20As it was before
03:22But it has new rods, new pistons
03:24A new turbocharger
03:26And a lot of electronic tweaking
03:28So now it develops
03:32330 horsepower
03:36That's 140 more than you got in the old car
03:41And there's more good news
03:44Most of the body panels
03:46And suspension components
03:48Are now made from either
03:50Aluminium or carbon fibre
03:53And there are two advantages to that
03:55Number one
03:57They won't rust
03:59And number two
04:00They're light
04:04And because of all this work
04:06This car is pretty quick
04:10There's a fair bit of period turbo
04:12As you can hear
04:17But when it gets on song
04:26It does 0-60 in four seconds
04:30And flat out it'll be doing more than 160 miles an hour
04:37The best thing though
04:39Is that all the understeer you got in the original car
04:42Has been replaced with
04:44An extraordinary amount of grip
04:48And neutrality
04:51It is a bloody brilliant car this
04:54Look at this
05:04He's properly quick through there
05:08Yes
05:09I like this
05:14Don't go thinking however
05:16That all of the Lancia idiosyncrasies have been erased
05:20The steering wheel is mounted low down between my legs
05:24So I can't see any of the dials
05:26And then here we've got a lot of buttons and knobs
05:29That don't seem to do anything at all
05:32I know this red one with the rocket ship
05:34Or is it a Philippe Stark lemon squeezer
05:38I know that starts the engine
05:39But all the rest
05:40No clue at all I'm afraid
05:42No clue
05:43What does Levati mean?
05:48To find out I pulled over to chat with Eugenio
05:52The man who created this car
05:54A man who turned out to be let's say
05:58Fully Italian
05:59On the steering wheel
06:01I've been a bit confused by this button
06:06Levati
06:07Well levati in Italian means
06:10It's the translation of the word like move
06:14You press that button
06:16And you flash the lights
06:17And hopefully people will move from your way
06:19So it just means that's Italian
06:21For get out of my way
06:22Yes, exactly
06:23After clearing that up
06:25He really got into his stride
06:27Did you weld that?
06:29Personally?
06:30No
06:30It's like porn
06:32Porn?
06:34It's welding porn
06:35What's the gold?
06:37Um, it's to
06:39Basically it would have a function
06:41Not in this case
06:43We just like it
06:44Okay
06:45It's pretty
06:46So it's just a pretty gold bar
06:48Why did you do two doors?
06:50Two doors?
06:51Because why not?
06:53I think it looks cool
06:54It looks very snazzy
06:56And then how would you describe that bottom now?
06:59Well it's
06:59It's, uh, I would say it's a very nice ass
07:03Mm-hmm
07:03And this is the more small detail
07:06I would say it's like the tongue that comes out from the jeans
07:12And that's okay
07:14With everything fully explained
07:16I got back on the move
07:18You have got to love the Italians, haven't you?
07:22I mean, the Eugenio said
07:23A lot of the stuff in here wasn't working
07:25Because if it was working
07:27Then it would be an Audi
07:32I love this car precisely because it isn't an Audi
07:36And I love it because someone cared enough to make it
07:41And I love it most of all
07:45Because it's giving me my youth back
07:56There is, however, one problem
07:58It costs a quarter of a million pounds
08:05And I'm sorry
08:06But if I was going to spurt big lumps of money
08:09On an updated classic Lancia
08:12I'd spurt them on the most classic Lancia of them all
08:28Yes, you couldn't fit in it if you were shaped like a human
08:32And thanks to its signature short wheelbase
08:35It handled like a psychopath
08:37But a few years back
08:39A team of people from all across Europe
08:41Including Germany's 13th best horse rider
08:45Got together
08:46And wondered what a modern Stratos would be like
08:51And then they stopped wondering
08:53And got to work
08:55They bought a Ferrari 430
08:57Removed the entire body
09:00And threw it away
09:01And then 20 centimetres was cut
09:04From the wheelbase of what remained
09:06After this, the V8 was uprated
09:10And so was the cockpit frame
09:13A new exhaust system was fitted
09:15And then a new carbon fibre body
09:19Was made
09:20To create this
09:26The new Stratos
09:31Pretty, isn't it?
09:41And it's even better
09:43When you get inside
09:46Look at this
09:47I fit
09:48And there's air conditioning
09:50And a button that changes the setting of the traction control
09:53And it's got door pockets
09:55Big enough for a crash helmet
09:57Just like in the original
10:02Right
10:03Let's see if this is just
10:05Misty-eyed nostalgia
10:07Or whether
10:09It actually works
10:20It is not
10:21Misty-eyed nostalgia
10:24The first thing you notice
10:26Is the stiffness
10:29And then there's the lightness
10:32It's actually 100 kilograms
10:35Lighter than the Ferrari
10:36On which it's based
10:39You can certainly feel that
10:42When you accelerate
10:440 to 60
10:483.3 seconds
10:51And it'll keep on going
10:53All the way past
10:54200
10:57This is alarmingly fast
11:03Jesus Christ
11:06You sense it too
11:08In the corners
11:09It's just so
11:11Darty
11:13It's like driving a
11:14Dragonfly
11:16I thought the McLaren Senna felt light
11:19But this
11:20Jesus
11:30And because of the short wheelbase
11:34It's incredibly playful
11:36Never does the same thing twice
11:39Here I come
11:41To your name here
11:49Let's try that again
11:50Same corner
11:51Same input
11:52Same line
11:56It's got understair this time
12:01Same input
12:06There we go
12:07There you are
12:08This is a complete mentalist
12:19It's like one of those interactive computer books
12:22Where you choose the ending
12:24Except you don't choose the ending
12:29It does
12:34This then is very like the original Stratos
12:37Which means you have to be an utterly, utterly brilliant driver
12:42To get the best out of it
12:44If you aren't a particularly brilliant driver
12:47Well
12:52Yeah
12:53This is going to happen a lot
13:00I don't care though
13:01Because
13:03Spinning and having accidents
13:05It's like falling off your rally burner BMX
13:07Which is what this car is
13:12Is
13:16Unfortunately however
13:17It's not priced
13:18Like a rally burner BMX
13:22It's actually priced
13:23Like a really big house
13:28Pity
13:36One of our favourite, most exciting cars
13:39Yeah
13:40Yeah
13:40No, I loved it
13:41I really did love it
13:42Good
13:43Yeah
13:43That's all well and good
13:44Go on then
13:45What?
13:46How much is it?
13:48£650,000
13:49For God's sake
13:50Really?
13:52£650,000
13:54Yes
13:54For an old Ferrari
13:55With a bit sawn out of the middle
13:57It's a bit more than that
13:58Look, if you want a Stratos
14:00Why don't you just
14:01Buy a Stratos
14:02Well, I don't fit in the original Stratos
14:04Well, you would if we sawed a bit out of the middle
14:06Yeah
14:06You would
14:07I've just remembered something
14:08What?
14:09I don't want to talk to you two anymore
14:11Do you not?
14:12No, I want to see how fast
14:14Abby can get that
14:14Remarkable Stratos
14:16That unremarkable old Ferrari
14:17Stratos
14:18Around the Ebola drone
14:22The way it goes
14:24Looking magnificent
14:26And sounding
14:27Pretty good too
14:29Immediately
14:30On to the
14:31Isn't straight
14:32Oh, easing off a little
14:36There for one of the right handers
14:37But very, very tidy
14:40Through there
14:42Now, Abby
14:44Dropping into your name here
14:45And even tidier
14:47Through there
14:47But how many
14:49Random handling tricks
14:51Will we get round there?
14:53Absolutely none at all
14:54It's nailed there
14:57Flicking out the other side
14:59Like a flea
15:00And already on the run
15:01Back to old lady's house
15:03It's faster and sharper
15:05A Ferrari improved
15:06By the removal of needless weight
15:08And length
15:09Now, old lady's house
15:11Here we go
15:12Darts through there
15:13Brilliantly
15:14And absolutely brilliant
15:16Through the second bit as well
15:17And now
15:17The four-bore run
15:19To substation
15:20That thing looks epic
15:23Stable under braking
15:24Tidy through the corner
15:26Bit of a squiggle on the way out
15:27Anything through field
15:28A sheet
15:28Nope
15:29Tidy as anything
15:29And across the line
15:32You've got to admit
15:33That did look
15:34It looks very exciting
15:35It does look quick
15:36It does
15:38It does
15:39It does
15:39It is very exciting
15:40I particularly enjoyed the bit
15:41Where you said
15:42Improved by the removal
15:43Of needless length and weight
15:44Well, that's me, isn't it?
15:46I mean, that is clearly
15:46Just
15:48No, I still don't want to talk to you
15:49Do you not?
15:49How far did it go?
15:50No, no, no
15:51Yes, exactly
15:51Well, let's find out
15:52There we are
15:52Look, there's the board
15:53Let's see where the
15:55Straw sauce goes on it
15:5917th
16:00That's not bad
16:00No, hang on a minute
16:01What do you mean
16:02Hang on a minute?
16:02Well, that's
16:03It's over a second slower
16:04Than a four-door BMW saloon
16:07Yeah
16:08Yeah, no
16:09It is slower
16:09But it's a lot more expensive
16:11So
16:12Tell you what
16:13Let's find out how fast
16:14The Delta went
16:15Okay
16:16Integrally
16:16Here we go
16:17Didn't bother filming it
16:18But we have got the time
16:19Uh-oh
16:21Yeah
16:22No, look at it this way
16:23It's actually the same speed
16:25As a BMW M2
16:27I think I can also claim
16:28Quite reasonably
16:29That the old
16:31Mercedes A45
16:32Would go around the track
16:33Faster than that
16:34Yeah
16:34And be a hell of a lot cheaper
16:36Yes
16:36But
16:36But
16:37Everything on a Mercedes
16:38Would work
16:39And who wants that
16:40Be dull
16:42It's what Eugenio was saying
16:44You don't want German
16:45You aren't in the Italian frame of mind
16:47Are we not?
16:48No, you're not
16:48That's the trouble
16:49Has anyone here got an Italian car?
16:52No, they're not here, are they?
16:53They didn't make it
16:55It's raining
16:55Did you?
16:56Yes, that is a good point
16:57It's also very windy
16:59And before the tent blows away
17:00We should get on
17:00We should
17:01We must move on
17:01Because now it is time
17:02For us
17:03To score a bag of chat
17:06From the dealer of debate
17:09On conversation street
17:16I like that one
17:18I really like that one
17:19My favourite
17:23I don't even remember my head coming off
17:26I do
17:26Well, anyway, look
17:27Let's go on with it
17:28I've got some very interesting news for you, James
17:30Oh, God
17:31Not more speed of bloody birds
17:33Oh, is it?
17:34No
17:35Speed of fish
17:36Oh, for God's sake
17:38No
17:38Go on
17:39Go on
17:40How fast do you think a salmon can cross a road?
17:44Salmon
17:45Don't cross roads
17:46You're thinking of a chicken
17:47You say that
17:49Watch this piece of footage
17:50I found on the internet
17:52Look at that
17:53What, are they salmon?
17:54They're fish?
17:55That's actually salmons
17:57Oh, no, that is actually quite interesting
17:58It is
17:59Look at them
17:59There's hundreds of them all going across a road
18:01What are they doing?
18:02This is the interesting thing
18:03See, if I were a salmon
18:05And they have to go back to their breeding ground
18:06Or spawning ground, don't they
18:07I wouldn't be bothered
18:08I'd just stay on the other side of their
18:10Oh, I have the baby here
18:11I mean, when my children were born
18:12I think I've got to get back to Doncaster
18:14They just went to the nearest hospital
18:16No, salmon are very determined
18:18You have to respect them for that
18:19Actually, fish, I think, are pretty cool
18:22Actually, is it not remarkable
18:23That car makers have never named cars after fish?
18:27Good conversation
18:27They've named them after, you know
18:29Big cats
18:31Birds, lots of birds
18:33The weather
18:33Great gods
18:34Why has there never been a Ferrari salmon?
18:38Determined, agile, good at cornering
18:40Lamborghini tuna
18:42Well, yeah, I was going to
18:43The tuna is a very fast fish
18:4540 miles an hour a tuna will go
18:46That's like faster than a speedboat
18:48Faster than a jet ski rent on holiday
18:49It's a brilliant idea
18:50I can't wait for the Ford haddock
18:52Hmm
18:54Can anyone think of a car that's been named after a fish?
18:58Sting, oh, no, they turn
19:00There's a stingray
19:02Yes, Barracuda, Manta
19:04Manta
19:04Isn't it amazing how all cars are named after fish?
19:08It's an astonishing thing
19:10We can edit all the other stuff out
19:11Yeah, the audience knows a lot more than we do
19:14That's basically what we're talking about
19:16I had completely forgotten about the Barracuda
19:17Plymouth Barracuda, yeah, I know
19:19Yes, absolutely
19:20Now, you know we've always said
19:23That Canada is God's pantry
19:25Yes
19:26And that Saudi Arabia is his petrol station
19:29Yeah, Lancashire is his cupboard under the stairs
19:31Yeah, this is his wind tunnel
19:32Our tent's about to blow down
19:33Exactly, this is the wind tunnel
19:34The France is his drinks globe
19:36France is the drinks globe
19:37Argentina is his cesspit
19:38Yeah
19:40Bolivia is his
19:43Yeah
19:44Yeah
19:49Point I'm trying to make, though, is, as we've always agreed
19:51Italy is his racetrack
19:53Yes, this is a known fact
19:55We saw it earlier with the Integrale
19:56And the Stratos
19:58Now, this is a point that's been proved
20:00Because the mayor of a small hamlet
20:02Called Aquatico
20:04In near the French border
20:06He installed a speed camera
20:08On a two-week trial period, okay
20:10Now, we've got a picture of the village in question here
20:13Oh, that's lovely
20:14Yeah, we're not talking about a vast metropolis here
20:16Now, in the two-week trial period
20:19Of the speed camera
20:19The number of people it caught
20:21Breaking the speed limit was
20:2458,500 in two weeks
20:31They can't help themselves, the Italians
20:33They can't
20:34Wait a minute
20:34That many in two weeks
20:36During that, let's assume it was quieter at night
20:37It looks it
20:38Yes
20:39So, during the day
20:39There must have been at least one car every ten seconds
20:42Setting the camera
20:43No, see, people have been turned twice a day
20:44On the way to work
20:45No, wait
20:46On the way to work
20:46Then back for lunch
20:47Then back to work
20:48Then back home
20:48It's happened again
20:50He's flashing
20:51He's annoying
20:52What I love, though, is the mayor
20:54Is still deciding
20:56Whether a speed camera is necessary
20:58Really?
21:00What does he want?
21:01He actually, no, he's quoted in one of the papers
21:03I read the other day
21:03As saying
21:04Well, the problem is
21:05We have good asphalt
21:06And long, continuous bends
21:08So, he's basically saying
21:09Look, it's a really nice road
21:10So, of course, people are going to speed
21:12Plus, we're Italian
21:13So, what do you expect?
21:15Oh, good effort
21:15Meanwhile, in the UK
21:17Things are rather different
21:19There's a man in Bedfordshire, right?
21:21He's, which is a county in England land
21:22If you're watching elsewhere
21:24And he's put a fake speed camera
21:27On the side of his house
21:28Which is by the A1
21:29Now, we've got a picture of it here
21:30As you can see
21:31It is very realistic
21:33Would you agree?
21:34Completely
21:34And he's been told to take it down
21:36Because the highways agencies say
21:39It's distracting drivers
21:41Oh, wait
21:43Wait a minute
21:44Yeah
21:44The highways agency have said
21:46Something that looks exactly like a speed camera
21:48Yeah
21:49Is distracting drivers
21:50Yeah
21:50They've rather shot themselves in the foot with that one
21:52Yeah, because what they're saying is
21:54Speed cameras are distracting drivers
21:56And they're therefore dangerous
21:57Yeah
21:57Speed cameras, according to the government
22:00Are killing baby children and small puppy dogs
22:03So, should we have a vote?
22:04Yeah, let's have a
22:05Do it all the way
22:05Who thinks all speed cameras should be removed?
22:09Highways
22:09Highways agency, we agree with you
22:12We support you
22:13100%
22:14100%
22:15Of the British population agree
22:17That they should all be taken down now
22:18Good, that's that sorted out
22:20Good
22:21I'd like to move
22:22I've got some very big and interesting conversation actually
22:24Peugeot
22:25Have made an interesting car
22:28I bet they have
22:29No, that's not true
22:30No, they have
22:30I've got a picture of it here, look
22:32It is called the E-Legend
22:34Hang on
22:34It has two electric motors
22:36It has 456 horsepower
22:38And it is designed to look like the old Peugeot 504 coupe
22:42It doesn't?
22:43No, they say it does
22:44It doesn't
22:44It looks more like the 505 GTI
22:46He said in a rather boring way
22:48But it does
22:48I don't care what old car it looks a bit like
22:50Look, it looks fantastic
22:52It does
22:52When can we buy it?
22:53Er, you can't
22:54Oh
22:54No, it's just a
22:55It's just a sort of concept car design study
22:57What you can buy though right now is this
23:00Oh God, really?
23:02Yeah
23:02That's called the, er
23:03That's called the Rifter
23:05It's a sort of diesel van
23:07Oh, what is wrong with Peugeot?
23:09It's a good question
23:10Why are they reminding us that they used to build some really very good looking cars
23:14Yeah
23:14And then we can only buy dreary crap like that
23:17It's, it, it baffles me because why would you make a concept car and then so you can't buy
23:21When you go to a greengrocer, it's like this succulent juicy apple
23:24You don't have that one, we've got some moldy ones in the back
23:26Yeah
23:27Then Peugeot go to a greengrocer and see how they do business and then learn from them
23:32Now, a few months ago, right, there was a bit of a problem in Britain
23:35Well, it's been going on actually for a year or more
23:36Where kids are getting on mopeds, riding down the pavement
23:39Another kid on the back, helping themselves with people's phones and old ladies handbags
23:42And what have you, as they were going along
23:44Yeah, it's a big problem for the police because in busy city streets
23:47How do you chase a moped? You can't
23:49Well, exactly, no
23:50However, the police came up with an idea that they thought would solve it
23:53Which was to basically ram the moped thieves
23:57Okay
23:57Yeah
23:59You're recording?
24:02We've actually got footage of them doing just that
24:04Here
24:05Ready, there he is
24:06And blam!
24:08Yeah!
24:09There you go
24:11And
24:12Moody!
24:13Yay!
24:14That's what you need
24:15Now, you see, we're all in favour of that, are we not?
24:18Yeah
24:18It's the only time in my life I've ever wanted to be a policeman
24:22No, you can't
24:23Why?
24:24You haven't got a moustache
24:25That's true
24:25No, but that, okay, I have had an idea
24:28Oh God, is it ridiculous?
24:30Let me explain
24:31Oh, that's a yes then, it is
24:33Just let's see what everybody thinks
24:34Okay, so, best will in the world, the police are out patrolling and they don't do much of that these
24:39days
24:39As I'm sure we all know, but even if they were, the chances of them encountering somebody who really was
24:45a moped thief in a place where they could realistically knock them off is quite remote, yes?
24:52Yes
24:52So how's this for an idea?
24:53All of us as we're driving along in our cars, if you see a motorcycle, knock them off
25:00Wait, what, just any motorcycle?
25:02Yes, because eventually somebody's bound to hit the right one and knock over a moped thief
25:08Hang on, isn't that a bit like Pol Pot executing anybody who wore glasses in case they'd read a book?
25:14Yes, it is
25:15Look, I admit, you two, I know you're not moped thieves, I know you're not, but you do ride motorcycles
25:19and that's fine
25:20And you are going to get, I have to admit, some hurty knees and a bit of grazing
25:24Oh, yes, and quite a lot of other people, including Ewan McGregor, Jamie Oliver, Ross Noble, the hairy bikers, for
25:32God's sake
25:33You can't knock them over
25:34Yes, I know, you say that, but they're just casualties of war, if you think about it
25:39The main thing is that we are bound to totally end moped thievery and we'd all have a good laugh
25:45at the same time
25:46Come on, you would
25:48You can't ram bikers
25:50I'm not saying we ram them a gentle nudge
25:53Anybody here ride motorcycle?
25:55Yes
25:55Do you?
25:56Yes
25:57Sorry
26:01Anyway, I think that's the end of Conversation Street, is it not?
26:03Yes, it is
26:03Let's move it on
26:04Yeah, let's move it on
26:05Now, earlier on, Jeremy was listing all the wonderful and remarkable cars that Lancia have made over the years
26:11But let's not forget, Porsche has also made some rather remarkable cars
26:16Absolutely, there was the 911
26:18There was another sort of 911
26:21There was a slightly different 911 that was green
26:23Yes, yes, yes, as I know
26:24But this year marks the 50th anniversary of what I think must be the greatest Porsche of them all
26:31Is it a 911?
26:32No
26:35It's called the Porsche 917
26:40And even if you have no interest in motorsport
26:44You'll most likely recognise this machine
26:48Because it's quite possibly the most iconic racing car ever created
26:56Now, today, Porsche is the most successful car maker ever to race at Le Mans
27:01They have 19 victories to their name
27:03But this is the car that started it all
27:05This is the car that gave them that all-important first win
27:08Now, obviously, with a pedigree like that, it's quite valuable
27:12Around £14 million
27:15So when we asked the insurers if this would be OK
27:17They said yes, but not the accident-prone little midget
27:20It must be Captain Slowly
27:23So let's see if I can make this thing live for you
27:26The first thing you need to know is that
27:28Although the 917 looks like a big, wide car
27:32Actually, it isn't
27:43I'm in
27:45God, it's tiny
27:59It's tiny
28:01Holy mother
28:01God, you've got 401
28:11The bracket is just astonishing
28:14Imagine this for a 24 hour race
28:22even though it's a 50 year old car the 917 is fast by the standards of any decade
28:290 to 60 2.7 seconds top speed 224 using the absolute bare minimum of materials
28:40so for example this bodywork which is very close to my head
28:45it's fiberglass 1.2 millimeters thick that's it now in front of me i have a big rev counter
28:52an oil temperature gauge and an oil pressure gauge that's all the information you get
28:57if those are reading correctly that means the engine isn't going to blow up and that means you can pin
29:12it the 5 litre 12 cylinder engine produces 621 horsepower which is modest by the standards
29:21of today's road-going hypercars but this thing weighs just 800 kilograms
29:28as a result the power to weight is off the scale
29:35bloody hell this is special
29:40i'm amazed porsche let me drive it at all i mean
29:44they didn't give me any training they just put me in and said
29:46pulls this or turns that and uh you'll be fine
29:52what's more amazing than that actually is that this car exists at all because
29:56its gestation was let's say it was quite difficult
30:06the story of its birth starts in 1968 when the governing body for sports car racing alarmed
30:14that the top-end unregulated prototype cars were becoming too fast too expensive and too dangerous
30:22decreed that such machines should have engines no larger than three liters
30:27however the governing body also said that if you could build 25 road-going versions of your racing
30:32car that engine limit would be raised to five liters although secretly they knew that no small
30:38sports car manufacturer could actually afford to do that
30:42they didn't think there'd be any takers what they hadn't reckoned on was porsche's head of motorsport
30:49ferdinand pierre back then porsche was a tiny cash starved outfit nothing like the prosperous
30:57company we know today but pierre was so consumed with scoring an outright win at le mans that he decided
31:04he was going to build those 25 cars even though the next le mans was only a few months
31:11away so everybody and i do mean everybody the accountants managers office juniors secretaries
31:18they were all hauled away from their desks to go down to the production line and work on getting
31:23those cars ready they actually became known as the secretary cars the ragtag porsche team just made
31:31the deadline and the motorsport inspectors gave the road cars the sign off presumably not inspecting them
31:38too closely or they would have noticed that most of them had truck axles
31:45with the green light given for porsche to enter the le mans race the echo to work getting some cars
31:52ready in time now on the plus side they were blindingly fast one car clocked 238 on the mulsanne straight
32:04on the downside though they were terrifyingly unstable and virtually undriveable the drivers
32:12simply didn't know what the car was going to do next there was so much chassis flex that the gear
32:18lever
32:18would move around all over the place they'd make a gear change put their hand there the next time and
32:24it'd be somewhere else
32:27pierre hoped for a big win at the 1969 le mans race but it was a disaster
32:35one of the privately entered cars crashed on lap one killing its driver the others broke down as the race
32:44war on until just one remained driven by this man british driver dicky atwood difficult would be uh putting
32:54it mildly um uh life-threatening could be another one um it was um a monster
33:05it was made for speed like a bullet to go through the air but the uh there wasn't enough pressure
33:11on
33:12the bodywork to keep it on the ground and so the faster you went the more unstable it was
33:18it was so horrendous i was waiting hopefully that the car would break and eventually it did
33:25but it's 21 hours before it broke we were six laps in the lead so we hadn't got far to
33:31go but i was i was
33:33happy the car broke undeterred porsche hired british race engineer john wire who'd helped to develop
33:42the ford gt40 to sort out the 917's evil handling and he cracked the problem with a little help from
33:51mother nature after one really long test session wire and his drivers noticed that although the front
33:58of the car was absolutely plastered in dead bugs there were none here on the rear wing which must
34:03have meant the air wasn't flowing over it and it wasn't producing any downforce and it wasn't pressing
34:08the car down into the track having reworked the aerodynamics of their problem child porsche arrived
34:16at the 1970 le mans race with renewed hope and dicky atwood once more at the wheel
34:24during the race the 917's were blisteringly fast as ever but this time mercifully they were much more
34:32stable and although heavy rain claimed victim after victim atwood and the 917 took the chequered flag
34:41and gave porsche their first ever outright win at le mans
34:48it was a win they badly needed because they had quite literally gambled the company on it
34:55but it's also true to say that this car nearly broke porsche as well didn't it because they were
35:00a very small company it it did um again it was ferdinand piek and uh he he was a guy
35:07who was
35:07um quite extreme he was so enthused to do what he's done that that nearly broke the company it did
35:15yeah the racing program nearly destroyed porsche from then on there was no stopping the 917
35:23as it set about building its own legend the following year at le mans on the way to another crushing
35:30victory
35:30it would go through the speed traps at over 241 miles an hour a record that stood for more than
35:3820 years
35:40and in that same race it was so fast it would cover a total of 3 315 miles a distance
35:48record that would
35:49stand until 2010.
35:53and if that wasn't enough hollywood's greatest petrol head steve mcqueen came to le mans and made the 917
36:00a screen icon
36:08and now since the legend is celebrating its 50th birthday i think it deserves a fun day out
36:17so i thought why don't we put mr dicky outward back in it to stretch its legs a bit and
36:23spice things up and
36:24whilst he's there let's see how the old legend i mean the car stacks up against a modern porsche
36:32specifically this porsche the 911 gt2 rs the biggest go in porsche's current arsenal
36:43and now attentive viewers will have noticed that i'm not actually driving and that's because
36:48i've decided to do this properly we're going to have old porsche le mans winning racing driver versus
36:54young porsche le mans winning racing driver because this is neil yarny and he won for porsche in 2016
37:01in the 919. to be honest he's also probably a bit better in this than i am
37:06as for the cars themselves on paper it's a tough one to call we have 700 horsepower in here 621
37:15horsepower in the 917 but the 917 weighs just 800 kilograms this weighs 1830 kilograms it's over
37:24a ton heavier but then again we've got modern tires and we've got modern brakes and we have a modern
37:29gearbox with paddle so i mean god knows let's find out what i hadn't considered in my comparisons was dicky
37:43oh cheeky look how bloody fast he's going
37:49the man's unknown that he's 78
37:54he's going quick huh carrying a massive amount of speed into the corner
38:02here we go
38:11the red mist has descended again after a pause of nearly half a century and mr atwood has gone quite
38:19mad
38:24oh yes just come here
38:28yes oh no oh you've had you well you can't quite out break him because it's too heavy
38:36but in the end youth and modern rubber triumph over a flat hat oh we're right all over we're all
38:43over
38:43here we go
38:52yes
38:53yes
38:53yes
38:57nicely done sir
38:58lucky i can keep my job yeah
39:01i think you can keep your job
39:17so
39:17so you see james some old men can drive fast just saying yeah i didn't realize you know the ferdinand
39:24piak who did the 917 he went on years later to do the bugatti veyron didn't he yes he did
39:30exactly
39:30right and before that he did the audi quattro the original one and his grandfather obviously he did
39:36the beetle and his cousin i think it was that did the 911 yeah his cousin ferdinand yeah they were
39:42all
39:42called ferdinand there's a true fact this porsche was started by ferdinand who had a son who took over
39:48the company and he was called ferdinand and then he handed it on to his son who was called ferdinand
39:53and he did the 911 they're all ferdinand yeah but the second ferdinand yeah he had a sister called
39:58ferdinand no she was called louise and she had a daughter called louise and a son called ferdinand
40:07and that was ferdinand piak who we were looking at there exactly right who did that car there's
40:10no wonder really that the 911 never changes because that family's got no imagination
40:14we just saw what should we call our son hmm i'm thinking ferdinand wanna guess what wanna guess
40:19what ferdinand piak's son was called colin no no it was ferdinand there is a surprise there is a
40:26surprise anyway let's move it on shall we yep let's move it on um as you would probably imagine we
40:31have
40:31to travel a lot to make this show i mean just in making this series alone we have been to
40:36colombia
40:37detroit las vegas scotland tbilisi baku istanbul helsinki and chonzin mongolia hong kong florida spain
40:47france italy switzerland that's just to make 13 programs yeah and we're not making that up we
40:53genuinely have been that far and that means we have to go through a lot of airports and almost all
40:57of
40:57them drivers man for a number of small reasons and one big one yeah you what well you we have
41:04to
41:04travel with you everywhere and you never stop ranting about i do a little bit of that yeah a
41:09little bit yeah the first 20 minutes of the film we're about to see are just rant before we even
41:14get to the point yeah that is true but it's worth it as you shall see this is london stansted
41:22airport
41:23which is located nowhere near london
41:29here we are weather spoons with runways and miles of tape to make your life worse and why do
41:36they need a two-hour check-in i mean two hours to get my suitcase from the check-in desk
41:40to just behind
41:41that wall over there which is where the plane is to go on two hours i could almost get it
41:46back to london
41:47in two hours oh good security time to take all my clothes off and give someone my toothpaste and
41:54you know the worst thing is i mean the idiocy of people in these queues just beggars belief look at
42:00her shoes you see that look at her she looks like elton john in tommy it's going to take her
42:04three hours
42:05to take each one of those off and take your laptops out now while you're in the queue not when
42:10you get
42:11there i came on a train 2 000 people on it no security at all going on an airplane well
42:17i'll do
42:17this and then of course is your bag going to be selected for a special search of course it is
42:25all this there you go you've been through an x-ray machine if you go to a hospital and you
42:29x-ray
42:30somebody's leg okay you say right it's not broken i can see that but let's just cut your flesh open
42:36to
42:36make sure no it's been x-rayed why are they looking at it again oh here we go yep salt
42:43self-raising flour normal flour baking powder talcum powder that's from an athlete's foot i put them
42:54in clear bags every single airport you go through anywhere in the world why are they so interested in
43:00my condiments and medical necessities i don't know mate and then you're out of security and straight
43:07into a shop which wouldn't be so bad if it sold something you actually wanted like bob roll or
43:13cat food but no all they sell is perfume why do they think when you get to an airport all
43:18right i've
43:19suddenly overcome with a need to smell like victoria beckham then you've got the adverts look at that
43:26half-wit look at him every advert in every airport makes no sense and then you have these moronic
43:34slogans some companies that do things you don't understand manage your infrastructure like a
43:39visionary not a functionary what's that mean might as well say manage your infrastructure like a visionary
43:46not a shoplifter there's a shop at heathrow that sells a life-size pothorse i mean who when they're
43:55about to go on an airplane goes yes that's exactly what i need a brittle fragile pot horse to lumber
44:01about i'm gonna start an airline called i'll take my chances there you turn up get on the plane it
44:08takes off nobody on board smells like victoria beckham no security nothing if it blows up it blows up
44:15not that you can say blows up in an airport these days because then you have to go to prison
44:18for 400
44:19years why is she wearing a tracksuit well so she can be comfortable she's not going on a fighter jet
44:26she's going to spain there's no gee well there's one well i mean there's one gene now i'm not thinking
44:31oh these jeans are really uncomfortable i wish i'd worn a caftan and all those they're the amuse
44:38moosh of the problems you have at an airport now it's time for the really big one the distance to
44:44the
44:44gate this never ends of course it doesn't end look at that look at that 10 minute walk to gates
44:50there's no such thing as a 10 minute walk nobody walks for 10 minutes well i mean eight wood or
44:56a
44:56wildebeest but not the human being 10 minute walk the distance from the backdrop here to this gate
45:04we're going to is 1.2 kilometers and atlanta the walk to the furthest gate is two kilometers in beijing
45:12it's two miles the astonishing miracle is that so far i haven't actually been run over by one of those
45:18carts going beep beep beep warning fat bastard on board and then you get to a corner and is it
45:25the end
45:26no there's another mile of corridor to get down no one in the history of aviation has ever flown from
45:33gate one there are no gate ones anywhere in the world here's your ticket gate 374 where's gate one
45:40i can see now why james may volunteered not to be in this film and finally you get to the
45:47gate which
45:48is so far from civilization they're still using a dot matrix printer we have explained to him that the
45:54walk has to be this long because airplanes are wide because they've got wings but he can't seem to
46:01understand the concept look you will admit that that was a long walk yes i don't care what the
46:07reason is it's a long walk it is quite a stretch which is why we decided to address the problem
46:14shut it up
46:18so here we are arriving at the airport again with what looks like normal hand luggage okay what i have
46:25here as you can see is a perfectly ordinary wheeled suitcase if i fold the handle away it will fit
46:30in
46:31an overhead locker however if i lay it down like so you can see starting to look like a car
46:38not really
46:39mate no it is it will look even more like a car when i have completed the build simply open
46:46it up as
46:46you can see all the things i need for a couple of nights away are in there it is actually
46:51a suitcase
46:51but also in here is um steering wheel so shut that up yeah you put your shirt over your steering
46:59wheel
47:00it's not my shirt it's my jacket oh i'm sorry just move it off the steering column
47:05zip it up right and then you heard that a solid click like an m16 rifle bolt
47:13this is my accelerator my brake and then i simply it's sitting on it being quite careful to keep
47:20that away from my plums and i am ready to go so where's yours here where laptop yeah put it
47:29on the
47:29floor wheeled laptop oh yeah yeah but oh i see you standing on it yeah and i'm off so where's
47:37your
47:37luggage in my pocket i've got pants toothbrush everything i need i'm good to go i mean that
47:43does look a bit dangerous it is that's why i'm wearing all these pads right are we ready then to
47:51revolutionize air travel yeah the worst bit of our every working day is about to get better let's do this
47:59the speed oh shit i may have i may have hit the other sign as well my brakes aren't as
48:08good no i hit
48:09the big sign another advantage of this i am tall i reckon i'm 5 11 on this yeah there's been
48:16a bit
48:16of a role reversal it's good i'm gonna be honest with you in a matter of moments we arrived at
48:21the
48:21check it this is a good test yes i'm not a sheep i'm not a sheep i have sold
48:37hello sorry about that sorry ow are you checking in the bag no he's on it i have it here
48:44it's here
48:44he's not normally that tall shut up into security oh god my foot sorry sorry sorry my other yep that
48:58happened can you uh take out your laptop please it is a laptop look that's it that's a laptop with
49:07wheels yeah that's it that's a steering wheel what's that car oh god
49:14it's got to get undressed do you want to see my penis um well not right now there you go
49:23thanks but you never had a steering wheel go through customs before have you
49:28right onwards
49:32i actually have nine wheels on my suitcase not counting this one oh that was that was that was a
49:39bad mistake
49:40haha yeah sorry
49:46soon we were motoring through the duty-free shops
49:52this works by leaning to steer it it runs on what i believe called trucks which are the little wheels
50:00under skateboards and they they go in the direction you lean coming through
50:04oh sorry madam i think we better if it made a noise
50:09hello this is the future
50:12you're dragging your suitcase instead of using it to get you to the gate
50:18oh beep beep beep sorry i'm sorry i'm thank you
50:25in full power mode have a top speed of 28 miles an hour but i'm not using that
50:29because in full power mode you have no steering at all no no no no no no sorry
50:36uh jeremy you killed a man oh no oh hammer's gone
50:44ow i meant that eventually though i started to get the hang of my machine
50:51i'm ready to turn
50:55hammond what i'm drifting a suitcase you're not this is more like a racetrack than a shot oh
51:04shit oh
51:07can somebody do this is where's the manager this was like this when we got here
51:13okay we could try and rebuild it
51:18actually genuinely hurt my leg not that you're bothered i'm bothered when you hurt yourself which
51:23is every time you get in a moving vehicle how bothered are you i genuinely have hurt my ankle
51:27you're not going to get an air ambulance trip out of crashing into some chocolate bars
51:32soon we decided that instead of rebuilding the toblerone mountain
51:37we should use the time we'd made up having a drink
51:48sorry oh god um can i have uh sorry about that let's
51:53that's good they've got to stop um what do you want uh i have a gin and tonic two gin
51:58and tonics please
52:02so it's a skateboard yeah with a cordless drill motor and then it gets its power from the laptop
52:06batteries yeah that's really a laptop it works there's my laptop that's actually quite clever
52:13the way we have to look at it is yes there was a small accident with the toblerone and it
52:18did
52:18kill a man but other than those minor drawbacks i think we're going well i mean when have we ever
52:24in all of our travels stopped for a gin and tonic at an airport never ever had never ever having
52:30finished our drinks we set off into the warren of walkways this meant i could finally unleash my suitcase
52:43mobile
52:44the speed
52:47oh
52:48oh
52:49rides like a tesla
52:52enjoying your walk
52:55hammond meanwhile had decided to use the travelator yeah
53:00i'm saving laptop batteries by doing this just oh no hang on a minute
53:07how am i going to get off the end of this right i'm in reverse so i can say i'm
53:12stationary but
53:13only because i'm in reverse um if it's just stride stride stride stride stride um
53:21having eventually reunited out of the way
53:26we arrived at the departure gates feeling fresh and calm
53:31nothing to see here nothing to see is it gate 88 hammond what no mate it's this one
53:41who's the plane
53:51and on that terrible disappointment back to the tent
54:06right we know how his works i fell out of a tunnel yeah and i'm not interested in that i
54:10want to know
54:11how yours works is it exactly the same it was cordless drill motor and some laptop batteries right
54:16and you're claiming that has a top speed of 28 miles an hour i was doing 28 when i fell
54:21out of the tunnel
54:21really yes 28 i didn't believe him either so when the airport quietened down a bit we organized a
54:27race yeah we did we got some drivers i got abby to ride my suitcase yep and my laptop was
54:33ridden by
54:34aaron davis the second fastest young skateboarder in britain and you can't get better than that but
54:41you can you can get the fastest anyway you didn't who wants to see the race they play the tape
54:52right right here's abby on my superb suitcase and here's hammond's man on the laptop and now let's see
55:02see what happens three two one
55:08so
55:54who here hands up who here would like to have one of those for going through an airport yes we're
56:01on to
56:01something yeah it's the way forward well just hang on a minute can i just ask is that the first
56:05race
56:05in history where all of the competitors crashed before the finish um probably is probably yeah probably
56:13yeah and let's not forget when you used your inventions you fell off quite badly you killed a
56:19man yeah and then you drove out of the end of a tunnel yes i did do that those things
56:23did happen
56:25which also hurt yeah yeah so those those things you've created are a complete menace to the people using
56:30them and everybody else in the airport fair yeah yes that is fair actually now i'll come to think of
56:38it
56:38and so on that terrible disappointment it's time to end now next week there's a grand tour
56:43special we're attempting to cross the vast wilderness that is mongolia using a car that we built well
56:51they built they built ourselves see you then take care good night
56:56and so
57:09and so
57:11and so
57:14and so
57:18and so
57:20and so
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