The Wait Is Over! Grand Tour Is Here

Sorry, Top who? That’s what I was thinking as I watching the opening scene of the brand-spanking-new series of the Grand Tour this morning. My word, it was epic. I’m still trying to compose myself so bear with me just a few moments. Right, that’s better. So as some of you may have not seen it yet I will try not to give too much away, but like I did with Top Gear, I wanted to give a little review on it and what you can expect.

 Holy Trinity

This week’s show is called Holy Trinity and that could be named to celebrate the return of Clarkson, Hammond and May, although I think it’s more likely to be because they had three very special (and expensive) cars this week. They are the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 and the Ferrari LaFerrari. I’ll get on to that in a bit though, as I want to talk about THAT opening scene. Yes, the one that cost £2.3million to make. Let that sink in for a few moments. 

We start on a rainy day in Britain as we see Jeremy Clarkson leave the BBC and enter a taxi. The whole thing’s actually quite sombre and there are no silly gags from Clarkson and you really get a sense it meant something to him to film this. He then heads to the sunny climate of LA before getting in a ‘rental’ American muscle car. I won’t tell you which as I don’t want to give too much away.

He heads down the highway before he is joined by his dear comrades Richard Hammond and James May in similar cars. Then it all gets a bit mental. They drive in to a dessert and then all of a sudden there are cars EVERYWHERE. It’s like the ulmate convoy as the three chaps head to a live stage where a band called Hothouse Flowers are performing I Can See Clearly Now which is a rather apt song choice if you ask me.

They finish by going on stage, introducing every other with their typical banter you’d expect from the former TG trio. They then make their way to a tent before their drone gets shot down. I’m still not sure whether that was meant to happen or not as you never know with this guys! Yes the intro was expensive but it was brilliant and genuinely gave me goosebumps. Right, on to the show. One thing I want to say before I continue – the cinematography is simply astounding!

Good to have you back

Now then. I know full well I’ve droned on quite a bit already so I’ll keep this relatively short as A) I don’t want to bore you and B) I don’t want to give too much away. The main topic of the show was the test we’ve all been waiting for. That’s right, the P1vLaFerrariV918 test. Jezza was in the P1, which was weirdly the same one he drove when he was on Top Gear, Hammond was in the 918 and May was in the LaFerrari. 

They did a few different tests with varying results and in the last one Clarkson said if the P1 didn’t win, the other two could knock his house down. That is a rather bold bet, but did it come back to bite him on the arse? Talking of danger, the trio now have a new test track which has been called the ‘Eboladrome’ – you’ll understand once you watch. Clarkson commented that it makes “Imala look like a duvet”. 

The BMW M2 also made an appearance and it was driven on the new track by Clarkson as he did a brief road test before it was given to the show’s new racing driver, called The American, AKA Nascar drive Mike Skinner. We also had some in tent banter which was as good as it’s always been and I have to say, it was so good having them back. It wasn’t until I watched the show that I’d realised how much I’d miss those three.

Thankfully they’re sticking around for 12 weeks. Bring it on.