Top Gear 12x5

1. Tonight, The Stig climbs into a bucket of hot wallpaper paste.

2. Richard sorts out public transport

3. and James gets beaten up by a boat.

4. Hello! Hello, and we start...

5. We start with something strange.

6. 'Cause you see, last year, you couldn't

7. buy a BMW unless you were a cock.

8. - But then all of a sudden,

9. people with huge watches and stupid Oakley sunglasses,

10. people who tailgate you on motorways,

11. suddenly started to buy Audis instead.

12. No idea why, don't really care because what this means

13. is that normal people with normal watches

14. can now buy, for the first time ever,

15. what, if we're honest, has always been

16. the best sports saloon of them all, the M3.

17. Some people are saying this new model

18. is too soft and too squidgy, but I'm not one of them.

19. The fact is that last year we showed the two-door coupe version

20. was way faster round the track than

21. its rivals from Audi and Mercedes.

22. And now, your children can have their spleens crushed as well,

23. because this is the new four-door version.

24. It has the same equipment as the coupe we tested,

25. has the same butch front-end and despite the extra weight,

26. the performance is almost identical as well.

27. Of course, with the two extra doors

28. and a bigger boot, incidentally,

29. you would expect the saloon to be more expensive than the coupe.

30. And it isn't, actually.

31. This is 49,000, so it's £1,400 less.

32. This, then, is a brilliant car.

33. The obvious choice for the family man who has a light,

34. - but wants to keep it under his bushel.

35. Or is it?

36. Because now, there's a new kid on the block.

37. This, the Lexus IS F.

38. Now, driving a Lexus has always been like sitting in a bucket

39. of warm wallpaper paste reading a Jane Austen novel.

40. But with this one, they claim they've built an M3-killer.

41. It's certainly very high-tech.

42. For instance, it has a sport vehicle integrated management system,

43. whatever that is, and airbags for your knees.

44. What's more, full lock-up control is used in second gear

45. without the tongue converter.

46. Hmm, Jane Austen could only dream about such things!

47. Happily, however, most of this Japanesey PlayStation stuff

48. is buried under a wall of brute force and noise.

49. It has a massive 5-litre V8 engine.

50. Which produces about the same amount of power as the M3,

51. but more torques.

52. It is, however, 100 kilograms heavier.

53. So let's see how the two of them get on in a drag race.

54. Wow!

55. I am ahead.

56. Oh, he's coming back.

57. Come on!

58. Eventually the heavy Lexus would win

59. because while the BMW is limited to 155 mph,

60. the IS F will keep going all the way to 168.

61. It is a quick car, but what happens when you show it some corners?

62. Wow!

63. Well, as you can see, I'm now behind the M3

64. which is being driven by touring car racer, Tom Chilton.

65. So, let's see if he can get away from me.

66. This is so completely out of character for a Lexus.

67. It's like Mr Darcy coming out of the lake

68. and then machine-gunning a fluffy kitten for fun.

69. Oh, he's hard on those brakes.

70. These brakes are good too, I've got to be honest.

71. Understeer just kills everything

72. and then the weight coming out,

73. you see, he's already got 100 yards on me.

74. That BMW must be exciting, look what it's done to his hair!

75. I can keep up but I have to work so much harder

76. because this is just not quite as composed as the Beemer.

77. So what about price?

78. Well, the Lexus is £1,000 more than the BMW,

79. but it comes with more stuff as standard,

80. so it is slightly better value.

81. The Lexus also has slightly more space, a slightly bigger boot

82. and a dashboard from the pages of science fiction.

83. On paper then and on the track,

84. this really does seem like it could be an alternative to the BMW.

85. But it isn't.

86. Firstly, it has eight gears,

87. and that's too many because it's always changing its mind.

88. Then there's the styling.

89. The normal IS is a fine and handsome thing,

90. but with all its puffed up bits and pieces,

91. this is a bit of a mess and those tail pipes are fakes.

92. There's more. This may have more torques than the BMW

93. but they're all at the top of the rev range.

94. And that's like putting them, really, on the top shelf in the kitchen,

95. you can never really reach them, they're never there.

96. The worst thing about the Lexus, though, is the way it rides.

97. The BMW manages to be sharp and comfortable, this doesn't.

98. It's hard, really hard.

99. When you're driving normally,

100. a sports saloon should soothe your brow,

101. not attack it with scissors.

102. To sum up then, the Lexus does a lot of things brilliantly,

103. but the BMW, that does everything brilliantly.

104. In the past you had to be a cock to buy one.

105. Now though, you're a cock if you don't.

106. Let me make sure I've got this absolutely right.

107. Cocks are now driving Audis?

108. Yes, I had one right up my chuff this morning on...

109. What?

110. on the A3 on the way down, it was this close.

111. So, what do you have to be to drive a Lexus?

112. A dork.

113. So, to drive an AMG Mercedes

114. you'd have to be an arse, a big arse?

115. A big, tall, actually slightly fat arse?

116. You're being Captain Horrid.

117. - Yes, I am. - We haven't time

118. to explore this new trait of your personality

119. because it is time now to put the IS F round our track

120. and that, of course, means handing it over

121. to our tame racing driver.

122. Some say that one of his eyes is a teste...

123. and that he was turned down for I'm A Celebrity

124. because people have heard of him.

125. All we know is, he's called The Stig.

126. And away he goes

127. in a biblical pall of smoke

128. and strangely that was from the exhaust, not the tyres.

129. Even The Stig can't access that top-shelf torque straight off the line,

130. but he can torture the tyres, by the sounds of it.

131. Stig, he's still listening to Morse,

132. no idea what it's saying, but I'm sure the internet will tell us.

133. Heaved it round Chicago there, now coming up to Hammerhead.

134. Squirming under braking, that gives away the sheer weight of this thing,

135. perhaps because of that 5-litre V8 up front.

136. Now, that's... That's tyre smoke!

137. I suspect this car could do with

138. a proper limited slip diff, not an electronic one.

139. Labouring his way up all eight gears,

140. through the follow-through, that's looking fast through the tyres.

141. Two corners left, all the way down

142. the box again, getting sideways.

143. This really isn't as easy as the M3 to drive quickly.

144. Now, Gambon, still looking frisky and across the line.

145. Not a bad time. Not a bad time.

146. Ready... It did it in 1:26.9,

147. so, look, that's pretty quick.

148. Look at that, about the same as a Lotus Exige.

149. The thing is though, earlier on we put the BMW around.

150. It did it in 1:25.3. Look at that!

151. That's the same as a convertible Lamborghini Gallardo.

152. So, really we've got a Top Geartop tip here.

153. Um, if you are an employer and you

154. take someone on who has a Lexus,

155. he'll be late for work

156. and he'll be a dork when he gets there!

157. Unless, of course, you employ somebody with an AMG Mercedes,

158. in which case they'll arrive at work in a cloud of smoke

159. and then they'll be an arse when they get there.

160. Speaking of which...

161. - What?

162. Nothing... It just came up in conversation.

163. - Are you wearing that for a bet? - No.

164. - No? - No.

165. - Right, shall we do the news? - Yes, we'll ignore that.

166. And let's kick off with this Infiniti.

167. New brand to the UK and it is to Nissan

168. what Lexus is to Toyota,

169. a kind of posh version of it.

170. They are coming over with some cars, some four by fours and this.

171. Now, this is a V6 engine, 3.7-litre convertible.

172. All I want to know about this car

173. is why have they styled it to look like the Lexus SC 430?

174. You know the one. Look!

175. I mean, that is undoubtedly the most vile and hideous car ever made.

176. Why make it look like that?

177. It is vile but it's completely academic

178. because you never see one of those in the real world.

179. You do, go to Cheshire, they're everywhere!

180. Are they?

181. They're always being driven by those women that have got faces

182. actually made from leather.

183. But whenever I see them, those women driving nice cars,

184. I really do want to stop them and just ask, I want to beg, "Why?

185. "Tell me, why did you buy that?" because it's an expensive car.

186. It's like getting every travel brochure,

187. choosing your summer holidays next year,

188. 180 countries you could go to and saying, "Yes, Germany."

189. - Yes!

190. "Not Mauritius, not Mauritius. Dortmund is where I want to go."

191. It is that bonkers a choice, it's that terrible a car.

192. The thing is about the Infiniti... Can we see the Infiniti again?

193. That is actually just a Nissan with a posh name.

194. It's a bit like people who buy a perfectly normal house

195. in the middle of a road, number 22, but then give it a name.

196. No, no, 'cause a friend of mine did that.

197. He lived in the Midlands, somewhere, I think it was Lichfield.

198. And he called... It was 22 Acacia Avenue or whatever it was

199. and he called it "Sea View".

200. - That's quite good.

201. Hey, hey. Now, you know Porsche is always saying

202. that they don't ever really restyle the 911

203. because they want to maintain that sense of purity and tradition?

204. Yes. - I don't think that's true.

205. I think they don't restyle it properly

206. because they can't, they have no idea at Porsche

207. how to restyle cars.

208. 'Cause if you think about it, the 4-wheel drive, it's the Cayenne, isn't it?

209. The Cayenne looks like a 911 that's been reversed into a shed, yes?

210. And now, they're doing a four-door of a car, okay,

211. which is called the Panamera,

212. which sounds like a hat, okay. Look at this.

213. - It's just woeful. It is.

214. Are you all right? - Excuse me, no, I'm going to die now.

215. Is it this? Has this made you feel sick?

216. I was going to say, that's exactly what it is.

217. I looked at that and it nearly killed me, it's so awful.

218. Listen. I was driving a Volvo XC60 this week, the new one.

219. The front of it is all full of radars and sensors,

220. 'cause the idea is you can't actually crash it.

221. Don't ask me how, but anyhow, I was thinking

222. there must be a simpler solution to not crashing.

223. And I think I have come up with it.

224. Oh, God.

225. No! For once, will you bear with me on this, okay?

226. Just imagine if you had on the front of your car a magnet,

227. everybody has one, with the north pole facing out, okay?

228. You'd come along, head-on accident...

229. You could never have a head-on crash.

230. Actually, I think this is one of these windy-up cars, so I won't even cheat. Ready?

231. - See?

232. - You see?

233. Have I just solved road safety?

234. Apart from the big cliff.

235. I think... You know, actually, technically, you're right about that.

236. Listen... Backing from Captain Maths!

237. No, but the only slight drawback is

238. on full-size cars you would need extremely,

239. I mean, extremely, large magnets.

240. Yes, we'd get extremely large magnets.

241. No, listen, you haven't thought this through. At some point there'll be...

242. Look, here's a car parked at the traffic lights, waiting,

243. you'll come up behind to the other end of his magnet...

244. Yeah, brake. - ... and that's his north pole.

245. You're gonna have a crash because whether you brake or not...

246. No, that's his south pole.

247. Yes, south to north, bang, you're going to have a crash.

248. - We'd all be dead.

249. Utterly, utterly hopeless.

250. - We'll all be killed. - These are small details, okay?

251. Think of the fuel-saving.

252. - Seriously... What? You wouldn't get a puncture.

253. You wouldn't get a puncture.

254. - Why wouldn't I get a puncture?

255. Aha!

256. The man here doesn't look bright...

257. He's just pointed out, you'd be driving along, every screw and nail,

258. doonk, doonk, on the front, you'd never get a puncture.

259. - I thank you. - Along with the manhole covers and signposts!

260. And the railings. And traffic lights.

261. And dogs with metal collars on.

262. And skips.

263. You are just nit-picking.

264. I will admit... I will admit there are one or two things I need to address.

265. What, like the laws of physics, for example?

266. Yes. But I will find a way around them, don't you worry.

267. Okay, now, you know Boris Johnson, mayor of London?

268. Uh, when he was voted in he said he was going to review

269. what sort of buses we used in the capital city of the United Kingdom.

270. And as Jeremy pointed out last series,

271. Boris has been rather faffing about on this one.

272. So we figured it was about time for some Top Gearhelp.

273. Whether he wanted it or not.

274. To find out what sort of bus is best for a busy city,

275. obviously, you should form some committees and a focus group,

276. and then do some intensive studies into running costs,

277. safety, passenger usage and the environmental impact.

278. But all of that takes time.

279. So instead, we're going to sort this

280. using the ultimate crucible of excellence, motorsport.

281. For anything on four wheels, this is the white heat of the anvil

282. of the spearhead of evolution.

283. If you want to improve the breed, you go motorsport.

284. Second is the first of the losers.

285. You have to win to win, et cetera, et cetera.

286. Our testing ground is here, Lydden Hill circuit in Kent.

287. A place often described as the Monza of southern England.

288. By people who've never been to Monza.

289. It's normally a Rallycross circuit, so it is a challenging mix

290. of hairpins and fast sweepers, tarmac and loose gravel.

291. Much like central London, in fact.

292. So, let's meet the candidates for the next London bus.

293. Representing the double-decker, a 1987 Leyland Olympian.

294. Representing the single-decker, we have a 1993 Dennis Dart.

295. Then, on behalf of the current London champion,

296. we have the Mercedes 0305G.

297. This, of course, is a bendy bus,

298. and that means it'll probably spend the day causing crashes

299. and bursting into flames for no obvious reason.

300. Which is why we've got two of them.

301. Finally, representing the compact hopper bus,

302. we have a 1997 MetroRider.

303. Now, because there is so much at stake here,

304. we can't leave the driving to any old bus driver.

305. So we've brought in our old friends, the touring car drivers.

306. Their precise and delicate touch

307. certainly got motorhome racing off to a great start last year.

308. So, please welcome touring car legend, Anthony Reid.

309. Touring car legend, Matt Neal.

310. Touring car legend, Gordon Sheddon.

311. And, for the second time tonight,

312. hairdressing legend, Tom Chilton.

313. To be honest, they're not that good on passenger usage per mile,

314. but if you want to sort out the other important bus stuff,

315. understeer, lift off, oversteer, then these are your men.

316. Each driver went for their preferred mount,

317. leaving me with the blue and yellow bendy bus.

318. Now, last time this lot got together with the motorhomes, to be honest,

319. it all degenerated into a bit of a demolition derby.

320. But this time, because we're carrying out important research,

321. they have promised me absolutely no contact.

322. Yep...

323. This is it. We are off. Let the investigations begin.

324. Interestingly, both bendy buses, 57 feet in length,

325. but his is mid-engined, mine is rear.

326. So a good race should sort out which one's best.

327. True to their word, the touring car racers avoided body contact

328. for, ooh, at least half a lap.

329. Ah. Oh.

330. This is their sensitive touch?

331. Yeah, that cost me a mirror.

332. Thinking about it, we have missed one thing out on this test.

333. Cyclists.

334. We should have had bicycles on the circuit,

335. perhaps being peddled by bus drivers.

336. After two or three laps,

337. I realised that finding the best bus

338. would be harder than I thought.

339. Because all of them had their good and bad points.

340. Now, the double-decker, aluminium body, air suspension,

341. it should have potential here on the track.

342. But it is compromised in other ways.

343. No low floor means poor disabled access.

344. Wow, look at the single-decker go! What a manoeuvre!

345. I don't believe it, I'm going to tell you that!

346. That was majestic.

347. But it is only licensed to carry 24 seated,

348. with a further 21 standing.

349. And that is where the bendy bus comes in.

350. Licensed to carry 98.

351. And the seating is pretty flexible.

352. So, with all the buses putting forward a good case,

353. if we were to find a winner, we'd have to turn up the wick.

354. A common, everyday scene from London streets.

355. This is important work.

356. First to suffer was the little hopper,

357. which didn't do too well in the

358. "I'm a bus driver and when I pull out,

359. "I never use my bloody mirrors" manoeuvre.

360. Aw, that's an evil move being pulled on the diddy hopper there.

361. Thankfully, nobody would dare mount such an attack

362. on a bus as big as mine.

363. Whoa!

364. Where did he come from, you bloody idiot?

365. Whoa!

366. I was limping and frankly, the other bendy

367. was scoring low on passenger comfort.

368. The final lap.

369. Oh, my word. Double-decker coming through.

370. The last few corners were a straight duel

371. between the single-decker and the double-decker.

372. But then...

373. Ignore that bit.

374. Just tell the mayor that was a crash test or something.

375. Our investigation was complete.

376. We have been thorough, comprehensive.

377. I've just driven over that man's bonnet,

378. but we can announce a decision is made.

379. The best bus for London and any other city

380. is the good old single-decker, because it's quick.

381. I think what we should do now is collate all those findings

382. and get them straight to the mayor's office.

383. Yeah. Well done, everyone.

384. Well done, you. Nobody could accuse us of dumbing down!

385. No, that was serious work.

386. That was just highbrow research from start to finish.

387. It was. I honestly thought that was like watching Melvyn Bragg

388. presenting the Open University.

389. No, I think we covered all the bases there. It was thorough.

390. Now, we have to move on.

391. You see, this week,

392. my guest is quite simply that bloke off Grand Designs.

393. Ladies and gentlemen, Kevin McCloud.

394. I've waited a long time.

395. Go on. - Have a seat.

396. - Thank you. Nice seat! - That one!

397. Ladies and gentlemen, a genuine car fan

398. has come among us today.

399. Yeah, it's a guilty secret I have, but it's true.

400. True, 'cause it is a bit annoying, if I'm honest, 'cause I'm going

401. to want to spend most of the time talking about interior design,

402. and I suspect you're going to want to talk about cars.

403. Yeah, I don't know very much about interior design,

404. so, yeah, let's talk about cars.

405. Looking through all the notes and your past interests and so on,

406. you have a passionate interest in V8s.

407. Yes, I mean, my father was an engineer. I'm looking at one now.

408. You are looking... I was going to say, is this coffee table turning you on?

409. - Um, the Porsche... - I'm stroking it with my toe.

410. - 'Cause I've looked at your past cars that you've had... - Yes.

411. The SL Mercedes, V8, Maserati Coupe, V8,

412. Ferrari 355, V8, TVR Cerbera, V8...

413. Now, look, the V8 thing. Food blender.

414. - Oh, my V8 food blender? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

415. - Yeah, yeah. - Which was frankly an out-and-out failure.

416. The blades need a bit of work,

417. but it's already being converted

418. as we speak into a vacuum cleaner.

419. I think what you should do is combine the two great male obsessions

420. and get a V8 to power a power shower.

421. Power shower? No, no, male obsession is internet pornography, surely?

422. - Isn't it?

423. I don't know how you can have a V8-powered internet porn connection.

424. - Maybe you could. - Maybe you could.

425. And maybe that would actually deliver everything that anybody's ever dreamed of.

426. So where does this love of how things work come from?

427. Oh, it's my father, who was an engineer.

428. Brilliant. He was a rocket scientist.

429. - And so I'm... - What? A real one?

430. - A real one. - Really?

431. He designed stuff that went into space.

432. I grew up with a house where the boiler was always in pieces,

433. there was always a car in the middle of the kitchen in bits.

434. I have serviced most of my own cars.

435. Um, I've done lots of bioethanol petrol mixes,

436. you know, experimented with fuels on them.

437. But I'm interested in this idea that you service your own cars,

438. - because, of course you did have a TVR, a Cerbera? - Yeah.

439. The point about the Cerbera was that it was a kit car in reverse,

440. in as much as you bought a new shiny

441. object and you parked it at home

442. and slowly it sort of disassembled itself!

443. The gear lever would come off.

444. It did drive me up a slope once

445. with the headlamps and the washer

446. and the windscreen wipers and the horn all working at the same time...

447. Complete... And it sort of drove itself!

448. With none of them actually turned on?

449. No, it turned them all on by itself.

450. Have you ever had a Saab?

451. I've had a Saab. I've had two Saabs.

452. I had a Saab, a big estate Saab that ran on bioethanol.

453. And years and years ago

454. my second car was a big, orange jelly mould Saab, the 95.

455. Oh yes. I was going to say, you must have done. You can't be a designer without that.

456. a quarter-inch plate, that car, it's fantastic.

457. You could crash into anything,

458. and you'd leave a sort of Saab-shaped impression in it!

459. - Did you ever try? - Yes!

460. I had it in my twenties, in London.

461. I'd sit and read the paper in the car on a hill

462. and suddenly find myself glued to a Cortina.

463. 'Cause they are architects' cars. I mean, they are...

464. I know you're not an architect,

465. but you're a designer, same sort of thing.

466. You are presumably very interested in the aesthetics?

467. Of course, I am. I'm interested...

468. Well, I'm interested in efficiency, I'm interested in design,

469. I'm interested in aesthetics, I'm interested in ecology, you know.

470. I've gone green now, so... And don't smirk!

471. - I was gonna say... - My one ambition today was to come here

472. and use the word eco on Top Gear!

473. Let's listen. Say it again.

474. Eco.

475. - Oh, come on.

476. There was a ripple of applause from the far corner!

477. Eco! I was gonna say, you call it the green bug. We think of it as a disease.

478. I tell you what really excites me, is the idea that...

479. You know, actually, when we use this word, eco,

480. it is useless calling cars eco cars or houses eco houses.

481. The reason I love Aston Martins

482. is that the Aston is beautiful. The Astons are beautiful cars.

483. They are beautifully put together. They're beautifully made.

484. 98% of them that were ever made are still on the road

485. and how sustainable can you get?

486. Because... It's the business of you having an Aston Martin

487. and you keep it in the garage and it lasts 50 years,

488. and you only drive it 1,000 miles a year...

489. A Toyota Prius, with its nickel batteries, is going to do a lot more damage,

490. if you believe that cars are damaging the environment.

491. - Which I do. - Which you do.

492. - And you are entitled to come here with this opinion... - Yeah.

493. - And not be killed in any way!

494. I'm just going to figure out my exit route from the studio now.

495. Yes, exactly.

496. Now, I want to get on to your lap, if I may. Okay?

497. - Ah, yeah, yeah. - How was it?

498. It was addictive. I mean, I've never done it before and I'm going to do it again lots.

499. - Really? You enjoyed it? - Yeah, I loved it.

500. I never thought you'd get so much pleasure out of a little one point... Whatever it is!

501. Um, well, who'd like to see how Kevin got on?

502. Yes!

503. Here we go, Kevin. Let's have a look.

504. Tamed that wheel spin nicely. You've never done this...

505. Oh, my God. Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

506. You actually looked terrified.

507. That was a little dab of brakes there, halfway through the corner.

508. Keep the front in check.

509. It looks so tame. It looks so tame here.

510. That doesn't look quite as tame as you're making out.

511. No, that's well done.

512. Aww, baby, I think this is going to hurt.

513. Do you ever actually blink? You haven't blinked as...

514. Ooohhhh...

515. I've never seen countryside move so fast.

516. Still haven't blinked.

517. I have only one devout wish,

518. and that is to beat Terry Wogan.

519. Whoa!

520. You couldn't get much closer to those! Where are we going now?

521. Come on, baby.

522. Now... Well, that looked brilliant...

523. I've never seen that done better than that.

524. That was because I was driving at 15 miles per hour.

525. No, you weren't. That was... Look...

526. That second to last corner was phenomenal.

527. And no spins.

528. I've never seen anyone do that...

529. Normally, people cut the corner or go too far and run wide.

530. It was the penultimate one, though.

531. I mean, you know, I'd finally got my act together by the penultimate corner.

532. That's the trouble.

533. Anyway, let's establish how fast you went round.

534. Now, there's the board. Where...

535. I can't believe it. This moment, I've been dreaming of.

536. I'm looking, as you can see, at the bottom 10.

537. - Well no, you went faster than that. - Okay, so maybe Keith Allen?

538. - Where's Keith Allen? - He's, sort of, there. Rob Brydon...

539. - He's down there. - So, dry track.

540. - Yeah. - You did it in one minute...

541. - 40... - Yes? Yeah?

542. - Five...

543. What's the fastest ever? 45.8.

544. - Jeremy. - Point nine.

545. - I've got a new career. - Unbelievable. That's Cowell.

546. No!

547. No!

548. The eco-mentalist!

549. - I can't believe it! - That's amazing. And actually...

550. We actually have... The specific time is 1.45.87.

551. - Yeah, yeah. - Jay Kay was 1.45.83.

552. So you're only half a second off Jay Kay.

553. I don't know how you're going to be able to live this down, Jeremy.

554. That you have the eco-mentalist come on the show and...

555. Thank God for Jay Kay! If the eco-mentalist had gone to the top...

556. You're really... You're barking up quite literally the wrong tree.

557. You have a natural gift for it, there can be no doubt about it.

558. That's an amazingly quick time.

559. I can't say any more. I'm a bit overcome.

560. You can hold your head up high. Ladies and gentlemen, Kevin McCloud.

561. And now, I'm very, very pleased to announce

562. that it is time for the Cool Wall. Yeah.

563. - I'm going to start. - You're going to start?

564. I am, I am.

565. With this.

566. Now this is the Nissan GT-R. There's loads and loads of technical reasons why

567. it's so clever and brilliant, but the simple facts are,

568. it is faster round the Nurburgring than a Porsche 911 Turbo.

569. - And it is half the price, which means it is cool. - Mmm-hmm. No, listen.

570. When you're a kid, you want to impress girls. You learn the guitar,

571. the big axe thing, not a Casio keyboard.

572. No girl's interested in a man in...

573. All the buttons, all the... Very clever, not cool.

574. That's a very good point, but you don't have to go on about it.

575. You don't have to explain it.

576. You just get in and drive it like a proper car.

577. - So, Rich, what are you driving these days? - A Nissan...

578. - Thank you. - Right.

579. So uncool. Now, may I just do this one?

580. - Yes. Please. - This is the new Scirocco.

581. Now, basically underneath, it's a Golf GTI.

582. You pay £100 more for the Scirocco and for that, you get a bit less practicality.

583. And that's a good thing.

584. Because who here married their wife because she was easier to wipe down?

585. What?

586. - What? - That's why this is a cool car.

587. It might even be super-cool. What do we think the Scirocco...

588. Hands up for super-cool?

589. Hands up for just cool.

590. They are wrong, you see.

591. They were momentarily correct, and then they got it...

592. I think that is a super cool car.

593. Uh, you?

594. Alfa Romeo, the MiTo, the baby Alfa, small Italian car.

595. - Has anybody here got an Alfa? Yes!

596. Really? There's two people. Obviously, all the others are in a cloud of steam on the A3.

597. - Yeah, but that's cool! - What's yours?

598. - It's a Sportwagon. 156. - One Sportwagon. Excellent.

599. - And you didn't buy a BMW because? - I wanted an Alfa.

600. - Because you see, he wasn't a cock.

601. And who else had an Alfa?

602. - Can I just say, I'm his son, and yes he has. - What, he is a cock?

603. - What do you drive? - I don't at the moment.

604. Clearasil will help, by the way, with that.

605. - Do you find him attractive? I came with them.

606. You came...

607. - Is everybody all together? - They brought me here.

608. What the hell accent's that?

609. American.

610. You're American? You can't be, you're nowhere near fat enough.

611. You're American?

612. Welcome. Welcome to the free world, you'll like it here.

613. Did everybody come in one group?

614. - Where were we? - It's nice to have the colonies here.

615. This Alfa Romeo is called the MiTo, M-I-T-O,

616. because it was designed in Milan and built in Torino, okay, Turin.

617. I'm thinking, what if they'd designed it in Twickenham and built it in Attercliffe?

618. But they didn't and as a result, it's a cool car, and that's an end of it.

619. - Oh, wow, yes.

620. This is a Morgan AeroMax and I have a question.

621. What kind of monumental moron

622. would spend 100,000 of their pounds on a car as catastrophically ugly as that?

623. Richard Hammond?

624. It is utterly beautiful

625. and it's as English as the Malvern Hills amongst which it's built.

626. It combines absolute cutting-edge technology with proper, traditional,

627. old-fashioned craftsmanship.

628. Mmm-hmm. When you say old-fashioned, mate...

629. I got in yours, the other day, couldn't help noticing

630. there was a wooden beam running down the roof.

631. Yes, it does have a beamed ceiling. It does.

632. Right, when you open up the handbook, does it go, "Hear ye, hear ye"?

633. What do we think of this car? May I...

634. - Uncool. - Uncool?

635. Cool. I like it.

636. Correct, well done, sir. Stand up to him.

637. He's a big oaf, just keep going.

638. Would you be inclined to sleep with this man if he had that car?

639. No.

640. No. Would you sleep with him?

641. - I have to. - You have to?

642. - Anyway, mate, you know the rules of the Cool Wall. - I know.

643. If we have one of the cars here, it goes there, and that's an end of it.

644. So our hands are now empty. Do you think the Cool Wall is over?

645. - Well, it is. - However, I have a theory that the Jaguar XKR convertible,

646. which we said last time we did this was the coolest car you can buy in Britain today,

647. may have met its match.

648. - Really? - In this box here... Yes, I really do believe this.

649. The Volvo V70 estate.

650. What? Whoa, whoa, hang on.

651. - You're saying that's... - This is now the coolest car in Britain.

652. I think you can tell by the stunned silence in this room...

653. You can go too far and that's...

654. We know, and I'll have to whisper this slightly,

655. people who like cars are quite dreary.

656. - Yeah. - You go to a dinner party and you sit down

657. next to somebody, "Oh you're interested in cars", you can see them moving away.

658. - It's like a club. We are car bores. - Terrible.

659. You can drive this.

660. Great car but you can pretend you're not interested in cars.

661. This is a box for carrying your airbags around

662. and it's driven by men with beige trousers

663. who have a problem stopping when they've finished weeing.

664. It's just a dismal, dreary, safety-obsessed...

665. It's like turning up on Bondi Beach with a lifejacket already on.

666. Who is the worst-dressed man in the world?

667. Our studio director, Brian.

668. He comes to work in a piece of faux sealskin, held together with turquoise baler twine

669. and you go, "Brian, that's rubbish".

670. He goes, "Yeah, but look, it's Dolce and Chanel" or whatever they're called.

671. As though that's an excuse.

672. This... Okay? This has no badge. It's just a blue turtleneck jumper.

673. No, that has no badge, just like it has no genitals.

674. It just says, "I've given up, give me my Volvo."

675. - You're wearing Volvo shoes! - No, I'm not! They're not!

676. - You are. Look, stout soles... - They're RM Williams, they're just boots!

677. Australian Volvos. A little bit of a heel at the back.

678. You can tell a lot...

679. You can tell a lot about a man's car from his shoes.

680. All right then, what are they if they're not Volvo ones?

681. They're Lancias. They can't go through puddles.

682. You must be American.

683. - It's true.

684. This is somebody with a Nissan Micra.

685. - Perfect. - Oh you are?

686. And then I'm guessing here... Jag.

687. - A6. - A6? God.

688. And then... Oh my God! What kind of an idiot... Hello, James.

689. Well, actually... Hang on.

690. I'm going to put this on the board.

691. I'm prepared to nail it there if you go near it.

692. And I'm glad you're here, James, because it's time to move on.

693. You see, this year, a motoring icon

694. is celebrating its 40th birthday.

695. Richard Hammond?

696. No, he's 38. Same as he was last year, and the year before.

697. - Mind, it's his birthday next week, isn't it? - It is. Then he'll be 38.

698. Yes, all right. Funny.

699. - 38-year-old, Richard Hammond. - I am, thank you very much.

700. This motoring icon, though, it's an important one

701. and to celebrate its birthday we had to go somewhere really special.

702. To here, in fact, the Riviera.

703. The legendary stretch of coastline which for decades

704. has been the spiritual home of playboys,

705. movie stars and the jet set.

706. Which sort of makes it the perfect place for one of the all-time great jet set cars.

707. The Ferrari Daytona.

708. It may take its name from a racetrack in America, but trust me,

709. the Daytona is the absolute essence of pure European supercar.

710. Drop-dead gorgeous looks, stunning speed, born in Italy.

711. I'm going to take it for a drive now, from here, Portofino,

712. which is a sort of Italian Whitby,

713. along the coast to Saint-Tropez.

714. And even though it's 40 years old,

715. - this is the perfect machine for the job. No it isn't.

716. - Yes it is. - Well, it isn't.

717. Well, it just is. That is why I'm here with it.

718. It isn't. Not any more.

719. What is?

720. Well, it's a boat. Not that one.

721. This one.

722. What we have here is the XSR48,

723. or in plain English, the only way to get around on the Riviera.

724. Not only is it stunning to look at,

725. it's also the world's fastest diesel production boat,

726. with a top speed of 80 miles an hour.

727. - James, this is from the future. - Mmm-hmm.

728. But you're from 1948.

729. Yes, I know you think that, but I like modern intelligent engineering solutions.

730. And this is one.

731. This is a carbon fibre racing hull

732. that's won World Powerboat Championships, and then they've put...

733. You know, some nice seats and switches, Sat Nav.

734. James was adamant that this wasn't just some rich man's vulgar toy.

735. - What? - So, Mr May, defend this.

736. - Ah, yes. I was hoping you wouldn't... - Yeah.

737. That is a carbon fibre bog.

738. Yeah, it is.

739. To prove to James, of all people, that the old ways are the best,

740. I offered to race him to Saint-Tropez.

741. Him in his carbon-fibre convenience

742. and me in the greatest grand tourer ever made.

743. How much is that worth, by the way?

744. That one? £200,000.

745. - One-and-a-quarter million. - Chav.

746. Move your scrap off the harbour.

747. The start of the race wasn't exactly dramatic.

748. There was a three knot speed limit in the harbour,

749. and my car was, well, 40 years old.

750. These old Daytonas take a while to warm up.

751. You have to, sort of, skip second gear, go straight to third for a while,

752. until the gearbox is kind of up to temperature,

753. otherwise it sort of explodes.

754. While his 215-mile route was 40 miles longer than mine,

755. Hammond was convinced he'd be able to maintain a higher average speed.

756. But once my cabin cruiser was out onto the open water,

757. it would turn into a ferocious powerboat racer,

758. and for that reason, I couldn't drive it on my own.

759. This is Peter, he's a many times World Powerboat champion,

760. holds powerboat endurance records.

761. He's doing the tricky throttle and trim stuff, I'm doing the steering.

762. And the nav.

763. How fast are we going? - Nine knots?

764. And we need to go in the right direction, we're going the wrong way at the moment.

765. - It's that way, isn't it? - Yeah.

766. The Autostrada beckoned.

767. This is it.

768. The Daytona shouldn't really have to defend its honour on its birthday,

769. but if James wanted a race, he'd get one.

770. 4.4-litre Italian V12, unleashed.

771. Right, here we go. 1600 shaft horsepower,

772. that's more than one-and-a-half times what a Bugatti Veyron has got.

773. That's 45 knots, so 50 mph.

774. And here's a tunnel.

775. I have to open the window a little bit. I'm sorry about the wind.

776. Oh, that really is spine tingling.

777. 70 miles an hour across the water, that's fabulous.

778. This boat has been conceived like a supercar.

779. It's very powerful, very, very light, very agile, has just enough trim

780. and creature comforts to make it bearable.

781. But that's all, it is a hardcore performance machine.

782. My supercar doesn't have a space-age khazi,

783. but it does have infinitely more pedigree.

784. What's odd about the Daytona, is that if somebody says to you,

785. "Ferrari Daytona", even if you've never been in one,

786. if you've never even seen one, it sounds right.

787. You know, with a name like that, it's not going to be a minger.

788. These days it takes many months and

789. many millions to design a new car.

790. The Daytona, seven days.

791. And just look at it.

792. It's...

793. Absolutely sublime.

794. On the water, I had no time for Hammond's misty-eyed Mills and Boonery.

795. Old towns just racing by.

796. I know exactly what's going on in Richard Hammond's mind,

797. he's got a romantic vision of Sophia Loren and the Shah of Persia and all those people.

798. But it's different now. This place is full of Puffy Dad and New York Hilton.

799. This is the modern way to do it.

800. As long as I'm not driving.

801. - Your ten o'clock. Go behind it. - I've got it.

802. When it was launched in 1968, the Daytona cost £10,000,

803. making it the most expensive Ferrari ever.

804. But not everyone thought it was worth the money.

805. A year earlier,

806. Lamborghini had brought out the Miura,

807. and that was impossibly futuristic, mid-engined,

808. it was really showing the way forwards for supercars.

809. And yet here was Ferrari, with a front-engine car.

810. In its day, it was seen as a bit of a dinosaur.

811. But the Daytona had the last laugh.

812. Because of the Miura's front-end lift at high speeds,

813. it started to go very light,

814. because aerodynamically it didn't quite work.

815. It could never get near its top speed.

816. This could. 174.

817. 30 miles into my journey, the water was getting a bit choppier,

818. but I wasn't worried.

819. My seat here is suspended with sort of suspension units off a Paris-Dakar racer,

820. and the technique, apparently, is to relax

821. and let the seat take the battering.

822. Ohhh!

823. 40 miles into my journey,

824. and something rather perverse was happening.

825. You're actually watching a man go through the process of falling in love.

826. It's not perfect, this new love of mine.

827. I'd heard stories about the incredibly heavy steering and the clutch...

828. It's a bit like a big Italian V12 engine truck.

829. And all those things are true.

830. Operating the steering wheel is like turning one of those

831. hatch wheels on a submarine in a World War II film.

832. But the Daytona brings back the glamour.

833. It reminds the Riviera what the Riviera is all about.

834. Oh.

835. Ohhh.

836. Wow!

837. On the ocean waves, life was no longer so jolly.

838. My situation report, it's becoming very choppy,

839. so we've had to reduce our speed by ten knots or so.

840. And on top of that, the Dakar seats weren't really helping.

841. Ahhh!

842. Meanwhile, in the Daytona...

843. Ahh!

844. Ahh! Ahh!

845. Ah! That's bad! Hang on!

846. You all right?

847. The camera was broken.

848. I was broken. And the rough seas had forced us down to 25 knots,

849. which meant that Hammond would be roaring ahead.

850. God, how much further is it?

851. About 100 nautical miles.

852. Ahh!

853. Marvellous.

854. I was indeed ahead, and as I neared the French border,

855. I was now so in love with the Daytona

856. that I might have been babbling a bit.

857. Everything that it was, it still is. And when you drive one, here, doing this,

858. the mechanical interface between you and it, it does take you into its...

859. Mercifully, my doe-eyed dribbling was then cut short.

860. Oh, I think we've just been pulled by the police.

861. Oh that is... Oh. Yes.

862. He's waving his arm at the cameraman.

863. Er...

864. I think the rest of this film may not look as good as the first bit.

865. I'm in a Daytona, and I'm wearing shades, so I'm absolutely fine.

866. Despite Hammond's setback, we had to keep going

867. as fast as our spines would allow,

868. if we were to stay in the race.

869. We're back up to 41, 42 knots,

870. which is almost twice as fast as we were going half an hour...

871. It's much better than a Max Mosley party.

872. The shades haven't worked.

873. The Italian police weren't convinced

874. that we had rightful possession of the Daytona.

875. He wants the documents for the car.

876. Documents for the car. Erm...

877. Sort of no. I don't have them.

878. 77 miles to go.

879. How do we know when we're in France?

880. Does the sea become even rougher, like the roads do?

881. Whoa, this is enormous! Ahh!

882. This was bad.

883. My lead was now being destroyed.

884. Right, I'll go and sort this out.

885. Right. They've told us to follow them to the police station.

886. Out on the sea, my body may have been taking a battering,

887. but at least I didn't have to worry about the rozzers.

888. It's the police.

889. Oh, God, he wants to see documents.

890. Hello. - Hello, how are you?

891. - I've been stopped by the police. - You haven't.

892. Yeah, the sea police.

893. You know the Riviera thing, the grand tour?

894. It's not what it was, is it? No.

895. It's not all Sophia Lollobrigida any more.

896. There's more paperwork involved than Brigitte Bardot

897. would have sort of been doing, and does.

898. Finally, we were both released.

899. Right. Saint-Tropez.

900. But because the police had stopped Hammond for much longer,

901. I had now closed the gap.

902. We are now going past Monaco, which is on the right.

903. 50 nautical miles to go.

904. It's anybody's race.

905. But then, at motorway speeds, it soon started to go my way again.

906. The final stretch of motorway down to Saint-Tropez.

907. And I'm home and dry.

908. I am probably the most low rent, lowbrow chavvy urchin

909. ever to pedal one of these along the Riviera.

910. Over 50 knots. Yeah.

911. With a considerable lead over James, I was now off the motorway,

912. on the A-road, and just 20-odd miles from Saint-Tropez.

913. This is where the car just comes alive now.

914. Yes, it's not a nimble, tiny, lightweight sports car, but, it feels lithe and supple...

915. And now, to complete a truly excellent day,

916. I shall win the race in the Daytona,

917. have a little gloat, and then, I think, a beer.

918. Blister.

919. 55.

920. Seven.

921. 60 knots there.

922. I was getting really close to Saint-Tropez.

923. Land of glamour, here I come.

924. Any minute, the Daytona would be back

925. in the world of Mick and Bianca, where it belongs.

926. 60 knots there.

927. I was now entering the fabled town itself.

928. Some of the signs and advertising hoardings have got a bit bigger,

929. but, you know, modern world.

930. Okay, this is getting a bit, snarly, now.

931. Fair dos.

932. - The land you can see to the left, we'll head for that now. - Yeah?

933. As James powered on, I was discovering that Saint-Tropez

934. wasn't quite what I imagined.

935. Oh, no, this isn't right.

936. Holiday homes for sale.

937. Burgers...

938. Traffic.

939. The car's still brilliant, but the world's changed.

940. I was just 15 miles from the finish line.

941. 15 miles at 45 knots is 20 minutes.

942. Mini golf.

943. If this car overheats...

944. Well, it will. It's old and Italian.

945. On HMS Carbon Khazi, we were flying.

946. 61.

947. 65!

948. 2.5 miles to run.

949. As I got closer to the centre of Saint-Tropez,

950. the traffic started moving again.

951. And I was heading for the finish line, a bar in the port.

952. Speed humps.

953. Speed humps in a Ferrari Daytona, that's not right!

954. Less than a mile. Beer! Beer!

955. Got to be close now.

956. This is it. Sorry, everybody, about the car.

957. He's not here.

958. Oh, hang on.

959. Yes, yes, yes.

960. It's a pleasure to win.

961. - Do you know what? - What?

962. I don't care, because I said, it was the perfect vehicle for the job.

963. I didn't say fastest. I said perfect. And it was.

964. I mean, look at it here. It's all over it.

965. It's beautiful. Tell me you don't agree.

966. - Bloody gorgeous.

967. - There's something I want to ask you. - What?

968. Can I drive the car back? I'm broken.

969. - Please? - Yes, you can.

970. Can I just say, James, man, you were green.

971. - No, that was just the camera. I was black and blue.

972. Can I just say how nice it was that, for the first time,

973. I got the comfy, luxurious option, and it was just magnificent.

974. Can I just say how nice it was that you two got to spend some time together,

975. on the Riviera, in the sunshine,

976. because next week, I get to drive a mid-range Ford Fiesta in Basingstoke.

977. - And on that bombshell, it's time to end.

978. Thanks for watching, goodnight!