“I’m a Grand Tour Superfan – Amazon Made a Big Mistake in One for the Road”

When I was a boy, some of my friends were into singers, while others were into superheroes. But I got a lot of inspiration from three guys who made a living with cars.

Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are undoubtedly Britain’s most famous trio of TV presenters. With a little help from second-hand car dealer Jason Dawe, they took BBC2’s declining car consumer program and made it such a hit that it was broadcast in over 200 different countries.

Such was their success that when Jeremy offended a producer and his contract was up, one of the world’s biggest media companies took them into the streaming era with The Grand Tour. Over 22 years, 350 million people have watched Clarkson, Hammond and May ride almost anything on bikes in more countries than most people visit in a lifetime.

With that in mind, it’s only natural that The Grand Tour had to come to an end at some stage. The three presenters who brought youth and excitement to Top Gear are now a combined 179 years old. But is the latest episode of this colossal series a swan song celebrating their impact on the world, or is it a bit of old fashioned fun?

I’m not a TV critic by any means – the Daily Express already has a great team – but as a lifelong fan of the show I thought I’d share my thoughts on this latest outing of the trio.

The Grand Tour: One for the Road is a bit like the last day of elementary school. Instead of solving a specific problem or verifying the feasibility of a particular task, the trio simply took three models they liked for a trip around Zimbabwe and Botswana.

The premise is very similar to the Top Gear special they filmed some 17 years ago in 2007, but potentially involves some of the most diverse driving conditions ever seen on one of these journeys.

Throughout the two-hour spectacle, they traveled on tarmac roads that felt smoother than ours, rally-like dirt tracks, as well as deserts and through all sorts of spectacular scenery, aided immeasurably by Amazon’s excellent camera work.

Even the cars themselves, all sports cars from the 1970s, were very well chosen. I’ll try not to bore you with how James’ Triumph Stag is the same ‘rubbed thumb’ purple as the Spitfire he almost bought in the previous Top Gear special, but I’ve provided some links to old episodes.

For example, Jeremy’s Lancia Monte Carlo was unmistakably similar to the Beta Coupe he used in the Botswana Special. This culminates in the trio ‘discovering’ the same car shortly after crossing the border, along with the Mercedes 230E used by James.

In a way, all the cars chosen by the leaders suited them well. Jeremy’s Lancia had plenty of flair and power but was fairly useless when not beaten, Hammond’s Ford Capri had strong American-style ambitions, and James’ Triumph was surprisingly scrappy but hardly exciting – and I think all of this on the greatest way possible.

Of course, not everything was perfect on the show, and sometimes I felt like it was a good opportunity to step up.

After 22 years and dozens of different promotions, the formula has remained roughly the same. We know there will be three cars that will slowly be destroyed, we know that one presenter will break down only for the others to drive off without them, we know that there will be a spare comedy car that no one will use, we know , that one of the trio will lose the other two.

But none of that matters for this final episode. In fact, towards the end of the show, they play on this by creating several scenes shot by shot. It’s in these moments that you realize how the cars and the age of the leaders may have changed, but very little else is needed.

One thing I really liked about The Grand Tour finale was how open all three hosts were about the show ending, especially compared to how abruptly their run on the BBC series ended.

While the unique joke of the episode was how Richard was about to appear in pantomime as Buttons, they were all very sincere. Although all three have their own TV shows that will continue, it was clear that they were very sad to see their flagship program (or its successor) come to an end.

Like many viewers, I was saddened when the screen went black for the final time and the trio’s various soundtracks over the years could be heard playing over the closing credits. But in terms of conclusions, it couldn’t be better.