- 4 months ago
Top Gear dives into wind-in-your-hair territory in Episode 9. Richard puts the Mazda MX-5, Toyota MR2, and Fiat Barchetta to the test to see what makes a great convertible. There’s also daring stunts—parachuting into a moving car and skiing down a public road behind the Jaguar X-Type Estate. Sir Ranulph Fiennes takes the Reasonably Priced Car lap. For lovers of convertible dreams and wild moments, this one’s a highlight.
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MotorTranscript
00:00Tonight, James and Richard take some cabrios to the wilds of Scotland.
00:08I go skiing on the B4796.
00:13And can you parachute into a moving car?
00:19Hello and welcome to this trio of sports cars.
00:22Now, they're all small and cute and they've got kind of puppy dog eyes.
00:26So, to decide which one's best, well, I think that's probably a job for Top Gear's resident hamster.
00:37This is the Mercedes SL 600.
00:40It's a German two-seater roadster.
00:43It's got an enormous six-litre V12 twin-turbo engine that can do 0-60 in 4.7 seconds.
00:52It's clever, too.
00:53It's got climatronic air conditioning that even senses how many people are in the car.
00:59And it costs £93,000.
01:03But there is a slight problem here.
01:06Because the moment you do that, 75 grand of that value is wiped clean away.
01:13Gone.
01:14You see, as soon as you've got the wind in your hair, you slow down.
01:20So, you don't need mega power.
01:22Your hair will come out.
01:24And so, all the electric safety gizmos and the clever climate control are unnecessary.
01:29And this is my point.
01:33In the same way that there's a perfect time for boiling an egg, there is a recipe for a perfect roadster.
01:39It should be small, nimble, light, and above all, relatively cheap.
01:47And I can say this with utter confidence, because I'm British.
01:51And it was the British who invented the perfect roadster.
01:55Through the decades, we've made oodles of them.
02:01Jaguar SS, MGs, Triumph TRs, Lotus Elans, all perfect for scampering along Britain's twisty country lanes.
02:10Our prowess with light sports cars even helped us to become the dominant world force in motorsport.
02:16After World War II, our motorsport pioneers used the abandoned wartime airfields to develop light rear-engine machines,
02:24with which they were able to slay the heavyweight front-engine Ferraris.
02:30This type of car, then, is in our blood.
02:34And as is often the way with these things, today, the best British roadsters are Japanese.
02:39The Mazda MX-5 is the car that reintroduced the roadster to a modern era.
02:47And it makes no bones about pretending to be British.
02:50Even Alf Garnett would be fooled.
02:56It's just so simple.
02:58And that poppy exhaust note and snickety gear change,
03:02while they're nicked straight from the Lotus Elan.
03:04And that's it. That is an MX-5.
03:06And perhaps most amazingly, the MX-5 is now about 15 years old.
03:11And in all that time, they've hardly changed it.
03:15But then, why would they?
03:17Because it is still one of the best handling little cars in the whole world.
03:22It's fantastic!
03:28But if Mazda have kept things simple,
03:30that's nothing to what Toyota have tried with the MR2.
03:34They wanted the MR2 to be light and focused, like a racing car.
03:40So the engine is here, in the middle.
03:43In fact, the engineers became so obsessed with perfect weight distribution,
03:47that they didn't want you messing it up with heavy luggage in the boot.
03:51So there isn't one.
03:52If you're planning a weekend away in one of these,
03:54it had better be to a nudist camp.
03:56Like the Mazda, this MR2 hasn't forgotten the basic rules of the Roadster.
04:02The engine is only a 1.8.
04:04There are no fripperies like a powered hood and electric seats.
04:07And it costs less than 18 grand.
04:09Of the two, it is probably the faster, but it's also the most hard work.
04:25The Japanese don't have it all to themselves, though.
04:27The only people with a Roadster heritage as strong as ours are the Italians.
04:32And they're still having a crack at it.
04:34The Fiat Barchetta was on sale here about eight years ago.
04:38I know, I bought one.
04:40Then it disappeared, and now it's back.
04:42The Barchetta is not just pretty, it's also rare.
04:45And that makes it cool.
04:47As do the cute little door handles.
04:49And the fact you can have it in a colour called shiny grey.
04:53Shiny grey?
04:55That must have come from a Mafia suit catalogue.
04:58When it comes to making you look more stylish, the Fiat has the Japanese cars licked.
05:05Which is a good job.
05:06Because underneath, unlike the Toyota and the Mazda, it's front-wheel drive.
05:10Okay, so compared to the dizziness of frivolity of the MX-5 and the serious determination and aggression of the MR-10,
05:24this is, well, nowhere near.
05:27But it is kind of perky.
05:28It's more of a brisk Roadster.
05:29But it does have one big, big advantage over the Japanese.
05:36The price.
05:37Because this pretty, pucker, handmade Italian Roadster costs 12 grand.
05:43That's five less than the other two.
05:50But this, the MX-5, remains my favourite.
05:54If money's the issue, buy a 12 grand second-hand one of these.
05:58It's more fun than the Barchetta.
06:00It's prettier than the MR-2.
06:02And it's even got a small boot.
06:04It isn't a lot to ask.
06:08The fact remains that it just does everything right.
06:12If Delia made a recipe for the Roadster, this would be it.
06:16I agree with you.
06:18This is brilliant.
06:19I mean, it's been around now since, well, the Druids were using these, weren't they?
06:22Ramesses III had one.
06:23Yeah, I think it was Laguna Blue.
06:25Laguna Blue, well-remembered, actually.
06:27Thing is, though, of these little sports cars, the one I'd have is the MG TF.
06:33I'm sorry?
06:35You what?
06:36No, I know it's kind of like you sit on it rather than eating.
06:39It's got roly-poly handling and you have to have either a beard or breasts.
06:44But...
06:44It's rubbish.
06:46I've always had a soft spot for it.
06:48You know, sometimes when a thought pops into your head, you should kind of leave it there
06:53and not put it out in the world.
06:55Did I just say that all out loud, then?
06:57Oh, yes, mate.
06:58Sorry, yeah.
06:59You did.
07:00Got another thought's just popped into my head.
07:01about how, like, the cat in Shrek 2 you look like.
07:04I said that out loud as well, didn't I?
07:09I said...
07:10We'll edit...
07:10No!
07:11Sorry.
07:12Sorry.
07:15It's OK.
07:16We can edit all that out and we'll go and do the news.
07:19But before the news, a quick reminder, please, about the Top Gear 2004 Motoring Survey,
07:24the biggest survey of its kind in the world, but only if you take part.
07:28Now, 45,000 of you have so far.
07:31We'd like another 20,000 or 30,000.
07:33Please, www.bbc.co.uk forward slash Top Gear Motoring Survey.
07:40Tell us how good your car is.
07:41Tell us how bad it is.
07:42We'll share the results with you in the autumn.
07:45Absolutely, yeah.
07:45You really do please help us out with that.
07:47Of course, the big news of the week is the transport thing from our beloved transport minister,
07:55Alistair Darling.
07:55Now, you may remember back in 1997 when Labour came to power, John Prescott, the then transport
08:01minister, announced his 10-year transport plan and said that if in five years there weren't
08:06fewer journeys being made by car, we could judge him a failure.
08:10Well, we've given him seven years and the number of cars on the roads has gone up by three million.
08:15Yeah.
08:15So that makes him a...
08:17Well, a failure, obviously.
08:18Yeah, big one.
08:19Big, fat failure.
08:20Huge.
08:22The government obviously agrees because they've now thrown his 10-year plan in the bin and come
08:28up with another one.
08:30And we've got it here.
08:31It's a huge tome.
08:32And in essence, it says that instead of a flat rate of £165 a year road tax, you'll be charged
08:39by the mile.
08:41Now, some commentators are saying that that could be as much as £1.30 a mile.
08:45That could add up.
08:46Peak time on the M25.
08:47So in 150 miles or thereabouts, it'll cost you what a year's road tax costs now.
08:55It's going to hurt.
08:56It's going to hurt.
08:57Yeah.
08:57Essentially, what they're saying about this is they want to reduce congestion because congestion
09:01is crippling the national economy.
09:03Now, that's actually honourable.
09:05We agree with that, don't we?
09:06Sounds very good.
09:07Very honourable, but not entirely believable, if I might be so bold, because I've got here
09:11the foreword by the Prime Minister, OK?
09:14He's written a one and a half page foreword.
09:16He mentions congestion once, and the economy once, and safety once, and then he goes environmentally
09:23sustainable, realistic environmentally, environmentally least polluting, greener environment, carbon
09:29emissions, climate change, cleaner and green.
09:31And it's all to do with the environment.
09:32That's all it is.
09:34Which makes it all the more interesting to read a recent report by, not politicians, scientists.
09:39Not only that, but German and Swiss scientists, and they're the best kind you can get.
09:43And they reckon that actually, it could be, that global warming might have something to
09:49do with the fact that the sun is burning more brightly than it has for the past thousand
09:53years.
09:54Now, I'm just thinking, turn the sun up, it could get a bit warmer.
09:57It makes a kind of sense.
09:58I've noticed that with my cooker.
09:59If you turn it up.
10:00Does a similar thing.
10:00If it gets hot aflame.
10:02And the sun is quite a lot bigger.
10:05David Bellamy, who is an environmentalist and a naturalist, has said recently, global
10:11warming, at least the modern nightmare version, is a myth.
10:13I'm sure of it.
10:14And so are a growing number of scientists.
10:17But what's really worrying is the world's politicians and policymakers are not.
10:20This document, basically, once again attacks the car.
10:25And you just have to ask, why the car?
10:27I mean, it's given us so much.
10:29Why do they keep banging on about it?
10:31I mean, you get a perfect example.
10:32Have you seen on page 36?
10:34Page 36 in here is a good giggle.
10:36Oh, I can't wait.
10:37What they say in here is that the government has told Suffolk County Council that they can't
10:42build a ring road round Sudbury, even though this would divert traffic from the town, free
10:47up traffic jams, save lives because of the environmental impact.
10:52So it might hurt a butterfly to build a bypass, so they can't have one.
10:55What's even better is if you read on there then, gone back to the poor council and said,
10:59no, you've got to find an alternative to a bypass.
11:02But you can either go through it or round it, or I suppose a very, very big flyover.
11:07Yes, or maybe you could harness a black hole, put it at one side, and then you'd come out
11:11the other side of Sudbury, or in space.
11:13You could call it the Sudbury Warp Gate.
11:16Well, no, you try that, and then you're on the other side.
11:20I'll tell you what, if you do that, I'll open it for you.
11:23Don't step through it, though, will you, because you'll end up on the other side of
11:26Sudbury with your scissors, and no crowd, and no check.
11:29That is mind-blowing.
11:31There's an interesting bit here under the inter-urban coaches, whatever they are, which
11:35talks about the successful introduction of a dedicated bus lane on the M4.
11:40We've got footage of this successful bus lane.
11:43Can we run that?
11:43Let's have a look how successful.
11:44There it is.
11:45That's successful.
11:46Oh, my God, there is one.
11:48There's one coming along.
11:49It's okay, there's no one on it apart from the driver, so there we are.
11:53The silly thing is, is that this document, okay, it recognises the car is the most comfortable,
11:58most convenient, and fastest way of moving around, okay?
12:01It recognises that throughout, but it keeps coming back to this notion that it wants us
12:06to get on a bicycle, or a bus, or a train, or a horse, or anything other than a car.
12:10Now, how are they going to do that?
12:11Not have supermarkets so far out.
12:12Not have supermarkets so far out.
12:14Yes, well, that's a good point.
12:15But would you, even if it was just like two miles away, would you go on a horse, or would
12:19you take the car?
12:20You haven't got a car.
12:21You are aware this is top here.
12:23It's kind of a motoring show.
12:29What about you?
12:31Would you, what would cause, all right then, what would cause you to take a horse rather
12:35than a car?
12:37Nothing at all.
12:38Money?
12:38No, lots of it.
12:39You've hit the nail on it, lots of it.
12:41The only way they can make us do it is by charging, like, not just a little bit more.
12:46They're talking about, oh, well, we might reduce fuel.
12:48They're going to charge out fortune.
12:50An absolute fortune.
12:51You can smell it coming.
12:53You can smell the size of the bills that are coming through your letterbox.
12:56You go out and go, could take the car, that'll cost like two, three hundred million pounds,
13:00or I could take the horse, which will be free.
13:01But I get subsidised.
13:03Yeah.
13:03No, but I'll take...
13:04Good what?
13:05Good for your thighs.
13:06Good for your thighs.
13:07Oh, well, there's some compensation.
13:09That'll be good.
13:10Hooray!
13:10That does it all.
13:11Don't tell darling that.
13:13I'll put it in the next document.
13:13You'll all have better thighs if you ride to walk.
13:16Have you got a horse?
13:18Out of interest?
13:19No, they're not horse-riding thighs.
13:20Anyway, you've got a tattoo.
13:21She's a lap dancer.
13:23She's a lap dancer's belt.
13:24Can I tell you something that I don't understand about this?
13:26There's some sort of paradox here, because they keep saying, we'll charge you for the use
13:29of the road.
13:30Wherever you go, there'll be road tolls.
13:31They'll be varied across the country.
13:32The money raised will help improve public transport.
13:35Yeah?
13:36Yeah.
13:36But if we don't keep driving, they won't get any money.
13:39So you can only have a good bus if we keep driving cars as well.
13:44It doesn't make sense.
13:45I'm more worried about schools, because they say, okay, I made a note of this, that by 2010,
13:49every school must have a travel plan.
13:52A what?
13:53A travel plan.
13:54Well, I never had one.
13:54You just get there before assembly.
13:56I don't see it.
13:57This is where they really do reveal how clueless somebody must be somewhere, because, right,
14:03they get really bewildered.
14:04They say, well, it's very congested at certain times, so those are the times we'll charge people
14:08more and see if we can discourage them from using the road.
14:10Why do you think we're on the road at about school dropping off time?
14:15Because that's when it is.
14:17I'm going to drop my kids at school at two in the morning.
14:19There you go.
14:21Saved a couple of quid.
14:22Saved a couple of quid, and the Tasmanian butterfly is now alive.
14:27School time is at school time.
14:29It's just unbelievable.
14:31So there we are.
14:32Oh, and before we move off it, actually, before we move off it, I'll tell you what I love in
14:36here, is when you go through it, there's endless references to all the future cars that are coming
14:42along that are going to be running on pumpkin seeds and buy all this and hybrid that and so on.
14:46And they've obviously listened to all the car makers and put it all in the document,
14:50saying things are going to be fine.
14:52Sorry, it's rubbish.
14:54I mean, Ford, right, we've got a picture of it here.
14:56Ford has obviously been down to see Darling and said, yes, yes, we're working on this.
15:01That's just a normal Ford Transit van.
15:03And they put some bio stickers on the side.
15:06You just know Ford has come out of the meeting with Darling and gone, right, that's that dealt
15:12with.
15:13Now, let's get back to getting another 100 brake horsepower out of the GT40.
15:17Essentially, they've gone to the headmaster with the homework.
15:20So the VW bloke's gone in and he puts his tire up and he comes out and the bloke from
15:24Mercedes is waiting and he goes, I think I got away with it.
15:28Just remember, biofuel, not V12.
15:31Okay, biofuel, not V12.
15:32And it's modest.
15:33We've got a picture of...
15:34We've got a picture of Alistair Darling here.
15:38Here he is now.
15:39Now, the thing is, is that...
15:40Thanks for that.
15:44To say that the BBC is an impartial organisation.
15:46But the thing is, is that the motor industry has, without a doubt, pulled the wool over
15:52his eyes.
15:53Big time.
15:59Actually, if you look...
16:00If you look closely enough, he's pulling the wool over his own eyes.
16:04Look at this.
16:05With his clip-on eyebrows.
16:06I think that's enough transport policy, don't you?
16:08Should we have a bit of light daredevilry?
16:11This is Bentwaters, a big airfield in Suffolk.
16:19This is Tim, who's a parachutist, and this is Ben, his racing driver mate.
16:25Today, Tim is going to parachute out of a plane and attempt to land in Ben's car while
16:30Ben is driving at 50 miles an hour.
16:35While the Cessna Turbo 206 is being prepared, I'll explain what's going to happen.
16:41Tim will bail out, and he will descend in a series of very elegant spirals, down to
16:49about 700 or 800 feet.
16:54Then, Tim will go into a high-speed swoop, travelling at 70 miles per hour and dropping at 160 feet
17:01per second.
17:02Timing is crucial, because there will only be a few seconds for driver and skydiver to meet
17:08up.
17:08And there's something else that's been worrying me.
17:11They're practice attempts.
17:13Last week, Tim was practising bailing out of the aeroplane and landing on the runway,
17:18and Ben was practising driving along the runway at about 50 miles an hour.
17:22But the thing is, they were on completely separate airfields.
17:24Today, Tim is accompanied by aerial cameraman Andy.
17:30He'll be giving you a skydiver's view of proceedings.
17:34At 4,000 feet, our heroes step out of the Cessna, and hopefully, into the history books.
17:45To Tim, Ben is just a speck on the ground.
17:48And to Ben, Tim is just a speck in the sky.
17:58Tim hits 800 feet and begins his high-speed swoop.
18:04Ben starts accelerating hard.
18:06He has to match the parachute's speed at the end of the swoop.
18:10Come on, come back, come back, come back, come back, come back.
18:23Bad luck.
18:24Well, getting much closer than yesterday.
18:28Do it again.
18:29Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
18:54Cheating.
18:59So close.
19:15I'll open the boot next time.
19:19No one imagined this would be easy,
19:21but we were beginning to wonder if it was actually possible.
19:26F***.
19:27Can you do it?
19:29Of course we can do it.
19:29Yeah, good.
19:30We'll be here if we can do it.
19:31That's the spirit.
19:33Now, I don't want to make this sound like a Hollywood film script,
19:35but it was the end of the day,
19:37the light was fading, the wind was picking up.
19:40We probably had two more chances.
19:52Go, go, go.
19:53Oh, this looks good.
20:00Oh, this looks good.
20:04Yes, yes.
20:07Yay!
20:08Well done.
20:21That was fantastic.
20:24Good.
20:24Good.
20:24Good.
20:24Good.
20:25Right.
20:26Good effort, my son.
20:27I love, buddy.
20:27Well done, Tim.
20:28Well done, mate.
20:29That's a world first.
20:30That's two room for that.
20:31That was unbelievable.
20:37Really.
20:39I'm stunned.
20:43Now, I've just got to say, well done, ladies and gentlemen, Ben and Tim.
20:49The thing is, though, unfortunately, my guest tonight could probably have done that blindfolded
21:03and without a parachute.
21:05Because over the years, he's been thrown out of the SAS for misuse of explosives in a public
21:12place.
21:13He's walked across the Antarctic.
21:15He's walked to the North Pole.
21:16He's run seven marathons in seven days on seven different continents.
21:20And once he went to his garden shed and cut his fingers off for fun.
21:24He describes himself as a travel writer.
21:27Ladies and gentlemen, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
21:33How are you?
21:37Have a seat.
21:40So.
21:41So, lobbed out of the SAS, perhaps you'd like to tell us what happened?
21:49Well, it's a very long time ago.
21:50It's about 1966.
21:52And a friend of mine discovered that Britain's most beautiful village, Castle Coombe, had just
21:57been voted as such, was being desecrated by 20th century fox making a film which required
22:03building a 20-foot-high concrete dam, ruining this lovely village.
22:08And my friend decided to bring this outrage to the general attention by blowing it up.
22:17So I laid all the charges and it was quite successful.
22:21And we got caught.
22:23I was the only one that didn't get physically caught because I'd been doing another army
22:27course on how to escape from dogs by night.
22:30And I was thrown out of the SAS back to my own regiment in Germany.
22:37So how did you manage to get these explosives out of wherever they're kept in Hereford?
22:43Oh, I signed for them.
22:45But then...
22:45Saying you were going to blow up Wiltshire.
22:48What you've got to do is you learn to blow up as much as you can using as little as possible.
22:54And I was pretty good at this.
22:55I had a lot left over at the end of every day.
23:00Your car history has been, shall we say, checkered.
23:03Because I understand you actually lost your first car.
23:07Yes.
23:07I had a very good deal in Germany, the army.
23:11And I got a Peugeot 203.
23:13Very smart car.
23:14And we had a party to say goodbye to one of the squadron leaders in Hamburg.
23:18And me and another lowly second lieutenant went up there, had a very good party,
23:23left and went back into the streets of Hamburg and couldn't remember the street in which we'd parked the car.
23:30And we never found it.
23:33Never.
23:34Never found it.
23:35Never found it.
23:36Then there was a minivan.
23:37This was when you were running the army ski team.
23:40Several cars later, there was a minivan in Germany.
23:44Every year, we went to ski and we did quite well at the divisional level.
23:49Then the entire division moved 300 miles through Germany to go to the army level.
23:54And I was overtaking the major generals and everyone else because the mini was very good on ice.
23:58And then I got to this big hairpin bend.
24:01I was alone, but all the regimental skis were in the back of the minivan.
24:04And going around the bend, I saw this big German lorry coming up.
24:08And I knew that centrifugally, I would not be able to do anything but go into it.
24:12So I jumped into the back of the minivan on the skis.
24:15And it went like that.
24:17And I ended up looking and seeing the steering wheel was over where I would have been.
24:21So I would recommend that rather than seatbelts.
24:26If you're in danger, leap in the back.
24:29Exactly.
24:29Now, anyway, after the army, you embarked on what can only be described as the most extraordinary series of adventures possibly ever.
24:39I mean, the Guinness Book of Records lists you as the greatest living explorer.
24:43Well, they did do back in 84.
24:46Gone downhill since then.
24:47Oh, I hardly think so.
24:50I mean, first hovercraft to send to the longest river in the world.
24:53First surface journey around the world's polar axis.
24:56First humans to reach both poles.
24:57First crossing of the Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean.
25:00Furthest north, unsupported record.
25:02First unsupported crossing of the Antarctic continent.
25:05Longest unsupported polar journey in history.
25:07And the first person, well, we'll get on to that later on.
25:09I mean, it's just a never-ending stream of strolling around in very, very cold places.
25:15And what I don't think people understand is unsupported.
25:19That's a very critical word, isn't it, in these things?
25:22Yeah, that makes all the difference.
25:24It's like sort of someone said Schumacher doing a Formula One with no safety belt and no helmet.
25:31And if something goes wrong, he's in Stuck.
25:34But if it goes all right, then you're all right.
25:36And that's the principle on which you do it.
25:38So you try to go, and it's something like 500 yards a day is what you will achieve in these unsupported.
25:45Yeah, you can only carry so much food, so much calories.
25:48So you need to know in advance how long it's going to take you to do the 500 miles.
25:53And so if it's going to take 500 yards to begin with because of the big ice and all the rest of it and the cold,
25:57then you've got to speed up later on.
25:59So mathematically, it's either going to be possible or it's not.
26:02And if anything goes wrong or you fall in once to the sea or in the south to a crevasse, then you won't succeed.
26:08I'm just baffled by this notion.
26:11And we're talking temperatures of...
26:13The lowest we ever went to at 6,000 feet above sea level in Antarctica was a wind chill factor of minus 122 degrees centigrade.
26:20And of course, you have had, on your own, I think in the Arctic, wasn't it, and not that long ago,
26:27you had the moment when your sledge fell into an unfrozen piece of Arctic Ocean.
26:35And then you've got frostbite pulling it out.
26:37And the doctor said, we're going to have to amputate your...
26:40The doctor said you mustn't amputate for five months after the frostbite.
26:44Oh, I see.
26:44To allow the semi-dead stuff, which is going to form the new flaps, to resuscitate itself over five months.
26:50But you didn't wait five months, did you?
26:52Well, I didn't wait because for four months of it, it was very painful
26:56because you've got these big red talons sticking out, which are dead.
26:59And if you touch anything, it's difficult not to from day to day or when you're sleeping, it is agonizing.
27:03So I thought, well, get rid of them.
27:05And I tried with a hacksaw and it didn't do it.
27:08So I got a blackened decker and I, from the village, I bought a micro blade
27:13and I hacked them off just above where the blood and the soreness was.
27:16At home?
27:17In the tool shed, yes, at home.
27:20And the physiotherapist said I'd done a very good job,
27:24but the surgeon, who was Italian, was not happy with it.
27:29He thought that you should have perhaps gone to hospital to amputate.
27:34He said it was making his job doing the final surgery difficult.
27:38You had your toes fall off as well, have you not?
27:41Well, I had them, Mike Stroud, who I do these things with, is a doctor
27:45and he managed to get me at the head of the NHS Q when we got back at the burns unit.
27:50So I had the stuff taken off the thigh and put on the missing bits of toe
27:53and it lasted about three years.
27:56And then one day I had a very hot bath and the whole toe bit came off.
27:59So I forgot.
28:03I forgot about it and I left it on the bath and I went off.
28:07And then, anyway, the wife, you know, she was, she got a shock.
28:14Because I'm interested, because eventually, of course, this remarkable life you've had,
28:17did, well, you had a heart attack, let's put it like that,
28:22which was followed by a heart bypass operation.
28:25And then, what, five weeks later you started training to run,
28:27well, what became seven marathons on seven continents in seven days,
28:32which you did five months afterwards.
28:35We did.
28:36It was four months after the bypasses.
28:41I couldn't have even done the long-haul flight.
28:44I get off my heart and go, oh, so tired.
28:46That's why I go to bed.
28:46In retrospect, I wouldn't have done it.
28:49I would not do it again.
28:49It was Mike Stroud's idea.
28:51And it was...
28:52Surely the doctors must have said,
28:56look, it's probably not a good idea to do this.
28:59The Italian surgeon said,
29:01I have done three and a half thousand other bypasses.
29:04And he said, but I can't advise you,
29:06because none of the three and a half thousand of them ever asked if I could do a marathon.
29:09So he sent me off to a cardiologist
29:13who was an expert and a bit of a runner.
29:16And he said, look,
29:17there's nothing competition about doing seven marathons in seven days
29:20as long as you don't let your heart get above 130 beats a minute.
29:24If you don't do that, you've got no problem whatsoever.
29:27And so did it?
29:29I forgot the machine, so I don't really know whether it's...
29:32It's just a never-ending...
29:35It's hardly surprising when you listen to this
29:37to find that you were considered back in late 60s, early 70s
29:42for the role of James Bond after Sean Connery.
29:44But they had bad taste, so they chose Roger Moore.
29:49I've gotten to the last six.
29:51Oh, you really were?
29:52I actually saw Cubby Broccoli.
29:54He had a big cigar.
29:55It was just exactly like he should have been.
29:57And he took one look at me.
29:59He said, your hands are too big and you've got a face like a farmer.
30:02So he didn't mince his words at all.
30:07Now, terribly sad last year, your wife died.
30:12You've been together since you were...
30:15Well, she was nine.
30:16I was 12.
30:17We knew each other for about 48 years.
30:20Do you think that your drive to keep going even now with the marathons and so on
30:25and for future expeditions has anything to do with the fact
30:29that you just want to keep yourself busy?
30:31I don't want to think anymore.
30:33I don't have time to think.
30:34So the more I can do, it's good.
30:37You know, keep busy.
30:39Well, hopefully we can do that today
30:40because, of course, today is, frankly, your greatest challenge, really.
30:45Can you beat Simon Cowell?
30:47I mean, I know you've beaten the elements, you've beaten polar bears,
30:49but this is the big one, really, today.
30:52I will go and commit Harry Carey if I don't get where I think I am,
30:57which is hopefully above Tara Palmer...
31:00Tompkins.
31:03If I am below her, which I very much fear,
31:06I should be really disappointed.
31:08Who'd like to see this lap?
31:10Because I have a sneaking suspicion that you'd turn to this just so easily.
31:13Let's have a look. Here we go.
31:17Well, that's a kind of smooth start.
31:22And that is the perfect line through the first corner.
31:26I thought you said it shouldn't squeal.
31:27No, it's the perfect line.
31:28Most people go far too wide through there, far too aggressive.
31:31Look at these horse noises you're making.
31:33That, again, is extremely tidy through there.
31:37The stick presumably teaches you...
31:39Oh, he's brilliant.
31:40That stick is excellent.
31:42Very patient.
31:43If you're thick, he doesn't mind.
31:46I don't think he would have thought you were thick.
31:49This is really nice.
31:50Oh, you like this corner?
31:52This is the fast one, the really, really fast one.
31:54Yeah, that's a good corner.
31:55Presumably you didn't lift off there.
31:57No.
31:57No, of course not.
31:58I sort of knew you wouldn't.
31:59Most people do.
32:00The stick had said lifting off can, in fact, slow down.
32:03It would cause you to spin.
32:04How are we going into the sector?
32:06This is the really...
32:06That's fantastic through there.
32:09Oh, yes.
32:09Just click the edge exactly as you should.
32:12And...
32:13Oh, yes.
32:14And, yes.
32:15Sort of across the line and on the grass.
32:17And there we are.
32:17It's a one.
32:29If you couldn't fudge it to put me above Tara, you'll be a friend for life.
32:33There's no fudging necessary.
32:36You beat her fair and square and by a big margin.
32:40Thank the Lord.
32:40You did it.
32:41In one minute, 51 seconds, dead, which is right.
32:47How old are you now?
32:56I'm over 50.
32:57Yeah, I'm...
32:58Way over.
33:00I'm just looking.
33:00I'm thinking, is there anyone older than you?
33:02Apart from Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise.
33:05I'm probably older than him.
33:07Exactly.
33:07Well, I think in that case, you are probably the fastest kind of older person we've had.
33:12I always like to look for some sort of little glimmer there, you know, which is nice.
33:16And that is the end of that.
33:18I'm absolutely stunned, as ever.
33:20Ladies and gentlemen, Ranulph Fiennes.
33:27I love it.
33:29Yeah, absolutely.
33:30Thank you very much.
33:31Ranulph Fiennes, everybody!
33:32Wow!
33:38That was...
33:39That was amazing!
33:42How do you follow that?
33:45Anyway, earlier on, I drove a collection of simple soft-top sports cars.
33:50Now, though, we're going to have a look at some more elaborate cabriolets.
33:53Last time we did this, James and I went to Buttermere in the Lake District, because supposedly
33:58it's the wettest place in Britain.
34:00This time, though, we went to Scotland.
34:04And we don't mean some pleasant countryside minutes from Edinburgh.
34:09No.
34:10This is the Isles of Lewis and Harris.
34:16Right at the tip of the country.
34:18Next stop, Iceland.
34:23Up here, the locals think that the Wicker Man is a documentary.
34:27Year on year, the must-have accessory is a big jumper.
34:31And all the telegraph poles are missing.
34:38It's a mystical place, with ruins that are older than Stonehenge.
34:42But none of this is why we're here.
34:44No, we're here because these islands have the lowest number of convertibles per head
34:49in the whole country.
34:50They just don't like them.
34:51No, they don't seem to.
34:52No.
34:53In fact, there are only 19 on the whole of the Isle of Harris.
34:57So, this year's crop will have to work hard to change things around here.
35:01Maybe the locals can tell us which one's best.
35:04If you want to pick up the woman, this is a cow just for you.
35:06If you want speed and you want to broad, you buy this Merc.
35:09Is it wicked?
35:10No?
35:11No?
35:12OK, we'll have to do it ourselves.
35:13And we'll start with the new, eagerly awaited Mini Cabrio.
35:21This is the Cooper version.
35:22It costs £14,600, £2,000 more than the hardtop.
35:26And it's truly retro in not having one of those newfangled folding metal roofs.
35:31It's fabric.
35:32But it is quite clever because you can press a button up here and simply open the front half like a big sunroof, a bit like you could on the Citroen 2 CV.
35:45And then, if you want the full Monty, you simply stop at the side of the road and down it goes.
35:51And it all ends up piled up on the back like a folded picnic blanket.
35:55Now, a cloth roof ought to make the Mini lighter, but it doesn't, because they've had to add strengthening beams to keep the car stiff.
36:05And they've added an extra £220 to the weight of the car. That's like having a fat mate on board all the time. So it's not quite as frisky as a normal Mini.
36:18I've never been mad about the hardtop Mini. It's too nostalgic and the interior is too chintzy. And with no roof, I like it even less.
36:27Now, I'm well aware that nobody will take a blind bit of notice of what I'm saying. This car will walk out of the showrooms.
36:35But, at least Hammond agrees with me.
36:37What gets me, there's only sheep can see us and I'm still embarrassed.
36:41You're still embarrassed?
36:42Yeah.
36:43As luck would have it, on our Mini journey, we encountered a shepherd and his sheep.
36:48I don't want this to be misinterpreted, but these are actually quite nice looking sheep compared to other sheep, you see.
36:53So, would this soft top hating local be as smitten with the Mini as James was with his livestock?
36:59Yeah.
37:00Well, actually, no. He complained that there was no room in the boot for winter rams.
37:05No, it's not a practical kind of machine, but, I mean, I don't know, you and another shearer, maybe, on a nice day, you could drive around in that.
37:14No, thank you. I think it's a ladies car.
37:21So, what about this car, with its folding metal roof?
37:26It's the new Vauxhall Tigra. It comes with a 1.4 or a 1.8 engine, and it costs from £13,000 to £15,000, which makes it one of the cheapest small soft tops around.
37:43But, sadly, the interior is based on a Corsa, which is never a good start in life.
37:53Hideous silver-painted plastic everywhere, crinkly finished and mismatched from one corner to another.
38:00More than anything else, what's annoying me and, frankly, depressing me right now is that I was so ready to give this car such a kick in.
38:12And I can't, because I like it.
38:17It's got a better roof than the Mini, it's cheaper than the Mini, and it looks somehow funkier than the Mini.
38:25And there's another thing.
38:28I'm pleased they haven't messed about trying to squeeze an extra two seats in the back as well, because it's such a waste of time when they do that, and you can't get anybody in them.
38:38What's the point? Chuck them out, make it a two-seater.
38:43Now, the Tigris chassis is based on the current Corsa, which is normally a pretty desperate old thing, but they've tweaked and fettled it.
38:50And you know what? It's a good thing to drive. It's grippy and drivable. I mean, it feels quite sporty.
38:59In fact, the only disappointment in this car is that pound shop interior, which is bad in a car that everyone can see into.
39:10It's a bit like showing your pants, isn't it?
39:13Yeah, it's like that craze, isn't it, at the moment, for when girls go around with their pants hanging out over the top of their jeans.
39:19And they don't, when they're doing that, they don't put grey pants on, do they?
39:23No, they wear nice ones.
39:24Yeah, with little flowers around the top and things like that.
39:28And now, the car every footballers, wives, hairdressers, masseurs has been waiting for.
39:35The new Mercedes SLK.
39:38And they're in for a shock, because it's gone butch.
39:42It's got a front end like a McLaren SLR.
39:47It's got a whole new muscular body, which actually, I don't like.
39:51But I do like what they've done with the rest of it.
40:00Now, the old SLK was considered a bit of a damp flannel.
40:03It was very pretty, but it wasn't actually that good to drive.
40:07This one, however, is.
40:12It now comes with a new 3.5-litre V6 and a clever gearbox.
40:18It'll downshift like a racing car.
40:20Give it a bit of a boot.
40:21All right, it says.
40:22Two or three gears down, and we're off.
40:24Yes.
40:27But it's not all sport, sport, sport.
40:29You get comfort, too.
40:31Here's an interesting touch.
40:33If you're driving along on a late summer's evening
40:35and you find the back of your neck getting a bit chilly in the turbulence,
40:39you simply press this button here and you turn on the airscarf.
40:45Airscarf is a little blower in the headrest here
40:48coming out of these three slots
40:49that directs a stream of hot air up the back of your neck.
40:53Quite a nice idea, I suppose.
40:55Now, all this doesn't come cheap.
40:58The SLK 350 is £37,000.
41:03Oh, dear.
41:04At that price, it's not likely to up the island's cabriolet count.
41:09And on the face of it, this one hasn't got much chance either.
41:12The £41,000 Audi S4 with a Titanic 344 horsepower V8.
41:19Now, we've driven the hardtop version of this on the programme, and we loved it.
41:32And taking the roof off only makes it better.
41:35This is now the car for every single occasion.
41:38It's a four-seater, and I do mean a four-seater.
41:41It's got a big boot.
41:42It's luxurious.
41:43It's discreetly styled.
41:45And it goes.
41:47It goes.
41:49I mean, it really goes.
41:544.2-litre V8.
41:560-60 in 5.9 seconds.
41:59Top speed.
42:00155 miles an hour.
42:02And the noise.
42:07God, that's worth having the top down for.
42:10In fact, this just breaks all my rules about convertibles.
42:14I like this plenty.
42:16You used to say, if I remember rightly, Richard Hammond,
42:19that you didn't need a big engine in a cabrio
42:21because the pleasure was all about having a cabrio.
42:23But now you do.
42:24Yeah.
42:25It's not just the power, though, or the noise, or the speed.
42:29It's a long time since I've been in anything with just so much class.
42:38So let me just see if I've got that straight.
42:40Audi and Vauxhall, you think, are good.
42:42Yep.
42:43Mini, you're less happy with.
42:44Don't like that.
42:45Hammond doesn't like that.
42:46What about the SLK, though?
42:48Now, this is interesting.
42:49This is a fantastic drive.
42:50The new engine, brilliant.
42:52Yeah.
42:53I'm not keen on the front end, I have to admit.
42:55I think, well, look at it.
42:57It looks like the sort of, it looks like the fevered imaginings
43:00of a pubescent schoolboy drawn in a maths book.
43:03That is, it's vulgar.
43:05No, but I like vulgar.
43:06Well, there you go.
43:07I like this car, I have to say.
43:09And the one I'd have to swish through my electric gates with is the 55.
43:13They're not putting the supercharged engine in, but the SLK 55.
43:16Big V8 would be brilliant.
43:18I think it'll probably explode in a shower of cogs and springs.
43:20It's funny you should say that because I drove this one round the track this morning, a bit irresponsible,
43:24because the Stig was in the Audi and I was chasing him and I shouldn't have been.
43:28Three laps and it expired in a cloud of smoke.
43:31It's funny you should say that because what I didn't tell you in that report is that while we were going round on the island,
43:36driving very gently, the gearbox went wrong, got stuck in one mode.
43:40And then Hammond tried to move his seat.
43:43He just wanted to go forwards, okay?
43:44He pressed the little button.
43:45He would want to go forwards.
43:46Well, obviously, yes.
43:47As he went forward, the seat moved forward, the seat moved back, then the seat moved up, the roof tried to come up,
43:55some lights came on and, you know, it's just...
43:57So let's just say, okay, we agree it's fabulous to drive.
43:59Yes.
44:00We don't agree on the styling.
44:01No.
44:02And we think it's built like a Mercedes.
44:04Yes.
44:05Aye, not very well.
44:06Little break.
44:07Okay, right, that's that cleared up.
44:09Now, who'd like to do the cool wall?
44:10Yeah.
44:11Absolutely.
44:12Now, we haven't been here for quite a while, so first thing, a little bit of housekeeping to be done, okay?
44:21And straightaway, up here, the Mini.
44:23Oh, yeah.
44:24Now, it's been up there sub-zero for ages.
44:26To be honest, time and too many estate agents, I think, have kind of eroded the coolness.
44:31And I think it might...
44:32It's not even cool anymore, it's down here.
44:34We all agreed on this.
44:35We all agreed the Mini is now uncool, absolutely.
44:38Yes, it absolutely is.
44:39So, the Mini Cabriolet.
44:41You see, the thing is, if you've got a Mini right now, you need to keep a low profile.
44:45You're driving around in dire straits.
44:47This, erm, I'm sorry, is even less cool.
44:50No, you're wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
44:51Well, no, that's perfectly correct.
44:53I'm...
44:54This is a serious, not seriously cool, but this is a cool car.
44:57You've got...
44:58You've got...
44:59You've got...
45:00You've got...
45:01You've got...
45:02The people speak.
45:03The people speak, okay.
45:04Yes, we're speaking.
45:05It's cute, it's quirky, it's a good girl's car too.
45:07Thanks a lot, that'll do.
45:08Wrong!
45:09Listen, we have a new, we have a new rule on the cool wall.
45:14Yes.
45:15James May, who eats pastry, drinks brown beer, and thinks a curry is exotic, thinks this
45:21is uncool.
45:22He's always wrong on matters of sorts things.
45:25There, it's cool, and that's a...
45:28I don't keep a boo.
45:29That's...
45:30Jeremy Clarkson, that is going to come back and haunt you.
45:33It's a cool car.
45:34It's so...
45:35It's a convertible Mini, you can't get cooler.
45:39You're wrong, people are going to laugh at you for centuries.
45:42Here is the Fiat Barchetta.
45:44Now this, it's going to fall apart.
45:46Every time you drive it, you're going to be stopping to get out and pick up bits that
45:49have dropped off.
45:50But that's why it's cool.
45:52It's got a kind of shabby charm.
45:54Work with me on this.
45:55It has.
45:56There's a lot of blank looks.
45:58It has.
45:59It's a brave choice.
46:00It's a cool car.
46:02Who said it's still a Fiat?
46:06What's wrong with a Fiat?
46:09They're not good.
46:10They're not good.
46:11They're French.
46:20Where the hell do we get this audience from?
46:23Gardening program, mate.
46:24That's what it is.
46:25Do you know what Fiat stands for, the I in it?
46:28Italia.
46:29Yeah.
46:30Do you know what I'm going to suggest?
46:31We've got a few more to get through here, mate.
46:33I'd keep my mouth shut.
46:34If I were you.
46:35Oh, dear.
46:36Maserati Quattroporte.
46:37What do we all think?
46:38Let's ask Kim.
46:39Uncool.
46:40I don't like the funny bit.
46:41Uncool.
46:42Uncool, you think?
46:43Definitely cool.
46:44Cool.
46:45It's British car.
46:46Cool.
46:47Cool, you think?
46:48Anyone else got a theory and you've got a theory on this?
46:50Cool.
46:51Cool.
46:52Cool.
46:53Cool.
46:54Cool.
46:55Cool.
46:56Cool.
46:57Cool.
46:58Why did I ask him?
46:59I've no idea.
47:00I've no idea.
47:01No, you're not a cool man.
47:03You're just, you know, you're worse than me.
47:06It is cool.
47:07I mean, basically the thing is, if you drive a big Merc, basically you look like a taxi driver.
47:11Yeah?
47:12Yeah.
47:13If you drive a BMW, you look like a drug dealer.
47:14Yeah.
47:15If you drive a Jag, it looks like you might play golf from time to time.
47:19You drive that, freeze nitrogen.
47:20That is verging on super cool, that thing.
47:22Very definitely.
47:23And I don't even like the look of it, or the gearbox, or the ride, but there we are.
47:26Do you want to do your tall?
47:28Oh yeah, we've got to do the tall hatchbacks.
47:29All right then.
47:30You know, we talked about them the other day.
47:31Now, hatchbacks, if they're small and European, we kind of quite like them, can't find any now.
47:36There's a little Fiat there, a little French car, a little Renault.
47:40Lady Milan, that one.
47:42Yeah.
47:43These we think are quite cool.
47:44Yeah.
47:45Ford C-Max.
47:46Ho!
47:48Ho!
47:49Ohh!
47:50Oh, hoot!
47:52I actually just wonder if it's okay?
47:53Yeah, I think it is.
47:54Yeah, man.
47:55It's all good!
47:57Can I love it?
47:58Is it that bad?
47:59Yeah.
48:00Oh, oh, oh, oh?
48:01Oh, oh, oh.
48:02Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
48:03I've got a,
48:04I've got a Toyota Corolla Verso again.
48:06Yes!
48:07Yes!
48:09That is uncool.
48:11Which brings us on to the Ford GT.
48:16Where?
48:17Very nice.
48:19Don't anybody pander to him.
48:21I'll come over here.
48:22Just because he's getting one.
48:23I'll come over here, what do you think?
48:24Is that the one you've got?
48:25I've got it, I'm getting one, yeah, what do you think?
48:27Cool.
48:28Cool.
48:29It's cool.
48:30Cool.
48:31In the fridge.
48:32Uncool?
48:33Uncool, because you've got one.
48:34You're exactly right!
48:35Yes!
48:36That is it.
48:37No car I've got can possibly be cool.
48:39No.
48:42And it's not just me, actually.
48:44Ford had a party the other day for the 28 people who are going to get one of these.
48:48It was like being at the Dennis Waterman Appreciation Society.
48:52Martin Brundle's getting one.
48:54Have you seen his trousers?
48:56Yeah.
48:57So I'm afraid it's right down, it's almost verging on, it's there.
49:02It's a shame, but it's true.
49:04That is true.
49:05It's true.
49:06You've got a budget to arrive and start ruining your life soon.
49:08Now, we've got to talk about the British.
49:10Um, over the years we've taken on the Germans twice and beaten them.
49:16We've beaten the Spanish, the French, the Zulus, I mean pretty well everyone.
49:20We are unstoppable.
49:22Unless we encounter a bit of snow, then we're stumped.
49:25In the olden days we used to have proper winters, even tall people were buried and whole towns disappeared.
49:35But we battled the elements with our black and white lorries and our steely resolve.
49:41Although, we're told to stay at home every time the wind gets a bit brisk.
49:45Good evening and welcome to Northwest tonight.
49:49Winter hit the region with a vengeance today.
49:51Some people seem to be panicking a bit.
49:53There are reports of shoppers clearing shelves of flasks, duvets and gloves.
49:59British Gas is warning there could be thousands of emergency calls in the coming days.
50:05Honestly, the way they were going on back in January, you would have thought it was time to build an ark.
50:11Batten down the hatches and wrap up warm, because Arctic weather's on the way.
50:15If journeys are not necessary, then people shouldn't travel.
50:17Make sure you've got some warm clothes with you.
50:19And what did we get after all their warnings?
50:24This.
50:26Not exactly Alaska, is it?
50:29Still, it provided us with an ideal opportunity to test a new estate version of Jaguar's X-Type.
50:37So why is an estate car so important in the snow?
50:41Well, in the olden days, they used to let you go out there with nothing more than a jumper and a shovel.
50:45But these days, the health and safety people say you need rather more than that
50:49if you're going to deal with these treacherous conditions.
50:52They say that you should take a tow rope, obviously, a rag to tighten your aerial in case you get covered by a drift,
51:01a torch, some warm clothing, carpet to put under the tyres if you get stuck,
51:09a mobile phone charger, first aid kit, obviously.
51:12Plenty of water. Good.
51:15That's what they say, but I think you'd probably go further without being stupid.
51:19Andy McNabb, for instance, he'd be a good idea.
51:22I mean, it doesn't have to be Andy McNabb himself.
51:24Anyone from the SAS will do.
51:28Anyone with a knowledge of how to build a rudimentary shelter and drink their own wee.
51:34Ray Mears, he'd do.
51:36Thermos, stove for cooking, some kindling.
51:40Food, I've got a lot.
51:42Soup, curry, chocolate.
51:45I think some skis would be a good plan.
51:48Spare fuel.
51:50Sorry, mate.
51:52Put the shovel on you.
51:53And the hip flask.
51:55So, with a pile that size, it's a good job that the X-Type Estate has a bigger boot than the BMW 3 Series Estate,
52:03the Audi A4 Estate and the Mercedes C-Class Estate.
52:08Underneath, the X-Type is actually a Ford Mondeo.
52:17But don't let that put you off.
52:21Genetically, you are 98% identical to a halibut.
52:26But it's the 2% that makes the difference.
52:29And it's the same story in here.
52:31You've got all this wood and leather and equipment.
52:34It feels very Jaguar-ish.
52:39Prices start at a very un-Jaguar-ish £21,000.
52:43But for that, you'd get a small engine or a diesel and front-wheel drive.
52:53This version, however, costs £26,000.
52:56And that's because it has a 2.5-litre V6 and, more importantly, four-wheel drive.
53:04Now, we know that when the weather's like this, four-wheel drive works well on big off-roaders with their chunky tyres.
53:10And we know that ordinary cars don't work at all.
53:17So, where does the Jag fit in?
53:20The thing is, this is an ordinary car with ordinary road tyres.
53:26It just happens to have four-wheel drive.
53:29So, how does this one cope?
53:31Well, the simple answer is, very well.
53:38It didn't get stuck once, all day.
53:42It laughed in the face of the weatherman and the police and the AA with their advice to stay at home.
53:49And I'm not surprised by this.
53:52Once, many, many, many years ago, I actually drove an X-Type saloon down a ski slope.
54:00And coming up now is some footage of it.
54:08The Jag may have a very rudimentary four-wheel drive system.
54:12There are no torque sensing diffs and no active yaw control.
54:16It doesn't even have particularly high ground clearance.
54:19It's just a car.
54:21But even so, I made it down the mountain.
54:29We know it works on snow and ice, but better still, it keeps on working on roads like this.
54:35Roads that have been gritted.
54:39If I were to drive down here in a BMW 3 Series estate with rear-wheel drive, I'd need a nappy.
54:46But in this, I feel relaxed.
54:48None of those heart-stopping moments where the wheels hit the slush.
54:53You know, when it all suddenly goes twitchy. It doesn't. It just tracks straight and true.
54:58Honestly, I could be driving along this road at nearly 60 miles an hour, doing a little light embroidery to pass the time.
55:08In the advertisements for this car, Jaguar suggests it would be an ideal tool for your family skiing holiday.
55:16But if you have one of these, you don't need to go to the Alps.
55:22Eat your heart out, Val Dessert, and welcome to Val de Chipping Norton.
55:31This is the best ski lift I've ever been on.
55:38Morning.
55:40You well?
55:42You well?
55:44Yeah, no, having a good day.
55:45And this is the great thing, you see, is I can adjust the speed of my lift by shouting at the driver.
55:52Faster!
55:53Yes.
55:54Oh, yes.
55:55Oh, yes.
55:56Oh, yes.
55:57Okay, that'll do.
55:59Nice speed.
56:00Okay, and stop.
56:01J'arrive.
56:02At the top.
56:04Now.
56:05Ski back down again.
56:07No poles, but hey.
56:11I need a bit more gravity.
56:13Very topical, Jeremy, snow in summer. Thanks for that.
56:17But what's the car like when it's not a winter wonderland?
56:20It's very good, actually.
56:21I mean, you can have that two and a half litre V6 with four-wheel drive for around about £23,000, and I think that kind of makes it the best car in the class, really.
56:41Yeah, that's good value.
56:42And are we going to thump it around the track now?
56:44No, we're not, because the other week we had the Mercedes CL65 here, the world's most powerful production car.
56:50And we have had literally some emails from viewers saying, you never gave it to the Stig, we never saw how fast it would go round the track.
56:58So, this being the new, fresh, shiny, caring, sharing BBC, we've got it back, and we're going to find out.
57:06Okay, 738 foot-pounds of torque, will it make the world move backwards?
57:11No, it's managed to move forwards and the world's okay, that's marvellous.
57:15Now, of course, it's got all the power in the world, but how's it going to be in the corners where it's just a Mercedes?
57:20Oh, the Stig's really having to fight that one.
57:24Here he goes into Chicago, a lot of understeer on the way in, and I bet he has some, yes, there it is, there's the oversteer on the way out.
57:35Is he still there?
57:36Here he goes, it explodes, it is just an atomic power station going down into the Hammerhead.
57:41Once again, it becomes a Mercedes, a big, soft, squidgey executive car.
57:46He's really wrestling it there.
57:52This is where it's really going to pick up speed, though, through the follow through.
57:55He's flat out all the way down.
57:56Now, we know that in a straight line this is much quicker than the...
58:00Much quicker than the Aston Martin DB9.
58:03So, he's got all the power in the world there.
58:05He's hard on the brakes in there.
58:06Oh, that's a beautiful piece of car control from the Stig.
58:09Round the last corner, just about holding it together, and across the line.
58:15Oh, well.
58:18What do you reckon?
58:20Uh, no idea.
58:21It looked pretty quick, and it should be quick.
58:22It should be quick.
58:23The Stig said he was stunned at how fast it was.
58:26He was also stunned at how bad it was through the corners.
58:29Really?
58:30He really did not like this thing in the corners.
58:31Well, come on, then.
58:32And it did it in 1 minute 29 seconds.
58:36Oh, God.
58:37It's right down there.
58:39That's almost exactly average, in fact.
58:41It is.
58:42Yeah.
58:43Mind you, we should explain, if Alistair Darling is watching, it was running on free-range petrol.
58:48So, if he's not, it was run on normal, super unleaded.
58:52Next week, we're very eco-friendly.
58:53Yep.
58:54Six-litre Corvette.
58:55For me, that should do it.
58:56Absolutely.
58:57That'll be terrific.
58:58And so, we'll see you then.
58:59Thank you very much.
59:00Good night.
59:01On BBC3, the wannabe 007s take a crash course in the art of espionage.
59:13Spy starting now.
59:14Here on BBC2 next, Cornwall and Dorset offer up their frail treasures for restoration.
59:19the next 24-point machine.
59:20We do it.
59:21We'll find out by the next 24-hour show.
59:22The next 24-hour show is a great show.
59:23We are on BBC3, the wannabe 007s take a crash course into the art of an art,
59:24a new way to the future.
59:26It's a great show to be a full show.
59:27We'll see you then.
59:29There in the next 24-hour show of the Star Wars.
59:30We'll see you then.
59:31We'll see you then.
59:32We'll see you then.
59:33Please check the tápid for next 25 minutes.
59:34We'll see you then.
59:38We'll see you then.
59:39We'll see you then.
59:40Ah, wait a minute.
59:41After the first 24-hour show.
59:42And it's a great show for getting this event.
59:43We'll see you then.
59:44We'll see you then.
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