Clarkson, Hammond, and May are finally returning to the small screen now that their The Grand Tour has an official launch date of November 18th. And wouldn’t you know it, you can actually see a bunch of hints about what’s to come. Here’s what we see coming down the pipe.
In case you still haven’t seen it, here it is once more:
They actually cover a lot of ground in less than thirty seconds, so let’s get to it.
First up, a squiggly road. How outré for such a group of motoring enthusiasts. Most of you might be fine to leave it at that, but we think we may know a little more about this. In fact, we think it may be in Morocco. Partially because way back in March, Clarkson tweeted a photo of the trio somewhere in “North Africa,” and the scenery looks remarkably similar, and mostly because of a scene coming up a little later.
The next shot looks to be a trio of Ferrari LaFerraris. (Actually, on second look, it’s probably just a single LaFerrari in a trailer, with reflections on either side. Duh.)
It might be a little hard to make out, since a lot of cars have big haunches and giant, red, unblinking taillights these days (i.e., Ford GT), but check out those long spindly mirror stalks. That’s a LaFerrari hallmark. And if you miss those, the license plate on the center one reads “V12 LAF,” so you know the owner is a big dork.
While we knew that the team had a McLaren P1, Porsche 918, and LaFerrari matchup coming, this trio of red cars might hint at a longer piece on the Italian. The next shot is some sun, and yes, more LaFerrari. This time from the snout:
But then we come to a weirder scene, and one we’re having a harder time placing:
It looks to be a shot of an old Land Rover, floating in the sea. We actually haven’t heard too much about this segment yet, but if we had to guess, we’d say it might be related to this photo Clarkson put up on Instagram six months back:
Rumors have it that there’s a bit coming up where Clarkson, Hammond, and May attempt to build a reef out of cars (in the above case, they appear to be Peugeots) off the cost of Barbados. The Land Rover shot looks like the warm, sunny Caribbean. Could be that.
Back in the trailer, it looks like we’ve got a trio of Meyers Manxes:
You’ve got plenty of sand there, which would seem to jibe with reports of the crew filming outside Amman, Jordan. It also would go with the weirdness we saw in this photo of Richard Hammond, who seems to have gotten a phonograph in the middle of the desert.
Next up is this Christmas tree, and we’re pretty sure we know exactly where that is:
It’s the main straight of the Algrave International Circuit in Portugal, where we first heard of the P1, LaFerrari, and 918 test taking place almost a year ago. Get hype.
While this looks like a strange and mysterious desert castle, we unfortunately have to burst some bubbles with this one. It’s actually a film set called Atlas Studios, and Clarkson dropped the news a few months ago. Atlas is in Ourzazate, Morocco, which lines up with the first shot of the trailer, and it’s also used as a set for Game of Thrones.
And thanks to the shot of the Alfa Romeo 4C, we also know that this isn’t a Clarkson-only special. The gang was spotted filming in the desert with a Mazda Miata and a Zenos E10 as well – which makes for a weird, if interesting mix. The Miata’s a car built to have fun with, and it can be all soft and squishy and slidey if you want it, with creature comforts like heated seats and, uh, powered steering. The Alfa 4C has a carbon fiber tub, no power steering at all, and 240 horsepower.
Which brings us to the Zenos, which in top trim is a track-day special with more than 350 horsepower.
What we’re looking at, then, is a desert chile pepper contest. Jalapeño, Habanero, Bhut Jolokia.
This next one, however, is a bit tougher:
We’re not entirely sure what this one is, though we’re sure some sleuths out there can help us out in the comments. Maybe a BMW M4 GTS?
Ten seconds in, and we’ve got our first non-car, a Blackhawk helicopter:
It looks big and black and mean as hell, and that’s great. We don’t actually know if there are any cars in the segment with the chopper, but the Grand Tour’s Facebook page did post this photo of Clarkson playing commando in what must be the same helicopter:
If you’re wondering what those wicker baskets are, they’re food hampers from Fortnum & Mason. This one costs £250 and comes with “savoury Beef Extract” (mmmm), golden raspberry preserves, non-pareil marmalade, three kinds of tea, a bunch of biscuits, picallili and relish, and because it’s British, champagne, vodka, and gin. Delish.
Since the food basket’s available in the United Kingdom and the European Union only, let’s assume they shot this somewhere over in Europe.
Once more to the trailer, there’s an Aston Martin Vulcan:
And also some fire.
LaFerrari:
McLaren:
I think it’s that Alfa again:
A start button, on the wheel of the Aston Martin Vulcan:
Green means go.
Get hype. It all starts the 18th of November.