In the latest episode of The Grand Tour, Richard Hammond won the “Lack of Continuity Award” for driving two different McLaren 720Ses in the same clip—which he had to do, because he destroyed the first car by filling its fuel tank with water. That’s right; Richard Hammond did it again.
After nearly killing himself crashing a $1 million Rimac Concept One earlier this season, I think we all hoped The Grand Tour host Richard Hammond would take it easy on supercars for a while. But, it turns out, he’s managed to kill at least one more expensive sports car this season. Good show Hammond!
Before receiving his Nigel Award (a giant water bottle) for murdering McLaren’s 710-horsepower hypercar killer, Hammond tries to explain himself. The car, which he reviews early in the latest episode, was apparently running low on fuel at the track during testing, so Hammond simply poured the contents of a nearby jerry can down the fuel filler tube.
Those contents, it turns out, were of the H20 variety, and it wasn’t long before—as Hammond puts it—the engine “sort of let go.”
That sounds a lot like what happened when an intrepid YouTuber put Coke (which is mostly water) into his BMW’s fuel tank. The bill to just drain that BMW 325i wagon’s tank, replace the fuel pump and filter, and clean injectors was over $1,500. I can’t imagine what the repair will cost for that 720S.
It’s a boneheaded move, but at least this time Richard managed to ruin a supercar without nearly ruining himself.