The Grand Tour

- Yes. - Thank you.

Greetings. Thank you so much.

- Hello, everybody. - Thank you.

Thank you.

Whoa! Hello. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you, thank you, thank you. - Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome.

And in this show, apart from James's weird jacket and T-shirt combination...

- Nothing to be proud of, mate. - No, it isn't.

...we have many other things besides.

James May changes gear.

Richard Hammond changes gear.

And I...

..change gear.

Thank you.

It's all very exciting.

But we start in the 1950s, when James May was an old man.

Now, back then, Jaguar won Le Mans three times with the D-Type.

And after they retired that from racing,

they decided to build 25 road-going versions of it,

which they called the XKSS.

We've got a photograph of one here.

Now, this was aimed at wealthy young gentlemen

who wanted to spend the week dashing around town

and then the weekend doing motor racing.

Steve McQueen had one, and I think that says it all.

Unfortunately, in 1957 there was a huge fire at the factory,

and nine of those 25 cars were never made, until now.

Let me make one thing plain right from the start -

this is not a replica XKSS built from plastic,

this is an XKSS.

Built by Jaguar themselves over 10,000 painstaking hours, it's the real deal.

In fact, it's as real as the real ones from way back when.

The chassis is made from a special steel called Reynolds 531.

It's what they originally used to build the World War II Spitfire.

And it's light - it only weighs 39kg.

And then there's the body.

The tooling and the technical drawings were all destroyed in the fire,

so they had to scan an original from 1957

and then work backwards from that to make it,

in incredible detail, right down to the rivets.

Every one, the number and the position is as it was.

And there's over 2,000 of them.

But it was the engine that was the trickiest bit.

The plans for that weren't destroyed in the fire -

in fact, I've got a copy of them here - but there was a page missing.

So they had to get an original engine

and saw it in half to find out how it worked.

No-one has ever made a car like this before.

It's a world first.

So it's small wonder it's priced at just over one million pounds.

Or, for half a million pounds more,

you can have one of these!

It's an Aston Martin DB4 GT Lightweight.

And back in the late '50s, it was the fastest car in the world.

Flat out, it would do 151mph.

But this is not from the late '50s.

Despite what you might think when you look at its period dashboard

and its period six-cylinder twin-spark engine,

it was actually built a few weeks ago.

So, like Hammond's Jag,

it's an old car that's brand-spanking-new.

- So did these two ever race against each other in period? - No, they did! They did!

May, 1960, I was a month old...

- I was ten years off being born, mate. - Yeah, whatever.

- Picture of it here, look. - Oh, look! There they are!

- It's actually a D-Type. - The race version.

Yeah, exactly. DB4 GT Lightweight.

I mean, that was proper racing in those days.

- No stewards enquiries every time there was a bump. - No.

They would just finish the race, have a drink, and then some sex.

We should give it a bash.

What, sex?

- No. - No.

Happily, we were in the French town of Pau,

and it was here in 1901 the first ever Grand Prix was staged.

They were closing roads for races here

long before they thought of doing the same thing in Monaco or Detroit.

And today they were closed once more...

..for us.

Oh, look at this!

Closed roads through the centre of Pau. Oh!

Oh, my God! This is like being in history.

This may have the same Italian styling as the original,

but unlike Hammond's Jag, it is not a faithful replica.

It has, for example, a bigger engine than the original,

which means 40 more brake horsepower.

This thing... This thing is quick!

Whoa! Really quick!

Some things are the same, though.

Windows don't wind down. There's no fan or air conditioning of any kind,

and it's got a racing gearbox.

That means no synchros.

Which means that when you want to slow down, you have to heel and toe.

Like that. Yes!

That was a skill I never thought I'd need to use again,

a bit like changing a typewriter ribbon.

Whoa! That was...

That was me not matching the revs up,

and that was it not forgiving me.

The really good news, though, is the...

..is the brakes.

They're made using modern materials, unlike in Hammond's Jag.

Yep, in here it's just me and my big, hairy balls.

And they need to be big.

I can only brake when I'm accelerating. Seriously.

The power for the brakes comes off the gearbox,

so with the clutch in there isn't any.

Who thought that was a good idea?

Right, time to unleash the 3.4L straight-six.

That's 262 brake horsepower bouncing off the walls.

In the '50s, Ferraris were hitting 160 on the Mulsanne Straight.

Jaguar D-Types were hitting 172.

And remember, this is, essentially, a D-Type.

Whoa!

Just feel the lack of grip.

Of course, back in the '50s cars didn't grip,

because they had cross-ply tyres.

Back then it was all about how a car handled,

and this thing handles absolutely beautifully.

Come on, Hammond, get out of my way!

This really is a special moment.

Just to see these two cars racing around here is incredible.

To be in one of them is unreal!

This is one of the best mornings I've ever had

behind the wheel of a car, ever.

And it's just brilliant fun!

Eventually, though, the people of Pau wanted their town back,

so Hammond and I called time on the fun and games

and sat down for a natter about our amazing cars.

Now, we should explain why Aston Martin and Jaguar

have suddenly decided to start making cars from their back catalogue.

- And really, well, it's second-hand values, isn't it? - Well, basically, yeah.

The last genuine original XKSS to sell went for over £12 million.

- Was it really 12 million? - Twelve million.

So anyone who buys that for a million is getting the bargain of the century.

Yep.

And Jaguar's making more profit on that than it would from selling...

- A hundred XEs. - Exactly.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if other carmakers don't start doing this:

Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini.

If Lancia remade the Fulvia now...

I know, I'd love one.

I'd rather have that than one of those.

Is that the new Honda Civic Type R?

- The new-new one, and it is hideous. - It is, honestly!

It's worse than the last one. It's awful!

I mean, the original '90s Civic Type R was brilliant, but that is disgusting.

It's revolting is what it is.

Mind you, it's not as revolting...

- What? - ...as what's just got out of it.

Oh, God.

Why are you here?

I'm here because I heard that you two were talking complete rubbish.

You don't buy an old black-and-white television set,

you don't buy a Bakelite telephone.

- Why would you buy an old car? - Because they're stylish.

No, new stuff is better than old stuff. I've explained this to you before.

The world now is better than it was just one minute ago.

No, it isn't, because a minute ago you weren't here.

Yeah, that's true. And neither was that thing, and I do hate it.

It just... That's one of the most revolting cars I've ever seen.

You see, that's amazing - you're both talking rubbish again.

To prove it, I suggested we take our cars for a simple evening drive.

Got to get my leg in.

Right, here I go.

Oh, that's backwards. No, I don't want backwards.

That's neutral, so...

There, first.

No, that's still... Oh.

What are they doing?

- Struggling a bit here. - No, it's...

Pulling away is an event.

Ooh!

- Ooh! - That was a gear, I think.

Finally, the golden-age-of-motoring duo were on the move,

but not at what you would call "a hell of a lick".

It's like driving around behind the National Trust.

I wouldn't be surprised to find there's a souvenir shop in Hammond's car.

You have to go through it as you get out.

Why are we going so slowly?

I want to savour the car and the weather and the journey.

I don't want to rush this one. I want to... go slowly.

- Exactly. We want to make it last. - Exactly.

I should admit the real reason we're driving slowly

is because this part of the French motorway network is... very heavily policed.

Hammond and I know this to our cost.

A couple of years ago we were driving along here and I was in an Aston Martin then.

Got busted by the constabulary,

who helped themselves to all of our money

and took our driving licences away on the spot.

We were left stranded at the side of the road.

I could have been raped... or murdered.

That gives me an idea.

James May...

I'd love to see how fast your car could go along here.

Yeah, let's see what that thing can do. Come on.

I want you to unleash - how many horsepower is it, 320?

Unleash the lot, James!