Top Gear

Hello, and welcome to Top Gear.

We've got a proper treat of a show lined up for you.

Tonight, each of us gets to do something

truly extraordinary and I'm talking

proper bucket list stuff.

I drive the world's rarest supercar.

Chris drives an actual time machine,

and Fred drives to Lincolnshire.

Living the dream

But, we kick off with a review.

Isn't that right, Christopher?

Yes.

There's a new supercar out there

from Aston Martin and it's like no supercar seen before

and rather irritatingly they sent Patrick McGuinness

to drive it.

Meet Victor,

a hulking, brooding brute of a machine.

That's part 80s muscle car, part futuristic racer.

It is seriously powerful, it's seriously rare.

It's everything you could possibly want

from a supercar.

Just look at it, this might be the best looking car

I've ever seen.

In fact, I think he might be the best looking thing

I've ever seen.

And when I said it was powerful, I wasn't lying

836 horsepower and when I said it was rare,

this is the only one that will ever be built.

And the man who owns it has kindly lent it to us.

Okay, better be careful, ish.

Oh my word.

This is not right, it's gone mad, it's gone absolutely mad.

Up front, the Victor's packing a stonking great V12.

Weighing in at a massive 7.3 litres.

No turbos for efficiency, no hybrid for economy.

Victor is an absolute old school monster.

As for how fast this monster will run though,

because it's a one-off, nobody quite knows.

But what I can tell you, is this...

It'll get past sixty in first gear, 90 in second.

120 in third,

and I've still got three gears to go.

Geez Louise.

So in conclusion, nought to sixty, very, very small number

max speed, very, very big number.

Right, enough of that now,

time to give the old ticker a rest.

So, what on earth is this Victor then?

The wild performance is pure 21st century,

but the way it goes about it is savagely primitive.

Take the interior, a steering wheel

from the Millennium Falcon, but a gear knob,

from an old Walnut tree, none of it makes sense.

Until that is, you understand the decades of Aston history,

that have been poured into it.

Think of the Victor as Aston Martin's Greatest Hits.

This is the ultimate compilation.

The looks are pure old school muscle.

In fact, the designers took inspiration from this,

their 1970s race car nicknamed 'The Muncher'.

Then we went to the 1980s and the V8 Vantage road car

and looking at this, you can already see

the family resemblance.

Then underneath we go all 21st century Aston

with a 177 supercar.

Same chassis, same engine, but with extra power.

And to finish it all off, same steering wheel and suspension

as the Vulcan racer.

Of course, to put it another way,

you might say the Victor is just a big mash-up

of reheated Aston leftovers, but trust me...

Get properly stuck in and you soon find

that as leftovers go, these are very, very tasty.

Man! Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho!

Whoo!

That's- now what we're talking about! COR!

The steering, the ride, the way it puts its hammer down.

This doesn't feel like a mash up, this thing is proper.

Woo-hoo-hoo!

Yaaay!

That is mad!

But, it isn't half as mad as what the thing costs.

Now, let's be honest, you're not gonna be disappointed

that this thing's very expensive.

Well, trust me, you're not gonna be disappointed.

Because the Victor costs 4 million pounds.

And who cares? They've only made one.

All right, if you're gonna be all boring and rational,

you could for the price of one Victor,

have 20 new McLarens and go just as fast.

But forget boring and rational,

it's a supercar,

it's not supposed to make sense.

Come on.

Oh my word!

But let's face it,

these bonkers, crazy expensive supercars

are meant to be ridiculous,

they're meant to be daft.

I absolutely love this car.

And the Victor, well, it's the daftest of the lot.

Do you know what? I love that stuff like this exists.

And I love that I got the chance to drive it.

But most of all, I love that it's still in one piece.

Victor, it's been a pleasure.

Absolute work of art.

Stunning.

- That for me is what an Aston Martin Should look like.

It's a muscle car.

It does look amazing,

but even for a one off, 4 million quid? That's bonkers, Pad.

- Yeah, but the price literally doesn't matter.

They're only making this one and it's already sold.

So you can't even buy it, just enjoy it.

Right, I'm not comfortable saying this,

but I agree with McGuinness.

It may be a load of old Aston bits underneath,

but when it looks like this.

It's brilliant.

Exactly.

- And now we must move on because Freddie Flintoff

has an itch to scratch.

I thought that had cleared up.

- I do feel the need to explain now, Paddy,

Because ever since I started Top Gear

there's one thing I've wanted to do.

I've wanted to learn to race properly,

to become a qualified racing driver,

kind of like what Chris does.

Ooh, so you're saying that I'm your idol?

I am not saying that at all

get that straight out of your head.

What I wanted to know was,

can you turn the middle-aged ex-cricketer

with a dodgy knee into a proper serious racing driver?

So I went to find out.

I've had a fascination with speed

ever since I can remember

whether it's cars or cricket balls,

I want everything to be fast.

It's dangerous, you feel vulnerable,

you feel alive.

Rather than say, why do you wanna drive fast?

Why would anybody not want to?

To become a racing driver,

first, you need a license,

and that means you have to take a test.

Mine would be in just two days time, so to get up to speed,

I'd be getting a crash course in racing from the experts.

Ginetta is a British road and race car manufacturer,

one whose driver development program

has produced the likes of W Series champion, Jamie Chadwick

and McLaren F1 star Lando Norris.

This is a company with a serious reputation.

One that I'd be trying my best not to ruin

as I arrived at the Blyton Park test track

to meet top trainer, Mike Simpson.

- Wow, hi Mike, this is proper then, isn't it?

It is, morning, Fred.

How are you doing?

- All right. - Welcome

- I've done a few track days and you turn up

and there's some nice cars out,

but these are proper racing cars.

This is what we do for a living.

When we start off 14 year old kids actually,

straight from Karting or school in the G40.

Not going in that, am I?

- You're not going in that, we're gonna skip a step

and go straight into the GT4 level G55,

which is a thoroughbred race car.

Have you seen this show before, Mike?

I have, yeah, yeah.

Have you seen me in a car?

I have, yeah.

That's why I'm here.

Oh good.

Yeah.