03x05 - An Itchy Urus

[bunniefuu]

Hello! Hello!

What a surprise!

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Welcome. And coming up
in this week's show:

Abbie is sideways on ice
in a 911 Turbo...

...Richard drives Jim Clark's
beautiful Lotus 25...

...and I nearly fall over.

That...

- Exciting looking show.
- Right.

That is all to come. Now...

Hang on a minute. Does that mean
Howard and Adrian aren't coming on?

No. Haven't got time.

We actually begin
with the French.

Er... now, they don't make
a sports car very often,

but when they do,
literally nobody buys it.

We've had
the Venturi Atlantique,

and then there was
the Matra Murena,

and then there was
the Simca Sport.

And all of them fell down the
back of the sofa of history.

Yeah, yeah, but you're
conveniently forgetting to mention

the best of the French
sports car makers.

That's like saying the best
of the airborne plagues.

- No.
- The best of the...

No, it isn't.
There is one French maker

that's been consistently good
at making sports cars,

and they've made a new one,
and I've been testing it.

It's called the A110,

and it's made by Alpine,

a French sports car firm

who have a history
of hitting the spot.

The original A110,
for example,

won the World Rally
Championship in 1973.

And it's that car
that gives the new one

not only its name
but also its looks.

So, what we have here

is a small, pure,
no-nonsense sports car

aimed squarely at the Porsche
Cayman and the Audi TT.

And this, unfortunately, is
where the problems begin.

You see, this launch version
of the Alpine costs £51,000.

£51,000.

Now, for £1,000 more,
you can have the TT RS.

That's the one Clarkson was
driving in the last series.

And that's more powerful,
and it's faster.

And the Porsche Cayman
you buy for £51,000

is also more powerful than
this, and it's a Porsche.

Whereas this is an Alpine.

That's something you're going to have
to explain when you're down the pub.

Even the engine
sounds a bit lame.

I don't mean
the noise it makes,

I mean when somebody asks you,
"What's that got, then, mister?"

Because the answer is, "A
four-cylinder 1.8-litre turbo, sonny!"

For over £50,000.
I mean, is that it?

Also, I'm not sure
about the looks.

The original 1960s version
was a masterpiece.

But for me, this modern
reboot doesn't quite work.

The problem, I think,
is that on modern cars

there are rules about things like how
high the headlights are above the ground,

how forgiving the bonnet is
if you run into a pedestrian.

And once you stretch modern
legislation over 1960s design language,

you end up with a sort of
slightly lame tribute act.

So, is there anything good
to report?

Well, thankfully, yes.

For starters, although
Alpine is owned by Renault,

this car is not just a hot Mégane
dressed up in some fancy suit.

The A110 is in fact a
mid-engined, rear-drive sports car

designed from scratch,
on a clean sheet of paper.

The body and the chassis are
made entirely of aluminium.

And the reason for that
is simple - its lightness.

And from that starting point,
the Alpine engineers

nerded their way
through the rest of the car

and shaved off every
spare gram they could find.

The seats, for example,
are half the weight

of the ones you'll find
in any hot Renault.

The handbrake is built
into the main callipers,

rather than being separate,
saving another 2.5 kilos.

Even the stereo is a bespoke,
lightweight design.

And then there's
this boot at the front,

which is just deep enough for
a small suitcase like this one.

But now I think about it, putting the
suitcase in there would just add weight.

So what I would do is just pack my
overnight stuff straight in there.

The only downside is
that in the morning,

I have to go outside if
I want a fresh pair of pants.

So, thanks to Alpine's
fanatical diet regime,

this car is 300 kilos lighter
than a Cayman or an Audi TT.

And that has
a profound effect.

Suddenly,
it doesn't really matter

that you've only got 1.8
litres and 248 horsepower.

This thing absolutely
zips along.

Nought to 60,
four and a half seconds.

Top speed limited
to 155 miles an hour.

And then,
when you get to a corner...

...you find out just
how agile this thing is.

It's like driving a feather.

It is like a cartoon car. It should
come with those little bubbles saying...

But even though the A110 is
built to minimalist principles,

you never feel like
you're in some miserable,

Spartan track-day car.

It has air-con, sat-nav,

phone connectivity -

all the modern things
you want.

This whole lightness
and smallness thing

cascades down in a sort
of waterfall of pure joy.

Lower weight means you
don't need such big tyres,

you don't need so much grip.

That gives the car more feel.

Low weight means you use less
fuel, you make lower emissions.

It's just win-win-win-win
all the way.

This is actually the most intelligent
car I've driven for years.

And I love it for that.
I love it.

Thank you.

Erm...

So... So despite
the ordinary engine,

the looks that
you're not sure about,

and the high price,
you liked it?

I did. I loved it, yeah.

- Yes, but would you buy one?
- I have.

- You've bought one of those?
- I have.

And actually,
so has Gordon Murray.

I've brought
a picture of him along. Him.

He designed the McLaren F1,
so he knows.

Yeah, so it's the sports car of choice
for old men with terrible shirts.

- So that's good to know.
- Evidently.

But, now let's see how fast it goes
round the Eboladrome, shall we?

And she's off.

Brisk start, and a parp from
the exhaust on the up-change.

Immediately onto
the Isn't Straight.

And actually,
that's not hanging around.

Perhaps James was right
about the benefits of...

whatever it was
he was saying.

Howling round
the final bend of the Isn't.

Dropping down now
into Your Name Here.

Scrubbing off speed
in a hurry.

Torturing those tyres, but
that does look pretty nimble.

Now, the canter back down
the Isn't, picking up speed.

Dab of brakes
at the mid-point.

Now much harder
on the brakes,

flicking down the seven-speed
box for Old Lady's House.

Any understeer?

No, not bad
for a mid-engined car

with no weight over the nose.

I actually rather
like the styling of this,

and I'm right.

Just Field of Sheep
to go now.

Here we are.

And oh, yes, that's an
exuberant drift to finish,

and across the line!

Very good.

Very good.
Good driving, on form.

Right.

Right, let's see where it
goes on our lap board.

Will it go in the top ten?

Oh, dear, no, it doesn't.

Sorry, May, that is dismal

for a mid-engined car.
It is.

It isn't about things like
lap times. I told you before.

He who is first
shall be last,

and the last
shall be first.

- Yes, but it's 15th.
- It is, yeah.

- It is, it is.
- So?

It's the Romain Grosjean
of cars, that is.

- Romain who?
- Grosjean.

- Who's he?
- He's a French racing driver.

The 15th best Formula One
driver in the world, in fact.

- You'd like him.
- I already do.

Good. Good,
so we've sorted that out.

It's time for us to move on,
because right now it is time

for us to scrump
an apple of chat

from the orchard
of intercourse,

which is on
Conversation Street.

- I like that one.
- I thought you would.

- I like that one a lot.
- That's so up your street.

Um... right now, lots of
people these days

are buying old cars,

and we think we can see why.

Yeah, because an old Jaguar
E-Type, or Alfa Spider,

is far more interesting to
look at than any modern car,

and it won't depreciate.

In fact,
it'll make you money.

Yeah, the trouble is, though,
you get into your old car,

and it's crap.

He's absolutely right,

we forget how terrible
old cars were, really.

I mean, if you go more
than 40 miles an hour,

the windscreen wipers part
company with the windscreen.

- Yes.
- And the headlamps are like candles in jam jars.

- And the demister doesn't.
- No, it doesn't.

- And the heater doesn't.
- No.

And everything else rattles,
and the brakes don't work.

- Exactly.
- That's old cars, they were...

I speak from experience. I've
got a 40-year-old Ferrari, a 308.

Apart from all those things, it's
catastrophically slow. You wouldn't believe it.

I pull away from lights, and people
behind honk because they think,

- "That's a Ferrari, that'll... Oh."
- Yeah.

They honk? Doesn't that
happen in any car you drive?

- No, no, no...
- "Oh, get out of the way!"

Pretty much.

But it is unbelievable
just how poor it is.

Very slow.

But that's the exact point
we're trying to make here.

There are now loads of companies
who will take an old car

and then gently modernise it.

Got some examples here
of what we're on about.

There's this, which
is the Singer Porsche,

I'm obviously not
very interested in that.

These two are,
but I couldn't care less.

Then you've got the Eagle,
er... E-Type Speedster,

one of the best-looking cars
I've ever seen.

That's an actual E-Type, and one of the
most beautiful to drive. Absolute honey.

Yeah, there's a company in Germany
now, and they are modernising lightly.

Remember those old
Mercedes Pagoda SLs?

- Oh, yeah.
- They're putting AMG engines in.

What, mo... That's got a
modern AMG engine in it?

Do you want to have a
look at the engine? Another sh*t.

- Hang on.
- There it is, look at that!

- That is a car.
- I see you like that.

- Very, very much.
- I've got something you'll like more.

- Have you?
- Mm-hm.

Oh, my God!

That is an old
'68 Dodge Charger.

- You used to have one.
- I did.

But someone has put in that a
1,000-horsepower modern-day Hellcat engine.

Aw!

- I mean...
- I...

I need some time alone...

- with that picture.
- It's just...

That is such
a good idea, this, I think.

It is actually, and
it's a very good point.

We all think we would like a
Jensen Interceptor, don't we?

But the fact is it won't go,

it won't stop if it ever does
go, the brakes won't work,

all the rest of it -
terrible thing.

But here is
a Jensen Interceptor,

but that has modern brakes,
has a modern cooling system,

and it has the engine
from a Corvette.

No, it does. I've actually driven
that very car, and it's epic.

Well, that one isn't
anymore, because somebody

wrapped it round a
fence in Goodwood.

- Spoiled it.
- But it was epic before that.

It's a fantastic car, it really, really is.

I'd like to explain, by the
way, that squeaking noise

is not James thinking,
it's...

...it's the wind.

- It's quite a breezy day.
- It's a breezy day.

And we decided to base ourselves
in a tent because we're mad.

- And on a hill.
- And on a hill.

But I think the problem

with all of these
reimagined cars

is that they're expensive,
they're too expensive.

That Mercedes Pagoda SL,
that's £300,000,

those Singer Porsches,
£400,000,

that E-Type Speedster,
650 grand - it's just crazy.

The problem is that the companies
who are doing this kind of work,

they know they can charge
that kind of money,

cos the customers
that come to their workshops

invariably arrive
in a helicopter

with a Ukrainian girlfriend
and Lewis Hamilton's watch.

And the fact is, if you're
gonna dress up like that

and act like that,
if you're gonna show off,

you'll get ripped off,
that's the way it is.

- They charge accordingly, don't they?
- That's asking for it.

What you should do is
ring them up and say,

"Could you collect me from the station?"

- No.
- That'd be better.

No, the bus stop. "Pick
me up from the bus stop",

I've come to look at
these cars you're making."

I've just had a thought.
Right, picture this.

An original Opel Manta A.
Remember the one?

- The round taillights?
- Yeah... yeah, black bonnet.

But with the engine from a
modern Vauxhall VXR in it.

So I just find some blokes
that'll do that for me,

I do that on the phone, and then I go
and visit them on the bus in a tracksuit.

And you'll get charged
50 quid.

Well, probably 40, cos I need a
tenner to get home on the bus.

Ooh, now.

There's a new electric car

from, you're not
going to believe this...

- Kalashnikov.
- Really?

Yeah, the people who make AK-47s are
going to start making electric cars.

I like the sound of that.

Do you want to see
a picture of it? Here it is.

- Ah.
- Oh.

No, don't laugh, because from
the back it's actually worse.

- There you go.
- You're right, it is.

Now, I assumed that it would
have eight moving parts,

that you could bury it
in a bog for three months

and that it would only jam
if Richard Hammond used it.

Yes, all right.

But they say it has
revolutionary technology.

Does it? Does it have
central locking, and loading?

More importantly, can you fire
it in the air at weddings?

You probably would.

"Exam results, children,"
they go out and do that.

No, but I think the idea of driving
a car called a Kalashnikov...

- It sounds brilliant.
- Oh, yeah, pretty good.

Yeah. "What are you
driving these days, Rich?"

- "Well, it's a Kalashnikov."
- There you go.

- There you go.
- The problem is,

I reckon they're gonna
sell a lot of T-shirts

and mugs and hats
with the name on,

but not many actual cars.

- Like Ferrari?
- Basically Ferrari, yeah.

Oh, er, here's one.

There's a story I got
from the Dorset Echo,

which is a local newspaper
in Dorset.

And, um... I think it wins the
award for unnecessary reporting,

because it's about
a crash that happened

between
a motorcyclist and a t*nk.

Happened... Yeah, happened near that
army base down there. OK, and it says,

"The motorcyclist sustained a
suspected fracture to his arm and leg."

And here's the line
they probably didn't need:

"The driver of the t*nk
was uninjured."

- Oh, was he?
- No?

Well, he was lucky to get
away with that, wasn't he?

Was he really?

I suspect he got back to base
and went, "I hit a what?"

"Did I?"

Good conversation here, I think.
Very good conversation.

Because they've
announced a new type

of motor racing
championship for women.

It's called the W Series, OK?

And the idea is is that
potentially quite good, you know,

women racing drivers can
take part in this series.

Cars are all
exactly the same,

you're invited
to take part,

and the prize money
is £1.1 million.

So, it's, you know,
fairly incentivised.

There's actually been
a lot of discussion about it,

or actually debate,
I should say.

Cos some people are saying it's sexist
to have a women-only championship.

But if you think about it, you've
got women-only football, and rugby

and hockey - all Olympic
sports, pretty much,

are segregated
between men and women,

so I can't see why motor
racing should be different.

Not all sports, though.
Men and women compete

directly against each other
in dressage.

Yeah, but that's not a sport.
It isn't.

That's just sitting on a horse
while it tries to look camp.

All right, then, they can...

He's right.

It is, though.

You're right, actually.

There's no segregation, then,
between men and women

in sailing, they compete
against each other.

That's not a sport either,
is it? Sailing is a job.

You have to pull
pieces of rope...

- All right, then!
- It's manual labour.

It's manual labour.
It's not a sport.

There's a world of difference
between any of that

and single-seater car racing.

Why, though? Why is it?

Is it, "Oh, well, you need
manly strength to do it?"

Cos you don't, anyway,
cos even an F1 car

has power steering
these days.

But I was driving a single-seater
race car the other day,

I can't remember what or
where but it had slick tyres.

After three laps, my neck muscles had...
I was like this.

I hadn't got the strength
to lift my head up,

I had to wait for the next corner
to roll over the other way.

Now, I know, you know,
Navratilova and the Williams girl,

you wouldn't want to
arm-wrestle either of them,

so women can build up their
muscles to compensate for that.

So, wait, are you saying that
there should be segregation

with women and men
in motor sport?

Well, it doesn't really
matter what I think.

The fact is, it's 43 years
since there was a...

a girl in
a Formula One motor race.

43 years. Something's going
wrong, they're not making it.

I think it's grass roots.
It happens early on.

I think too many mothers put
their little daughters on ponies

and not into go-karts.

No, not entirely.

Some girls do go karting,
cos Abbie, our driver,

she was karting since
she was a little nipper.

Well... I think what
this series is all about,

it's not about segregation,
it's about encouraging women

to go car racing, which
I think is a good idea.

Yeah, I think it is, but I think
it has to start early on. So,

little girls, it's time
to get off your ponies,

and get into a go-kart.

And I can tell you actually,
from some experience of horses,

the good thing is, when you
walk out in the morning,

you'll find that your go-kart

hasn't crapped itself
and d*ed in the night.

So it's better
than your horse.

You'll also find out that
go-karts are more fun

than going on "an horse",
they just are.

Yes, yes.
And you'll find also

that a go-kart won't pop
its long, stupid head up

over the stable door
and look at you,

and you know it's thinking,
it's trying to say to you,

"Yeah, your wife, she's back
here with me, in here."

Er... she's given me
breakfast in bed,

"crapped myself last night, but she's
clearing that up with a garden fork."

And then it says,
"And my penis is a bit dirty.

She'll be sorting that out
for me later on."

Then your wife's head will
pop up over the stable door

and she'll say, "Don't look at him like
that, he'll think you don't like him,"

and you'll say, "I know!"

If I could speak horse, I
would tell him, "I hate you."

I hate the way you steal
my wife and my money

"and my status around here."

And then one day, you'll
have a conversation

with your wife, and she'll say,

"Darling, I need a trailer to move my
special horse around to wonderful places"

because these fields
are too small for him

"to exercise his magnificent,
muscled legs."

And you'll say,
"OK, I'll get you a trailer."

Then she'll say,
"I need a special car

to tow the special trailer
to carry the special horse."

So you'll get one.
And then one day, she'll say,

"I need a lorry,
a great big lorry,"

to carry my great, big magnificent
horse around the country,

and the lorry must have
a kitchen and a bed in it

so I can sleep
close to my horse,

"closer to my horse
than I am to you."

And at that moment, your head will
bow and your heart will break,

because you know you have
lost, and the horse has won.

That's very good.

That is, um...

- Slightly off.
- We trod on the H-b*mb.

Every time you mention the
horse word to him, he's off.

Oh, did it again!

I think we probably end... Well,
it's not Conversation Street,

that was Rant Street
from Hammond.

- Sorry about that.
- Let's move it on, shall we? Right.

There's a new off-road
four-wheel drive Lamborghini.

It's called the Urus, and
to find out if it's any good,

I took The Grand Tour
to Sweden,

armed with some questions.

Here's my first big question:

If you build a car
to tackle terrain like this,

can it still be
a proper Lambo?

Well, the Urus
certainly looks

like a jacked-up supercar.

With its swivel-eyed styling,

it appears to be every
inch a Lamborghini.

But is it?

To make this car,
Lambo's engineers

had a good rummage around
in Volkswagen's parts bin.

So the engine, a four-litre
V8, is from a Porsche Panamera.

The rear axle
and air suspension

is from
a Bentley Bentayga.

The platform
on which it sits,

and a lot of the dashboard,
is from an Audi SQ7.

So, does that mean this isn't
really a Lamborghini at all?

Well, it does 0-60
in 3.6 seconds.

And it has a top speed
of 189.

So, it has the performance
you'd expect.

But there's other stuff
you wouldn't expect.

This is the first Lamborghini
to use turbocharging,

and the first
to have an a*t*matic gearbox.

What that combination means
is there's a very slight

and rather
un-Lamborghini-ish gap

between putting your foot
down and it getting going.

And when it does get going,

there are
no screaming histrionics.

Sure, there's a bit of popping
and banging from the back.

But you can't hear
that inside,

where everything is
muted and refined.

Perhaps that's why
all the writing

down here is in Latin.

This is a Lamborghini for
emeritus professors.

I can see the Pope
in one of these.

So, it's quiet
and a bit hesitant.

And it has snazzy diffs

and a clever
traction-control system.

And the biggest carbon brakes
ever fitted to a road car.

So it's safe as well.

However, there's no
getting around the fact

that I'm currently driving
on snow and ice

in a car that has
641 horsepowers

rampaging around
underneath its bonnet.

Which means that, actually,
it's not that safe at all.

Ooh, God above.

Concentrating.

Twitchy and it's scary!

It's like I've been
put in charge

of all of the world's
physics,

while I'm in a phone box
full of wasps.

Ee! Stop, leave me alone!

I'm doing tides
and gravity... Agh, stop!

This car, then,
it sits right at the moment

where excitement stops
and terror begins.

That is Lambo land, that is.

sh*t!

So, the Urus looks and feels
like a Lamborghini.

It's also practical.
The boot is massive.

And inside, there's space
for five six-footers.

It's a nice place to be
as well.

And all that's great.

But does it work off-road?

To find out,
I'm going to try and drive it

to the top
of this ski resort.

Now, it's wearing
these tyres,

which have no studs
in them, or spikes.

And I'm wearing these,

which are not delicate
Italian driving shoes.

Not sure
this is gonna go well.

Problems actually get
worse when you're in here

because there's no manual
locking differentials,

there's no low-range gearbox.

All you can do
is fire it up...

and then put the drive
system into snow mode.

Is... Is that snow?

Is "Neve" Latin for snow?

Think it might be.
So, let's see if that works.

Here we go.

Mustn't hit a skier, mustn't
hit a skier. Oh, it's moving.

The 165,000-pound Lamborghini

is driving up a ski slope.

Those turbo chargers
may be a little bit annoying

on the road,
but here they're giving me

the low-down torque that
I need to get up this hill.

And I've got an inclinometer,

like you used to get in
an old Mitsubishi Shogun.

This is actually quite impressive,
it's just dropped down into first.

Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!

Hello,
bewildered-looking skiers.

I cannot believe
that this is a 2.4-ton car...

on normal road tyres,
and it's doing this.

Come on, come on, come on,
you can do it. Come on.

Come on, come on. Come on.

Oh, hang on a minute.

Yeah.

Yeah, I now can believe it's a 2.4-ton
car on normal road tyres cos it's stuck.

No.

Oh.

Right.

So, what we've established
so far is that,

yes, it is a Lamborghini.

Feels exciting like
a Lamborghini... should.

And, um... I meant this.

And, er... it's good
off-road as well,

but just not quite
as good as a Range Rover.

Which leaves us with
one more thing to answer:

Is it a good laugh?

What we've done
is use a snow plough

to create a racetrack
on this frozen lake.

And this is
what we have planned.

I'm going to try
and overtake this,

a four-wheel drive
Porsche 911 Turbo,

which is being driven by The Grand
Tour's racing driver Abbie Eaton.

- Have you seen this cr*ck?
- I hadn't noticed that before.

Look at the state of this!

You're the heavier
car, aren't you?

Hm, that's 2.4 tons,
and I weigh half a ton.

Are you not worried
about that?

I haven't got my seatbelt on, so if it
goes under, I can get out straightaway.

- Seriously?
- Yeah.

Before the duel began,

I had a few practice laps
on my own.

Oh, heavens.

Come on, turn!

Whoops, I'm going off a bit.

Ooh!

Ah, my Urus is a bit twitchy.

Sort of thing
you'd say to your doctor.

Right, flick it in there.

Now go the other way,
and power.

Oh, yeah.

Mouse in, lion out.

That's what
they say in Sweden.

I'm making my own fog now!

It may not be able to get as far
up a ski slope as a Range Rover,

but for doing this,

it's better.

But, would it be good enough

to get past Abbie
in that Porsche?

There she is.

There she is!

The bell has sounded,
the race is on.

Now we'd find out what's what

on our specially
designed track.

Right, round the Bell End.

Now down the Shaft...

to what we're calling
the Parabollocka.

I've raced against a few dicks
in my time but never on one.

I should be able to get her,
for heaven's sake, come on!

She, of course, has four-
wheel-steering, same as I do.

Oh, she has got better
braking than I have.

Now, give me 641 horsepower!

Oh, yeah.

You know I said it was
a bit hesitant sometimes?

Well, in Corsa mode,
it isn't.

It's bob-on, this. Bob-on!

Ooh, she's gone wide,
is there a chance here?

Come on!

Now, now!

Bollocks.

Come on now, Jeremy.

Come on!

Come on, you can have her!

Come on!

For lap after lap,
the big heavy Urus

clawed at the rear end
of the 911 Turbo.

Oh, God. Nearly!

Now.

But eventually,
I had to admit defeat.

I can't get past that 911,
and that's just an end of it,

but I can keep up.

And in an off-road car...

that is fairly
astonishing.

It really is.

Certainly, I can believe
Lamborghini's claim

that this is the fastest
off-road car...

in the world.

- That was quite good fun.
- Looked like fun, yeah. A nice day out.

- I got paid for that.
- That was your job.

That is work.
Doing that is my work.

Um... it probably won't be

the fastest off-road car in the
world for very long, though,

because both Aston Martin
and Ferrari have got, er...

- big SUVs coming out this year.
- Yeah. Yeah.

Whatever. Thing is,
could you really tell people

that you have a Urus?

Cos it... it sounds like a
minor alien out of Star Trek.

- Yeah.
- But it does work as a Lamborghini.

Yeah. But no.

Well, this is excellent
consumer advice.

- I'm glad we...
- Yeah, it's very clear, very clear.

The thing is,
after I made that film,

which was quite good fun,

I came home and I thought,
the trouble is

it could do with being
a bit more Aventador-ish.

It could do with being
a bit more mad.

Are you saying
you changed your mind?

- Yes.
- Oh, great.

So, Prime Minister Clarkson
returns from the summit:

"I've declared w*r,
but on the plane home"

I had another think about it
and I'm not so sure now.

- "I've changed my mind."
- Exactly, that's what I've done.

Good, well, since we're in
such a sensible frame of mind,

I'd like to move
things on now,

um, with a brief
history lesson.

On April the 7th, 1968,

a racing driver was k*lled
in a Formula Two race

in Hockenheim, Germany.

Sadly, the driver's death was
not a surprising occurrence,

because such was the danger
of the sport back then,

he was one of
127 racing drivers

who would die at the wheel
that year alone.

This time, though,
the death sent shockwaves

through the motorsport world,

because it had just lost the
man who was unquestionably

the greatest
racing driver of his day,

and who many argue is still
the greatest of all time.

Jim Clark
has d*ed in an accident

during a Formula Two
race in West Germany.

It was a
terrible shock to everybody.

It really
knocked us all back.

If there was anybody
who was not gonna have

a fatal accident
it was Jim Clark.

Because he drove
in such a way

that he just
didn't do the mistakes

that other drivers did.

In California, a
radio station broadcaster

announcing the news
of Clark's death

asked his listeners to turn on their
headlights as a mark of respect...

and the freeways lit up.

Such a huge global fuss

would not have sat
easily with Clark,

because this shy, modest man,

the son of
a Scottish sheep farmer,

was never one
to trumpet his own skills.

I started as an amateur

with no idea or no intention
of becoming World Champion,

But, er... it was,
I was curious to find out,

um... what it was like
to drive a car fast,

to drive on
a certain circuit,

to drive
a certain type of car.

Having cut his teeth
in sports car racing

in the late '50s,

Clark's speed and talent

was spotted by Lotus boss
Colin Chapman,

who signed him for his
Formula One team in 1960.

Clark soon set
the motorsport world alight.

Especially in this car...

The Lotus 25.

In which, in 1963...

he won his first
F1 World Championship.

Oh, my God!

I am sitting
where Jim Clark sat.

This is electrifying!

These were not powerful cars.

They only made
210 brake horsepower

from one and a half litres,

but they were still good
for 180 miles an hour.

Oh, ho!

Thanks to its revolutionary
monocoque chassis,

the 25
was stiffer and lighter

than any other F1 car.

Which meant it wasn't
just fast on the straights,

but quicker
through the corners too.

And in the 1963 season,

Clark used it
to win a record seven

out of the ten Grands Prix.

Winner is Jim Clark.

Nobody could
possibly catch him now.

But 1963 was just a warm-up
for what was to come.

To get a true picture
of Clark's genius,

we must look at another year.

1965.

When he hit heights
no driver had reached before,

or has done since.

A modern Formula One
driver does 21 races a year

and often complains
that's too many.

In 1965,
Jim Clark raced in 63 races.

Some of these cars
look similar,

but they are all
completely different.

In a car like this, he'd do
Formula One Championship.

He raced in the British
Formula Two Championship,

and the French Formula Two
Championship in this car.

He raced in
the Tasman Series,

a sort of Australian Grand Prix
for Down Under, in this car.

And then
there's this Lotus Cortina,

in which he decided
to race in touring cars.

And then if all that
wasn't enough,

he decided to go for
the Indy 500.

First up was the Tasman
Series in Australasia.

Out of the 15 races,

Clark won 11
and took the crown.

Then it was back to
Europe for the British

and French Formula
Two Championships,

both of which he won.

Jim Clark led from the start.

Winner is Jim Clark.

And in between the F2 races,

he was jumping into
his Lotus Cortina

and racking up
touring car victories.

And, on top of all that,

there was America.

The Indianapolis 500

has been called
the greatest

spectacle in racing.

America's
most prestigious race

would be a tough challenge.

Oval racing at higher average
speeds than he was used to

against seasoned
Indy veterans.

For the Indy 500,

Clark raced a specially
developed Lotus

producing just shy
of 500 horsepower.

However,
although he already had

a Formula One
world title to his name,

the Scotsman's CV cut no ice
with the sniffy Indy officials

who made the upstart
from across the pond

take a rookie driving test
before he could compete.

Come Indy weekend,

the upstart
from across the pond

qualified on the front row.

And then...

in the race itself...

Clark, up against
America's finest oval racers,

won by just over two minutes.

Jim Clark, first European
to win at Indianapolis since 1916,

set a new record
of 150.686 miles per hour.

So, what was it
that made Clark so good?

What was it that made him capable
of winning in any type of car?

Jimmy was an absolute
natural driver,

and he did it
without thinking.

He didn't know
why he was driving

in this style the way he did.

In the period
that we're talking about,

we had one and a half-litre
cars, 200 horsepower.

If you drove the car too hard
you would scrub the speed off

and if you lose
a bit of speed,

it's very difficult to
actually make it up again.

And that's what Jimmy had,

the knack of keeping the
momentum of the car going.

I don't think that any
of the modern drivers

could have driven the car anywhere
near as quickly as Jimmy did,

because he was
just so precise.

Besides a supernatural
ability to coax speed out of the car,

Clark also possessed
another vital skill.

A lot of
very good racing drivers

d*ed in Lotuses,

because the Lotus
was a very fragile car.

But Jim Clark was so smooth

that he never put
too much stress

on the areas of a car
that would give up.

In Barcelona, in practice...

he came in after ten laps.

We'd done ten. He said,

"There's something
on the left rear."

Something, something.

"I can feel something on the left rear.
It's... it's not right."

We looked over,
we checked everything.

Everything felt good.

He said, "No, there's
something wrong."

So, that night I took the left
rear suspension to pieces,

and lo and behold
one of the wheel bearings

has just started to wear.

I don't know how anybody could
ever feel that. But he did.

After the race,
when you stripped his car down,

and you stripped
his co-driver's car down,

you could always tell
which parts

came off Jimmy's car

and which parts came off

the other driver's car.

Because the parts
off Jimmy's car

were more or less pristine.

But don't think for a minute

that Clark
was one of those drivers

that could only win
in a perfect car.

One year at Spa, for example,

he was leading the race when
his gearbox started to let go.

Did he give up? Nope.

Instead, he drove
the rest of the race,

and we're talking 160 miles
an hour in the wet...

with one hand
on the steering wheel

and the other holding
the gear lever in place.

And he still won.

By nearly five minutes.

As the 1965 season rolled on,

Clark, having won both
Formula Two championships,

the Tasman Series,

and the Indy 500,

now faced
one remaining challenge.

The biggest challenge,
the Formula One world title.

For the F1 races,
Clark would be driving

a modified version
of the Lotus 25 -

the car that had taken him

to the World Championship
two years earlier.

But as amazing as the 25 was,

there was no
getting round the fact

that by 1965 it was
a three-year-old design,

and the updated version
only had minor changes.

So how would Jim cope?

At the season's
opening race in South Africa,

up against such legends

as Jack Brabham, Graham Hill,

and reigning World Champion
John Surtees...

Clark won
by half a minute,

and did so while suffering
from a slipped disc.

Next up was Spa,

and then
the French Grand Prix:

both of which he also won.

His Lotus may be
a car with an old engine,

but as far as the
opposition are concerned,

it is just
out-distancing all.

Behind the wheel,
Clark was becoming untouchable.

Jimmy would go out beginning
of the practice session

and do
a very, very quick lap.

And come back,
sit on the wall.

You know, there's no point
in wearing the car out.

And then wait and see
what everybody else has done,

and go out and blitz it.

If he wasn't
on pole position,

there was a problem
with the car.

Next up was Silverstone.

And here, it looked like
business as usual

with Clark
leading the pack.

However,
in the closing stages,

his engine was starting
to lose oil pressure

and was in danger of detonating
under cornering G-forces.

While Clark is driving
with no oil pressure on his gauge,

Hill, storming up behind,
breaks the lap record

in his efforts to pass.

So instead of driving the car
through the corner

he just switched it off,
coasted through the corner.

When he was through the corner,
switched it back on again,

did the rest of the lap -
and he won the race.

Eventually, the F1 circus

arrived at the Nurburgring,

a circuit where Clark
had never won.

For the Flying Scot,
tense moments before the start.

Victory in
the German Grand Prix

and he'd be World Champion.

Leading from pole,

Clark finally broke
his Nurburgring jinx,

winning the race,
and with it

the Formula One
world title.

So, let's just sum up
Clark's season of 1965.

Of the 63 races he contested,

he won
a staggering 31 of them,

and was on the podium
a further eight times.

He was now seen as the greatest
racing driver of all time,

in demand the world over.

Yet this shy Scotsman

chose to mark
the year's achievements

with a modest celebration
at his hometown

back in Scotland.

The next two years by
contrast were a disaster,

with multiple
mechanical failures

denying him
another championship.

However, in 1968,

driving the Lotus 49,

another game-changer
from Colin Chapman,

Clark took the first win of
the year in South Africa

and looked set for
another dominant season.

Congratulations, Jim, this was
an absolutely splendid effort.

OK, thank you very much.

And then, on the weekend
of April the 7th,

Clark had a choice of two
races he could compete in,

one at Brands Hatch,

the other a Formula Two race
at Hockenheim.

Fatefully, he entered
the German race.

April the 7th is a...
is a bad day for me.

He wasn't happy.

It was freezing cold
and damp... misty.

We could not get any heat
into the tyres.

Couldn't get any temperature
in them no matter what we did.

Jimmy said to me
before the race:

"Do not expect
anything from me today.

Just keep me informed with the pit
board where I am, how many laps to go."

That's the last thing
he said.

On lap five, Clark's car
suddenly speared off the track

at 170 miles an hour.

I got to the scene, and they took me
through the undergrowth to this...

There's no Armco.
There's Tarmac, trees.

Literally.

And the sheer path.

And I just saw
what was left of a car... Oh.

There was nothing to see.

I said, "Where's the engine
gearbox? What's going on?"

What's happened?"
They said, "That's..."

It was about 35 yards away
through the saplings.

It just cut
the saplings down.

And I said, "Where's, where's the driver?
Where's Jimmy?" They said, "No."

When you've just... lost...

the best driver
in the world,

what the hell do you do?

Jim Clark, he's a god.

And the first time I saw him,
my God, it's...

I can't believe it. And you're
actually talking to him.

It was awe-inspiring.

Life is worth living.

It's...

for me, it's tearful.

I'm sorry.

According
to the medical report,

Clark d*ed instantly
of a broken neck

and the crash was later
put down to a deflating tyre.

When he d*ed, he was just 32.

But in his short career he had racked
up some truly incredible achievements.

In Formula One,
he won 25 of his 73 races,

which in percentage terms puts
him way ahead of Hamilton, Vettel,

and even Schumacher.

In pole positions, he had 33.

Which again,
in percentage terms,

makes him
second best of all time,

just behind Fangio.

Then there are
the Grand Slams:

that's where a driver gets
pole position, fastest lap,

the win and leads
every lap of the race.

Schumacher has five
Grand Slams to his name.

Senna, four.

Jim Clark, eight.

That's more than
any other driver in history.

You might imagine
that a man with such skills

would be rated highly
by other drivers.

And you'd be right.

I was invited to
a cocktail party for Fangio,

and he said to me,
"In my opinion,

Jimmy Clark was the
greatest racing driver ever."

And coming from Fangio,

there's no better
compliment than that.

And the five-time
World Champion

was not the only
South American

who idolised the Scotsman.

At Clark's old school
in Edinburgh,

there's a plaque commemorating
his achievements.

And in 1991,
the reigning World Champion

made a special pilgrimage
to the school

to pay his respects.

Of Clark, Senna said simply,
"He was my boyhood hero.

He was the best of the best."

And like Senna, Clark d*ed
when he was driving

at his absolute peak.

Like Senna, who knows
how many more races

and championships
he could have racked up?

He was the benchmark.
That was it.

Most of what I was able to do
in motor racing was done...

by the manner in
which Jim Clark drove,

and... I just followed him.

He was a gentleman.

He was a gentleman,
and a gentle man.

It's a pity he's not
around now, because...

it'd be nice to have him.

He was
an amazing man.

- Just incredible.
- All of that's amazing.

Yeah.

What I find truly amazing

is how many championships
he took part in.

I mean, can you imagine
Lewis Hamilton

getting out of his
Formula One car and saying,

"I haven't got time
for any interviews,

cos I've got to go and
do a touring car race."

- Just wouldn't.
- And he did.

The other thing worth remembering
is back in the early '60s,

if you went to Australia, if you flew
to Australia that meant eight stops.

And there were no flat beds.
There weren't even any movies.

And let's not forget
he'd get off that aeroplane,

do a race, win it -
obviously,

then get on another aeroplane
straight away to France

- to win a race there.
- No, it is astonishing.

I mean, everybody has
a favourite racing driver.

I'm sure everybody here
does as well.

It's, you know, it's the
Senna, Schumacher,

Villeneuve,
Romain Grosjean...

Fangio.

But if you use maths to
measure a driver's greatness,

you have to conclude
it was Jim Clark.

Good night.