The Grand Tour Episode 9: Here’s What You Need To Know
This week on the Grand Tour… James has a snack…Jeremy builds an Alfa Romeo monster truck…and Richard feels invincible in a homemade tank…
The Grand Tour has taken the guess work out of their location this week, by letting us know right up front they are in Stuttgart, Germany. Seeing as this is the home of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, we can think of no better place for them! Here’s what we know about this episode so far, and no, we don’t know what Richard has planned for that dog…
Given that they are in Germany, it’s no surprise that the trio rides into Stuttgart in three very German supercars. More than likely, based on past preferences, James will be in the Audi R8, Jeremy will be in the Mercedes AMG GT and Richard will be bringing up the rear in his Porsche 911 (odds are, it’s a Turbo, given the company it’s in). One can only hope that they got to hit the Autobahn in those, before driving them into the square where the tent is set up.
Vielen Dank. Germany, it was fantastic. Thank you pic.twitter.com/VGvb51jvME
— The Grand Tour (@thegrandtour) November 14, 2016
The car du jour, or auto des tages, is the brand new Honda NSX. This born-again iteration of the classic 90’s “everyday supercar” is one that petrol-heads have been waiting for since the early 2010’s. James will be the one putting it through its paces this week at the Eboladrome, and letting us know if this $150,000 hybrid is indeed competition for its European rivals.
Meanwhile, Jeremy has built what appears to be a lifted, monster truck version of a classic MG Midget (notice the license plate). What could be the point of this you ask? Well, he is setting out to create a better, more attractive SUV, something which he says has, “eluded the might of the car industry.” As we can see though, there might be a good reason why a vehicle like this was never put into production. We are hopeful, that unlike the buggy builds in last week’s episode, we will get to see Jeremy actually working on this transformation.
We find Richard is in his element, the great outdoors, in a homemade survivalist’s dream machine. Sticking to what seems to be a personal favorite for modifying, Hammond has chosen a Volkswagen camper van to be his “bug out” vehicle. In addition to armor plating, a satellite dish and an array of rally-style spot lights, we see a camo pattern paint job, which is quickly becoming his signature color. A lot of good all this does him, as we see it later destroyed by Jeremy and James, who are apparently putting the doom in doomsday.
This just leaves us with James May and his G-Wiz. If we look closely at this photo, we see that James may be relaxing after doing something that will make old Top Gear fans say “impossible!” He looks to be wearing running shoes! Will we be treated this week to the rare sight of James May running on television? Is Captain Slow going to have a drag race against the G-Wiz? Probably not. More likely he is being his scientific self and conducting an experiment to see if he can generate enough power to charge it.
Wondering where the controversy might come from? Get ready for at least one WWII reference, because surely Jeremy won’t be able to control himself. If it did happen, apparently the German audience took it in stride, because according to Richard’s twitter account, everyone had a great time.
Thank you for coming – assuming you're talking about our filming day. If you've just been for a picnic or to the zoo, then good for you. https://t.co/VulwaVhaGB
— Richard Hammond (@RichardHammond) November 14, 2016
The Grand Tour rolls on…
