Richard Hammond Compares New Series To The Grand Tour: “It Is Really Different Because It’s Real”
Richard Hammond has compared his new show, Richard Hammond’s Workshop, to the likes of his previous shows such as The Grand Tour and Top Gear claiming that because this is real, he’s not able to write it in a way that could be more entertaining. But in the same breath, he doesn’t want to, because “you can’t write better than what actually happens”.
Fans have been warming to the new show that’s currently streaming on Discovery+, as we see the presenter grow his new car restoration business, and now, take on a new project of racing under the same name: The Smallest Cog. DriveTribe has been following the drama, and presenter Mike Fernie was able to get the lowdown on how Hammond feels about his new show and how his new racing car is coming along.
“It’s really fun isn’t it?” he said. “Because of the show we’re making about it… it’s probably easy to forget: this is real. I’ve spent my money on this car. We’ve spent workshop money and time on the car and it’s a massive relief. It is competitive.
“We’re two seconds a lap off an established competitive car, but we could probably take 20 or 30 kilos out of this. We’ve got another 20 or 30 horsepower to come when we put the competition exhaust on. We’ve gotta sort out problems with the back end, which I think we’ve worked out what it is now, and that’s an easy fix.
“This will be properly competitive. This is exactly what we want. So I’m really thrilled.”
The backend of the car was a simple fix with it just needing a few suspension parts that were put in backwards flipped around. Since then, the car has handled very well with the current setup. But this wasn’t all Hammond had to say about the day, after he was asked by Fernie how he felt filming was going and how it compared to his previous projects alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
“It is really different because it’s real,” he admitted. “Making any TV show about something changes it because you’re making a TV show about it. So nothing anybody tells you ‘it’s totally real’… It isn’t because you’ve got a camera there.
“But this show is real because the drive of it, the thrust of it… it’s a real idea. I wanted to set up the workshop, I was setting up the workshop. And secondary to that thought, ‘that might make a TV show’.
“This is the best way of getting ourselves seen. We’d be racing in this car because I can’t afford to go and buy another one. So what’s happening is real.”
Inferring that the likes of The Grand Tour is more manipulated that this series, Hammond continues:
“And it’s about preserving that, about following the reality of the story that sometimes isn’t exactly what you’d want. And because of other shows I’ve done, you know, there have been occasions when it would be far funnier if the car would fall off the ramp or catch fire. But it doesn’t, well, I can’t make it do that because actually what usually then does happen is far funnier or better. Reality is better.
“Today, perfect example. If we engineered it in and wrote it in, ‘oh, it’s not quite on the boil. No. Let it happen.
“What actually happens is… you can’t write better than what actually happens.
“And that’s what I’m loving about making the show.”
We’re unsure as to when the next episode of The Grand Tour is likely to be released, but I’m hoping it will be around Christmas time. Although I likely would have heard something by now so I can’t believe it’s going to be released this month. We’ll see what happens, but at least we have plenty of other content to go on, including Clarkson’s Farm which is hopefully coming soon, too.
