The Grand Tour

Richard Hammond and James May Say The Grand Tour Will Evolve

With all the scrutiny and accolades The Grand Tour have been receiving after the first four episodes of the twelve episode season, fans have to realize that this is a new show and that the boys know they will have to adapt, much like how they were able to adapt during their first few years of Top Gear.

With that being said, Richard Hammond and James May did an interview with Fox Car Report a few weeks ago and this re-emphasizes that exact point:

If you have time, you should definitely listen to the entire video, as it’s one of the more genuine interviews the boys did amongst the hoards of interviews they had to do during the press tour. If not, here is the best part of the interview where Hammond talks about being able to learn from their first season:

“If you’ve given it everything you got . . . . worked as hard as you can . . . if you’ve done that, you’re actually very vulnerable because what you’re saying is ‘this is about as good as we can do’ and when you’re judged on that, it’s quite nerve-racking. The thing will morph and change and improve . . they’ll be learning from this season to take it to the next . . . of course we are. . . we have to try stuff . . . we have to try new things  . . it’ll be a wasted opportunity. . . . and some of it people will not like and it will fall away . . some of it we’ll re-invent.” – Richard Hammond

James May followed up with:

“In a sense, we’re being slightly cocky. We’re big enough to survive ourselves with this thing that we could do. That did make it nerve-racking because we set ourselves up for a fall.” – James May

There’s no secret that new material such as The American, Episode 2 and Episode 4, have given a lot of critics ammo to try and break down the aura of Clarkson, Hammond and May. It’s great to know that the boys are smart enough to recognize that they’re going to fail with some ideas in their first season away from the BBC and that they’ll eventually discover new bits that will resonate with their audience. It’s the old adage of throwing mud on a wall to see what’s going to stick and we’ve got some of the best mud-chuckers in the three middle-aged blokes.

With most of season one already filmed, the interesting thing is going to see how some of the studio segments are going to be scripted, filmed and edited. The real test to see if change can happen is going to be revealed in season two now that they have received some feedback on some more of their segments like Conversation Street and the celebrity killings.

Can fans be patient enough to see the changes happen? Even a bigger question is going to be if the boys will have that patience, too!

 

 

 

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2 Comments

  1. I suppose I am getting towards the higher age end of Top Gear followers, but I have to say, so much racing round a track burning rubber does have a certain life span. I am not suggesting stopping it altogether, just limit it a bit. There is actually more to motoring than that. Some of the proper test drives you did on the Beeb were more enlightening. Never mind how it feels drifting round bends burning rubber, get back out on the road and test the cars properly in everyday situations. Some of your viewers might really like to know, how the car they are looking to buy, handles and rides. I am not suggesting you drive Nissan Micra’s and the like, (Jezza would lambaste me for suggesting that), but there are so called sporty cars that could be tested, like the ones that the majority of your viewers can afford to buy. I remember Jeremy’s comments about the Jaguar F Type. They were useful, letting people know that the suspension might loosen their fillings. All informative if I was looking to purchase one. You guys can do things in cars, that on a test drive with the salesman, you can’t. But don’t stop doing some of the fun things either.

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