- The Grand Tour kicks off in California, USA, when Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May take their famous studio tent to Dry Rabbit Lake. Hundreds of fans from across the U.S. traveled to the desert, near Lucerne Valley, outside of Los Angeles, California to be part of the first ever episode of Jeremy, Richard and James new show for Amazon Prime.—Matt Grey
- Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May announce the arrival of their brand new car show with a spectacular show in the California desert featuring hundreds of cars, thousands of people, a live band, a squadron of jets and three top celebrity guests. Also in this show, the McLaren P1, the Porsche 918 Spyder and the Ferrari The Ferrari form the holy trinity of hybrid hypercars, the BMW M2 breaks-in the Grand Tour track, and we encounter the extreme views of the in-house test driver.
- Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May start their brand new car show with hundreds of cars, thousands of people, a fire spitting metal scorpion and a squadron of jets in the California desert, plus three amazing hybrid hypercars and a brilliant BMW.—Amazon Video
- The episode starts with Jeremy leaving the BBC office in London and flying straight to California. At the LAX he gets into a Mustang and drives to the desert. Hammond and May join him on the road in their cars.
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May launch their brand-new program by hosting their first episode from within Rabbit Dry Lake, California. The introduce the travelling studio tent. They do a gig about how US car words are different to British car words (Hood, Stick, Pick-Up, Coup etc etc).
The presenters begin proceedings by comparing a selection of hybrid hyper cars. They meet in Portugal to settle the question of which hybrid hyper car is the best. They reach the international racetrack of Algarve. Clarkson backs the McLaren P1 (1.8 MM USD, 34 miles to the gallon, 903 BHP, IPAS button that releases another 170 BHP, 1395 kgs. Pressing the IPAS buttons delivers another 170 BHP) Hammond favors the Porsche 918 Spyder (838K Euros, 94 Miles to the gallon, 887 BHP, 1640 Kgs. It comes with titanium chassis bolts for an extra 60,000 pounds. Porsche is owned by Volkswagen. Rear wheel steering and 4 wheel drive) May has a liking for the LaFerrari (950 BHP, 1250 kgs, KERS system that recovers the energy that would be lost using its electric motor and battery, BP 1 MM, but can't run on electric power only. 6.3 L V-12)
The McLaren is brutal and savage with raw power, while Porsche feels secure and safe. The McLaren spins all over the track on the test laps as it skids on the corners. They start putting them through a series of drag races, road tests, before seeing which is the fastest in timed laps.
All 3 can go beyond 200 MPH, while producing fewer emissions than a family saloon. This is the hyper car holy trinity. The first test is a drag race on electrical power only, which May can't compete in. Hammond wins that with his 2 electric motors of 285 BPH, against Clarkson's 1 motor with 196 BHP. The second test is a real-world drive, which again May can't compete in as the Ferrari is not road legal. The McLaren has 4 wheels, which are not interconnected. This means that if one wheel goes over a bump, the others are not affected.
Day 2 a proper drag race and a McLaren takes forever to set up for launch mode. Ferrari wins the first, Porsche the second and Maclaren the third. But a clear winner does not emerge even after multiple races. So, they get a professional driver Jérôme d 'Ambrosio to test drive the cars. Jeremy says that the others can knock his house down if McLaren is not the fastest car. McLaren turns out to be the slowest, with Porsche being the fastest.
Conversation street is introduced. May was caught speeding on his Honda CBR 600RR sports bike. He was going 37 miles an hour. Meanwhile, Clarkson looks at the BMW M2 (365 BHP, the best M2 car ever made by BMW, turbocharged 3 L straight 6 engine) while introducing the program's own test track (It's the exact same shape as the Ebola virus and called the Eboladrome. It has sections like the "Isn't straight", there are woods all around the track which are full of wildlife, "Your Name Here Corner", "the substation" and "Old Lady's House") and their test driver known only as "The American". M2 does 1:26, 2 secs slower than then BMW M3. Clarkson must eat his words that it's the best M series car that BMW ever made.
Jeremy Renner makes an appearance on the Celebrity Brain Crash segment and is shown to be killed when he jumps out of an airplane and his parachute doesn't open. Armie Hammer is next, but he gets bitten by a rattle snake on the way to the tent.
Notes: Hothouse Flowers, Chris Goodwin, and Jérôme d 'Ambrosio guest starred in this episode.
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