'I was a tear-soaked mess' — Richard Hammond opens up on his last Top Gear show during new race with James May
A nostalgic race back to Dunsfold
Epic races were a trademark feature of the Top Gear TV show and now, ten years after presenters Richard Hammond and James May left the programme under a Clarkson-shaped cloud, the pair have reunited for another adventure — this time pitting an electric car against an electric aeroplane.
The fact that the finish line for the race was at Dunsfold Aerodrome, which is where Top Gear was based, clearly made the experience rather poignant for the pair. Hammond, driving a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT, had time to reflect on the first time he drove to Dunsfold to film his first episode of the show, as well as the drive home from the last show in which he was involved. While heading towards Guildford on the A31, he recalled:
“The very last time I drove this road, on the way back from the very last studio record, I was a tear-soaked mess. It was a big moment, and I was driving a bronze Land Rover I still have now — I love that car — and it was low on diesel. But I was so tear-soaked I couldn’t stop to buy fuel, because it would have looked a bit odd, which meant I ran out when I got to the end of the M50 at home.
“It was a long time ago,” he concludes.
We won’t spoil the result of the race, but when the pair reunited at the end of the 100-mile challenge, James May — who flew in a Pipistrel Velis Electro aircraft — was also in reflective mood.
“It was very nostalgic coming into land,” he says, “because I saw Dunsfold from the air; I saw the old Boeing 747 there, which we sat in once or twice, and used as a backdrop; and I could see the buildings, and I could remember flying in here when we worked here. I mean, I’m not one for sentimentality, as you know…”
Near-lachrymose moments aside, the old friends seemed impressed with their respective modes of transportation.
The Taycan Turbo GT is Porsche’s flagship electric vehicle, with a massive 1,093bhp at its disposal. It sends that ludicrous performance through all four wheels, via two electric motors, and at the rear wheels is a two-speed gearbox enabling especially brutal acceleration: a 0-62mph sprint takes just 2.3 seconds.
Hammond is only able to put that to good use at the very start of the race, then spends a good deal of time stuck behind, in his words, “everything… because it’s unbelievably fast.”
The 55-year-old was more impressed by the active suspension, though, which irons out the road by pushing the wheels down into dips as well as absorbing bumps. It also leans the car into corners and pitches it forwards under acceleration, or back under braking.
“So all the time I’m driving this car,” he says, “it is constantly controlling its weight, its altitude, its aptitude, in a way I’ve never experienced. And it feels brilliant.”
May, 62, meanwhile admitted the Pipistrel Velis Electro needs another 50 per cent more range, as it can only fly for 50 minutes at a time. That meant he required a stop to recharge during the race with Hammond, but he still concluded that electric power suits light aircraft.
Having already acknowledged that electric power works for cars, despite teething issues such as getting the charging infrastructure in place, he says of the plane: “This would be a fabulous thing to have. Boats and ships, I’m not so sure. Big aeroplanes? Bah. [But] I like the electric lifestyle; its smooth, quiet and polite.”
And if he sells enough of his James Gin, the marketing of which is clearly one of the main reasons for making this film (and who can blame him?), then maybe May will decide to place an order for his own Velis Electro.
The full film is available to watch above, with a second part due out soon that will see the pair lapping the old Top Gear test track once more.
Related articles
- If you enjoyed this video of Hammond and May racing an electric car against an electric plane, you might like to check out this interview with Charley Boorman about his new TV motorcycle adventure with Ewan McGregor
- Also take a look at this article in which James May tells us why his adventures with Clarkson and Hammond “had to end”
- And don’t miss what James May had to say on battery-electric vs hydrogen cars
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