That time when Jeremy, Richard and James were challenged to drive from the heart of Switzerland to the north-west coast of England on just one tank of fuel…
From Series 12, Episode 4
Watch the full episode on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ftlv6/top-gear-series-12-episode-4?seriesId=b006mj59-struct...
00:00 Race to the North
01:02 Jeremy's genius plan
03:25 Traffic
05:44 Richard overtakes
08:19 The final stretch
Welcome to the official home of Top Gear Classic on YouTube. Here you'll find all the best clips from your favourite episodes, whether that’s Richard Hammond driving Oliver, Jeremy Clarkson in the P45, James May getting hopelessly lost, or the fastest power laps from our in-house performance benchmark: The Stig.
This is a commercial channel from BBC Studios.
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From Series 12, Episode 4
Watch the full episode on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ftlv6/top-gear-series-12-episode-4?seriesId=b006mj59-struct...
00:00 Race to the North
01:02 Jeremy's genius plan
03:25 Traffic
05:44 Richard overtakes
08:19 The final stretch
Welcome to the official home of Top Gear Classic on YouTube. Here you'll find all the best clips from your favourite episodes, whether that’s Richard Hammond driving Oliver, Jeremy Clarkson in the P45, James May getting hopelessly lost, or the fastest power laps from our in-house performance benchmark: The Stig.
This is a commercial channel from BBC Studios.
Service & Feedback https://www.bbcstudios.com/contact/contact-us/
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FunTranscript
00:00With just over 7 hours to the big switch on, James and I were spat out of the Eurotunnel.
00:08Rush hour, Friday night, over 300 miles to do, I've got enough fuel.
00:14Well, just. 295 miles, the computer's telling me.
00:20The fuel gauge would suggest that there's not much more than a quarter of a tank left,
00:26which means 3.5 gallons. Doesn't sound like enough to me. It's going to be quite exciting.
00:35Richard and I were close together, but soon we'd split as once again we'd all chosen different routes.
00:41Hammond would use the M1 and the M6, whereas I would go all the way up the M1 to Leeds and then over the M62.
00:51This was 34 miles further, but I'd missed the notorious M6 traffic jams.
00:57Jeremy, meanwhile, was using the M40 because it goes past his house.
01:02Chipping Norton, here I come!
01:05Phone my wife, tell her I'll be home earlier than expected.
01:10James and I could just about make it, and make it on time, as long as we didn't hit traffic.
01:17Oh, what the hell is that?
01:22I'm losing out on time and fuel.
01:26My estimated time of arrival is now slipping again, so it's 45 minutes it's moved already.
01:32Engine running, not going anywhere. No miles per gallon.
01:38In Blackpool, people were starting to arrive for the celebrations,
01:42and our man on the ground was preparing by having an afternoon nap.
01:55After two hours and much wasted fuel, Richard and I were finally on the M1, where we would soon go our separate ways.
02:04If I'm going to get the Blackpool Spangly jacket,
02:08I have to pray that Hammond gets stuck for about three quarters of an hour in bad traffic around Birmingham.
02:15My mind, however, was only fixed on Jeremy.
02:19He must be out of fuel by now, he must be.
02:22Surely the gods of economy will punish him.
02:26And then the phone rang.
02:28Are you at the side of the road yet?
02:30No. Stupid thing is still working.
02:33How's this doing that?
02:34It's not possible. I'm 15 minutes from home.
02:38I can smell my bed. Hammond, I'm so close.
02:43Stop. Stop now. Cough. Cough. Die. Die now.
02:51Bad luck, mate. Soldier on.
02:53I love that Jag. I love it so very much.
02:57Because all it can do now is take him further from home.
03:02Yeah.
03:06The irritating fact was that after 660 miles of abusive and wasteful driving,
03:12the big twin-turbo Jag was telling me it still had 135 miles to go.
03:19Right, if I'm in this competition, I'm in it to win it.
03:22Aircon off.
03:28Now, all of us thought we'd be making the speech that night.
03:32Good folk of Blackpool, it's a delight, an honour and a pleasure.
03:36It gives me great pleasure to be here tonight to turn on your world-famous illumination.
03:45I declare these lights on.
03:57I'd had a good lead over the others, but on the M42? Troubles.
04:02Caravan has overturned along that stretch.
04:05That's what I'm stuck in.
04:08People slowing down to look at a caravan.
04:11Rightly so. I mean, I'd want to slow down and look at an overturned caravan.
04:14There's nothing funnier.
04:16It's a big old queue. This is four miles of this speed.
04:21Hammond's going to be right on my tail.
04:27I might now try and catch him up.
04:30Only to find as I catch him up, he runs out of diesel.
04:33But I've used up all mine as well, so maybe I should be prepared to go slower than him.
04:37And then overtake him when he runs out.
04:40Kind of hare and tortoise.
04:42No, that's a stupid idea. I don't like it at all.
04:45I'm going to go fast.
04:49The North.
04:51Excellent.
04:53I'm probably about 130 miles away.
04:56The computer says I can only do 90 miles.
04:59James thought he had problems.
05:02They were nothing compared to mine.
05:04OK, I've now got an eighth of a tank to get me from Birmingham to Blackpool.
05:13And then the news got worse.
05:16Hammond, where are you?
05:18On the M6 toll. Where are you?
05:20On the M6 toll.
05:23We've closed up.
05:25And what's your speed? 70 at the moment.
05:2770? And the ridiculous thing is I've got twice as many cylinders
05:31and twice as many turbos, but I can't pull away from you.
05:38Meanwhile, far, far away...
05:41I can't believe it's going to make it now. That petrol gauge is so low.
05:48This is just appalling torture.
05:51I'm just sitting here knowing that any minute now Hammond is going to come by.
05:56And then, disaster.
05:59Here I come.
06:01No! No, no!
06:04No, no, no!
06:06Hammond!
06:10I can't do anything about it!
06:14It's funny you should call. I've just seen somebody who looks just like you.
06:17In a Jaguar doing about 56 miles an hour.
06:19I am not going to race you.
06:21Really?
06:23No. I am going to sit behind you and watch you fail.
06:29And with Blackpool still 60 miles away,
06:32Jeremy was more on the money than he realised.
06:35I'm now going to run out diesel 40 miles away from Blackpool,
06:39according to this computer.
06:44With James far behind,
06:46it was becoming a straight race between Hammond and me.
06:51Both of us were running on fumes, but I was staggered the Jag had even got this far.
06:56Because most of the way through France I was doing 80 miles an hour.
07:00I had the air-con on, I had the radio on, I was charging phones.
07:03Most of the way through Britain I was doing 70.
07:05It's been stop-start traffic.
07:07I haven't been on an eco-drive in this thing.
07:10Since Birmingham, neither had I.
07:13And now I was really paying the price.
07:15My range computer has just ticked over to zero.
07:18It's 36 miles to Blackpool.
07:21It's telling me nothing. Empty.
07:26Hammond won't make it. James won't make it.
07:30God, this is tense.
07:32The fuel gauge says I'm about to run out.
07:35Hyper-miling technique. Gentle on the throttle.
07:38Don't let it get to me. Stay calm.
07:4617.4 miles to go. It's telling me I've got nothing left.
07:49I'm just waiting for that con.
07:56With the Stig baffled by the human food
07:59and with 30 minutes to go before the big switch-on,
08:02I was agonising over mounting a charge on Hammond.
08:06It's the stupidest, cleverest race ever.
08:09I could easily beat him if I just put my foot down,
08:12but I don't know how much fuel is left in that tank.
08:15I love economy races.
08:22My final exit. I'm just doing everything I can.
08:25Jeremy's behind. I know he's taking it easy.
08:27He's not going to take it that easy, because he's Jeremy.
08:32And so, with 10 miles to go, my range has finally reached 0,
08:37but still the magic Jag soldier's on.
08:41And I've picked my speed up to 70.
08:43The race is on.
08:46The question was, could I catch him in time?
08:51I'm four miles away.
08:56I can see Blackpool Tower!
08:59Oh, this is nerve-wracking.
09:01If it dies now, it could be too much to bear.
09:05Range, Nords, fuel gauge, really empty.
09:09All I need now is to see a little Volkswagen Polo
09:12with a little man sobbing his eyes out next to it.
09:16Resetting trip computer B for this fast stretch.
09:23Hello?
09:24I'm still moving.
09:25No! No!
09:26And I'll tell you something else.
09:28What?
09:29I've got about two miles left to go, but even better than that,
09:32I have a police escort.
09:33You are having me on.
09:38One mile, and I'm still moving.
09:41I've got nothing left at all.
09:44Oh, yes. I think I could be there.
09:55So, Hammond had won.
09:58Single most tense thing I've ever done.
10:01Less than a minute later, I arrived too.
10:04I have made it.
10:06Hello, everybody.
10:07They appear to be cheering my jag.
10:10And James May hasn't come.
10:12He doesn't like you.
10:14He doesn't like anybody in the north.
10:19Congratulations.
10:23The world's second most economical car.
10:26It's astonishing.
10:27How you kept that...
10:28Because I've just said, well, there's no way you can do it.
10:31There were just seconds to go before the lights were switched on.
10:37Would James make it in time?
10:3953.7 miles per gallon average.
10:42And I'm looking for 56.5...
10:44No, he wouldn't.
10:46Three, two, one.
10:51You won the race. You won the race.
11:03That happened, man.
11:06Yeah, I did.