A new era of the world’s biggest car TV show is almost here. Amazon’s “The Grand Tour” is officially relaunching next month with new challenges, new features, and yes, new hosts. From what we’ve seen so far, it looks absolutely epic, and here’s your chance to ask two of them anything.
In some ways, succeeding the trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May seems like a challenging proposition. The BBC didn’t quite land it with the 2016 reboot of “Top Gear” but Amazon certainly seems to have hired the right people for the “Grand Tour” job. We’ve got Trainspotter, mechanical engineer, and Civic Type R-swapped Honda Jazz (that’s the Honda Fit in America) owner Francis Bourgeois; car reviewer, E46 3 Series endurance racing driver, and Alfa Romeo aficionado Thomas Holland; and car reviewer, Toyota Century owner, and MX-5 enthusiast James Engelsman on deck.
You likely know Thomas and James from the immensely successful car YouTube channel Throttle House, where they’ve been road-testing, track-testing and road-tripping cars together since 2018. From breaking down in heavily depreciated V12 luxobarges to showing why wearing a helmet’s a good idea when getting into a BMW i8 to demonstrating just why the Lexus IS 500 gets under your skin, they’ve already done a cinematic job of showing what it means to love—and occasionally loathe—cars. A rather good CV, then. Likewise, you probably know Francis Bourgeois from TikTok, but there’s so much more to him than viral train videos. He’s in the midst of an OM606 turbodiesel-swapped R129 Mercedes-Benz SL project, his work with Chris Harris has been seriously entertaining, and he’s tailwhipped a scooter on stage at a Sam Fender concert.
From what we can see in the latest trailer, it looks like the reboot of “The Grand Tour” is going to be an epic season. Ford Mustang GTD vs. Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 vs. Hennessy Venom F5 Revolution Evo vs. a jet. A Jaguar XKR, Nissan 350Z, and Mercedes-Benz CLK doing skids. A Tesla Model 3 being launched off one of those giant inflatable blobs. Volvo 240 vs. Lexus LS 400 vs. Ford Crown Victoria. E46 M3 vs 996 Porsche 911 vs Nissan Pulsar GTi-R on dirt. Kei cars dressed up as a pantomime school bus, Jenson Button, an incident with a tollbooth, the Pagani Utopia, falling off a bicycle, exactly the sort of shenanigans we want to see.
It all launches on Sept. 4 on Amazon Prime Video, but before that, here’s a bit of a surprise: Thomas Holland and James Engelsman will briefly be joining us at 11:00 a.m. EDT today, and we want to metaphorically turn the mic over to you. Warm up your keyboards and pull up the comments section, your question just might get a response. Oh, and massive shoutout to James and Thomas for their willingness to play ball. They really are some of the nicest people in automotive media, so let’s show them love.
Top graphic image: The Grand Tour
What’s your level of wrenching experience? Do you like the idea of working on cars, or is that less fun to you than the storytelling?
Hey David! I’ve done my fair share of knuckle bashing. I THINK I love working on cars, forget that it’s pure pain when Im doing it, then promptly forget shortly after I’m done. Rinse repeat. I once did a head gasket on my E46 M3 and actually cried when trying to re-time the Vanos.
RESPECT. That’s not an easy job; the crying is totally warranted.
Congratulations on your success, and I can’t wait to watch you three crush it!
Did the production team provide advice to the talent so as to not have them living under the shadow of the former presenters? If so, what was the advice?
We didn’t need any help trying to achieve that goal. It was the main thing we worked towards. Whether or not we achieved it is up to you guys! The only thing we could do is just be ourselves, and not try to be them.
I’m guessing there will be no live audience portion at the beginning of the show like they had in the earlier episodes?
I participated in the filming of the first episode of The Grand Tour out on a dry lake in CA. That was a fun day.
Jealous you were there! That was an epic segment. As for whether or not the studio is present, you’ll find out in the first episode!
How did you manage expectations? Obviously there are big shoes to fill and a lot of noise from the internet, what was the internal conversation like? Ignore it, tackle it head on, change the structure or team dynamic?
It was very much, “respect the past.”
Are you planning to start up a Gin distillery any time soon?
I’ve already purchased a Farm, a classic car restoration workshop, have three different lines of gin and beer coming out.
Ah, this man thinks he’s ahead of the curve, but how many hypercars have you crashed and almost died in?
There is so much good car content out there now, especially for free on YouTube, doing much of the same things that TopGear did, and more.
** How do you distinguish yourselves on a paid service?
** What does Amazon define as “success”?
[e.g. Roadkill, was an epic cultural phenomenon on YouTube, but then disappeared and died behind a paywall.]
James – YouTube is incredible. Thomas and I owe everything we’ve accomplished so far to that platform and we will continue to be on there for a long while yet. Amazon production budgets simply allow us to let the more expensive intrusive thoughts win. Whether that means using premium music or finally having some much needed security (we got robbed twice on our last throttle house road trip). As for amazons determination of success, I’ve got no idea. Season 2 will be the biggest indicator.
The scale of things is just so much bigger. In every direction. It was beyond what I imagined.
Hopefully there will be a total piece of crap that you flog into being a surprisingly capable road-tripper. What is the most unlikely piece of crap you’re going to do that with?
Don’t want to give anything away but there are some real pieces of crap in the series. Wonderful, pieces of crap.
Which one of you will be the first to throw a petulant fit, and maybe even punch someone (allegedly) , over substandard catering?
What is the best screwdriver, and why is it the adjustable flathead?
Will you define what makes a modern Grand Tourer?
Can you find an EV that actually has a soul?
I want to give this a shot, and it does look like there are some interesting bits from the trailer, but I fear it feels like flogging a dead horse. I hope I’m proved wrong though.
That said, the rebooted TG was actually finding their groove with Harris, Flintoff and Paddy until Freddie’s accident, so I don’t think we should discredit it.
Anyway, my question to the boys: I noticed from the trailer that there were some bits filmed in Singapore, arguably the most expensive (and I’d argue the most inhospitable) place in the world to be a car enthusiast. What was that like, if it’s OK to share without revealing too many spoilers?
I’m probably in the minority, but I also enjoyed TG USA after the boys found their footing. Adam’s Caddy jump will live in infamy.
For the boys: Everyone knows about car culture in the UK, Europe, US, Australia, Japan, etc. Any chance of doing a show on the car culture in HK? I know they don’t have history in the car industry like the aforementioned countries, but I feel like with them now being part of China the car scene should have gotten even more interesting there than it already was.
I was a huge fan of that version* of TG USA. Every once in a while, I end up on a press trip where Tanner Foust is a guest, and I always end up absolutely sending it with him. He really is the guy who can drive anything fast. Also, he appreciates the Smart Fortwo. (lol)
*TG USA/America has been rebooted so many times that I only somewhat recently discovered that William Fichtner was once a presenter of the show.
Ficthner was great on the series Prison Break… But a good car show host presenter he was not.
I think so many forget that Top Gear really didn’t find its groove until like season 3. They had time to build chemistry and their voice. I agree with both Flintoff era TG and TG USA. I enjoyed them for their own reasons and I’m sure I’ll enjoy this.
Must be weird being Jason Dawe, like being the 5th Beatle.
Seriously! He wasn’t bad, but he was more old Top gear than what Clarkson was trying to push.
Harris, Flintoff, and Paddy were great, I was more thinking of how the year with Chris Evans landed
Please recommend a good artisan cheese for snacking.
Baby-bells
For the guys: What’s a segment you’ve always wanted to film, but the realities of Youtube algorithms and Amazon production executives prevented you from doing? That is, if you could film something you knew would be a flop — what would it be?
I’d love to do a 2 hour film on car smells.
Which one of you is the Throttle, and which one is the House?
I wish them luck. I’ve been a Throttle House subscriber since the early days and they’ve only gotten better and better. Anything they do are instant watches for me.
Thomas or James, if you’re ever in the Detroit Metro, you should do a Cars and Coffee! Francis, you’re a bit too far away, but you can tele-commute 😉
Are million horsepower supercars just boring now? Seems like there’s a new one every week, they all look the same, and they all cost a billion dollars.
I am a simple man and I like seeing dumb things with regular cars WAY more than the latest supercar showdown. I hope that most of the content focuses on being mostly useless information about regular cars, like which one makes the best ice cream truck or crosses a desert. Really dumb car things but made with extremely high production quality.
Second question.
How much of your stuff will get stolen throughout the series?
Hopefully they bulletproof their truck glass this time 😀
Maybe more of a request: now that you’re besties with Amazon folks, maybe you can convince them to do an all Miata episode eventually? I know Thomas would love that – just give him an NC and a sea captains hat. You could go to the track! Haul cargo! Go off-roading! The shenanigans are endless and you could actually scientifically prove that M.I.A.T.A.
Have you ever recovered from the Blackenstein wings?
Long time Throttle House viewer, first time question asker.
Will we see an Alfa, Miata, MR2 battle knowing that the MR2 is a superior car before it ever starts?
Hi guys – Looking forward to the reboot. Are you given a challenge and then able to select the car you’d like to do it with, or told which cars to use?
When will Margot Robbie be making an appearance?
Asking the important questions right here.
How are they going to forge their own way to be different from the OG’s but also not make the Grand Tour essentially “Throttle House on Prime?”
Did you watch the trailer? It’s clearly not “Throttle House on Prime”.
Which one of you knows that a two-door Jeep Wrangler is the best vehicle for any challenge? Namibia, America, China, any excursion and the Jeep works.
Also, have you all picked out where your future bars will be and what liquor will be your signature?
Everyone dreams of a carrera GT or hemi cuda. But what is your attainable/everyman dream car?
For all- Would you rather battle a single horse-sized duck, or one hundred duck sized horses?
Who? I admit I’m not an expert, but I’ve never heard of these guys. I wish them success, but Amazon is really setting them up to fail by “succeeding” our beloved trio. Maybe should have gone with a totally new show? So, I guess the question is, “How will you win us over?”
If Amazon gave them time to just hang together, like a month of weekly interaction, they might have a chance. That was one of the problems with Top Gear USA. It took half a season for the guys to jell.
I had finally started to feel like TG US was coming together right around the time they made to decision to cancel it
Watch Throttle House – they’ve been doing Top Gear as well as Top Gear did for years now.
I liked autotempus specials from Tavarish and gang.
Me too.
Although Hoovie’s obvious wealth started to really grate against his “clueless/I made a dumb purchase” act and I stopped watching him.
For both of you: What is your opinion of the Smart Fortwo? Would you like to drive five different ones?
Also, I know Francis Bourgeois isn’t a part of this, but if he’s ever in Illinois, I’m fairly certain he’ll love the Illinois Railway Museum. August and September would be the best months to visit!
What is your biggest challenge in replacing the well known trio, given the “success” of other times it was tried?