The Grand Tour Chemistry 101: Remember The Evening With Top Gear?

A little while ago, we did an article on an interview Jeremy, James and Richard in 2010 on 60 Minutes. We called it “Grand Tour Chemistry 101”, because we deemed the interview essential for understanding how the guys work together. We wanted to do a follow up with an interview we found from January 15th 2015, where the boys hosted a live event on the BBC presenting a preview of Top Gear season 22.

This video provides an insight on the chemistry between the three hosts, as did their interview on 60 Minutes. It also shows, that new Top Gear has a lot to live up to. Especially so, if they want to become better than The Grand Tour. But see for yourself:

The guys mostly talk about season 22, of course. But they also spill the beans on how they work together and what Top Gear has been like for them. If you don’t want to watch the whole video (but you should), here’s what was most interesting:

• The whole time, they seem very natural and relaxed. They engage in conversation with each other and laugh at each others jokes. You can easily see how well they function together
• Remember the joke Jeremy made about the BBC show Last of the Summer Wine in episode 3 of The Grand Tour? Well, he already did that joke on An Evening with Top Gear
• Jeremy says, he edited three bits out of the Australia-episode, because “they weren’t funny”. That shows, that – among other things – they definitely focus on delivering a “funny” programm
• The guys actually did sleep in tents in the wilderness while they were in Australia. Also, their tents and pillows got full of gravel, which made it hard to sleep. Richard however, who does go camping quite often, said that he “slept like a baby that night”. During the night, it got very cold, too. Jeremy himself got no warm clothes on him, which was why he had to put socks on his hands
• Asked about the most amazing part they did for Top Gear, they quickly agree on the Botswana Special from season 10. In addition, Richard and Jeremy decide to make fun of James by mentioning the time he fell off a horse
• Richard mocks Jeremy about the St. Petersburg race from season 22. He says: “I was very disappointed with that, ’cause I was pretty sure you were gonna die.”
• Richard and Jeremy chose the Twizzy for James to drive in St. Petersburg. They thought it was funny in comparison to the Mercedes he drove in the London race a few seasons back
• Asked about the most scenic route they have ever driven on, the guys agree on the mountain roads and the “Useless Bay” in Chile
• Jeremy, James and Richard spend very much time together working on new episodes
• From all the cars in the specials, James liked the Cadillac from the US-Special the best. Jeremy liked the Patagonia-Porsche the most
• During the episode, when Richard gets dropped on a mountain in Canada, he actually stayed there until being rescued by James and Jeremy
• The car Jeremy most regrets selling was his Alfa GTV6, Richard his Ferrari 550, James his Alfa 164
• James mentions that he uses Turtle Wax to keep his hair shiny while he’s on the road
• Jeremy says, Top Gear was about “adressing a problem and then making a mess of it”

What were your favourite parts of “An Evening with Top Gear”? Let us know in the comments below.