The Grand Tour Copies Madagascar Car Build From Small UK-Based TV Show

The next episode of The Grand Tour may not be released yet, but we’ve seen shots of what a lot of the Madagascar Special will entail. In particular, we’ve had a close look at the three cars Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May will be driving. The trio has a Ford Focus RS, a Caterham Seven, and a Bentley Continental GT at its disposal, but it’s the Conti I want to take a closer look at today.

This highly modified Continental is obviously optimised for off-road driving, and while it may look incredibly intimidating with its large wheels, snorkel, and exterior roll cage, it has been done before. The image you see below this paragraph shows a very similar looking Continental GT that was built by the TV show, Supercar Megabuild over three years ago.

It was based on the 6-litre W12 variant of the GT and was wrapped camo-green over its factory silver paint colour. This specific car had 119,000 miles at the time of its reveal on the show, and boasted a full service history. The conversion also retained its road-legal status.

The conversion sports permanent all-wheel drive, while keeping all of the creature comforts that make this Bentley, well, a Bentley. Plus a raised suspension for getting over anything a bit of mud, or maybe Madagascar, can throw at it. Each corner hides a pair of Quantum Racing shocks along with lower control arms, and the large off-road tyres are covered by wider arches. This specimen also featured under-body plating to protect important components from getting hit by raised terrain and rocks.

According to Car Throttle, these modifications were valued at around £25,000 without it being entirely finished – a figure that can surely be absorbed by Amazon’s huge balance sheet.

We’re yet to see how this car fits in with the next episode of The Grand Tour, which is likely to appear on Amazon before the year is out, but we’re sure as hell this isn’t an original design by the car show.