Last night, Clarkson, Hammond, and May's The Grand Tour debuted on Amazon Prime. The opening episode featured a test we'd been waiting on for ages from the trio: 918 vs. LaFerrari vs. P1, or, as they call it, the holy trinity.
Now, this was not always going to be an episode of The Grand Tour. Originally, the idea was to do it as a Top Gear special, but then Clarkson got in trouble and then Top Gear as we knew it ended. So, instead, this became the first episode of The Grand Tour.
The Grand Tour spoilers below
It was the test we had waited for, and partially it was because of a promise Clarkson made after he first tested the McLaren P1:
That's how confident Clarkson was in the speed of the McLaren. And we had no reason to doubt him, especially after Chris Harris's test of the three hypercars showed the McLaren was the fastest:
However, that was on the P1's optional Pirelli Trofeo R tires, which are obscenely grippy for a road car. The Grand Tour conducted the test on the standard Pirelli tires, as they were available across all three cars and created a level playing field.
While the P1 was on track, Clarkson said that if it wasn't the fastest, the other two could tear down his house. The split times looked promising, but in the end, the McLaren was more than a second slower than the Ferrari and the 918.
So now we know why Clarkson's house was destroyed with dynamite.
But there has been absolutely no mention of him changing his name to Jennifer. Did he forget the promise? Was that a promise that had to go away when he went to the BBC? Did he just not want to change his name to Jennifer?
At least Jennifer's house got destroyed. That's some consolation.
