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» » The Grand Tour International Buffoons Vacation (2016– )

Short summary

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are forced to go on an RV holiday in the southwestern United States, despite regarding such things as slow, uncomfortable and pointless. Pushed to breaking point within 24 hours, the hosts decide to take matters into their own hands by each buying a used RV which they can then modify to suit their own personal preferences before continuing their vacation across Nevada in comfort, or a near approximation of it.

James's favorite pub in London is just near his house so we're not going to tell you where in Hammersmith it is.

The unfortunate drawing of the three presenters on James's pub wall came courtesy of @crap_portraits on Twitter.

Red Lake is north of Kingman, Arizona. Some of Mars Attacks! (1996) was filmed there.

Jeremy refers to the ZR1 as the 'swansong' Corvette because it's no massive secret that sometime soon there will be an all-new 'Vette which, for the first time, will have a mid-engine.

James is correct about Richard being burgled. He was on holiday in the South of France in summer 2018 when he had items stolen from his rented house while his entire family slept and he believes thieves pumped anaesthetic gas through the air conditioning system before breaking in. The same thing happened to ex-F1 star Jenson Button.

Because RVs are bigger than cars this item had to be shot with wide-angle lenses to get everything in. Also, the RVs brakes were lousy so the camera tracking vehicles kept further ahead than they might normally making the vehicles smaller in frame and the landscapes larger.

Richard's Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk has a 6.2-litre supercharged V8 making 697 horsepower. 0-60; 3.5 seconds. Top speed; 180mph.

Jeremy is right about Area 51. An annex of Edwards Air Force Base and located within the US military's Nevada Test & Training Range, it was set-up for development of the then-top-secret U-2 spy plane in the mid-fifties. Since then it's almost certainly been used for the development of other classified aircraft.

RVs are quite popular in the United States. More than 10 million households have one and over half a million new RVs are sold each year.

The Cadillac that James is driving isn't any old CTS-V, it's the limited run Championship Edition which features unique trimmings, hence the body stickers and red door mirrors, and which was built to celebrate Cadillac winning the IMSA endurance racing championship.

James's Cadillac CTS-V has the same basic 6.2-litre supercharged V8 as Jeremy's Corvette, but not as highly tuned. Even so, it makes 640 horsepower giving a 0-60 time of 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 200.

Jeremy's Corvette has a 6.2-litre supercharged V8 making 755 horsepower. It can go from 0-60 in 2.85 seconds and has a top speed of 212mph.

When James says 'we had all the comforts we needed' he genuinely means, 'there's a pub'.

James's buggy is an Alumicraft Class 10, also featuring a 2.4-litre, four-cylinder Chevrolet motor but it's capable of 115mph.

Jeremy's off-road buggy is a Jake's Fabworks JF5U from the Class 5 Unlimited category of racing. It features a 2.4-litre, four-cylinder Chevrolet engine making 160 horsepower and has a top speed of 100mph.

James's RV is a 1999 National Tropical. It runs a Ford 6.8-litre V10 making 275 horsepower, just enough to move its 9750-kilo bulk at a suitably May-ish pace.

Lake Las Vegas, the body of water Jeremy uses to, in a roundabout way, annoy James is an artificial lake created in 1991.

The origins of the demolition derby are a little unclear, but one of the first recorded examples of such a thing taking place was in 1946 when a racing promoter staged a 'full contact' event in Gardena, California. Similar races began to spring up soon after, basically because people just like to watch crashes.

The track the presenters use in Nevada is called Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, also known as Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club.

Richard's 'plastic green pick-up truck' is a 2013 Curry which uses a 2-litre, 285 horsepower Ford Ecoboost engine and can reach 119mph.

The place the presenters spent their first night of RV camping is the 6th wealthiest town in Nevada and also, neatly enough, the 6th safest.

Richard's RV isn't an RV at all, it's a lorry. A 1983 International S1724 to be exact, featuring a 6.6-litre V8 engine making 210 horsepower.

Jeremy's RV is a 1988 Fleetwood Pace Arrow fitted with a 7.4-litre Chevrolet V8 making 390 horsepower. A lot of power, but then it does weigh 6800kg.

The presenters' shared RV is a 1984 Winnebago Chieftain fitted with a 7.4-litre Chevrolet 'big block' V8 and supposedly making 390 horsepower.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Sat
    Everything great about classic Top Gear returns in this Grand Tour episode. Honestly have only watched this show due to my loyalty to the trio of Clarkson, Hammond, and May, but haven't thoroughly enjoyed an episode of The Grand Tour until now. Cars, banter, sabotage and destruction. Absolutely magnificent entertainment.
  • comment
    • Author: Downloaded
    The spirit of the original top gear has finally returned in full via the metamorphosis of Clarkson, Hammond, and May's into their new film vehicle. All the fun and spirit are complete. Although their Colombian tour was damn close...this RV episode hits the mark spot on. Excellent hit with the pub on wheels May! And baja style buggies..well that's just a riot!
  • comment
    • Author: Jake
    This is as good as any of the old top gear specials.
  • comment
    • Author: Broadcaster
    This season has been all hits. Fun, action-packed and hilarious, a great adventure RV episode.
  • comment
    • Author: Usic
    They've done the exact things they did before on top gear
  • comment
    • Author: Bolanim
    This episode was their best one yet in the whole Grand Tour. It was as good if not even better than some of their old Top Gear specials. This gives me great hope for the future of the 4th season. Can't wait.
  • comment
    • Author: Rias
    Felt a lot like the typical Top Gear episode.

    Just an odd side note.. more about imdb. What's the deal with the trivia section!? Many of the pieces are more "news headline" than actually informative in any way. For example, the mysterious man in the episode. Just say that it's The American test driver (Mike Skinner) from season 1. And his issue with the boys is because the character was replaced because he wasn't popular with audiences.
  • comment
    • Author: Kelerius
    Was pretty lame after awesomely rocking episode last week. It was missing fun part, challenge part. Weirdly and forcefully added pieces together. Didn't enjoy most of it.
  • comment
    • Author: lets go baby
    There is not a single part of this moronic nonsense that should regarded as a car show. It's just three characters we know too well playing out stupid scenarios we can guess a mile away. There's no cleverness or spontaneity, just obviously over-scripted crap. Everywhere. A few hard-core idiots may like this. Fine, Amazon can take their money, but not mine. Of course they're famous for making a car show that wasn't really about cars, but in reality the passion was about cars and that's obviously missing now. They're just playing roles for the money now and the cars are just props instead of the stars. Contrast this last lame effort with camper vans vs their first American journey, the cars and their environment were the focus not the presenters, now it's all about them. Unsubscribe.
  • comment
    • Author: Nuadora
    The whole acting thing is obvious. It ruins everything that they used to do on the specials. Whilst we all knew it was scripted it was entertaining.

    This however wasn't, the whole thing with Jeremy seeing the American was ridiculous. Took away from the entire episode. It reminded me of the shambles of the 1st series with the Queen.

    These guys are not actors.
  • Episode credited cast:
    Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Clarkson - Himself - Presenter
    Abbie Eaton Abbie Eaton - Herself - Driver
    Richard Hammond Richard Hammond - Himself - Presenter
    James May James May - Himself - Presenter
    Mike Skinner Mike Skinner - Himself - The American
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