After an illustrious career spanning more than two decades, the legendary trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May will soon no longer be hosting a motoring show together. The final episode of The Grand Tour will be released on September 13th and the trailer was released today.

In the final episode, entitled “One For The Road”, the presenters travel around Zimbabwe in a Lancia Beta Montecarlo (known in America as a Scorpion), a Ford Capri and a Triumph Stag. Admittedly, these are not exactly the cars best suited to such an environment, but it wouldn’t be an episode of The big tour if everything goes perfectly.

Unusually, the trailer is dialogue-light, featuring a montage of shots set to a version of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” There are plenty of laughs and a few jokes, but it feels like the producer is leaving it vague, almost as if we already know what to expect. The truth is, after so many years, we almost do.

I doubt that when Clarkson and Andy Wilman set out to reboot Top Gear, they expected to create one of the biggest shows in the world, let alone do it again on Amazon Prime. The fact is that millions of people laughed along when three men, or maybe three man-sized boys, drove cars on TV. From the magnetic north to Australia and America to Botswana, the amazing journeys of three people who, from the outside, had the best job in the world fascinated and delighted us, whether they drove six-figure supercars or three-figure junkers.

Sure, the trio aren’t without controversy. There was that time they pissed off everyone in Spain and everyone in America and everyone in Mexico and everyone in Wales and everyone in India and everyone who drove a lorry and everyone in Germany and everyone in Scotland and everyone in the north and a few people in a village in Somerset and the Mountaineering Council and caravan enthusiasts and the Morris Marina Owners Club and anti-smoking campaigners and Elon Musk and lots of other people, but let’s not get too bogged down in the details. It also says something that the most frequent targets of their kind of banter were each other, because that’s a big part of what often made both shows so incredibly entertaining.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw an episode of Top Gear on TV. Series five, episode one, the one with the Vauxhall Monaro, Chrysler 300C and Jaguar S-Type R on the Pendine Sands. I was just a little boy but when I saw the cars crawling around in front of the camera I thought, ‘Man, that’s what I want to do when I grow up.’ I may be lucky to have a platform but I’m not the only one who thought that. Clarkson, Hammond and May have done so much for the passion for cars and they deserve credit for that.

All good things must come to an end, and while we can always wish for more, it’s time for The Grand Tour to come to an end. After three weeks of waiting for the final ride into the sunset, it feels like starting the marathon of the old stuff, don’t you think?

(Image credit: The Grand Tour)

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