The patter between Top Gear’s hosts is a big part of what made that show, and its follow-up, The Grand Tour, great. And you can be reminded of that with a recent clip that proves that the hosts get a little bit of help from the editors when making their show.
The clip follows Jeremy Clarkson congratulating Richard Hammond for learning how to drift (bottom of page) and celebrating the fact that he has someone to play with. James May, however, butts in to clarify that neither host is so proficient at drifting that they don’t make a lot of mistakes.
What follows is a 44-second montage of Hammond and Clarkson failing at drifting. Beyond the sheer schadenfreude of watching someone screw up in an inconsequential way, it is kind of reassuring to see that even people who are paid gobs of money to drive can screw it up.
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I now feel less bad about screwing up handbrake turns in abandoned snowy parking lots, not that this is an admission of guilt for any law enforcement professionals reading. But drifting (and indeed its slightly less exciting FWD equivalent) requires a lot of delicate balance and care. And it’s easy to get it wrong.
It should also serve as a perfect example of why even a little drift is a bad idea on public roads. It’s easy to screw up and if you don’t have the luxury of a big empty track, you’re putting others at risk. Even if you’re driving a relatively low-power car like a Fiat 124 Spider Abarth.