‘One for the Road’: Emotional farewell for Top Gear Trio

It’s been three months since Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May brought down the curtains on their 22-year professional career together. The emotional ‘One for the Road’, the final ever episode of The Grand Tour, aired on Amazon Prime. While their careers, particularly that of Clarkson, have had their ups and down, the three of them have had an undeniable impact on millions of lives across the world, including mine. 

The episode itself stands up as some of their greatest ever work. The trio traverse the length of Zimbabwe, a country they have always wanted to visit, in three cars they have always wanted to own. At the climax of the episode, the presenters recreate old memories on Kubu Island in Botswana, a site they visited almost two decades prior.

The last 25 minutes of ‘One for the Road’ is a masterpiece

If the objective of any art form – be that paintings, music, film, television, or theatre – is to provoke an emotional response from the beholder, then the last 25 minutes of ‘One for the Road’ is a masterpiece. In the trio’s final minutes, May makes perhaps the greatest understatement ever, remarking “I hope we have brought you a little bit of happiness”. Clarkson and May later stumble upon the Lancia Beta Coupé Superleggera and the Mercedes 230E they had used in the Top Gear Botswana Special filmed in 2007 (the producers likely arranged the reunion following the discovery of the cars a few years ago). As the presenters approach Kubu Island on foot, old footage from the Botswana Special is intercut with the film, Hammond placing his palm upon the very same baobab tree he did 17 years earlier. 

The episode’s score is as tight as ever, with Dire Straits’ ‘Brothers in Arms’ and George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ (both featured in the final act) being the two highlights. The soundtrack has always been an integral yet often overlooked aspect of Top Gear and then The Grand Tour. The pieces of music chosen by the presenters or producers to accompany a scene have a neat way of completing them. The show has introduced me to some of my now all-time favourite songs through its often-humorous placement of them: Eddie and the Hot Rods’ ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’; David Bowie’s ‘Ashes to Ashes’; and Wang Chung’s ‘Dance Hall Days’ stand out.

With the end of The Grand Tour, I feel like I have lost three mates 

The show was never really about the cars. Of course, the core audience present in 2002 tuned in expecting typical motoring journalism, but it was the friendship between the presenters and the antics which followed that made Top Gear a global phenomenon. What made the show special was how we the viewer felt we were accompanying the trio on their travels across six different continents. I am confident I could recall as much about their careers as they could themselves, having spent almost my entire life watching them. With the end of The Grand Tour, I feel like I have lost three mates. 

Except I haven’t. The rewatchability of their adventures means I can relive them as many times as I want to.  

Of course, it would be partisan of me not to address any shortcomings of the episode. If anything, ‘One for the Road’ suffers from the same fate as many Grand Tour specials to date; too much money. Clarkson’s Lancia Montecarlo and May’s Triumph Stag (which cost £17,950 and £26,500 respectively) work almost too well, undermining what made their epic Top Gear adventures so memorable. At its best, the show was about three crocks bought for a pittance somehow overcoming distances exceeding a thousand miles.

If one publication is to herald the end of the Clarkson, Hammond, and May era, then that publication is The Guardian 

It was my father who introduced me to Top Gear, something which I will always be grateful for. The trio have helped me navigate some challenging times, including his passing. 

If one publication is to herald the end of the Clarkson, Hammond, and May era, then that publication is The Guardian. In fact, one recent article penned by Stuart Heritage ambitiously claimed that “the world has […] overtaken the petrolhead trio”, oblivious to their retirement in fact coming on their own terms. 

This is a seldom seen feat in what is an age of mass televisual cancelations. Unlike many shows, The Grand Tour’s ending isn’t the result of lacklustre viewership failing to recoup disgustingly inflated budgets. The truth is the trio have accomplished anything and everything there is to do with cars. 

The world doesn’t really need more journalists (ironic given my own career aspirations). It doesn’t necessarily need more academics. Or politicians. It simply needs more people who make others happy. And these three blokes from BBC Two did that for millions all over the world.