Top Gear: Extra Gear (2016) s01e05 Episode Script
Episode 5
1 Hi, I'm Rory Reid.
Welcome to Extra Gear, As always, we've got a whole load of Top Gear exclusives.
Tonight, we'll show you behind the scenes at Rolls-Royce.
David Coulthard and Daniel Ricciardo go head-to-head.
- Last race of the night.
- OK.
Don't tell anybody we're here.
E-Type legend and driving pioneer Norman Dewis joins me.
- So, Norman - Ah, stop scratching those gears.
My co-driver, Chris Harris, is ready to unleash another car on the test track.
Chris, what have you got? Under this cover is a car I can guarantee everyone wants to see.
All I can say is it's from Stuttgart and the engine's in the wrong place.
That's how it's done.
This is Extra Gear! First, I want to catch up with Matt and Chris to talk about Ireland.
Clearly, it didn't go right for you, Chris.
Were you expecting - the public to vote like that? - Well, I just think, you know, Matt went to Ireland in his car salesman suit.
I mean, you dressed like you sold Rolls-Royces, not drove them, to be honest.
Just saying, Matt, just saying.
- Yeah.
- You were in full selling mode, weren't you? Yeah, well, that was the thing, we sort of decided if we're going to go with these two cars, the new and the old, I will dress appropriately for the new car - Yeah.
- And Chris will dress like a funk band from the '70s.
- Which is fine by me.
I'm quite comfortable with that, Matthew.
- Yeah, it was fine.
Forget the clothes for a minute.
Let's talk about the car specifically.
Which is the better car, Matt? The old car's got I hear what Chris's saying.
It's got that charm, it's got that patina, it's got that rusty thing that he seems to like, I don't know.
The new car has got a great motor, it's 12 cylinder with twin turbos on it, it's super plush, it's got great brakes, it's got an umbrella in the door, does yours have an umbrella in the door? - No.
- But you're not totally oldist, are you? Is there an old car that you like? Erm, yeah, I like an old 911.
I think, you know, I like that, that's a car that's, you know, still on the road and has been evolved for 50 years and I have an old one Better than the new ones? No, not better than the new ones.
I like an old car But I like a new car better.
I don't want a car that smells like someone else's feet.
I want a car that smells like my own feet.
All right, time for Chris Harris to show us what he's driving this week.
Thank you, Rory.
Let's have a look under here, come on.
Look.
It's the new GT3 RS.
I don't really need to say anything else, do I? Let's just shut up and drive.
Thank you, Chris.
You can go off and do your pre-lap ritual now.
Don't worry, I won't tell them what it is.
Now, the Rolls-Royce Dawn won the popular vote in Dingle in this week's Top Gear.
But it's got some big fans in this room as well.
I went down to the Rolls-Royce factory in Goodwood to see what makes this car so special.
Well, this is more like it.
Chauffeur-driven arrival to Goodwood, the home of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the place where people come when they have mountains of cash.
Can't wait to get inside.
- Hello.
Good morning.
Welcome to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
- Thank you.
I recognise this thing.
This is a 1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn.
This actually served as the muse for the modern day Dawn.
If I wanted to build a brand-new Dawn, inspired by this thing, what's the process? - Let me take you through and I'll show you.
- All right, cool.
This is where the journey really starts for your bespoke Rolls-Royce.
Where do we start with that? Well, what we typically do is start with the exterior paint.
So, perhaps if we take a look at some of the speeds forms.
- Speed forms? - Speed forms, yeah.
So, we designed a form that we think is a sort of a reflection of the bodywork on our cars.
So, if we took, perhaps, this Midnight Sapphire, combined it with Premier Silver.
Yeah, that's a good start.
I'll take it.
Is that crocodile? We've got crocodile, we've got ostrich.
I was thinking about that ostrich, but that might eat into the budget.
Yeah? I went further inside the factory to meet their famous coach line painter.
You might have noticed on many Rolls-Royces there are these arrow straight lines that run along the bodywork.
Those aren't applied by robots and they're not stickers -- they're actually painted on, by hand, by one man.
You're a bit of a legend, aren't you, I hear? Er Supposedly, yes.
Yeah.
- And it's all done by hand, by you? - All done by hand.
With these tiny brushes? With these tiny, little brushes that are made of squirrel hair.
- Squirrel? - Squirrel hair, yeah.
So, I'll do a little bit and then you can have a go.
- Me? - Yeah.
How do you sort out a mistake? I'm probably going to need to know this.
I very rarely make them, so I don't know.
- Keep your fingers on the top of the curve.
- Yeah.
Place your brush into your existing line, there.
This feels wrong.
This feels wrong.
- It's not wrong.
- This is a real - It's not wrong.
This is a real Rolls-Royce! - And real paint.
- I know it's real.
How do you think I learned? All right, well, I'm going for it.
I'm going for it.
- It's going on.
It's going on.
- It's going on.
- When do I stop? - Keep going.
- How do you know when to stop? - Keep going.
Now stop! - That's not bad, though.
- That's not bad.
- That's not bad.
- That's not bad.
- That's probably straighter than yours.
- Yeah, right! Next up, the famous Monsoon Test.
All cars go through it to make sure they're 100% watertight.
So, here we are.
I'm surrounded by nozzles closing in on me.
And it is It's raining! And it's unbelievable that if a Rolls-Royce fails the Monsoon Test, it has to go back to the very beginning of the process and have everything stripped out, remade, redone and then it comes back again for more testing.
Leaks? Nothing whatsoever.
Nice, nice.
When the car's ready, the rich and/or famous come into this room to collect their keys, have a glass of champagne and await their car.
A Rolls-Royce representative will hand over this, which has a button on it, and, if I press it, I should see my car.
Subtle.
Here it is, a brand-new Dawn.
It's time to take her for a spin.
- Guys - Thanks, Rory.
- Thank you so much.
- Rory, absolute pleasure.
Yeah, it's been wonderful.
See you later.
I cannot believe I've just got a brand-new Rolls-Royce Dawn.
You don't think he thinks he's keeping the car, do you? I hope he doesn't.
Yeah, of course, I gave it back.
I gave it back begrudgingly.
When you buy a Rolls-Royce, not many people see this, but when you buy a Rolls-Royce, you press the button on that fob and the car reveals itself, it rotates on a plinth, music plays.
It's a bit excessive, but that theatre is part of makes this car so special.
And, actually, look at this, down here, that's lamb's wool carpet.
It's about an inch and a half thick.
If you want to take your shoes off, just kick back and relax.
Plus, look at that, umbrellas in the doors! Absolutely brilliant.
Now, he revealed it earlier, and it's time to unleash Chris Harris and the Porsche GT3 RS.
Take it away, Chris.
This thing is the alpha and omega of all sports cars, in my opinion.
I'm being a bit cheeky.
I should've ordered a turbo cos that's the closer rival to the F-type, but I wanted to drive an RS around the Top Gear test track, so I've been a bit cheeky.
I love these things.
Look at that.
The balance, the balance! Yes! What have we got? A four litre flat six 500 horsepower singing away behind me.
It doesn't get any better in car speak.
And, best of all, 339 foot pounds of torque, a seven speed PDK, dual clutch, paddle shift transmission.
£133,000 new.
But try buying a used one now, you'll need double that amount of money -- watch the lines through the Hammerhead.
It's oversteer city if you want it.
I shouldn't be such a yob, but this car has such balance! And that's the Porsche enigma, isn't it? How do they make such a wrong physics so right to drive? Oh, I ought to not try and slide every single corner, but I can't really help it -- I love this car.
They want me to be negative about something, but I don't really know what to be negative about.
Maybe I wish it had a manual gearbox, but I'm not sure I do because the paddles work so, so well.
Oh, it's just a fantastic motor car, yes! Over the line.
Rory, thank you for letting me have this car to drive.
Thank you, Chris.
I think he's found his dream car there.
Now, earlier on in the main show, we saw the Zenos in action, but what you didn't get to see was a British super lightweight battle between David Coulthard in the Caterham and Daniel Ricciardo in the E10 S.
Here is that special, unseen race.
As the Race Of Champions came to a close, we snuck Chris and the Zenos in to test it on the track.
And we found a couple of Top Gear fan boys who were up for a challenge.
Gentlemen! David, Daniel.
Secret, super lightweight race.
You up for this? - Yeah, as always.
- OK? Right, last race of the night.
- OK.
- Don't tell anybody we're here.
- OK.
- OK? Thanks for sticking around.
Combined age, all right, of Caterham and Coulthard, 86.
- How old are you? - 26.
OK, combined age of you and Zenos, 27.
Gentlemen, to your cars, please.
That's Aussie rules! I was going to shake your hand.
Now, please, once again, don't tell anybody we did this.
We're not supposed to be here.
OK, brand-new British super lightweight against old school -- Zenos against Caterham.
In five four three two one, go! 'We're not here.
'Don't tell anybody this happened!' And Ricciardo is in the lead.
Ricciardo is five lengths up after one lap.
Come on, David Coulthard.
Coulthard wants this.
And he's catching up Ooh! Come on, David! Caterham 360 R versus brand-new Zenos E10 S.
This is the one.
Coulthard's drifting out on the outside.
He seems to have made up the ground.
Final quarter, final lap.
And it's the Zenos! Thank you, David Coulthard, yes! Daniel Ricciardo, yes! OK, David, old school Caterham, what do you think? I think this was awesome, the only thing that was lacking was the driver, but And then I realised, I looked in the mirror and it was me and I thought, "Oh, reality check.
" - But what an awesome young talent.
- OK, Daniel, how was this brand-new car, brand-new British superlight sports car? To be honest, I was very impressed.
It had a lot of grip, erm Yeah, it was very manageable, the power was good, very smooth.
Right, come on, let's go, come on! Thank you, guys, come on.
Remember, don't tell anybody we were here.
And, with that, back to the studio.
Awesome stuff.
Chris, what do you make of these cars like the Zenos, I mean these superlights? Are they a good thing, a bad thing? They're a brilliant thing cos they're the essence of driving and driving enthusiasm.
They're the most pure driving experience, therefore they're wonderful.
But aren't they just essentially scaffolding on wheels? A bit simple, a bit kind of pointless.
We need to open your mind, Rory.
They're wonderful things because they're simple and they take it back to the bare basics.
They're light.
Take weight out of a car, you have a better driving experience, - we all know that.
- All right, fair play.
Let's talk news.
The BMW concept car here caught my eye.
It's called Project iNext, and it's essentially a thing that probably will never get made, but it's made up of 800 triangles and it allows the car to change shape and expand.
A bit too far-fetched? I think it's an incredible effect, the way it sort of swells.
It's a bit sort of tumescent, you know, it's a bit kind of - Look at those doors! - It's about worrying at times.
Look at those doors, they're amazing.
I take it back, I want one.
Apparently, it knows when the driver's coming.
What does that mean? I guess it's kind of sentient, isn't it? Yeah, I guess, you walk up to it, the doors open and you can pour yourself into it.
But the one thing I don't get is these wheels, look.
That's no good for speed bumps.
I'm sorry, that's rubbish.
Don't forget, 100 years from now, there won't be speed bumps.
There'll be virtual speed bumps in your head.
The state will put the speed bump into your head.
And what about this one? The Vauxhall GT concept.
- You like it? - Looks a bit like a suppository.
- Why is that, Chris? - It's sleek.
But, for me, it doesn't really move it on, because they've been doing this since the '60s, haven't they, Opel, with the GT.
And I prefer the old ones to that one.
- We've got a picture of the older one.
- That's cool.
- That's nice, that is nice.
It reminds me of the old Corvette Stingray, it's kind of sleek, got a little bit of Ferrari in there, as well.
Plus, they've put a one litre engine in there.
That's absolutely ridiculous.
It does 0 to 60 in under eight seconds, they claim.
- That's not impressive.
- We've got to get you beyond the size thing, Rory.
The i8 that you knock around in, OK, has got a 1.
5 litre engine.
So the difference between being cool and not cool is 500cc, - is that right? - Yeah, that's true.
Actually, whenever I'm in a petrol station or something, someone comes up to me and they go, "Oh, that's amazing, how big's the engine?" And I'm like, "1.
5.
" And it's so embarrassing to say it.
I kind of have to justify it and tell them it does 0 to 60 in 4.
4 and stuff like that.
Whatever they tell you, mate, size does matter, OK? Of course, they don't always make it into production.
Here are a couple of favourites that we found.
This thing is the Ford X-2000 dream car.
It was meant to be one of the best cars of all time.
It's just wacky as hell.
It's the inside of a madman's head who's taken LSD and been given some pens and told to draw a car.
It's wonderful.
And, also, look at it, it's got rocket launchers because, in the '60s, pedestrian impact stuff didn't matter.
You could kill people.
It was fine.
Well, actually, back in the day, there were some kind of nods toward pedestrian safety, the next car will show you.
This is the Aurora.
Look at that.
That is absolutely hideous.
But that scoop on the front is supposed to be for pedestrian protection.
So, if you run over someone, it will scoop up their body, so you don't run over them.
- How cool is that? - It just looks like a beard.
Also, isn't this the one with the accident avoidance system where it rotates the seat? It turns the seat round if it thinks you're going to have an accident.
- What happens if you don't have the accident? Where's the steering? - You're facing the wrong way! It's like in the Volvos you get that warning before you crash, or it thinks you're going to crash, but if it spins you around, you're basically dead anyway, right? Look at that face, doesn't that remind you of one of the characters from Disney's Car movie? Look at that grimacing face.
The company that made this went bankrupt, cos that prototype cost 30,000 to make - and that was it for them.
It was game over.
- I think you can see why.
All right, let's introduce a man who is a true pioneer of driving.
I had the honour of meeting him for the F-Type film this week.
Please welcome Norman Dewis.
Now, Norman Norman and I went out on a test track a little bit earlier, didn't we? And we had a few laps.
Shall we take a look at that film? - So, Norman - Ah, stop scratching those gears.
I'm not as good as you! I'm not as good as you.
It's very, very different to what I'm used to.
This is a classic E-Type Jag.
When you're testing a car, what's the routine you go through? If you're testing a new complete car prototype, there are about 600 test procedures.
So, it's stage by stage, the engine performance, the steering, the ride, the handling, the comfort - Yeah.
- The brakes.
Ah, the brakes are very different.
Oh, yes.
- Right now I must excuse my driving, I'm limited to 60mph.
- I know.
- Cos we haven't got seatbelts in this thing.
- No.
So our insurance doesn't let us go any faster.
I've never had seatbelts all me life! Now, then, take it slow.
You've driven loads and loads of racetracks.
What goes through your mind when something goes wrong? You're testing a car that's unproven, and suddenly, out of nowhere, you lose it.
You must always be ready for anything that might show.
Now, sometimes it will happen quickly.
And in that chance, you've got no way of avoiding it.
So it's all you can do is switch off, and, being small, I always got down in the cockpit.
Down here.
How does your wife feel when you go off to work? Well, I had a wonderful wife, she understood my position of having to work.
And when our son was born, I wasn't at the Christening.
Right.
Where were you? I was in Belgium doing the records.
Ah, setting the record in the XJ 120? - Yeah, yeah.
- No, my wife is very understanding.
We've had a good drive.
- Oh, fantastic.
- I've really enjoyed it.
- It's been such a pleasure.
I have driven around the Top Gear test track in a legendary car with a legendary driver.
Yes, wonderful.
- Norman, thank you so much, man.
- It's a pleasure.
Can we go from the glory to the less than glorious, let's say? So, there was a vehicle called the XJ 13.
You don't mind me asking about this, do you? - Oh, no, no.
- Which possibly is the most beautiful car ever made.
Audience, what do you think? I mean, look at that.
That's the XJ 13.
With, I believe, Norman standing next to it.
- That's me, yeah.
- Can you just explain to me, Norman, the restyling job you did on this car -- cos it looked like this, and a bit later on it looked a bit like this - Yes.
- Now, I know it's probably a slightly sore memory, but, come on, tell us what happened? 1971, Jaguar thought it would be a good idea to make a film of the Series 3 car being built with the V12 and show a bit of the film, me on the banking going high-speed.
This is where the V12 first started.
So, I meet the film people, and they said, "We want four quick laps, as fast as you can on the banking.
" So, I go out, I've done .
.
two laps.
I'm on my third quick lap.
I usually go onto the banking around 146, 147.
I'm halfway round at the top of the banking and suddenly the car lurches and I hit the safety fence.
Bounces me down the banking.
I know I'm going across tarmac into the in-field and I could feel it lifting.
And then it goes like a ball across the field.
And you can see how we finished up.
But then it suddenly stopped, and I looked up and saw the sky, I thought, "Well, I feel OK.
" So, I got out the car.
And - I got out the car - Casually! .
.
walked across, right back onto the circuit.
And I see two cars coming down towards me.
One is the Jag with my mechanics in.
And the other one with the film people.
And they stop and they said, "Erm, you all right, Norman?" I said, "Yeah, I'm all right, not too bad.
Why?" They said, "Where's the car?" I said, "In the bloody field.
" They said, "What?!" I said, "Where have you been?" They said, "Well, we heard the engine stop, "we thought you'd run out of petrol.
" Everyone in this room probably owes their life to this man.
Chris, fill them in, please.
Before the disc brake, you had this awful thing called the drum break.
And I presume you feel quite strongly about that thing, Norman.
Yes, well, the problem was, you see, drum brakes had been in existence from Oh, pioneering days.
The brakes were sufficient for the performance of the cars then.
But, you see, with the XJ 120, 100mph car, you're now trying to stop it with the drum break.
So, erm We got seriously involved with looking at the possibility of what was the other way to go.
Dunlops we were very in favour with, doing a lot of work with Dunlop.
I used to test their tyres.
And they'd introduced this disc brake on the aircraft.
Albemarle aircraft.
So, we said, "Would it be possible if we looked at it to adapt it for the car?" So, we decided then to put it on the C-Type, which was the fastest car we'd got at the time, having won Le Mans in 1951.
So, we set it all up.
We now take the car and we start testing.
And all the development work, test work and development of the disc brake was done at this single aerodrome, Wolverhampton.
We were flat-out Saturday, Sunday, right up till dark, seven o'clock in the morning till dark at night.
Having now developed it on the car, been almost satisfied, not completely satisfied, approving it.
So, we looked at the race calendar, we thought, "Well, we were going to do Le Mans '52 anyway.
" We thought, "Well, we won't risk it on that in case it fails.
" So, we then decided to go to Italy.
The Mille Miglia, 1,000 mile race.
- Nice and easy - Nice and easy one, yeah.
Because the Mille Miglia, as probably a lot of you know, you're going through towns, cities, in the country, then you do the Fute pass, Raticosa pass, all brakes, brakes, brakes.
So we decided Sterling would drive, so we went down to Italy.
And that's where all the work was done on the disc brake.
That was the first race ever, Mille Miglia '52, to race the disc.
The first race that was won on desk brakes was, we won at Reims, the 12 hour race.
What a hero.
All right, that's it for us.
Chris and I will be back next week with more excellent Extra Gear action.
A massive thanks to the motoring god, Norman Dewis.
Thank you and goodnight!
Welcome to Extra Gear, As always, we've got a whole load of Top Gear exclusives.
Tonight, we'll show you behind the scenes at Rolls-Royce.
David Coulthard and Daniel Ricciardo go head-to-head.
- Last race of the night.
- OK.
Don't tell anybody we're here.
E-Type legend and driving pioneer Norman Dewis joins me.
- So, Norman - Ah, stop scratching those gears.
My co-driver, Chris Harris, is ready to unleash another car on the test track.
Chris, what have you got? Under this cover is a car I can guarantee everyone wants to see.
All I can say is it's from Stuttgart and the engine's in the wrong place.
That's how it's done.
This is Extra Gear! First, I want to catch up with Matt and Chris to talk about Ireland.
Clearly, it didn't go right for you, Chris.
Were you expecting - the public to vote like that? - Well, I just think, you know, Matt went to Ireland in his car salesman suit.
I mean, you dressed like you sold Rolls-Royces, not drove them, to be honest.
Just saying, Matt, just saying.
- Yeah.
- You were in full selling mode, weren't you? Yeah, well, that was the thing, we sort of decided if we're going to go with these two cars, the new and the old, I will dress appropriately for the new car - Yeah.
- And Chris will dress like a funk band from the '70s.
- Which is fine by me.
I'm quite comfortable with that, Matthew.
- Yeah, it was fine.
Forget the clothes for a minute.
Let's talk about the car specifically.
Which is the better car, Matt? The old car's got I hear what Chris's saying.
It's got that charm, it's got that patina, it's got that rusty thing that he seems to like, I don't know.
The new car has got a great motor, it's 12 cylinder with twin turbos on it, it's super plush, it's got great brakes, it's got an umbrella in the door, does yours have an umbrella in the door? - No.
- But you're not totally oldist, are you? Is there an old car that you like? Erm, yeah, I like an old 911.
I think, you know, I like that, that's a car that's, you know, still on the road and has been evolved for 50 years and I have an old one Better than the new ones? No, not better than the new ones.
I like an old car But I like a new car better.
I don't want a car that smells like someone else's feet.
I want a car that smells like my own feet.
All right, time for Chris Harris to show us what he's driving this week.
Thank you, Rory.
Let's have a look under here, come on.
Look.
It's the new GT3 RS.
I don't really need to say anything else, do I? Let's just shut up and drive.
Thank you, Chris.
You can go off and do your pre-lap ritual now.
Don't worry, I won't tell them what it is.
Now, the Rolls-Royce Dawn won the popular vote in Dingle in this week's Top Gear.
But it's got some big fans in this room as well.
I went down to the Rolls-Royce factory in Goodwood to see what makes this car so special.
Well, this is more like it.
Chauffeur-driven arrival to Goodwood, the home of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the place where people come when they have mountains of cash.
Can't wait to get inside.
- Hello.
Good morning.
Welcome to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
- Thank you.
I recognise this thing.
This is a 1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn.
This actually served as the muse for the modern day Dawn.
If I wanted to build a brand-new Dawn, inspired by this thing, what's the process? - Let me take you through and I'll show you.
- All right, cool.
This is where the journey really starts for your bespoke Rolls-Royce.
Where do we start with that? Well, what we typically do is start with the exterior paint.
So, perhaps if we take a look at some of the speeds forms.
- Speed forms? - Speed forms, yeah.
So, we designed a form that we think is a sort of a reflection of the bodywork on our cars.
So, if we took, perhaps, this Midnight Sapphire, combined it with Premier Silver.
Yeah, that's a good start.
I'll take it.
Is that crocodile? We've got crocodile, we've got ostrich.
I was thinking about that ostrich, but that might eat into the budget.
Yeah? I went further inside the factory to meet their famous coach line painter.
You might have noticed on many Rolls-Royces there are these arrow straight lines that run along the bodywork.
Those aren't applied by robots and they're not stickers -- they're actually painted on, by hand, by one man.
You're a bit of a legend, aren't you, I hear? Er Supposedly, yes.
Yeah.
- And it's all done by hand, by you? - All done by hand.
With these tiny brushes? With these tiny, little brushes that are made of squirrel hair.
- Squirrel? - Squirrel hair, yeah.
So, I'll do a little bit and then you can have a go.
- Me? - Yeah.
How do you sort out a mistake? I'm probably going to need to know this.
I very rarely make them, so I don't know.
- Keep your fingers on the top of the curve.
- Yeah.
Place your brush into your existing line, there.
This feels wrong.
This feels wrong.
- It's not wrong.
- This is a real - It's not wrong.
This is a real Rolls-Royce! - And real paint.
- I know it's real.
How do you think I learned? All right, well, I'm going for it.
I'm going for it.
- It's going on.
It's going on.
- It's going on.
- When do I stop? - Keep going.
- How do you know when to stop? - Keep going.
Now stop! - That's not bad, though.
- That's not bad.
- That's not bad.
- That's not bad.
- That's probably straighter than yours.
- Yeah, right! Next up, the famous Monsoon Test.
All cars go through it to make sure they're 100% watertight.
So, here we are.
I'm surrounded by nozzles closing in on me.
And it is It's raining! And it's unbelievable that if a Rolls-Royce fails the Monsoon Test, it has to go back to the very beginning of the process and have everything stripped out, remade, redone and then it comes back again for more testing.
Leaks? Nothing whatsoever.
Nice, nice.
When the car's ready, the rich and/or famous come into this room to collect their keys, have a glass of champagne and await their car.
A Rolls-Royce representative will hand over this, which has a button on it, and, if I press it, I should see my car.
Subtle.
Here it is, a brand-new Dawn.
It's time to take her for a spin.
- Guys - Thanks, Rory.
- Thank you so much.
- Rory, absolute pleasure.
Yeah, it's been wonderful.
See you later.
I cannot believe I've just got a brand-new Rolls-Royce Dawn.
You don't think he thinks he's keeping the car, do you? I hope he doesn't.
Yeah, of course, I gave it back.
I gave it back begrudgingly.
When you buy a Rolls-Royce, not many people see this, but when you buy a Rolls-Royce, you press the button on that fob and the car reveals itself, it rotates on a plinth, music plays.
It's a bit excessive, but that theatre is part of makes this car so special.
And, actually, look at this, down here, that's lamb's wool carpet.
It's about an inch and a half thick.
If you want to take your shoes off, just kick back and relax.
Plus, look at that, umbrellas in the doors! Absolutely brilliant.
Now, he revealed it earlier, and it's time to unleash Chris Harris and the Porsche GT3 RS.
Take it away, Chris.
This thing is the alpha and omega of all sports cars, in my opinion.
I'm being a bit cheeky.
I should've ordered a turbo cos that's the closer rival to the F-type, but I wanted to drive an RS around the Top Gear test track, so I've been a bit cheeky.
I love these things.
Look at that.
The balance, the balance! Yes! What have we got? A four litre flat six 500 horsepower singing away behind me.
It doesn't get any better in car speak.
And, best of all, 339 foot pounds of torque, a seven speed PDK, dual clutch, paddle shift transmission.
£133,000 new.
But try buying a used one now, you'll need double that amount of money -- watch the lines through the Hammerhead.
It's oversteer city if you want it.
I shouldn't be such a yob, but this car has such balance! And that's the Porsche enigma, isn't it? How do they make such a wrong physics so right to drive? Oh, I ought to not try and slide every single corner, but I can't really help it -- I love this car.
They want me to be negative about something, but I don't really know what to be negative about.
Maybe I wish it had a manual gearbox, but I'm not sure I do because the paddles work so, so well.
Oh, it's just a fantastic motor car, yes! Over the line.
Rory, thank you for letting me have this car to drive.
Thank you, Chris.
I think he's found his dream car there.
Now, earlier on in the main show, we saw the Zenos in action, but what you didn't get to see was a British super lightweight battle between David Coulthard in the Caterham and Daniel Ricciardo in the E10 S.
Here is that special, unseen race.
As the Race Of Champions came to a close, we snuck Chris and the Zenos in to test it on the track.
And we found a couple of Top Gear fan boys who were up for a challenge.
Gentlemen! David, Daniel.
Secret, super lightweight race.
You up for this? - Yeah, as always.
- OK? Right, last race of the night.
- OK.
- Don't tell anybody we're here.
- OK.
- OK? Thanks for sticking around.
Combined age, all right, of Caterham and Coulthard, 86.
- How old are you? - 26.
OK, combined age of you and Zenos, 27.
Gentlemen, to your cars, please.
That's Aussie rules! I was going to shake your hand.
Now, please, once again, don't tell anybody we did this.
We're not supposed to be here.
OK, brand-new British super lightweight against old school -- Zenos against Caterham.
In five four three two one, go! 'We're not here.
'Don't tell anybody this happened!' And Ricciardo is in the lead.
Ricciardo is five lengths up after one lap.
Come on, David Coulthard.
Coulthard wants this.
And he's catching up Ooh! Come on, David! Caterham 360 R versus brand-new Zenos E10 S.
This is the one.
Coulthard's drifting out on the outside.
He seems to have made up the ground.
Final quarter, final lap.
And it's the Zenos! Thank you, David Coulthard, yes! Daniel Ricciardo, yes! OK, David, old school Caterham, what do you think? I think this was awesome, the only thing that was lacking was the driver, but And then I realised, I looked in the mirror and it was me and I thought, "Oh, reality check.
" - But what an awesome young talent.
- OK, Daniel, how was this brand-new car, brand-new British superlight sports car? To be honest, I was very impressed.
It had a lot of grip, erm Yeah, it was very manageable, the power was good, very smooth.
Right, come on, let's go, come on! Thank you, guys, come on.
Remember, don't tell anybody we were here.
And, with that, back to the studio.
Awesome stuff.
Chris, what do you make of these cars like the Zenos, I mean these superlights? Are they a good thing, a bad thing? They're a brilliant thing cos they're the essence of driving and driving enthusiasm.
They're the most pure driving experience, therefore they're wonderful.
But aren't they just essentially scaffolding on wheels? A bit simple, a bit kind of pointless.
We need to open your mind, Rory.
They're wonderful things because they're simple and they take it back to the bare basics.
They're light.
Take weight out of a car, you have a better driving experience, - we all know that.
- All right, fair play.
Let's talk news.
The BMW concept car here caught my eye.
It's called Project iNext, and it's essentially a thing that probably will never get made, but it's made up of 800 triangles and it allows the car to change shape and expand.
A bit too far-fetched? I think it's an incredible effect, the way it sort of swells.
It's a bit sort of tumescent, you know, it's a bit kind of - Look at those doors! - It's about worrying at times.
Look at those doors, they're amazing.
I take it back, I want one.
Apparently, it knows when the driver's coming.
What does that mean? I guess it's kind of sentient, isn't it? Yeah, I guess, you walk up to it, the doors open and you can pour yourself into it.
But the one thing I don't get is these wheels, look.
That's no good for speed bumps.
I'm sorry, that's rubbish.
Don't forget, 100 years from now, there won't be speed bumps.
There'll be virtual speed bumps in your head.
The state will put the speed bump into your head.
And what about this one? The Vauxhall GT concept.
- You like it? - Looks a bit like a suppository.
- Why is that, Chris? - It's sleek.
But, for me, it doesn't really move it on, because they've been doing this since the '60s, haven't they, Opel, with the GT.
And I prefer the old ones to that one.
- We've got a picture of the older one.
- That's cool.
- That's nice, that is nice.
It reminds me of the old Corvette Stingray, it's kind of sleek, got a little bit of Ferrari in there, as well.
Plus, they've put a one litre engine in there.
That's absolutely ridiculous.
It does 0 to 60 in under eight seconds, they claim.
- That's not impressive.
- We've got to get you beyond the size thing, Rory.
The i8 that you knock around in, OK, has got a 1.
5 litre engine.
So the difference between being cool and not cool is 500cc, - is that right? - Yeah, that's true.
Actually, whenever I'm in a petrol station or something, someone comes up to me and they go, "Oh, that's amazing, how big's the engine?" And I'm like, "1.
5.
" And it's so embarrassing to say it.
I kind of have to justify it and tell them it does 0 to 60 in 4.
4 and stuff like that.
Whatever they tell you, mate, size does matter, OK? Of course, they don't always make it into production.
Here are a couple of favourites that we found.
This thing is the Ford X-2000 dream car.
It was meant to be one of the best cars of all time.
It's just wacky as hell.
It's the inside of a madman's head who's taken LSD and been given some pens and told to draw a car.
It's wonderful.
And, also, look at it, it's got rocket launchers because, in the '60s, pedestrian impact stuff didn't matter.
You could kill people.
It was fine.
Well, actually, back in the day, there were some kind of nods toward pedestrian safety, the next car will show you.
This is the Aurora.
Look at that.
That is absolutely hideous.
But that scoop on the front is supposed to be for pedestrian protection.
So, if you run over someone, it will scoop up their body, so you don't run over them.
- How cool is that? - It just looks like a beard.
Also, isn't this the one with the accident avoidance system where it rotates the seat? It turns the seat round if it thinks you're going to have an accident.
- What happens if you don't have the accident? Where's the steering? - You're facing the wrong way! It's like in the Volvos you get that warning before you crash, or it thinks you're going to crash, but if it spins you around, you're basically dead anyway, right? Look at that face, doesn't that remind you of one of the characters from Disney's Car movie? Look at that grimacing face.
The company that made this went bankrupt, cos that prototype cost 30,000 to make - and that was it for them.
It was game over.
- I think you can see why.
All right, let's introduce a man who is a true pioneer of driving.
I had the honour of meeting him for the F-Type film this week.
Please welcome Norman Dewis.
Now, Norman Norman and I went out on a test track a little bit earlier, didn't we? And we had a few laps.
Shall we take a look at that film? - So, Norman - Ah, stop scratching those gears.
I'm not as good as you! I'm not as good as you.
It's very, very different to what I'm used to.
This is a classic E-Type Jag.
When you're testing a car, what's the routine you go through? If you're testing a new complete car prototype, there are about 600 test procedures.
So, it's stage by stage, the engine performance, the steering, the ride, the handling, the comfort - Yeah.
- The brakes.
Ah, the brakes are very different.
Oh, yes.
- Right now I must excuse my driving, I'm limited to 60mph.
- I know.
- Cos we haven't got seatbelts in this thing.
- No.
So our insurance doesn't let us go any faster.
I've never had seatbelts all me life! Now, then, take it slow.
You've driven loads and loads of racetracks.
What goes through your mind when something goes wrong? You're testing a car that's unproven, and suddenly, out of nowhere, you lose it.
You must always be ready for anything that might show.
Now, sometimes it will happen quickly.
And in that chance, you've got no way of avoiding it.
So it's all you can do is switch off, and, being small, I always got down in the cockpit.
Down here.
How does your wife feel when you go off to work? Well, I had a wonderful wife, she understood my position of having to work.
And when our son was born, I wasn't at the Christening.
Right.
Where were you? I was in Belgium doing the records.
Ah, setting the record in the XJ 120? - Yeah, yeah.
- No, my wife is very understanding.
We've had a good drive.
- Oh, fantastic.
- I've really enjoyed it.
- It's been such a pleasure.
I have driven around the Top Gear test track in a legendary car with a legendary driver.
Yes, wonderful.
- Norman, thank you so much, man.
- It's a pleasure.
Can we go from the glory to the less than glorious, let's say? So, there was a vehicle called the XJ 13.
You don't mind me asking about this, do you? - Oh, no, no.
- Which possibly is the most beautiful car ever made.
Audience, what do you think? I mean, look at that.
That's the XJ 13.
With, I believe, Norman standing next to it.
- That's me, yeah.
- Can you just explain to me, Norman, the restyling job you did on this car -- cos it looked like this, and a bit later on it looked a bit like this - Yes.
- Now, I know it's probably a slightly sore memory, but, come on, tell us what happened? 1971, Jaguar thought it would be a good idea to make a film of the Series 3 car being built with the V12 and show a bit of the film, me on the banking going high-speed.
This is where the V12 first started.
So, I meet the film people, and they said, "We want four quick laps, as fast as you can on the banking.
" So, I go out, I've done .
.
two laps.
I'm on my third quick lap.
I usually go onto the banking around 146, 147.
I'm halfway round at the top of the banking and suddenly the car lurches and I hit the safety fence.
Bounces me down the banking.
I know I'm going across tarmac into the in-field and I could feel it lifting.
And then it goes like a ball across the field.
And you can see how we finished up.
But then it suddenly stopped, and I looked up and saw the sky, I thought, "Well, I feel OK.
" So, I got out the car.
And - I got out the car - Casually! .
.
walked across, right back onto the circuit.
And I see two cars coming down towards me.
One is the Jag with my mechanics in.
And the other one with the film people.
And they stop and they said, "Erm, you all right, Norman?" I said, "Yeah, I'm all right, not too bad.
Why?" They said, "Where's the car?" I said, "In the bloody field.
" They said, "What?!" I said, "Where have you been?" They said, "Well, we heard the engine stop, "we thought you'd run out of petrol.
" Everyone in this room probably owes their life to this man.
Chris, fill them in, please.
Before the disc brake, you had this awful thing called the drum break.
And I presume you feel quite strongly about that thing, Norman.
Yes, well, the problem was, you see, drum brakes had been in existence from Oh, pioneering days.
The brakes were sufficient for the performance of the cars then.
But, you see, with the XJ 120, 100mph car, you're now trying to stop it with the drum break.
So, erm We got seriously involved with looking at the possibility of what was the other way to go.
Dunlops we were very in favour with, doing a lot of work with Dunlop.
I used to test their tyres.
And they'd introduced this disc brake on the aircraft.
Albemarle aircraft.
So, we said, "Would it be possible if we looked at it to adapt it for the car?" So, we decided then to put it on the C-Type, which was the fastest car we'd got at the time, having won Le Mans in 1951.
So, we set it all up.
We now take the car and we start testing.
And all the development work, test work and development of the disc brake was done at this single aerodrome, Wolverhampton.
We were flat-out Saturday, Sunday, right up till dark, seven o'clock in the morning till dark at night.
Having now developed it on the car, been almost satisfied, not completely satisfied, approving it.
So, we looked at the race calendar, we thought, "Well, we were going to do Le Mans '52 anyway.
" We thought, "Well, we won't risk it on that in case it fails.
" So, we then decided to go to Italy.
The Mille Miglia, 1,000 mile race.
- Nice and easy - Nice and easy one, yeah.
Because the Mille Miglia, as probably a lot of you know, you're going through towns, cities, in the country, then you do the Fute pass, Raticosa pass, all brakes, brakes, brakes.
So we decided Sterling would drive, so we went down to Italy.
And that's where all the work was done on the disc brake.
That was the first race ever, Mille Miglia '52, to race the disc.
The first race that was won on desk brakes was, we won at Reims, the 12 hour race.
What a hero.
All right, that's it for us.
Chris and I will be back next week with more excellent Extra Gear action.
A massive thanks to the motoring god, Norman Dewis.
Thank you and goodnight!