As usual, each of the threesome suffer some sort of misfortune, with large puddles causing particular problems. There’s banter and bluster aplenty as their plans – and vehicles – start to unravel (almost literally in one case), ultimately resulting in an unwelcome first for their long-running adventures. While there’s no shortage of entertainment, A Massive Hunt does raise the question of whether the former Top Gear presenters’ antics have finally jumped the shark and the “chief orangutan” and his buddies have gone too far.įans of the enfants terribles’ eccentricities and antics will be delighted by this compelling and Coppola-esque (it’s feels like an Apocalypse Now-style journey), increasingly fraught drive into the heart of Madagascar. The last has the unfortunate design feature of a kill switch on the outside of the vehicle, a flaw the other two exploit mercilessly.

Clarkson has a V8 Bentley Continental GT (“a big heavy suet pudding of torque and opulence”), Hammond a “light, clever” Ford Focus RS and May, an open-top self-assembled Caterham Seven 310R. It’s a bait-and-switch that seemingly catches our trio off-guard – all of them having brought vehicles ridiculously unsuited to anything remotely undulating, let alone corrugated (or, as it turns out – much, much worse).

However, what starts out as a jovial pootle around the most expensive piece of tarmac in the world (Reunion island’s 12km rockfall-avoiding ring-road which certainly New Zealand Transport Agency’s Waka Kotahi won’t want Kaikōura residents to see), quickly descends into potholed chaos, as the boys bizarrely go in search of buried pirate treasure. Subtitled A Massive Hunt, the 90-minute special (now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video) sees Messrs Clarkson, May and Hammond causing their usual brand of mayhem off the coast of Africa.

REVIEW: Having abandoned the tent and even cars for their last outing in Vietnam, Britain’s most infamous trio of petrolheads are back behind their more traditional steering wheels for their latest Grand Tour. The Grand Tour: A Massive Hunt is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Is the grand tour over