Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond are back with a new special. "The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown" arrives on Amazon Prime on July 30.
As the name implies, this time the trio will be driving through Scotland, on an adventure that was filmed during the coronavirus pandemic. Their cars of choice are vintage American land yachts, including a Lincoln Continental Mark V for Clarkson, a Cadillac Coupe de Ville for May, and a Buick Riviera for Hammond. These massive cars should make social distancing easy, at least. It also appears that they guys drive pony cars from the 1960s for at least part of the special.
A trailer released Thursday shows the usual "Grand Tour" shenanigans, including caravan towing, ill-advised modifications, and lots of shouting.
The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown
This marks the first new "Grand Tour" episode since "A Massive Hunt" was released in December 2020. That saw the trio search for pirate treasure in Madagascar, using a Bentley Continental GT, Ford Focus RS, and a Caterham Seven.
Like most other things, production of "The Grand Tour," which is still technically in its fourth season, has been impacted by the pandemic. In March 2020, Clarkson said release of "A Massive Hunt" was being held up, despite filming being completed, and warned fans that filming future episodes under pandemic conditions would be difficult.
The trio ditched the familiar studio format (a holdover from their time at "Top Gear") after the third season, in favor of large-scale adventures. A 2018 renewal agreement calls for filming of four of these specials per year, something that's been disrupted by the pandemic. "Lochdown" will be the third episode under the new format, following "A Massive Hunt" and "The Grand Tour Presents: Seamen," which premiered in 2019.