As you may have seen in the latest “The Grand Tour” special, ‘A Scandi Flick’, James May was in a pretty serious accident at the wheel of the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII. Now, in a new video for DriveTribe, he and co-host Richard Hammond go over the accident in greater detail.
With trademark pith, May downplays the severity of the accident, saying that despite having been taken to hospital in the aftermath of the crash, it was only a precautionary measure. Although the car did get a pretty severe thwack, he was just “a bit stiff” in the wake of the crash.
Asked what was going through his mind, he responds that “I just thought, I’m gonna hit the wall, so I mustn’t hit the camera man. I even thought, I mustn’t hit Jeremy Clarkson, which is a strange thing to think.”
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He says that the realization came quickly that he had over-cooked it going into the corner, and he also thought, “Bollocks.” He claims, though, that the crash a sign of his superiority as a test driver.
“Let’s be honest, I did a more thorough test than you,” May claims. “The point about a rally car, in use, on a rally, is that they get crashed all the time. And they’re out in the field, so it’s bush mechanics, and they’re beaten back into shape with rubber mallets and crowbars, and then they continue. And I proved that the EVO can sustain that sort of punishment and continue. You didn’t do that, and neither did [Jeremy Clarkson], so you didn’t do a thorough test.”
It’s unclear how convincing an argument that is, even to him, as he admits that he feels very bad about ruining the car. Missing a door and significant portions of its front fascia, the duct tape suggests that it’s also likely to lose its front fender and that side skirt hangs lower than it ought to. Asked how badly it’s damaged, May responds, “Well… it still goes.” He admits, though, that the car is technically a “write-off.”
The video also goes over quite a few other interesting tidbits about the filming of the special, and covers Hammond’s affection for the car he drove during it, a Subaru WRX STI. Watch it all below.