New hosts of The Grand Tour James Engelsman, Thomas Holland and Francis Bourgeois while filming in Angola during their first season.RORY MULVEY/Supplied
Many have tried to replicate the decades-long success enjoyed by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, former hosts of Top Gear and The Grand Tour. According to Guinness World Records, Top Gear is the world’s most widely watched factual television program, with an estimated weekly reach of 350 million viewers.
All attempts, however, to capture the trio’s peculiar chemistry have failed, often quite badly, until now.
Having just watched the first episode of Prime Video’s rebooted version of The Grand Tour – hosted by automotive YouTubers James Engelsman and Thomas Holland, as well as train enthusiast Francis Bourgeois – I will go out on a limb to say they have done it. It’s different, gentler and less … old. They have successfully injected their own personalities into the show’s time-tested formula of cars, travel and petty rivalries. You can see for yourself starting Sept. 4.
The new trio recently spoke to Globe Drive via video call about making the jump from social media, approval from the old Top Gear trio, driving in Angola, stomach issues and wet pyjamas.
The new hosts filming an episode at Pikes Peak in Colorado.Stefania Rosini SMPSP/Supplied
But first, some introductions.
Thomas Holland, a Canadian, and James Engelsman, a British expat in Canada, are the creators and hosts of Throttle House, an automotive YouTube channel with 3.4 million subscribers and counting. Their videos – which also appear in Globe Drive – often carry a Top Gear flavour.
They are joined by Francis Bourgeois, the viral-famous British trainspotter whose unbridled passion for locomotives has earned him millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram.
The new hosts speak to former F1 racer James Button at the Thermal Club, a country club and motorsports circuit in California.Stefania Rosini/Supplied
How did you go from a YouTube channel to landing The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime?
Thomas Holland: Like many things, it started with an e-mail, an e-mail that we very nearly accidentally ignored … because of James.
James Engelsman: I wanted to answer the e-mail! But I didn’t think it was for The Grand Tour.
Holland: We came over [to Britain], did some testing and some meetings, and then somehow here we are talking to you. That was two years ago almost, wasn’t it, James?
Engelsman: Yeah, but we still go to a park that has condoms on the ground in Burlington and film cars for YouTube. Can’t give that up.
Taking over The Grand Tour, picking up where Clarkson, Hammond and May left off, was that on anybody’s vision board?
Francis Bourgeois: I think we, all of us, do what we love through our own respective content, just sharing enthusiasm. The early-stage formula of my content was just a creative release. It was almost a reflex of the COVID lockdown and everything else that’s going on. Posting videos of the railway was kind of catharsis, really.
Holland: I don’t think at any point James and I had a conversation where we said, “Eventually we’re just going to do The Grand Tour.” It wasn’t a thing that came up.
The new hosts drive three cars while filming in Malaysia.RORY MULVEY/Supplied
What has been the biggest adjustment going from your own social media channels to this big Prime Video show?
Holland: Probably pacing. Now we’ll arrive at a location and it might take a couple of days to get everything ready to begin filming. Versus before, we combat-rolled out of the plane with the cameras rolling.
Engelsman: With Throttle House, we make something as good as we can in that week, and it goes out. But with The Grand Tour, having weeks or months to look at an edit, I’ll be 75 watches in and be like, “I hate my face.”
Bourgeois: A lot of my social media content is just me and my girlfriend. We were going out and filming a train in Yorkshire. Now it’s a 75-person-strong team. But we’ve gotten used to it.
Top Gear and the original The Grand Tour reportedly had enormous budgets. Do you have any sense of how much you’re allowed to spend, per episode?
Engelsman: We weren’t part of those conversations. We would just suggest things, and people would be like, “Haha, no,” or they’d be like, “Let’s see what we can do.”
Holland: On the jet shoot, there was a helicopter camera car – helicopter camera copter? – and that’s just not something that the budget on YouTube really allows.
Bourgeois: You just can’t believe these humongous Arri cameras that obviously create the most amazing picture and are worth using. But it’s like when a medieval knight gives you their sword and you can’t even hold it.
Several hosts have tried and failed to recreate the Top Gear/The Grand Tour formula, and they have all flopped. At the risk of putting too fine a point on it, what makes you think you have what it takes?
Holland: We just knew that we had the blessing of Clarkson, Hammond and May, and Andy Wilman [Top Gear co-creator and executive producer]. Their support is a big difference, I suppose, compared to previous versions. Honestly, the only thing we could do is just go in there, enjoy ourselves and be ourselves.
Bourgeois: We’ve also been very sensitive to what people have as their comfort food when turning on The Grand Tour. At the core of that is just raw car enthusiasm – kind of raw car nerdery – and just having an absolute laugh.
New hosts of The Grand Tour James Engelsman, Thomas Holland and Francis Bourgeois while filming in Wales.RORY MULVEY/Supplied
Now having done a full season yourselves, do you have any insight into what made the original trio and their shows work so well, for so long?
Bourgeois: I look back to the first episode of Top Gear I watched when I was around eight, and I tuned in because, well, my parents recommended it because I was reading Top Gear magazine, and had only just been allowed access to late-night TV. Honestly, I remember the state of my pyjamas after watching because of how close I was to – actually, I mean, I did kind of did wet myself, just because of how much I was laughing. Absolute hysterics. And crucially, just knowing I was going to laugh, that I was going to be transported to my happy place for an hour. Yeah, there’s obviously magic there. It’s hard to unravel it. We’ve just done what we’ve done, and I think especially – with the wetting of the pyjamas in mind – we’ve just let our senses of humour unfurl. We’re trying to give it our own sort of comedic identity, too.
Without giving too much away, any highlights from filming the first season?
Holland: For me, it was going to Angola. It’s always been a dream, and to do it in the way that we did it, was just the most unique experience imaginable, one you can only really have doing this show.
Bourgeois: One of my highlights was driving through the Mojave Desert, driving this fantastic hypercar. I was just going through the gears and I thought, “You know what? I might put some music on.” And it was just the most euphoric feeling.
Engelsman: For me, it was the Angolan finale, which was on par with the jet race. But, yeah, the way the Angola episode ends was one of the most unique things I’ve ever taken part in. I can’t reveal too much.
But it’s not all fun and fast cars, I imagine. Did you hit rock bottom?
Bourgeois: Part of our general outlook on the films was that we’d sort of see the days through right to the end. So we’d be stuck in the mud, trying to get the cars out. But we wanted to live through every moment that we came up against. That involved wrestling stomach issues …
Engelsman: We were in the desert in a tent …
Holland: We were all in the same tent and James had — you know, I don’t even need to tell that story.
What, if anything, did you want this show to say about the state of cars or car culture?
Bourgeois: I think it’s an exciting time to document. Whilst we’re looking at a new way of powering vehicles, it’s interesting to see the way the soul of a vehicle is being preserved. I don’t think we’re shying away from EVs. I think they’re just becoming part of the broader picture.
Holland: If there is one thing that we wanted to communicate, it’s that cars are, have been, can be and will continue to be, fun.
Engelsman: The only thing that upsets me at the moment is that the most exciting cars are coming out now at a price point that’s untouchable. Hopefully, we can help ease that journey back into discovering how amazing some of the cars in the 2000s were. Stuff that was new when we were watching Top Gear is now our own “cheap car challenge” fodder, which is amazing.
Any last-minute pandering to Canadian readers?
Engelsman: Half of the three hosts are Canadian. There’s infinitely more Canadian representation than there’s ever been on the show.
Bourgeois: I’ve tried poutine and I’ve enjoyed it.
This interview has been condensed and edited.