“My spouse and I had simply realized we have been going to have a child, so I’d swapped my much-loved Fiat Barchetta for a four-seater, a ratty previous Porsche 911 SC that was completely at risk of exploding. But I drove it to fulfill Jeremy [Clarkson] and Andy Wilman, the TG producer. They noticed it and thought I used to be, properly, actual.
“I did my stuff with Jeremy after which it was time to go, so I advised them I’d higher head again to ’Nam, which was my phrase for Cheltenham. They thought that was humorous. In reality, they reckon it’s the rationale I bought the job.”
And now for Hammond on…
Friendship with May and Clarkson
“We’re friends, of course. If we spent any more time together, we’d have to start living in the same house. Of course, we argue sometimes, but everyone argues. We argue in the programme. That’s part of it. But we’re in touch. I was talking to James this morning, just before you arrived. My ambition is to be barred from his pub in Wiltshire.”
Goals for the subsequent 5 years
“I want The Smallest Cog to be bigger. I want our restored cars to be requested at the best car shows for their quality. I want these shelves in my office to be covered with ‘best in show’ awards. Most of all, I want to be doing what I’m doing now, being part of it all.”
Fixing catastrophic TV harm “overnight”
“There’s no mystery. We do it ourselves. We just stay up all night… Actually, it’s a mixture. We have crew, of course, but we also have to muck in at times. I once welded a Subaru wishbone back into a fit state on my own. But as for ‘overnight, we built a bridge’, you can draw your own conclusion.”
His personal vehicles
“My day by day is a Ford Ranger Wildtrak. I’ve bought a Porsche 911 GTS convertible, an old-shape Land Rover 110 breathed on by Bowler, a Subaru WRX STi I drove on The Grand Tour, plus a few different Grand Tour vehicles I can’t speak about.
“I’ve bought a ’62 E-Type OTS convertible and one other ’62 E coupé in bits that wants a full restoration. There’s the ’67 Ford Mustang GT 390, too – and, after all, there are the bikes. Quite quite a lot of these. I benefit from the freedom.”
