A bit late for me to vote for this special. But with the chance, I'll give it clear the maximum of points, available for me.
I saw this episode nearly 50 times. You may call this insane, but it`s like music in the background, when I work on my computer, developing things. And with this much focus on the storyline, you`ll find a lot of situations, which seems to be a bit weired.
But I and everybody should always remember, this is a show. It`s not the discovery channel and thanks god, it isn`t. It`s good to script some things, it`s good to fake some things, it`s good to polarize the audience.
Andy and Jeremy are working together and of course James and Richard are involved. They create the ideas, the storyboard, the create this kind of television chess spectacle, we like to see. We like the bit of reality, cause we know, this guys are genuie, even if ths situation itself might be constructed. The are friends in real life and even that proofs even scripted jokes are close to reality, if this wasn`t a movie.
You may remember the botsuana special. "Whats that? Looks like a see."
It`s not a secret, that clarkson knows this place best, since he spend a year before holliday with his family there...Crossing the salt pans with a quad and using the same phrases "creme brulet...covered ooze....this layer..." in his blog. So for sure, He and Andy Willman created the ideas for this special together.
Anyway, don`t want expand this to far. Many wise men here said enough wise words. And since this is phantastic enjoyable action, I love it. I love it more than other movies, which are not based on reality. TopGear did things, we all could do. Pickup some friends, ship your exploration vehicles to south america and visit the volcanos, the atacama etc...And you`ll sure come to the same problems, make some really funny jokes in your group, have a great time...All without cameras on your side.
The reason why I am here, is quite different und breaks down to a technical question, nobody was able to answer before. Which tire size clarkson used after the upgrade? I know the guys from mm4x4 UK, which fitted the 5" lift, I know the metachtech guys for the rollcage, but knowbody remembers the tire size. And since I am a serious Range Rover Enthusiast, driving this cars on real rallye stages and in the north african desert, I`m really interested in this
Oh...One issue, which wasn`t covered already. Clarkson said more then once "diff locks on" - OK, but an classic range rover doesn`t got any diff-locks. It`s just a lockable transfer case in the middle. And there ist no three wheel possibility for James, since the Suzuki uses traditional open differentials in the front and rear axle, an open hub (the worse automatic ones) will result in full front axle failure, so he got only two wheel drive. But if both hub locked correctly, he got 4WD.