Grand Tour Ford Raptor Episode [exclusive] Access

Jeremy, sweating, had the Raptor’s passenger-side tires on the sheer rock wall and the driver’s-side mirrors scraping the abyss. “It fits perfectly,” he grunted, as a loud CRACK signaled the death of a mirror housing. “That was a… a warning branch.”

Water exploded over the hood. The engine note changed from a roar to a gurgle. For a horrible moment, nothing. Then, with a deep, mechanical cough , the big V6 cleared its throat and powered on. The Raptor clawed its way up the opposite bank, mud and water streaming from its wheel arches, looking like a prehistoric beast emerging from a tar pit. grand tour ford raptor episode

Here’s a fun, detailed story based on The Grand Tour Season 3, Episode 2 (titled “The Colombia Special”), which famously featured the Ford F-150 Raptor alongside a Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 and a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. The Amazonian sun hadn’t even risen over the Colombian mountains, but Jeremy Clarkson was already yelling. Not at Richard Hammond or James May—yet—but at a recalcitrant can of coffee. “It’s frozen,” he grumbled, shaking the tin. “It’s the equator . How is it frozen?” Jeremy, sweating, had the Raptor’s passenger-side tires on

“It’s a cheat code!” he screamed over the radio. “The faster you go, the smoother it gets! It’s like the road just gives up and apologizes for existing!” The engine note changed from a roar to a gurgle

As Hammond and May towed him out with a rope made of vines and spite, Jeremy sat on the tailgate, defeated but proud. “It’s not a car,” he sighed, looking at the Raptor. “It’s a magnificent, ridiculous, too-fat, amphibious monster. And I loved every second.”

He never did get his coffee. But the Raptor got its legend.

The trouble began five minutes into the first jungle trail. The Raptor, you see, is six inches wider than the Silverado and four inches wider than the Jeep. On a normal road, that’s “presence.” On a Colombian mountain pass carved by donkeys, where the road was a single muddy groove between a rock face and a 2,000-foot drop, it was a problem .