Former Top Gear team begin filming

Former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond have begun filming for their new show on Amazon Prime, tentatively titled ‘Gear Knobs’. In a photo posted on Twitter by Clarkson himself, the former hosts are pictured at a racing circuit with a ‘skeleton crew’, kicking off their shooting schedule with a segment the entire world has been waiting for – the Great Hypercar Showdown!

That’s right! The boys have finally got the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 exactly where they want them! Well, almost. You see, the circuit they’re at isn’t the Dunsfold Park Test Track at all (otherwise known as the ‘Top Gear Test Track’). Instead they’re at Portimao Circuit in Portugal, where it looks like we’re finally going to get the “Great Hypercar Showdown” that was promised near the end of the hosts’ run on Top Gear. Throughout their final season, the trio teased a showdown between the Ferrari LaFerrari, the McLaren P1, and the Porsche 918 Spyder.

That showdown never happened, partly because the hosts ended up leaving, and partly because the three manufacturers kept changing their demands — Ferrari, for instance, wouldn’t let the show test its crazy hypercar on anything but its own test track in Italy. But it looks like they’ve finally worked it all out and settled on neutral ground. Portimao is a 4.692 km (2.915 mi) FIA-spec circuit which features 18 turns and constantly undulating terrain. Some racing drivers have commented that the circuit is a ‘little bit dangerous’ and that the asphalt on the circuit has little grip. Perfect for a bit of tail-out action we think.

We’ll bring you all the news as it comes to hand, but for now we can at least be happy knowing that filming for the new series is under way, and should be on our screens sometime in 2016.