Why the most expensive Top Gear stunt went wrong

[@wotmate]

The thing about the Reliant Robin Space Shuttle is that every single person in the world who had a mental age of 12 absolutely loved the entire concept, and were completely shattered when it crashed.

[@SupremeRuleroftheWorld]

i would say the crash is what made it memorable. it shows that faliiure is always possible for everyone

[@MARVINMotorSport]

It was soooo close.

[@wotmate]

@@MARVINMotorSport when Richard and James were lying in the bunks talking and James said "I'd really like this one to work", I felt that in my soul...

[@themike97_58]

i have no doubt that they wanted it to work, and that it wasn't supposed to crash, but it would not have been a top gear moment if it all went right. i think the fact that it crashed adds to the legend.

[@phill6859]

It would have been boring

[@gerryjamesedwards1227]

Ben is spot on about the photography, the quality of the filming was a big part of the attraction of TG, for me.

[@TrevorDennis100]

So not just a matter of putting a tobacco coloured filter on the camera then? 😉 You are absolutely right of course. The filming and production values were top notch. In one of the earlier videos in the series, I think it was Ben who said that the same camera team was flitting between Top Gear and Grand Tour. A big part of that would be Andy Willman of course, but he would have needed to persuade Amazon to let him make that choice.

[@greathey1234]

I can watch old tg on low res and still enjoy it. Anyone can film with a device

[@williamstrachan]

@@TrevorDennis100 Later on the whole graduated ND filter thing felt a bit excessive but... the filming was so good that I'm nitpicking over a filter 😅

[@ut2k4wikichici]

For me it was the editing especially in their 2003-2010 hayday

[@atch300]

For some reason TGT didn’t have the same editing prowess TG did. Probably because the BBC had such an enormous library of licensed music. But I think it was a directorial decision too.

[@MisterSynonym]

Ben's memory is ridiculous, and we're all here benefiting from it. You can tell he really enjoyed his time on TG.

[@JulianBaird]

The Reliant Robin Space Shuttle was my favourite thing they ever did....I was literally on the edge of my seat and I was gutted when it crashed. I was properly invested in it's success!

[@RaceDayReplay]

D&P Hauliers doing some serious tailgating there

[@greathey1234]

Reminds me of top gear van challenge 😂

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

KZbinrs doing interviews in moving cars on a motorway is just as dangerous

[@rorypuds]

​@@Jabber-ig3iwno it's not

[@RaceDayReplay]

@@Jabber-ig3iw you're right, talking in moving vehicles should be banned

[@TIRED.365]

Advertising 👀😂

[@Jaco_Schutte]

Such a treat listening to BC. Get him back often.

[@jonarse]

The space shuttle episode is both my favorite episode but also the very first Top Gear episode I ever saw. I was visiting friends they sat me down and said, you need to watch this.

[@gillianpile7910]

I recall an interview with Wilman when he said that because of Richard’s crash S9 was moved to late January but they couldn’t have as many episodes as they had filmed stuff for. Therefore S9 was essentially all the expensive ‘stunts’ and not much else. Then they discovered that the newly acquired viewers really liked these oddball things, so that’s when TG veered more into that than traditional reviews. My abiding memory of that series is the difference between the Richard in the films and the gaunt, obviously still poorly one in the studio.

[@craigkingdon4424]

The idea that only jeremy knows where the cow came from is hilarious

07:28 I read that the explosion was edited in from a Bomb test they filmed later that day :) But I too think the Reliant Robin Bit was the first and best Top Gear Segment I ever saw

[@maxhaughton1964]

It is. You can actually find some footage of the real crash somewhere on youtube

[@ian9033]

Love these chats with Ben, the only thing that would make them better is having Richard Porter in the back seat chipping in now and again :-)

[@-ZIO]

In my opinion, Top Gear was some of the best television EVER made.

[@wellend89]

7:25 Mike I'm 99% certain that the Reliant Shuttle crash explosion was edited in since all the rocket fuel had been expended and there was nothing to create that kind of a fireball. It's faily apparent when looking at the footage and I actually have a feeling I've seen that exact explosion somewhere else before.

[@Henchman_Holding_Wrench]

While it would have been cool to see the Robin Shuttle do some laps and land, that explosion was as spectacular as the launch.

[@Henchman_Holding_Wrench]

@@samuelgarrod8327 I'm not. And 7 minutes in, Ben himself said "Up, separate, he's gonna fly 2 perimeters apparently, and bring it down." If you aren't watching the video, why are you here?

[@meh7348]

"but the Stig wouldn't be happy would he, he'd be angry" kayfabe at its finest.

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

The Reliant Robin shuttle is one of the best things they ever did, and probably made a whole lot better by it not going completely to plan.

[@midlifecrisis9269]

I work at UWE at the robin reliant model for the wind tunnel is still here.

[@dogjennings1171]

Do they still have the signatures on the whiteboard next to the wind tunnel? I remember we asked Mike Ackerman his thoughts on the failure and he was adamant that they made it fail on purpose and it would have glided back down

[@damianhall4554]

@@dogjennings1171 thE TRUTH IS OUT THERE,,,aSK mIKE TO GIMME A CALL!

[@damianhall4554]

I beleive Mike;s biss *the bondle lady) was Mike;s Boss, She was very reserved about it's success.

[@damianhall4554]

She had workedfor NASA thp

[@dogjennings1171]

@damianhall4554 if you're thinking of Dr Chris Toomer, she was very reserved about a lot of things. She wouldn't be positive until she'd seen it land.

[@marcbeebee6969]

13:37 that was the best. Botswana special ❤❤❤❤ And that they found the cars on the newest episode. I must say i shead a tear.😢

[@liamjackson6930]

One of my favourites was the parade of British Manufactures on the Mall in London

[@bicyclist2]

Agreed. And I'm not even English.

[@mercator79]

I could listen/watch hours and hours of that reminiscing. Brilliant

[@trevorberridge6079]

I totally agree that the Reliant Robin Space Shuttle was the best thing Top Gear ever did. It was seen as a disaster, but it was in fact a massive success. I've always said that it actually did at least as well as the real thing. The Columbia disintegrated on re-entry and the Challenger didn't even make it into orbit having exploded after 73 seconds due to an O Ring issue that NASA were warned about prior to the launch. The RRSS ignited, launched, ditched it's boosters and started to position itself for final separation. The disconnect switch didn't work and the main rocket and the Robin made a big hole in the countryside. But I know if the disconnect worked the RRSS would have glided to a magnificent landing. It was actually the MOST successful unmanned Space Shuttle flight ever. I broke from this comment just now to watch the launch 17 years later and the take off is still one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It rivals everything up to and including the SpaceX booster being caught by a landing tower. You may wonder how I can call it a success. Because it was a one-off experiment that achieved 3 of the 5 main objectives: Take off, detach boosters, adopt seperation attitude, release Robin, land Robin. The last two phases worked in testing, but not when they went live. And ever since then I've asked myself the same question Ben asked: Why couldn't they give it another try? They basically had one flaw that scuppered the flight. They could absolutely get it right next time. The amount of money Amazon spent on Grand Tour they could easily have afforded RRSS II. It would be one of the greatest achievements in rocketeer history.

[@nextgengaming7803]

Of all top gear missions, this was the one I wanted to work the most. Even though it failed it was one of the most enjoyable. Always wanted them to revisit and have another go, but I guess costs were just too much.

[@andymb601]

7:23 the shot of the explosion isn't the actual shot. There's amateur footage on KZbin showing what it really looked like. Whole thing took about 10-15 seconds

[@karl9655]

Driving that rs6 chasing down a bugatti would have been a good experience mile after mile ....bet the bloke in the d&p truck was boiling his piss following you when filming this 😂😂😂😂

[@Alex-md6bu]

That mini launch was the best 30 seconds of tv of the 2000s in my opinion, just great to watch!!

[@Lburt07]

We need a Drivetribe podcast. Mike waffling about MG and Jaaaag nonsense, Ben going on about Stig family dinners, Izzy going on about her love for Martin the Subari. And maybe a appearance from Cpt Slow, Hamster and the big JC.

[@ceesdewidt887]

Oh my gosh, this brought back so many happy memories 👍🎈. So great to hear about the behind the scenes stuff. Thank you for doing this and hopefully more to come.

[@ohheyitskevinc]

You know what would be nice - if BBC ever release original TG in a blu ray box set, to have two commentary tracks: one with Wilman and Clarkson as I think they’d cancel each other out and make sense, and another commentary track with Ben, Hammond and May with Mike as the fan asking questions on our behalf. I’d pay good money for that. Even just the specials would do. It’ll never happen, but you never know.

[@alexmccoy5069]

It would have to be upscaled for blu-ray since it was filmed on low-res PAL video

[@jbritain]

​@@alexmccoy5069there's clearly some HD top gear stuff (although it may well be upscaled) because the stuff on the new top gear classic channel is much higher res.

[@RJSRdg]

Wilman, Hammond, May and Collins didn't have any involvement with original TG ;-)

[@tobicain7816]

as much as i love the TG stuff, id really love some similar road trips going in depth with his stunt driving career

[@perge_music]

I think the Robin was the best bit of TV I've ever seen. The Rocketeers were on Pistonheads and they said that it was a 100% success. To make it actually land was going to cost 10 times what it did so they had to pretend it was a surprise it crashed.

[@steveboatronics]

You guys are so watchable; intellectual and educated. Gotta love Drivetribe! 👌

[@EleanorPeterson]

Answer at 7:15. Whoops...

[@urbanstrencan]

Great to hear from Ben talking about TopGear ❤❤

[@n.gravey3735]

We need the full uncut trip

[@K113-A]

Thanks to these people (James, Jeremy, Richard, and Ben) the Veyron will always be one of the best supercar to have ever existed Yes it's not the prettiest, not the cheapest, it's slower in today's supercar scene, yes it is expensive to maintain, but it was the first of it's kind

[@ReaverLordTonus]

I've always theorized that the Reliant Robin shuttle didn't separate because they decided it would be too difficult to control and so did not want to run the risk of it crashing outside the designated area, so they let is stay with the rocket. It was a missile test range so they are used to missiles coming up and back down.

[@RJSRdg]

My own theory is that it didn't separate because it would go against the format of the programme to have a TG stunt that actually works! Probably a set-up.

[@asicdathens]

It was not a disaster. Also, when the first copy of this video was uploaded on KZbin when it was aired made the rounds at all the NASA offices (from what I read in the comments back then)

[@pauldupre2269]

Gotta Love a bit of Ben. A fountain of knowledge

[@michaelredford5389]

I also wish the team did more racing. I know it would have interrupted the show somewhat, but if they took part in some smaller endurance series, let's say, the equivalent of GT4's in BritishGT for a season... where would that sport be today? Not that it's doing badly right now, but it would have been a few years ahead/bigger. Especially if "The Stig" mystery was able to stay a secret during something like that, in a year. Probably the BBC rules itself wouldn't allow for something like that.

[@hyperthreader]

I've always wondered if they knew ahead of time that the Space Shuttle wouldn't separate and fly and were just acting... Apparently not!

[@clumsygarage1578]

I heard elsewhere that the explosion wasn’t real though. Presumably the thing just crumpled into the floor, they left the cameras where they were, and set up the fireball.

[@michaelshenny]

@@clumsygarage1578 That's true, there was a video on KZbin of it happening in real time, was still impressive but it didn't explode on impact. Shouldn't have watched it, slightly ruined it for me haha.

[@mycroftsanchez901]

Captain Slow was FASTER than The Stig!

[@justplanenuts5541]

My favourite special is when they went in search of the source of the Nile.

[@SANDSCORCHER]

10:38 It was RWD. The engine was mid mounted.

[@YTZack408]

What’s the name of the video where they visit the site of the amphibious challenge site? I don’t see a link to it.

[@sawworx8194]

Can't find it either :(

[@weldeddaydreams]

The W12 Golf was rear wheel drive Ben.

[@ReaganNikolasBenjamin-n8x]

Yeah it was and Mike has got the engine location wrong too.

[@Rentta]

That Bentley Golf was mid engined and RWD not front engined and FWD

[@Henchman1977]

That stunt was an absolute success.

[@mediapark101]

When Clarkson is pulled out of the ice hole having been unceremoniously shoved in the freezing water by the SAS guy with no warning he starts, as best he can, to launch into a "How dare you..." rant but is cut short by the guy yelling "ROLL IN THE SNOW!!". That's how you can tell it was totally for real.

[@rgrkb]

James May is now no longer Captain slow that goes to Ben Colins

[@2008tourer]

The number of people not maintaining safe distance in this video is absolutely outrageous

[@shadowharu]

3:11 vanishing car

[@harleyb7880]

Rofl

[@BJWT1047]

Ben you oddly didn’t mention the Lotus F1 car in your book! I thought you’d *not* driven it - but I am glad that you did!

[@monkified1989]

Mike, where do you get your Tartan watch band? super cool.

[@lamingtonp]

what i always wondered is why they never included the stig on the road trips/cheap car challenges. mean we had abbey in part of one on the grand tour which was a great idea by james may.first epsiode i ever saw was the us special which was awesome

[@Ink_25]

6:49 I can barely focus on the conversation when I see that truck coming closer and closer, just a few meters away

[@alphakky]

WHOA! A San Diego Padres cap? Noice! 😮

[@jetfight11]

Is mike a San Diego Padres fan?

[@imaner76]

I took a lot from this chat and it was epic. But something I can't let go of. Is how much of a chunt that D&P Haulage wagon was. Tailgating RUMEZ needs to give his head a wobble. You complete numpty. Hey RUMEZ stop driving like chunt with your name in the windscreen you melt.

[@Taylor___]

Mike just getting to do what we all wanted to do. Grill the team about our favourite show.

[@smartin2174]

The W12 GTi was rear mid engined, but still undriveable.

[@TheKarlperkins]

Interesting to watch this video and see the amount of times they are tailgated!! UK drivers aremental!! D & P haulage looked as if it was gonna ram them off the road!!!

[@melondoc]

Official: UK lorry drivers are faster than the Stig

[@SimulatorAdventures]

Why is the thumbnail from that old Rocket Robin flash game? That game was great.

[@nomojo1110]

I'm curious if Top Gear stuntman was _The Stig_ for the snow mobile jump at the end of the Winter Games special?

[@Umski]

All of these anecdotes are the genuinely original stunts that I remember from the peak of TG IMO - the Reliant Shuttle being the pinnacle even though it didn’t make it 😮 Everything that followed was all a bit same-same and not really memorable…

[@mirthenary]

Andy, if you're watching, please, please, PLEASE redo the robin rocket. Please. It'd be worth it. Please.🙏

[@tytb0286]

Heard from some of the rocketeers that James nearly blew it up by smoking to near the explosives

[@kevin-l7r7p]

Hmm Ben has certainly signed the 'go with the flow' agreement of the ex TG gang. We all know is was scripted (more so as series went on) but I loved it and still do anyway...and yea I doubt the Veyron made 250mph in 10s!

[@Nicky_Nacky_Nooo]

Well that was a bit of an abrupt ending.

[@richardspencer4901]

Spoiler alert, the massive explosion at the impact was added. The real one was in this video, a lot less as the main booster had used its fuel up by then. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqCwfKxmaZidlassi=sso8GlqFFtWR8sFD

[@nicholas_james]

I have the Polar Special queued up after this...

[@carlstanland5333]

Looking at the background trucks, I see they ride your ass in Britain too.

[@pauldupre2269]

More chat of the original conversation. But I'm sure I heard some of it already 🤔 🤷‍♂️

[@greathey1234]

I heard you heard. Get on with it Ben

[@Phuc_Yhou]

D&P Haulage being a khunt

[@Cars_1734]

You should all go karting and see who is quickest, (including Ben)

[@KonorSacks]

LFGSD!!!!

[@Taylor___]

Regarding the rocket, i understand why Jeremy wanted nothing to do with it now. The cost to license fee payers.

[@votekyle3000]

I actually thought the whole idea was a joke, it failing was always the end result to me

[@pjccwest]

🙂

[@dreamburn1]

Sorry-Me can't help but comment: Me think it's amazing when someone from England, where the English language originated, (or Scotland) makes so many grammatical errors with pronouns when speaking to I. Me think English is dying a slow death. Tell I what you think-do you agree? 😂🤣😜 Love you, Mike. 😁

[@petercapon9878]

Boring

[@greathey1234]

I adore that Vanquish and and despise that Ben