- [engines roaring]
- [upbeat rock music]
[tires screeching]
[music ends]
[whoosh]
[distant owl hooting]
[beep]
[digital trilling]
[Francis] Are you 100% sure
they said to meet here?
[Tom]
Yeah, this is 100% where we're meeting.
- [James] Any luck?
- [Francis] Nope.
[Francis] You might be wondering
why we're standing
- outside Williams F1 HQ...
- [Francis sighs]
...in the middle of the night.
[tense music]
Well...
Formula 1 is a 24-hour operation,
and during race weekends
teams are constantly shuttling new parts
from the factory to the race track.
It's a sport where every second counts,
and Williams have a crucial part
that needs delivering
to the Spa Grand Prix.
- [digital trilling]
- And they need it fast.
So, we've turned it into a race.
Naturally, I would be taking one helmet
on a train
with James.
- [music ends]
- And Thomas would be taking another.
In a car.
[James]
Seriously, where are those helmets?
[Francis]
Thirteen hours until sprint quali
and we are 400 miles away from Spa.
This is going to be ridiculously tight.
Every second we're here
is more chance
that none of us make it in time.
I mean, I get why you guys are worried
'cause you're on public transport,
which is the...
worst of all the transports, obviously.
I'll be fine. I'm in a car.
[sharp inhale]
Did I mention it's a really fast car?
- [haunting music]
- [Tom] And a really expensive one too.
- [dark sting]
- Meet the Pagani Utopia Roadster.
It costs 3.1 million euros.
It's a hypercar with a zero-to-60 time
of... Well, who cares?
It's faster than a train.
It's the perfect tool
to lead me to certain victory.
[music fades]
It is amazing,
but it will not beat the train.
We'll see.
- [tense music]
- [James] The fight for bragging rights
would see us duel
across three countries.
Our race would start at Williams HQ
deep in the English countryside,
crossing through France
and all the way through
to the Spa race circuit
in Belgium.
The finish line would be
F1-driver Alex Albon's head.
And with the clock already ticking,
we needed to get his helmet to him
before sprint qualifying began.
[tense music]
[digital trilling]
Whilst we've been waiting,
I've drawn up the rules of engagement.
Uh, rule number one:
- Team Car, that's you...
- Okay.
- ...cannot use the train.
- Right.
Rule number two, uh...
Team Train, that's us,
cannot use the car.
[James clears throat]
- What, that's it?
- Yep.
Good thing you wrote them down then.
[daunting music]
[zipping sound]
[Tom] There's no train station
anywhere near here by the way,
so, like, right off the bat,
you're cooked.
Just wanted to point that out.
- Op, here we go. Thank you!
- [Francis] Thank you.
All right, I am Team Blue.
What colour are we?
Sorry.
[grunt]
[Tom]
Goodbye!
- Francis!
- Orange.
- [ignition fires]
- [engine roars]
Good luck, Thomas!
[chuckle]
Screw you guys!
[James] Don't wish him good luck.
It's a bloody hypercar!
- This way?
- [Francis] Yeah, yeah, come on.
So, first gear,
parking brake,
- [engine purrs]
- [James] Ogh, listen to it!
It's a cliché to say spaceship,
but my God!
- [car horn honks]
- [Tom] Get out of the way.
[James] Oh!
No time to enjoy the Pagani yet.
Leaving Williams.
- [music building]
- Race begins.
[James] How far's the station?
- [music fades]
- [Francis] Well...
Wantage Road Station used to be
just around the corner
in 1964, but then it closed.
[James]
Right, but it's not 1964 anymore.
Francis,
those bikes better not be for us.
- [Francis] Yep.
- [James] Oh, God.
[Francis]
Now our nearest railway station
is Dicot Parkway.
- How far is that?
- [Francis] Just under 15 kilometres.
[sigh]
[James]
Where are the gears, Francis?
[Francis]
You have electric assistance.
[James]
Oh, I've never driven one of these.
Right.
Follow me.
[James] Okay.
Oh... wooh!
[James] I don't mind
that performance-enhancing tug!
[James] Fifteen kilometres? Easy!
Did you ever do
your cycling proficiency?
Uh, no, but I've got you.
[pulsing electronic music]
- [click]
- [engine humming]
[Tom] So, why the Pagani Utopia?
Very simply,
it has an 85-litre fuel tank.
[chuckling]
That's huge!
That's so much range!
Also, it has an 852-horsepower,
twin-turbo V12.
Right behind my head.
Yeah, this is the type of car
that wins races.
- [click]
- [engine roaring]
Wooh!
- [music fades]
- [James grunting]
[James]
So, I just want to get this straight.
Thomas is leaving
in a bajillion-horsepower hypercar.
- [Francis] Yeah.
- And we're on bloody bicycles.
[Francis]
You know what Sir Chris Hoy used to do
- before he did a big sprint?
- [James] What?
[Francis]
He used to consume bicarbonates of soda
because the alkaline
counteracted the effects
of the lactic acid.
Well, have you got any?
No.
Okay.
[train passing]
We're right next
to the Great Western Main Line now.
We're closing in on Didcot.
[tense music]
[Francis] With James and I
approaching our first
of many train stations,
Thomas had taken a significant lead
and was now powering
through the home counties.
[Tom] All right, empty motorway,
full tank of gas
and a race to win.
[engine humming]
[James] Thirty minutes after leaving
and with a severe case of saddle arse,
- we finally arrived at the station.
- [digital trilling]
Free the helmet,
precious cargo.
[James] But while Thomas
might have been miles ahead,
Francis had a trick up his sleeve.
[Francis] I've called in a favour.
We're going onto the heritage side
- of the Didcot railway.
- [James] Ooh!
Is this a Francis Bourgeois
red-carpet treatment?
[engine whirring]
Can you hear the sound
of those Napier turbos?
- [Francis sighs]
- Look at that!
- [Francis chuckles]
- You haven't!
[dreamy score]
You haven't organised a train!
[Francis] Here, we have
two vintage Class 50 locomotives.
And I'd arranged for these brutes
to haul us
on a one-off, non-stop, direct route
all the way
to London St. Pancras International.
[James grunts]
[sigh]
Look at this.
Now what happens?
This is where... sh*t gets real.
[music ends]
[Tom] All right, it is just motorways
from here to Dover.
I've got everything under the sun.
I've got overhead toggle switches,
I've got the most beautiful
manual transmission you've ever seen.
I'm sitting on exquisite leather
in an exceptionally high-quality cabin.
It looks like a high-end c*ck bar.
- [adventurous score]
- This is the way to travel.
- [Francis] We're powering up.
- We're powering up?
What does powering up mean?
- [engine rumbling]
- Listen to this.
- [engine whirring]
- [sigh]
[Francis chuckles]
[Francis] We're nearly at 60 mph.
We've done naught to 60 in about...
twenty seconds!
[chuckle]
- [tracks clicking]
- [James] How quick does this go?
[Francis] These would have gone 100 mph,
but today we can only go 75.
But Thomas doesn't drive slow.
[Francis]
James, can I just remind you...
[James] Yes.
- If I hadn't have arranged this...
- Yes.
...we'd still be cycling.
Yep, fair enough, fair enough.
Go, train! Go, Class 50!
- [music continues]
- [tracks clacking]
[Francis] Listen to this symphony.
Listen to this symphony.
[James] I'm listening. I'm in.
[engine whirring]
[train bell dings]
- Sounds like a helicopter spinning up.
- Ogh!
That was a good moment, wasn't it?
[Francis]
All of these sounds, it's music!
It's the soundtrack
to railway enthusiasm!
- [slow whoosh]
- [train horn honks]
- [music fades]
- [phone rings]
- [beep]
- [loud whirring]
Hello?
- Thomas!
- Thomas, how you doing?
What the he-- Hello?
- [James] Can you hear that?
- Yeah, I can hear that!
Wha-- where are you?
That's the sound of eight turbos.
English electric 16 CSVT music, baby!
That-- uh, what he says.
What do you mean eight turbos?
Where are you?
[Francis] We're in the front
of a Class 50, Thomas.
Class 50!
And we've out-trumped you
on the engine stacks.
[James] Yeah, your engine sucks.
Sorry, what do you mean
you're in a locomotive?
[wind hurling]
[James] You chose your enemies poorly.
I've got Francis Bourgeois on my side
and he's organised a private train.
- [train horn honks]
- Jesus!
That doesn't sound
like a passenger train to me.
This is borderline cheating.
Class 50 were used primarily
for passenger services back in the day,
so I'm regarding this
as a passenger train, give or take.
[James] Where are you at the moment?
[Tom] I am 65 miles from Dover.
Making good time, baby.
I'm sorry, are you guys
being overwhelmed by the fact
that you're in a locomotive
and you can't hear what I'm saying?
[James] Thomas, what matters
is we've got no traffic in front of us
and we're going 75 mph,
which is five mph more than you.
[train horn wails]
- [horn wailing]
- Oh, my God! Jesus!
Sorry, Thomas, the sound
of our turbos are overwhelming.
I can only wish you the best of luck...
and we'll see you soon.
[pulsing electronic music]
[James] Thomas may have been in the lead,
but our rules were clear.
He wasn't allowed to take a train,
which meant
he was about to slow way down.
Oh, there's the turn-off
for the Channel Tunnel.
I won't be taking the tunnel.
I'll be going on a ferry.
Actually, scratch that.
I will be taking the tunnel.
This one.
Windows down.
- [engine humming]
- [screech]
Wooh h* h*!
[chuckling]
Holy sh*t!
Okay, so,
a couple things happened there.
One, I heard the incredible sound
this car makes
in the tunnel,
and two,
I lost control of the rear end.
sh*t my pants.
- [engine growling]
- [train horn blasts]
Ealing Broadway!
[laughing]
[Francis] With Thomas closing in on Dover,
James and I were powering
towards central London
where the next leg
of our race would begin.
[music ends]
[Francis] We're very close
to St. Pancras now,
so we should probably gather our stuff.
- [foreboding music]
- [digital trilling]
[train horn honks]
- [James chuckles]
- [Francis grunts]
- We need to go...
- Okay.
- Oh, right, hang on.
- Well done, we made it.
It's not often you see two 50s
on the blocks
- at St. Pancras.
- [shutter snapping]
Francis, it's a race!
Enough photos, come on!
[James] Leaving Francis's
vintage-rail fantasy behind,
we crossed the station
into the 21st century
heading for the much more modern,
much, much faster Eurostar.
Let's go. The race waits for no man.
[tense score]
[Tom]
Oh, I can see the white cliffs of Dover!
[digital trilling]
The ninth wonder of the world.
Probably.
[engine roaring]
All right, here we are.
Ferry time.
Let the next stage of the journey begin.
[music fades]
All right, I made it!
Just gotta wait for the trucks to board.
If we don't get a move-on soon,
we're not gonna make sprint quali.
And I wanna see my helmet
on Alex Albon.
That sounded wrong.
[machinery whirring]
[James] One team already at Spa
were Williams.
[tense music]
[digital trilling]
[drill cranking]
Their army of mechanics and engineers
were hard at work
preparing Albon's car
for sprint qualifying.
- [music ends]
- Which meant, in short,
we needed to get across the channel.
Fast.
This way, Francis.
Boarding.
[daunting music]
[Tom] Here we go!
Boarding the ferry!
[engine shuts off]
[prolonged boat-horn blast]
[sigh]
This isn't so bad.
More spacious than a train.
[music fades]
[agent blows whistle]
[James]
With ten minutes till departure,
Francis didn't waste any time
and seized the opportunity
to continue my train education.
[Francis] When you see
the 373s pass at speed,
they make a very distinctive noise.
So, you hear the...
[sucks air]
And then...
[whoosh]
[clipped whoosh sounds]
[sharp exhale]
And just to prove that noise...
[sounds of typing]
[train sounds on phone]
[clipping sounds]
[Francis imitates whoosh sounds]
[sharp exhale]
[James] You nailed it.
[high-adrenaline music]
Here we go.
Stage three of our plan commences.
Let's do it!
[James] As we left London behind,
Thomas was already
well across the channel,
cruising at a steady 20 mph.
But as the Eurostar
is quite a bit faster than that...
- [music fades]
- [digital trill]
...we could settle down
and do some catching up.
[Francis] A-ha!
[James] Ooh!
'Track Atlas,
a comprehensive geographic atlas
showing the rail network
of Great Britain'.
This is great... bedtime reading.
There's a term
in the railway-enthusiasts' community
for something that's 'red pen'.
So, they'll take a book like this
and they'll just highlight the line
that they've been on.
- [beep]
- [chair whirring]
[vibrations pulsing]
[James] I love
that you have shown me all this
while we're probably overtaking Thomas.
- It fills me with joy.
- [Francis] Yeah.
[blowing]
[tense score]
[Francis] A little under an hour
after leaving London,
James and I
were already hitting mainland Europe.
[train whooshes]
We were now barrelling along
at a blistering speed
of 186 mph.
[digital trill]
- We've blasted past Thomas.
- [Francis] Yeah.
He's all the way over there.
[music stops]
[chair whirring]
[phone ringing]
James.
Francis and I
just wanted to let you know
that we are deep into France already.
What do you mean deep into Fra--
How?
[James]
Speed, my friend. Speed.
Brussels is a mere stone's throw away
at this point.
So, you're a whole country
ahead of me right now?
[James] Driving a Pagani is fleeting,
but Mr. Albon wearing the helmet
that Francis and I deliver to him
will last forever
and be immortalized in F1 History.
Well, as soon as I'm off this ferry,
I'm going to make sure
that that doesn't happen.
[foreboding sting]
[Tom] Fortunately, the French coastline
was now only a stone's throw away
and being a man of my word...
[garage door whirring]
["Ça Plane Pour Moi"
by Plastic Bertrand]
- [engine revs]
- ...it was time
to deliver on my promise.
All right, finally off the ferry.
Let's see if we can make up some time.
- [revving]
- Oh, my God!
Ooh h* h*!
[Tom] With the Pagani now making
short work of France,
I had the chance
to really consider the way
the Utopia looks
in the cold light of day.
[engine purring]
[music fades]
It's a bit...
much.
It's like you asked AI
to generate a Pagani
and then you told the AI
to make it more Pagani-ey,
and you just kept clicking the button
over and over again 60 times,
this is the end result.
[chuckling]
It's just-- There's a lot going on.
But the best thing about a Pagani
is that they will customize this thing
to whatever your heart desires.
If you want the seats
made out of alpaca, you got it.
If you want the seat
made out of Gucci bags,
you got it.
I actually heard of a customer
who wanted diamond dust in the paint.
Mm, they're gonna charge you for it,
and 3 million euros
is the starting price.
I feel like if you were gonna do
a diamond-dust paint
with alpaca-Gucci-seat
Pagani Utopia Roadster,
you're probably gonna want
to own a lot of land
that has oil in it.
[engine revving]
We've already crossed the border.
- Have we?
- Into Belgium.
[James]
We are absolutely moving it now.
Should we take a little glance
at the helmet?
I mean, we're here.
It'd be a shame not to.
Okay.
This is it.
This is the package.
Look at that.
[Francis] Do you want to try it on?
I can't.
- Why?
- You do it.
It might not fit.
You've got a big head.
Yeah, that looks tight.
Feels quite compressing.
[Thomas] Yes, it does look
like it's compressing you.
There we are.
[chuckling]
Like a glove!
It looks good.
It looks like a winner's helmet.
[brash rock music]
[Tom] James and Francis may already be
in Belgium...
but there was still time
for the Pagani and me
to get back in the game.
In theory.
[music ends]
[Tom] Oh, no, no, no!
[groan]
This isn't exactly the whole
"gonna crack it open
as I get into France" thing
that I thought it was gonna be.
[sting]
[Francis] We're in Brussels.
[James] What's the game plan now?
We're switching trains?
[Francis] Yes, we're switching
to a regional service,
but we need to be quick.
- [digital trill]
- [daunting music]
Alright.
[James] Oh, he's off! He's off!
He's so quick.
All right, what's the number
we're going for?
[Francis]
We're looking for the regional service
to Verviers via Liege.
[music builds]
[James]
I don't see Verviers up there.
'Enter via 1D'.
What does 1D mean?
- This is not a simple system.
- [James] No.
It's always the case
with European main stations.
Not to put pressure,
but there's a Pagani Utopia Roadster
barrelling towards us right now
in this moment.
[music fades]
[Tom] Come on!
Mo--
I'm losing my patience.
Ah, an accident!
You don't need to look at it!
Just go!
Oh, look, somebody got
minorly rear ended.
- Oh, it's a Maserati!
- [engine revving]
And we're free!
[James]
We're losing serious time here.
[indistinct PA announcement]
[Francis] Excuse me.
We're trying to go to Verviers.
- What?
- Verviers.
- I can't hear you.
- Verviers.
- Ver...?
- [Francis] Verviers!
- What city?
- [Francis] Verviers!
[James] Verviers!
[Francis] Bigger board at the end.
- [James] And he's off!
[pulsing electronic music]
Right.
Verviers.
What about GP F1?
Surely that's it.
- Platform 7?
- Okay.
[James] Let's do it.
I've got to get tickets.
[Tom] All right,
I've got a bit of open highway here.
- I have some catching up to do!
- [transmission clicks]
[revving]
- [distributer whirring]
- [James] Okay, platform 7.
[Francis] Up we go.
[James] Keep moving. Come on.
We've got this in the bag.
[Francis] Ooh!
[James] And the phone is out!
[Francis] This is
a beautiful Siemens Eurosprinter.
- Double decker!
- [James] I think we need
- to go to the top floor then.
- [Francis] Yep.
Let's see if the door
aligns perfectly with us.
[indistinct PA announcement]
Look at that!
- Guten morgen.
- Okay.
This is nice!
- [revving]
- [tense music]
[Tom] Oh!
Belgium!
We're here.
[Tom] Finally in the right country,
I was now only 170 miles from Spa.
But that was also
about 170 miles more
than the Pagani had left in its tank...
which meant my only choice
was to embody the speed,
poise and grace
- of a Formula 1 pit crew.
- [music fades]
- [thud]
- [sigh]
I'm good!
Ninety-eight! Supreme!
[pump clicks, whirring]
Come on.
[whimpering]
Go faster!
[gasp]
Time to go.
Pay for pump seven, please.
Excuse me. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
That guy had his hands in his pants.
I don't know why.
[grunt]
[engine revs]
All right, an F1 pit stop
is usually around two seconds.
That was...
- ...eight minutes.
- [revving]
It's fine. It's fine.
- Here we go, back on the road.
- [tense music]
Okay, how long's this journey?
Uh, one hour twenty-four.
But we're already in Belgium.
Yeah, and we'll be making progress
up to 120 mph, so...
- It's no Eurostar, is it?
- [clears throat]
No, but we're going quicker
than the roads.
[Tom] Or were they?
- [pulsing techno music]
- Ooh h* h*!
I think this is the first
turbocharged car I've ever been in
where I don't feel I'm missing out
on any sound.
[whoosh]
It sounds like a spirit
screaming from another plane
of existence.
- [revving]
- Listen!
Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.
[James] With the Pagani
now making relentless progress
through Belgium,
Francis was about
to drop another logistical surprise.
What awaits us at Verviers?
Another train?
[Francis]
Much like how the Williams factory
was a slight distance away
from the station...
- Oh, no.
- [clears throat]
...Spa is...
a medium distance away from the station
that we're arriving into.
Medium being more than slight?
[Francis] Yeah, so...
we're going to be cycling again.
Course we are.
How far is this medium cycle?
Uh, 28 kilometres.
- I feel like I've been punked.
- [Francis laughs]
And the first one was, what?
- Yeah.
- We're at over 40 kilometres.
This isn't a train journey, Francis.
This is a bike ride
with some trains in the middle.
[Francis] Don't worry.
Probably just 'cause
we've been sitting down so much,
just get your legs ready
'cause otherwise
you're gonna cramp up big time.
[James] Okay.
- [tense sting]
- [Tom] All right, off the ring road
onto a proper motorway
towards the circuit.
- [revving]
- Let's do this!
[Tom] I may have been making up
a lot of time,
but sprint quali
was just under two hours away
with fans pouring into the circuit
and Alex Albon getting ready to race.
[tense music]
Suffice it to say neither side
could take their foot off the pedal.
I've never pulled an all-nighter
that started with a bike ride,
and then been like,
'You know what? Instead of going to bed,
- I'll do an even bigger bike ride.'
- [laugh]
[digital trill]
[phone rings]
Thomas.
[Thomas] Where are you guys now?
[Francis] We've arrived into Verviers.
We're just switching modes of transport.
Switching modes of transport to what?
[Francis] Uh, we're... getting bikes.
[James] Don't worry about it, Thomas.
You're slowing us down.
Bikes?
[cackle]
Okay! Have fun!
[Francis] Where are you now?
[Tom] I am just outside Brussels.
- [Francis] Okay.
- We don't need that right now.
We don't. Bye. Bye, Thomas.
- Good luck.
- Okay. Good luck.
[phone beeps]
He's outside of Brussels.
- [James] Okay.
- [Francis] That's really not good.
[Tom] All right, they're way closer
to the circuit than I am.
I now have a much higher top speed
than they do,
quite a lot higher actually.
[tense music builds]
[James] Final leg!
This is our moment.
[music ends]
It's quite hilly, Verviers.
Progressively so.
Only 27.8 kilometres to go.
["Boys In the Better Land"
by Fontaines D.C.]
[James vocalizing rousing melody]
Where's my speed?
- [crunch]
- [music cuts]
[James] Ah!
[Francis] Woah!
[sharp inhale]
I chose that moment
to see how fast we were going.
- You okay?
- [James] I'm all good.
[Tom] I wonder what their speed is
on those bicycles.
I know Francis is actually weirdly fit.
I saw him once take off on a scooter
and he moved so quickly
I was scared for his safety,
but James...
is not a cyclist.
- [Francis] Are you sure you're okay?
- [James] Yeah.
I think I got a bit of 'up dog'
on my hand though.
- What's 'up dog'?
- Not much, what's up with you, mate?
All right!
- You okay?
- Let's carry on. Yeah, yeah.
Do you want me to kind of let you know
if there are things in the road?
That sign,
despite the fluorescent colour,
came out of absolutely nowhere.
- [tense music]
- [digital trilling]
[revving]
[Tom] All right,
we are just coming into Liege,
which is 20 miles or so
from the circuit.
Getting closer.
[James] Oh, look at that leg out!
You've done that before, Francis!
[Tom] I'm seeing hills and forests.
This is the landscape where Spa lives.
We're gettin' close.
Oh, don't tell me
that's the hill we have to climb.
Oh, crikey.
This is like
the bloomin' Tour de France.
[Francis sighs]
Don't leave me behind, James!
- What?
- [Francis] Don't leave me behind!
[James]
Come on, Francis, you big bean pole.
f*ck me, that hill!
[revving]
[chuckling]
Oh, holy sh*t!
You're going 40, Francis!
You're going 40!
Forty-one!
Forty-two!
Forty-three!
Look at that posture!
Ugh, it's crushing my testicles.
F1 Belgian Grand Prix! That's a sign!
Thomas must be coming off here.
[Tom] Here it is. This is my exit.
No sign.
[music fades]
[phone rings]
Hello?
[Francis] Thomas, where are you?
I'm real close to the circuit.
Where are you?
How close is close?
Uh, less than 20 miles.
Okay, that's all we need from you.
[high pitched]
Thanks very much, mate!
[phone beeps]
What the hell was that?
[squeal]
He's less than...
[Francis] Twenty miles!
- [suspenseful music]
- That's not good.
[digital trill]
[Francis] There's the track!
Home stretch!
- [dark sting]
- Look how many pedestrians are ahead.
- [bike bell dinging]
- Thank you!
Thank you, guys.
[Tom]
Hundreds of miles in three countries,
and it's literally coming down
to this moment.
[revving]
- [drill whirring]
- [music builds]
[Francis]
We're here! We're actually here!
Where's the Pagani?
[Tom] Oh, that's a bad speed bump.
That's a bad speed bump.
[Tom whimpers]
[squeals]
- [sting]
- [Francis] Down here, James.
[James]
If that leg doesn't get us the win!
Where am I going? Where am I going?
- [James] Williams, Williams...
- [Francis] Sorry, excuse me.
Do you know what paddock number
the Williams paddock is?
[Tom] Now where? Now where?
[Francis] Is that Williams there?
[James] That's Williams!
We need to go around the front then,
don't we?
[distant engine revving]
Got to get my helmet!
Got to get the helmet.
Come-- come out!
What?
Okay, there we go. There we go.
[music fades]
[Tom sighs]
Time... No time, let's go, let's go!
- [suspenseful music]
- Are they here? They better not be.
[bike bell dings]
[Tom] Excuse me!
Excuse me!
- Thank you.
- [agent] Yep, yep, yep.
- [click, beep]
- Thank you.
[Francis] Williams!
James!
[James] I don't see a Pagani.
I don't see a Pagani!
[chuckling]
Have we done it?
[agent] The garage!
- It's the garage you need to find.
- What?
[agent]
It's the garage you need to find.
This is hospitality.
[James] Turns out...
we hadn't done it.
sh*t! Okay.
[James] Excuse me, guys.
Where's the garage for Williams?
- [sting]
- [Tom] Where are they?
I don't see anybody on bikes.
[sigh]
[Francis] Are you sure
she said up the stairs?
[James] That's what she said, yeah.
Up the stairs.
[Tom] There it is, Williams.
That's Williams.
[music builds]
[music fades]
[distant engine roaring]
[winded]
Alex, I'm here!
Alex?
[Tom blows raspberry]
- Ta-da!
- Hey, I'll take the helmet.
Thank you.
- I can't believe that, seriously.
- We earned it.
We cycled 42 kilometres.
[laughter]
And there was a train
somewhere in there.
- I don't feel so bad now.
- [James] Yeah.
- [Francis] And...
- No, I do actually.
I'm still devastated.
[inspiring music]
[engine revving]
[chopper whirring]
[engines roaring past]
I can't wait to see the orange helmet,
Thomas.
- The one we brought.
- Yeah, no, I know.
- From really far away.
- Yeah, no, I'm well aware.
[whoosh]
- There it is!
- Go on, Albon!
- There's the orange helmet!
- [Francis] Do our helmet proud!
- Yes!
- [engine roaring]
[music fades]
One of my hairs is going
at about 300 kph at the moment.
- Sure.
- Francis wore the helmet.
- I, I-- I tried it on.
- Very good.
Gentlemen, congratulations.
- Well done.
- Well done.
I will get you on the next one,
you understand?
You didn't stuff a Pagani.
That's true.
That's true.
[Tom] But truth be told,
in the last 13 hours in the Pagani,
I also hadn't had the chance
to even scratch the surface
of its performance.
[high-adrenaline music]
[crow cawing]
So, on my way back from Spa...
- [dark sting]
- I made a quick detour.
Open runway. No speed limits.
No Brussels traffic.
No James and Francis
already at the finish line.
Let's see what she's got.
- [dashboard dings]
- Race mode.
[engine revving]
[music cuts]
[distant crows cawing]
- [revving]
- [tense music]
Oh, Jesus! Ooh!
Oh, a little on the boost!
Still spinning in third!
[raucous revving]
Oh, that performance is absolutely...
...cold-blooded!
- [music cuts]
- [Tom laughing]
[juddering]
Oh!
- [revs]
- [juddering]
Are you hearing that?
Ooh h* h*!
[clicking]
The fact
that I am orchestrating that noise
and that performance
with a manual shifter
blows my mind, seriously!
And look at the manual,
it's not wearing any clothes.
It's practically X-rated.
This is actually what C-3PO looks at
on the internet at night.
- [clicks]
- [revving]
- [high-adrenaline music]
- [Tom] So, not surprisingly,
the 852-horsepower,
3-million euros hypercar
is invigorating
when you put your foot down.
But what makes it interesting
is not that it's fast.
It's how it's fast.
It's made out of something
called carbotitanium...
and Carbo-Triax HP62,
and it has 40 different types
of carbon fibre.
And there's no sound-deadening
whatsoever,
hence all the stones you're hearing
being kicked up by the sticky tires
into the wheel well.
[engine growls]
All that weight reduction
means this car weighs
under 1,300 kilos.
That makes it lighter
than a Mini Cooper S.
That means
it has a better power-to-weight ratio
than Lamborghini's brand-new Revuelto.
That's their over-1,000-horsepower
flagship supercar.
[Tom] So, not only are the numbers
on the Utopia's dashboard just a blur,
that low weight
coupled with sticky tires
and fancy aero means
it stops like this.
[whoosh]
- Oh, the brakes! Ooh...
- [tires screeching]
[music stops]
That actually made me light-headed.
[juddering]
[Tom] But the madness that is Pagani
doesn't stop at the straight-line stuff
because, if you dare turn
the traction control off,
well, you'd better have
your big-boy pants on.
- [engine roaring]
- [tires squealing]
Wooh h* h*!
[music continues]
You have to be on it. You really do.
[tires screech]
There's no delay
between when I turn this wheel
and that front end turns in.
Jesus! And it is really, really wild.
Good God!
- [revving]
- [tires screeching]
[tires screeching]
[screeching]
- [music fades]
- [tires screeching]
- That is insane.
- [engine revving]
[Tom laughing]
The margin for error
is essentially non-existent.
You've got grip,
a skid,
a spin.
- [revving]
- That's all you get.
[laughing]
- [intense music]
- [Tom] You see,
instead of adding hybrid batteries,
four-wheel drive
and a double-clutch gear box
to generate performance,
Pagani has chosen
to make the experience raw
and unfiltered,
old school.
This is a car
that requires you as a driver
- to be really paying attention.
- [revving]
- [tires screeching]
- Oh, my God!
Wooh!
[laughing]
Pagani could have
made this car a tech fest.
They could have made it
way faster in a straight line,
but they didn't.
They decided to do something
way more important.
They decided to make it exciting.
[Tom] The world of supercars and hypercars
has been confused
by the endless arms race
for more horsepower and more speed.
The Utopia
doesn't concern itself with that.
Yes, it's fast,
but it's much more than that.
[whoosh]
It's a reminder
that hypercars can still be
what our eight-year-old brains
think they are.
Okay, I'll give you that the Utopia
is a pretty expensive reminder,
but isn't that what hypercars are for?
To give us something to dream about.
- [clicks]
- [revving]
[music intensifies]
[music fades]
[digital trilling]
["Symphony No. 9 Choral" by Beethoven]
[sting]
[James] Okay, so, just to clarify,
the 850-horsepower,
was good?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
But what's the point in that
if you're in traffic all the time?
Wouldn't you rather be in one of these?
- A Microlino.
- [whirring rev]
["99 Red Balloons" by Nena]
[James] At just half the size
of Thomas's prized Pagani,
the Microlino is an electric car
from fold-out-scooter
manufacturer Micro.
How many EVs do we come across
that are just amorphous,
- boring blobs?
- Most of them.
[James] And so
there's this special list of EVs
that are built for purpose,
that do cool things,
and this is one of them.
- It's all you need for the town.
- Yeah.
[James] It's compact, efficient,
it's perfect!
Look at it!
It's so cute!
[Tom] How fast does it go?
Naught to 50 in five seconds.
- Five seconds... wait.
- Not too shabby.
- Zero to 50?
- Kilometres an hour.
[laughter]
But it tops out at 90.
- Kilometres an hour?
- Yeah.
- Right.
- That's enough for the city.
- Eh, that's true.
- How can you not love it?
[upbeat jazz music]
[James] But this small car
comes with one hefty price tag.
So, it starts at £17,000.
- £17,000?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
This one's the long range,
so it's £22,000.
[scoffs]
James.
- Yeah.
- That's the price of a full car.
Yeah, yeah, you can get
a Volkswagen Polo.
For £22,000!
[James] But it doesn't look like this!
This is happiness manifest!
- [Tom] You love this thing, don't you?
- [James] I adore it.
I love it not just for what it is,
but for the car it's inspired by,
the Isetta,
and that's a car
whose story is the stuff of legend.
[retro funk music]
[James] Let me take you back
to the 1950s.
Europe is trying to rebuild
after the Second World w*r
and money is tight.
In Italy, everyone is getting around
on cheap scooters,
which is all good...
until it rains.
Enter Renzo Rivolta,
the boss
of Italian refrigeration firm Iso.
Rivolta has a brain wave.
What about a rainproof scooter?
So, he assembles a group
of aerospace engineers
and they come up with this.
[inspiring score]
[James] With the engine from a motorbike,
the door handle from a fridge
and side-by-side seating for two,
Iso's design is...
genius, elegant,
a quantum leap for tiny cars.
[James] But Italians don't take
to the Isetta
and the tiny car doesn't sell as well
as Rivolta hopes.
[James] After one year on the market,
Iso's only sold a few hundred Isettas,
which means it's about to become
a forgotten footnote in history.
That is, until a big dog comes along,
one called Bayerische Motoren Werke.
You know it as BMW,
and for Rivolta,
those letters stand for
'Big Mother-fricking Win'.
[upbeat jazz fusion]
[James] In this new post-w*r climate,
BMW is nearly bankrupt.
They need a lifeline.
And fast.
Like a Michelin-starred chef
pivoting to hot dogs,
BMW bosses decide that the Isetta
could be the quick fix
their company needs
to keep the factory lights on.
[James] They licensed the design from Iso
and set about 'BMW-izing' it,
and in 1955,
they reveal...
This!
The Isetta!
Yeah, they didn't rename it,
but this is the BMW Isetta,
and I know it looks the same,
but it is completely different.
[music fades]
And most importantly,
BMW switched out the weedy,
little 9.5-horsepower engine from Iso
and shoved in a powerhouse unit
that produces...
...twelve horsepower.
Oh, I'm getting flashed by the bus.
Ah...
Sorry, sorry!
[blows raspberry]
This is a vehicle
not without its quirks.
The shift pattern, for example,
is out of a bad dream.
It's loud,
it sounds like a hedge trimmer
and it's not particularly safe.
This sunroof isn't a sunroof.
It's an escape hatch
that's legally required
in case of a front-on collision
because if you do crash
into a mouse in this,
where are you going to go?
And yet somehow,
despite all of those things,
I love this car.
I love it so much...
that I bought one.
[jazz fusion continues]
This thing just spreads joy,
not just the cabin,
everyone loves it.
Every-- hello!
Everyone loves this car.
It's so joyous!
[James] And it has one hell
of a party trick.
Park it.
Nose to curb.
And get out...
- right on the pavement.
- [music ends]
Genius.
[electronic funk music]
[James] The little Isetta is a big hit
with the Germans.
Are 160,000 are sold
in less than a decade,
solidifying BMW's business
and setting the stage
for their future success.
But there was more.
After bringing BMW back from the dead,
the Isetta wasn't done
with its good deeds yet.
Yeah, it proved it could save a company,
but now it was time to become a saviour
of the people.
- [dark sting]
- [tense music]
[James] It's 1961,
the height of the Cold w*r.
The Berlin Wall
goes up almost overnight.
Lined with land mines, barbed wire
and armed guards,
East Berlins are now forbidden
to cross the border,
and those who try risk their lives.
[James] Over in West Berlin
is a young man
named Klaus-Günter Jacobi.
[slide-carousel click]
And his good friend Manfred Koster
is trapped on this side of the wall
and is about to be drafted
into the East Germany army,
which he really doesn't want,
so our man Klaus
devises an audacious plan
to liberate Manfred
by smuggling him across the border in...
You guessed it.
An Isetta.
[harrowing score]
[James] Klaus's plan hinges
on a curious Isetta quirk.
The engine is mounted on the right
behind the seats,
which Klaus thinks
might leave enough room on the left
for a Manfred-sized hole.
- [tools whirring]
- So, in 1963,
late at night in his workshop,
he sets about creating a hidden,
human-sized compartment
within the Isetta.
[James] Modifying the floor and exhaust
and fitting a new, tiny fuel tank,
Klaus creates a small, secret cavity
behind the driver's seat.
In order to escape,
that is the space
that Manfred would have to squeeze into.
[music fades]
- Excuse me!
- [whirring stops]
- Hi.
- Yes.
Thomas,
can I have your assistance here
for a second, please?
Okay.
Squeeze into that.
I'd really rather not.
- [James] Thomas, you studied history?
- I did.
- And you love history.
- I do.
And you do the North American thing
where every time you come to Europe,
you touch the wall of a building
and say,
"Do you even know how old this is?"
Yeah.
Last time, it was a Tesco Express.
This is real history.
Get stuck in.
Poor choice of words,
but give it a go.
A person actually fit in this space?
Yeah, I think he went legs there.
It's tight.
You might have to go more foetal.
Do you remember how you were
when Gossip Girl ended?
- That.
- Yeah.
[grunting]
Okay, okay.
Exhale.
[James groans]
[grunt]
[Tom] Am I in?
- No, not at all.
- Okay.
Looks like you're staying
in East Germany, my friend.
[Tom] Okay.
[harrowing music]
[James] Luckily, the real Manfred
is quite a bit smaller than Thomas
and the Isetta's secret compartment
fits him like a glove.
So, late one night in 1963,
days before Manfred is due
for military service,
they decide to execute the plan.
[James] But it takes them longer
than it was supposed to
and by the time the Isetta
gets to the checkpoint,
it's 11 o'clock,
only one hour before the border closes.
And there's a long queue.
[music intensifies]
[dogs barking]
[James] Time ticks by.
The cue creeps slowly forward.
And now it's only minutes
until the border closes.
[in German]
Paper, please.
If Manfred coughs
or that sniffer dog catches his scent...
basically if the guards sense
that anything is amiss
and he's discovered,
they're not just gonna be sent home.
They'll probably never be seen again.
[music fades]
[engine idling]
[inspiring music]
[James] Manfred is free!
And his escape
triggers a tiny revolution.
Inspired by Klaus's mission,
over the following years,
Isettas are used
to smuggle even more defectors
out of East Germany and to freedom.
The Isetta had officially proven itself
a Cold w*r hero.
[Tom] It's an incredible story.
It really is.
Can you imagine your entire existence,
like, your future,
your safety depending on an Isetta?
[James laughs]
[James] It was a tiny, unlikely hero.
What we're trying to say
is that this car, the Microlino,
has some pretty big--
small shoes to fill.
Yeah, true,
but it has that same optimism.
It has that vibe.
[Tom] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [James] Look, he gave it a thumbs-up.
- [Tom] Oh, yeah.
- He did love it.
- What a guy!
["99 Red Balloons" by Nena]
Forget Ferraris. Forget Lamborghinis.
This is where it's at.
It's one of those few EVs
that's just super cool.
- [Tom] Yeah.
- Go on, Microlino!
[whirring acceleration]
- Put your foot all the way down.
- It's all the way.
- [Tom] All the way.
- [James] That's all the way.
- [Tom] Is it?
- [James] I'm giving it everything.
[Tom] Look, I can help.
Put your foot all the way down.
Oh, don't do that! Don't do that!
- Get off!
- [Tom chuckles]
[song ends]
- [foreboding music]
- [James] From the angry Atlantic sea...
No!
- ...across the Namib Desert...
- Whoa!
...almost going off a cliff.
[Tom] Holy sh*t!
[James]
How have you managed to do that?
[revving]
- [Tom] I'm excited.
- Yeah, I'm intimidated.
[Tom] We're racing in Angola!
[Francis] Got no brakes!
I've got no brakes!
[Tom] That's scary.
- [tires screech]
- [smashing]
[upbeat rock music]
[music ends]
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