James May Hints Of Big Changes For Season 3 Of The Grand Tour

With news coming left, right and centre about the new season of The Grand Tour, we were excited to see that James May had done an interview with a Canadian website called wheels.ca. While an interview just before the time of release, January 18th, isn’t unusual, the questions that they asked were just that. And because of this, we have to tell you guys all about it.

HOW DOES SERIES THREE DIFFER FROM THE PREVIOUS SERIES?

There are some big changes coming to Season 3 according to Captain Slow.

‘We’ve got effectively three specials, rather than the usual one,” James starts. “We’ve got a few other films that are almost special length; you know almost a full episode long. We’ve got a few silly races, some terrible old cars. some rather romantic old cars as well. Bickering, some sort of shallow pointless arguments, and a few supercars.’

We’ve been keeping a good eye on the goings on during the filming of this season, so make sure you click here for an in-depth look at everything we know.

James talks of one change that really has surprised us, especially as it was such an integral part of the Top Gear structure.

“‘Celebrity Face Off’ has bitten the dust and has not been replaced.” James says in the interview. “We’ve ditched the guests because they weren’t that popular. And we realized we could spend more time on the films if we ditched the guests. So the guests got the bullet, I’m afraid”

This will surely please many of you who have been complaining about the guests having too long a time slot, or simply telling us that it bored you. This also bridges the gap between Season 2 and 4, of which the latter will no longer feature the tent and will consist of just special-like episodes. No more audience, no more news, just long journeys with our three favourite presenters.

Thoughts on Canada?

With the website being a Canadian based company, of course they’re going to ask James what his favourite part of Canada is, and what he likes about the country. He explains that he’s spent quite a bit of time in Vancouver and loves the low-price, high quality sushi they have available. Of course, the scenery and crisp air are up there too for the Reassembler. The website also states how he wants to see more of Canada and that he’s got his eye on a jazz festival.

Electric Bikes?

James is asked if he’s a fan of going all-electric, in particular, the new all-electric bikes that have been popping up lately.

“…Well I’ve tried a few, and I’ve got an electric car (a BMW i3). I’m quite a fan of electric propulsion. I think it’s a different sort of excitement. I mean you don’t get the thrill of the buzz in the sweet spot of the engine, you don’t get the perfect gear change. But you do get this sort of instant torque, silent progress, strange noise, feeling that you’re sort of in Star Trek or something. So I quite like it.

“…. it’s been a year or two since I’ve ridden an electric bike. So I need to get back on top of that. I rode a fuel cell one a few years back. With a sort of plug-in fuel cell where the fuel tank would normally be on a normal bike. You could recharge it in your house and simply plug it in the bike and off it went. And I have to say it was bloody brilliant. It was really, really good. It’s great if you live in a built-up urban area as I do, and you have to set off early in the morning. Cause you always feel a bit bad about firing up a BMW flat twin or a Ducati or something. If you just sort of silently float away on your electric bike it’s all very agreeable.”

Polystyrene?

You know when I said he was asked some weird questions? This is one of them. Referring to the unboxing video of his new Toyota GRMN, the website asked him if he liked the sound of the polystyrene rubbing together and squeaking. He answers…

“I quite like the feel of polystyrene. I like cutting it with a hot wire. And I quite like lying on it. For some pervy reason..”

Where’s the Stripy Top?

We all know the one they’re asking about – his pink and purple ‘rugby shirt’ that he seems to adore.

“Oh it’s definitely still in my wardrobe. Actually, it’s terribly remiss of me, I don’t think I’ve worn it this series. That’s very poor, isn’t it? Because I think it still has its own website somewhere so there’ll be some questions asked on the web about what’s happened to the pink and purple stripe rugby shirt of doom! But you can reassure all your readers that it survives. It has a small hole in it, but it’s got a good 30 years left in it yet.”

Are you happy with how The Grand Tour Season 3 is turning out? Or are you more interested in the stripy rugby shirt of doom? Let us know in the comments.