The Grand Tour [opening sequence] from Daniel Siegling on Vimeo.
The breathtaking opening scene.
We got the privilege of being part of the opening scene for the first episode of The Grand Tour, shot in Lucerne Valley on the Rabbit Playa back in late September. I helped them source a handful of mutant vehicles from Burning Man and, with Lucas Hand’s help, got Snoddy’s awesome rat rod and hauler out there. I believe that’s a Cobra Daytona next to us and the white tent in the background is where they hosted the 2,000 contest winners until they were needed for the shoot. I can now say I’ve been in the vicinity of two of the three greatest hypercars of all time – the Porsche 918 and the McLaren P1. Doubt I’ll ever see a Ferrari The Ferrari.
Here’s a very tall Jeremy Clarkson looking at the car next to us. The opening scene included a full stage where the Hot House Flowers were playing, close to 100 of the most exotic cars on the planet and the aforementioned 2,000 contest winners jamming out as Clarkson, Hammond and May (and a bunch more cars) drive in out of the desert.
Gil explains the finer points of our winch to Richard Hammond and James May.
We sort of snuck out and parked probably where we shouldn’t have been, but it was right next to this $1.3 million Pagani Huayra. I actually had the guys lift up 1107 and move it over a few inches so our passenger door wouldn’t bang it when you opened it.
This is what the interior of a $1.3 million car looks like.
Crusty admires one of the two Porsches that ran the 24 Hours of LeMans earlier in the year.
Snoddy’s rat rod truck is so bad ass I can’t stand it.
Some aerialists who set up next to us asked to have their picture taken with the car. We were probably the only group that allowed fans to climb into the car and have their picture taken.
I might have been one of the few people who asked for a selfie with Andy Wilman, executive producer of the Grand Tour. He did a hilarious interview with the Master Class series. The part at the beginning where they meet with Amazon executives (“Don’t talk about the tent”) is great.
Jalopnik did a nice write up on us and here’s a gallery of all the shots from the event.