Dangerous liaisons

The Grand Tour team get to grips with our French neighbours and try out their decidedly strange cars

- IAN MACEWAN

NEW MOTORING

The Grand Tour presents: Carnage a Trois

Available from Friday 17 December, Amazon Prime Video

The Grand Tour’s Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May are never afraid of being outspoken, and in their latest motoring special, they pose the question: ‘What’s the matter with the French?’

In search of answers, the petrolhead pals look at some typically idiosyncratic French car designs, including a bizarre ‘helicar’ that comes with a huge propeller.

They also stage a rallycross race in hot French hatchbacks, take three Gallic family cars off-road up a mountain and, in a grand finale, select which motor to fire back over the Channel using a giant catapult.

We caught up with May, 58, to find out more about their French-themed caper…

Are you worried that there might be a backlash if you start criticising the French? Not really, because we’re not being racist – we’re asking, in a very colloquial sense, what are the French on about? What do they mean? If anybody tries to say we’re being Little Englanders, I think they’re just trying to pick a fight and looking for something that isn’t there.

What are the best things about French cars? The Citroën 2CV was a fantastic example of a true people’s car, designed to meet the needs of someone who wants basic transport. They also did that with the Renault 4. And they’re masters of the hatchback.