SOUND OF THE UNDERGROUND

Stig's secret subterranean lair is the perfect place to make a lot of noise. And that's exactly what we've done. Welcome to TopGear Tunnel Run

- ROWAN HORNCASTLE

It’s an acronym: not in my backyard. Five letters that combine to create a controversial label for a person who openly opposes infrastructure developments in their area. But if it wasn’t for a bit of Victorian Nimbyism, we wouldn’t have an epic new YouTube series: TopGear Tunnel Run.

It’s a seven-part celebration of the old-school sounds of combustion, presented by Becky Evans, and coming to a screen near you soon. But if it wasn’t for some bloke called Henry Attenborough being a Nimby, The Stig wouldn’t have been able to be let loose in the world’s loudest, lairiest machines for you and your ears’ benefit.

Which means you wouldn’t know what a Group B Rally car, screaming V12 track-only hypercar, twin-supercharged vintage Formula One car, a NASCAR racer and many other mad, multicylindered machines sound like at flat chat through an incredibly confined space. And – trust me – that’s worth a watch. And possibly a new pair of headphones.

But it was all made possible because of one mind-blowing location: a really, really long (we’re talking nearly two miles), really, really dark and frightfully eerie railway tunnel buried deep in the heart of Northamptonshire. And at this point, we need to rewind back to old Henry Attenborough, and a time when people used to ride penny farthings and put children up chimneys.

See, back in the 19th century, Henry was the owner of the Catesby estate. And when these newfangled things called ‘trains’ came along, he objected to the “unsightly” chuffing steam machines as they spoiled the view from his stately home. So, he decided to bury them.