rowan_topgear

Now this was an epic trip. Of epic proportions. See, at Top Gear Magazine, we take customer service seriously. So seriously, in fact, that to celebrate our SUV of the Year – the new Hyundai Santa Fe – @olliemarriage, @charliebrose and I decided to hand-deliver our latest issue to every single subscriber in… New Zealand. All of them. From the misty peaks of the North Island to the windswept southern tip of the South, we threw Hyundai’s new family car at every sheep-strewn, pothole-laden, postcard-perfect road New Zealand had to offer. The result? An adventure, exhaustion, and a small existential crisis about whether covering a whole country (that’s separated by a not so insignifcatnt body of water) in less than a week was a good idea. It was. You can read the full story in the latest issue of Top Gear Magazine and will be able to watch Charlie’s epic video of the most ridiculous road test on YouTube soon. As locations for photography go, New Zealand’s landscapes are basically pre-alpha AI. No matter where you go, there’s beauty. It’s just a shame it’s so bloody far away. Back to Wales we go.

Top Gear Speed Week. It really is the best week of the year (once the logistical cluster bomb is diffused). Our goal is always to take you with us. Not literally, of course; there’s barely space for The Stig in our hold luggage, but through the medium of thoughtful words, eye-popping photography, and all the video, website, and podcast content we create. You can check something out on whatever platform you like, as we’re everywhere.

Road-going race cars. Or, more specifically, road cars that promise F1 performance. It’s all gone a bit mad recently. And it’s just got madder thanks to the Auto Union Type 52 ‘Schnellsportwagen’. You’ve got stuff like the Aston Martin Valkyrie, where he-who-can-see-air (Adrian Newey) managed to somehow get a car with 1,000bhp and hip-high venturi tunnels past the DVSA. Then there’s the Mercedes-AMG ONE, which stuffed Lewis Hamilton’s actual engine from a world championship-winning racing car into something you could theoretically Uber in. And don’t forget the McMurtry Spéirling, which serves up two tonnes of downforce at a drive-thru. But there’s also a brand-new F1 car for the road… which just so happens to also be 90 years old. It’s called the Auto Union Type 52 ‘Schnellsportwagen’. And when I saw it unveiled at Goodwood Festival of Speed this summer, I knew we had to get it to this year’s Top Gear Speed Week. It was designed by Ferdinand Porsche (yes, that Porsche) to dominate road races like the Mille Miglia and Le Mans, but also make one’s schlep from Stuttgart to Frankfurt faster as a daily. But for all its promises and potential, it never moved past the ideation stage. However, using the limited information and drawings left behind from Auto Union’s Chemnitz HQ (which fell under Soviet control in 1945 so many artifacts were lost) Audi Tradition, along with Crosthwaite & Gardiner and Mouland & Yates have spent the last decade reconstructing the past. You might ask, why now? Why resurrect a car that never existed? The answer is simple: because Audi could. Because there’s value in looking back, not just to admire what was, but to explore what might have been. The Type 52 isn’t just a car; it’s a reminder that sometimes, the best ideas are the ones that never get made. Until they do. You can read the full feature in the latest issue of @topgear Magazine. Or head to TG’s YouTube channel to watch me help wrestle it around Navarra circuit. 📸: @mark_scenemedia

Wet and wild. As soon as I heard about @madmike.123’s plans to make an absolutely insane rotary-swapped, 1,000-horsepower, flame-spitting McLaren drift hypercar, I had to get on the phone to @lanzantelimited and see what we could do with it. There are decades worth of headaches in this kind of project, so I have absolutely no idea how the team at MadLab built this in 100 days. Yet they did. And not only that, they have managed to knock out a three-rotor billet 20B turbo-engined, sequential gearbox’d, angry P1-shaped hornet that has the quality of a production car. So I implore you to go and see (and hear) this thing @fosgoodwood if you can. The quality is off the charts. But before its big Goodwood debut, we hit the circuit for a quick shakedown on a soaking British summer’s day and got Mike to talk us around the car. There’s a full video on @topgear YouTube channel and plans cooking for what we can do with it in the future. But I couldn’t resist going down to see and shoot this myself. There’s some sort of wellness benefit to dusting off a camera and standing on a corner in the soaking rain while filling your nostrils with pre-mixed E85. Big up @madmike.123, @redbullmotorsports, @ogaramotorsport, @lanzantelimited and everyone behind this project. We need cars and people like this in the world. Now turn up the volume, scroll to the end and hear it blow out Goodwood’s sound meters. Then head to Top Gear’s YouTube channel to hear about this build from the man himself.

What you’re looking at is the result of a year-long build project and the result of yet another silly concept in my head. The plan (if you could call it that) was to turn a bog-stock Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 into a never-been-done-before crossover custom: a café racer with panniers and practicality. Why? Because, to me, customs should be used and not sit on paddock stands. With the help of @royalenfield’s custom team as well as various geniuses, craftspeople and suppliers in the bike community, everyone came together to make this project bike happen. Once we’d settled on a design, we got to work, documenting it monthly @topgear magazine and TopGear.com. First stop, @central_wheel_components to lace up some wider, handmade spoked wheels. @harrisperformancebikes then produced a mixture of CNC billet aluminium bits and even some prototype parts like the fairing. @nitron_suspension fitted adjustable shocks front and rear, @baakmotocyclettes provided a lighter and fruiter exhaust and Scottish-based former sushi chef turned seat guru @hurleycustomseats made a completely custom seat. We were basically going for a bike that was meant to look like it’s taken a wrong turn out of a pitlane but could also be loaded up like a pack horse. So step in @fastecracing (engineering gurus) and @mallelondon (the best-spirited luggage company on Earth) who gave our Conti GT an adventurous edge with a luggage solution. Finally, @urbanriderlondon and @vanoni_moto_officina helped fit finishing touches, braided brake upgrades from @helperformance and a tracker from @biketrac . Oh, did I forget to mention Royal Enfield’s colour, trim and graphics department slathered it in my favourite livery ever, a paint scheme inspired by Alexander Calder’s 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL Le Mans car. Because what’s the point in having a custom if you don’t stand out? And obviously @hedonworkshop had to make a matching custom lid. You can go back and follow the whole build on TopGear.com and see the bike for yourself at @bikeshedmotoco this weekend as well as @fosgoodwood and other events later this summer and throughout the year. Thank you so much to everyone who made it happen. 📸: @mark_scenemedia

Welcome to The Stig’s secret subterranean lair. With no speed cameras and no neighbours, this is the perfect place to make a lot of noise. And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Welcome to Top Gear Tunnel Run, a project that’s taken me many, many months to take from a silly idea in my head to a new Top Gear YouTube series. It’s a seven-part celebration of the old-school sounds of combustion. Because as sensible, silent EVs take over, the future of cars might be AC/DC… but it’s hardly rock-and-roll. Whereas an Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR PRO, Lamborghini Huracan STO, Audi Group B S1 E2, Dodge NASCAR, Mercedes S600 (that sounds like a V12 F1 car), Caterham 620R and BRM V16 are rock-and-roll. Using innovative filming techniques and immersive audio, we want to put YOU in the passenger seat. So we got some fancy tech to create the most engaging video experience possible in both long and shortform. You’ll be able to check it all out across Top Gear’s digital platforms over the next few weeks. There are too many people to list, from the crew, to Catesby Tunnel, manufacturers, the BBC and many, many more. But if you were involved, thank you. There's a full feature if you want to read about it in Top Gear Magazine, a podcast if you want it in your ears and Episode 1 is on YouTube now.

The 2024 Dakar Rally. How do you curate three weeks, 10,000km and 12 stages of madness into 10 pics? You can’t. It’s the daddy of desert races. Torture for both oily car parts and fleshy human ones. It’s also the best motorsport event to photograph. With an abstract mix of machinery competing, incredible scenery and unbelievable driving talent, it’s a proper feast for petrolheads as competitors race across oceans of sand, up volcanic boulder fields and fire themselves over Saudi’s dusty natural furniture at ridiculous speeds. To finish the Dakar is a huge achievement. To follow it is a massive privilege. To win it is a queue jump to legendary status and a lifetime of paid-for pints down the pub. Being behind the scenes to follow Carlos Sainz Snr’s win is something I’ll never forget. #Dakar #DakarRally #TopGear #Audi #Toyota #rallyraid

The @ruffiancars Mustang: a delicious mangetout green 1970 Mustang Fastback designed, built and hand formed by Chris Ashton. To me, this is the apex of American Muscle. And trust me, this isn’t some thumb-stopping Insta hero. It’s as good to drive as it looks. You can see @jethrobovingdon slide it around on YouTube now, with a full length video with Chris’ GT40 as a little bonus too. To make the Mustang Chris spent many, many hours behind an English wheel and planishing hammer, using nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a handful of YouTube videos as his muse. Being a keen autocrosser (competitive and affordable grassroots racing around cones in car parks) for over 25 years, he wanted his Mustang to be capable against the clock. Which meant, unusually, it was the tyres that dictated the build. See, autocross is a relatively slow speed form of motorsport, one that’s all about lateral grip. So Chris threw a simple solution at the problem: massive rubber – 315mm for the front and 345mm out back, all wrapped in super sticky Toyo R888R track tyres. He then had to hand form three-inch steel fender flares for the bodywork to make them fit. But this stance also makes this Mustang look the mutt’s nuts – just like an old Trans-Am racer. Snooping around, you’re drawn to so many enchanting details on the car where form follows function. Like grafting on ’69 rear fender scoops as well as creating some louvres on the front fenders to help with cooling. Or functional front scoops flanking either side of the headlights, or the hinged bar in the full roll cage to make getting in and out easier. But they’re offset with period details that add authenticity. It’s the bollocks. And I love it. Thank you Chris for trusting us with your car. And letting us thrash the pants of it. #photography #carsofinstagram #ford #mustang #topgear

After months of hard work and stress, I am excited to announce TG2: Cars and Stripes. Cars and Stripes is a brand-new US-focused online video series we'vd been working on targeted largely at the American market. Over 10 films and five episodes, @jethrobovingdon and @rixjack embrace all things Americana. We filmed in America, with American cars, to celebrate everything in American car culture. Pulling it all together required my hair to gradually get greyer and thinner as we embarked on a seriously ambitious shoot schedule; one that saw us get behind the wheel of the USA’s latest and greatest cars (hitting all corners of the map) in a daunting and relentless two-week schedule. But our skeleton crew made it happen. And I’m immensely happy with what we’ve pulled off. It goes live across Top Gear’s YouTube channel, social media platforms and website tomorrow (19.11.23). You can check out a full guide of what’s coming up on TopGear.com now, with episodes dropping every Sunday and extended cuts for each film on Top Gear’s YouTube channel across the next two months. This series wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing time, patience and talent of Jack Rix, Jethro Bovingdon, @charliebrose, Neil Carey, Chris Waterfield (@thisisgrip) @aranlamond, @mark_scenemedia, @jygough and @benjamincornish. 📸: @mark_scenemedia and @rowan_topgear #usa #cars #topgear #ford #cadillac #hummer #subaru #bronco #mustang #carsofinstagram #america

Mick Night Club. I recently spent an evening interviewing, producing and photographing @mickschumacher as we cruised around Tokyo in a glorious Mercedes 190E Evo II. With Mick being a JDM fanboy, the plan was to give him a tasting menu of tuning, Wangan wildness and a little toke of Top Secret via the one and only Smokey Nagata. While shooting Mick gave a candid insight into his personal and professional life, as well as the frustrations and learnings he's had as an F1 reserve driver. You can read the full story in the latest issue of Top Gear Magazine or on TopGear.com (if you're a fan of screens not paper.) This was a super collaborative project made possible by the awesome people at @monsterenergy and @mercedesamgf1. On the ground we had the ultimate content efficiency machine as @jygough and @benjamincornish shot an insane film and the loveable boys at Scene Media kept everyone happy. #photography #carphotography #topgear #monster #f1

I fired off a speculative email to Subaru USA at the start of the year asking if there was any chance @jethrobovingdon could get behind the wheel of @travispastrana’s mighty 862bhp Family Huckster for an American-based Top Gear video project I’ve been working on. Amazingly, they said yes. So, after a few meetings and a late-night drunken discussion in one of New York’s many basement bars finalising how many tyres we’d need (36, minimum), we flew out to Summit Point Motorsports Park (the only racetrack I know with an active bomb range) earlier in the summer for the ultimate Gymkhana driving lesson from Travis himself. You’re going to have to wait a few more weeks for the video (which is worth the wait) but you can you read Jethro’s magazine story and see a full set of my images on TopGear.com now. Safe to say, it was a GOOD day. #topgear #subaru #huckster #travispastrana #photography #carsofinstagram #hoonigan

Even in this age of AI sorcery, there are some situations Photoshop would balk at rendering out for being too unrealistic. Y'know, like being chased by an iconic Le Mans-winning Porsche race car (complete with Le Mans-winning driver behind the wheel) up arguably the greatest road in the world (Austria's sinuous and sensational Grossglockner pass) while you're driving the even rarer one-of- one homologation road car that made it all possible. But it was real. As I did it for the latest issue of @topgear Magazine. Being one of the only people on the planet to ever drive ‘BB-GT198’ (the only road-legal Straßenversion 'street version' of the ’98 car), while chasing the fantastically energetic and humble Stéphane Ortelli in his race-winning car is something I can’t thank the Porsche Museum enough for. The fact we drove it on the world’s best driving road negotiating kamikaze motorcyclists, lumbering RVs and panting cyclists on their summer holidays just added an extra sprinkling of surreal. It got madder, as thanks to Ferdi Porsche and F.A.T Mankai, the next day we met at the valley floor to take nearly 30 per cent of the world’s GT1s Straßenversion’s for dawn raid up the mountain. It’s a driving experience I’ll never forget. Mainly because the near-perma neck ache and borderline broken hand from the rock-solid shifter will keep reminding me. Photography by the ever-awesome @mark_scenemedia #porsche #GT1 #photography #topgear #austria #lemans