Another incredible night at the @topgear Awards. 18 winners, 120 guests from every corner of the car bizness and this guy trying to hold it all together. Shout out to co-hosts @olliekew and @jethrobovingdon , to @shaggyfranklin78 and @charliebrose for the insane visuals, to everyone for coming, to @sohohouse for having us, congrats to @bmw for bagging the big prize and to all the winners. Type of night that fills me with gratitude, hope and excitement - even bigger things coming for TG in 2026!
El Bandito! 1000bhp Bronco Baja Runner, total smoke machine, goes and sounds hard, lands soft. Not sure how it gets any better than this. Driven by off road racing legend and code brown specialist @loren_healy
In SA to drive new Defender OCTA… driving impressions Jan 20. For now, I can wave my camera about and show you what we’re up to… more interesting stuff to come, promise!
Another incredible @topgear Awards on Tuesday night, hosted by the wonderful @natalie_pinkham , with a little help from me. A spectacular room of people, a real buzz and sense of positivity and 16 brilliant awards winners including Gordon Murray scooping the Lifetime Achievement Award and the @renaultuk 5 taking home the big one. Complete honour to work with the best car content team in the world, and to have the chance to host such a star-studded crowd. Slick organisation from @keiraspillane , amazing visuals from @shaggyfranklin78 and @charliebrose . Check out the winners in the mag or on topgear.com and the YouTube channel now. Even The Stig enjoyed himself… I think.
One of 110 Aston Martin Valour? £1.5 million. One of 1,963 Porsche 911 S/T? £231,600. A sunny afternoon in Snowdonia with one-off talent @markfagelsonphotography behind the viewfinder? Better than priceless.
Read the feature by me and @rixjack in the new issue 386 of TopGear magazine, hear about it on the TopGear podcast and enjoy the film by @jordanlaroche and @aranlamond on YouTube.
#astonmartin #aston #valour #astonmartinvalour #v12 #turbo #manual #savethemanuals #porsche #porsche911 #porsche911st #porsche992 #analoguevibes #analoguecars #oldschool #wales #supercars #supercarsofinstagram #supercarsofthevalleys #topgear #tweed #tweedlife #needfortweed
A story in three parts: setting off at 5am / on the hard shoulder by 5.30am / diagnosis: dead by 6am. Carburettor needs a deep clean, not ideal! I’ll now be travelling to Paris in an Australe and praying the flying bogey gets fixed and makes it on a trailer for tomorrow. Merde.
Remember the SuperVan 4.0, Mustang Mach-E 1400, Mustang CobraJet 1400 and F-100 Eluminator? All the work of the Ford Performance Demonstrator Program, and this is the latest – the F-150 Lightning Switchgear, here to prove that EV trucks weighing the same as a small planet can have off-road fun too.
Built in collaboration with Vaughn Gittin Jr’s RTR Vehicles it gets full carbon-fibre bodywork, wider track width, more suspension travel and better ground clearance. To make sure it can hit big hard things and keep on trucking, there’s steel rock rails, front skid plates and 37-inch Nitto Ridge Grappler off-road tyres. The powertrain stays bone stock, so dual motors for 4WD, 572bhp and 775lb ft of torque and a 131kWh battery.
Went for a ride with @vaughngittinjr , mostly sideways, quick enough, stance is mean. What you think? Full story on TopGear.com now!
Now the hangover has lost its sting, I can tell you about last night. The annual TopGear.com Awards - 90 people including the TG team and bunch of top execs, designers, engineers and PRs from the industry. Purposefully intimate, no live-streaming or video, just an opportunity to enjoy each other’s company and hand out awards to the best new cars, car manufacturers and car people including titans like Stephan Winkelmann, Christian von Koenigsegg, Frank van Meel and Gordon Murray. And a lifetime achievement award to arguably the greatest F1 designer ever, Adrian Newey.
Adrian came up to collect his trophy. I asked him a few questions about the season gone, career highlights and what 2024 holds… during which I noticed Gordon Murray had got up from his seat and was waiting stage left. When the interview finished Gordon asked for the microphone and delivered an off-the-cuff speech congratulating his friend on taking the record for the most dominant F1 car in history from his MP4/4. They embraced, we all gave a standing ovation to two blokes who’ve given, and continue to give, so much to the sport. Bit of a moment that, won’t forget it in a hurry.
Finally a shout out to all that put together the event, and the best editorial team in the world who continue to make champagne on a lemonade budget. Head to topgear.com to see all the winners, YT to watch the vid.
Photography by @huck93 and @a3.rud
