Top Gear Middle Eastern Special May 2026

What could possibly go wrong? Everything. Gloriously, explosively wrong.

The Top Gear Middle Eastern Special is not a car review. It is a testament to the absurdity of friendship. You don't do this trip to prove a car is good. You do it to prove that, no matter how hot it gets, no matter how many times the BMW breaks down, there is nothing better than driving into the unknown with your two best idiots.

"We are going to die here," said Hammond, quietly. "Yes," replied May. "But at least the stereo in the Fiat still works." Leave it to Captain Slow to save the day. While Clarkson wanted to set the BMW on fire (a recurring theme), May produced a roll of carpet from the Fiat's minuscule boot. top gear middle eastern special

The cars rebelled. Plastic trim melted. Glue seeped out of the windscreens. Hammond’s Golf began to smell like a burning toaster. The production crew, following in air-conditioned Land Cruisers, wore hazmat suits just to hand the boys water. The Rub' al Khali is a beautiful liar. It looks solid. It is not.

Clarkson’s BMW leather seats turned into a frying pan. Hammond discovered that the VW’s air conditioning was a hairdryer pointing at his face. May, in the Fiat, simply removed his shirt, revealing a torso so pale it reflected the sun back into space. What could possibly go wrong

Richard Hammond, ever the optimist, chose a £1,500 VW Golf Cabriolet. It was the color of a faded traffic cone, smelled of wet dog, and had the structural rigidity of a wet cracker. "It’s characterful!" he squeaked, as the chassis flexed over a speed bump.

In a moment of genuine pathos, the three men stood on the roof of Clarkson’s BMW, staring at the vast, empty horizon. There was no traffic. No sound. Just the wind and the ticking of hot metal. The Top Gear Middle Eastern Special is not a car review

What followed was an hour of sweaty, cursing, hopeless physics. The more they dug, the deeper the BMW sank. It was a metaphor for British foreign policy in the region, but funnier.