- Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are on a quest in Georgia and Azerbaijan. They will test three new GT Cars to see how they drive, how they perform and last but not least how they race on a genuine Formula One Racing Track.
- Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are driving the Aston Martin DBS, the Bentley Continental GT and the BMW M850i on an epic 1000 kilometre trip from the shores of the saltwater Black Sea in Georgia to the edge of the freshwater Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan.—Baysara
- The trio drive from Georgia to Azerbaijan each in a powerful Grand Tourer - Clarkson takes the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera (72 kgs lighter than the DB11, but costs BP 67000 more, which itself costs BP 225,000. twin turbo V12, 211 mph, whisper quiet, 715 BHP) with him, Hammond settles on the latest Bentley Continental GT (626 BHP, luxurious interiors and very comfortable for long drives, 6L twin turbo W12), and May utilizes the new BMW 8 Series (Bp 100,000, 4.4L turbo charged V8, 523 BHP, 4 wheel drive, 8 speed gear box). The voice activation systems are bad in the Aston and the BMW.
Starting from the Black Sea they drive over 1000km to the Caspian Sea, across motorways, rural roads and beautiful cities staging many challenges along their journey to determine which of their chosen GT's is best. Their first town is Gori (birthplace of Stalin). They visit the house which was Stalin's place where he grew up. That night May and Clarkson vandalize a local Stalin statue and cut its head and use it as a masthead on Hammond's car. On the way they check out the Russian Georgian border, where Russia has put up a fence, which it moves slowly into Georgian territory at night. This is how they are annexing Georgia bit by bit. One villager ventured out at night and couldn't return to his home as he was now fenced behind the Russian barbed wire.
Next, they find a racetrack at Tbilisi. Aston can drift even with the traction control on. The Bentley weighs 2.25 tonnes but has a lot of technology to make it go fast including torque vectoring, active diff, dynamic suspension and so on. The Bentley also drifts around corners. The BMW has the least power and power to weight ratio but makes up for it with tech as well. 4-wheel drive, 4-wheel steering etc. Around the track Aston: 2:00.0, Bentley 2:04.8, BMW 2:05.8 Then Mr Wilman asks the trio to drink 3 pints of water, wait 20 mins and then do their laps again. Clarkson's pees himself on the 2nd corner. All 3 were slower this time round as compared to the first time.
Next, they visit a wine spa in Tbilisi. Then they visit the local flea market to test their boot space. the Aston has the smallest and doesn't have a back seat worth its name either. BMW has the biggest boot. Soon after they cross Georgia and enter Azerbaijan, or Asia. Azerbaijan is the birthplace of oil, which was discovered here in the 3rd century. For a country with a solid oil pedigree, the trio struggle to find a petrol station and must put their cars in cruise modes. Bentley does 30 mpg (its shuts down 6 of its 12 cylinders). The BMW has active grille upfront and shuts other vital features to improve fuel efficiency. Aston has zilch.
The whole country runs on Lada cars. The trio stop at the town of Ganja. May decides to prove that in the real world their powerful cars aren't any faster than an everyday car. He brings Abbie to drive an old Renault 9 wreck 50 miles to the "Garden of paradise". The challenge is to overtake Abbie after giving her a 2 mins head start. In the real world, the traffic, lights, and speed limits make all cars go at the same speed. Abbie is first the at finish line, proving May's point. Next, they visit Azerbaijan's vast oil fields, with oil rigs chugging away drilling oil out of the ground. They find a crude oil spa where Clarkson takes dip.
The trio sum up their cars. Hammond and May love theirs, but Clarkson doesn't feel that the DBS is worth all the extra money. Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan and hosts a street F1 race. the trio request for the roads to be closed so they can race their cars on the actual track. On a wet track, the Aston spins out of control, but the BMW and Bentley finish neck and neck, with BMW slightly ahead. In attempts, the result is the same. Soon they reach the Caspian sea, 50 feet below sea level and the largest inland body of water in the world. Back at the tent May talks about the lane driving system on the BMW, which keeps you between the white lines on the road. It couldn't be turned off and that meant the even while racing May couldn't get its racing lines straight as the BMW's system kept putting the car back between the lines on the road. Clarkson agrees with Hammond that the Bentley is the best of the trio.
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