I credit Jeremy, James, and Richard—among many others—with jumpstarting my love for cars. I’m sure many members of the millennial generation do. After just one episode of Top Gear I decided my life, in some form or another, had to align with the automobile. As a result, I owe the boys a bit of a thank-you.
So for my little Ode du Top Gear I wanted to bring back a classic feature from almost a decade ago. There are so many good ones to choose from—the Burma special, the Patagonia special, and the budget supercar challenge all spring to mind. But my all-time favorite feature? James May’s top speed run in the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. Timely, considering Bugatti recently re-set that record in a Chiron SuperSport 300+ and made the old Veyron look like it was standing still. Either way, those 10 minutes of television will stick with me for a long time.
I love that, for just a brief moment in human history, James’ 259 mph top speed made him the fastest man in the world. He’s probably gone faster in a car than either of his two Top Gear counterparts, and I think this proves two important truths about driving that Jeremy and Richard didn’t often address. First, you don’t have to constantly be driving fast to enjoy the sensation of speed. Second, you don’t need to be the fastest around a racetrack to prove you love driving. Instead, in the real world, what you actually need is a judicious right foot and, when the opportunity does finally present itself, the guts to go faster than anyone has ever gone before you—in a road car, at least. I think we can all learn a lot from James May.