The Arctic Truck Challenge

The episode of Top Gear that featured the Arctic Truck challenge was an unforgettable experience for the crew and viewers alike. The presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond, embarked on a perilous journey to reach Magnetic North, but not without some hilarious moments along the way.

As they set out, Jeremy explained how he had "kind of built a mound of snow" and proceeded to take aim at a polar bear with his shotgun. The polar bear, which was actually a statue, was not impressed by the gun-wielding presenter, and James quipped that it would be logical to use five shots, firing one to the left, one to the right, and then four more in quick succession, just in case. Jeremy joked that wasting four bullets on a piece of snow would be a bit wasteful.

However, things took a turn for the worse when Jeremy got a little too close to the polar bear statue and ended up getting pushed by the show's security team. The incident left him feeling defeated, but James remained calm and collected, even cracking jokes about wasting four bullets on a piece of snow. Meanwhile, Jeremy was still trying to get his shots in and keep the polar bear at bay.

The crew then moved on to discuss their experience with the Arctic truck, which had only done 2,348 miles and was remarkably well-preserved despite its extensive use. The interior of the truck was immaculate, thanks to its low mileage, but the presenters joked that it was almost as if it had been frozen in time. They also discovered a surprising secret: the glove box contained a PlayStation 2, which the crew used to pass the time during slower moments.

As they continued on their journey, Jeremy and James discussed their football interests and revealed that Jeremy is actually a Chelsea fan, while James is not as passionate about the sport. Meanwhile, Richard Hammond was enjoying the scenic views of the Arctic landscape and was excited to get behind the wheel of the support vehicle.

The crew soon found themselves switching between the main truck and the support vehicle, which had tinted windows to reduce glare during filming. This allowed them to capture stunning footage without being distracted by the sun or camera lights. However, Jeremy revealed that the truck's interior was not as darkly tinted, making it easier for him to see and take in his surroundings.

In a surprising twist, Richard Hammond joked that he had been given the keys to an Arctic Legend, which supposedly started up smoothly despite its low mileage of 177 years. The crew were eager to take the vehicle for a spin and experience its capabilities firsthand.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe Top Gear polar challenge James May recently revealed it was the greatest achievement of his Top Gear career and today we've got the truck fundamentally this thing is a 3 l diesel 2007 Toyota hux but you Top Gear nerds will know just how much work and modifications went into it making it one of the most Intrepid vehicles ever made the hux was a orally Modified by reic based off-roading Specialists Arctic trucks and we are at their UK facility with a company having grown from Iceland and gone worldwide to the UK Scandinavia the USA and Dubai they produce Vehicles like this nowadays and we'll also take you on Expeditions just like the polar challenge in their top range of pickups this was the first car to reach magnetic north then so has it been battered and brewed used or has it been looked after since 2007 let's take a look around it's hard to miss the wheel and tire combination on this pickup the tires are enormous looking at the sizing 38x 15.5 with a 15in rim on it I've never seen a sidewall like it apart from on a tractor they're actually made inhouse here at Arctic trucks you can actually see the holes for the studs to make these tires snow worthy will handcrew in that must take forever now on road these operate at around well in the 20s maybe low 30s PSI but as you guys will seen in the show they deflate to as little as two below two PSI what that essentially does is turn these tires into tracks so it has much more grip in the snow so this pickup truck essentially turns into a tank I often get asked how I got into car media as a career and when I think right back it was me struggling with my mental health but then recovering and getting back in the game thanks to therapy that was the real Catalyst to getting me into this industry I was struggling upstairs in the middle of University so I decided I didn't want to be a mechanical engineer and I sat and thought what would make me the happiest pure and simple after seeking help through a therapist and talking things through I found what I thought would maximize my happiness factor in life and it was creating cool content with cars I sent an email off to car throttle asking for a summer internship creating car content using my engineering degree and the rest is history it can often seem like you don't want to burden your loved ones with any issues that you're going through and that's a perfectly normal feeling through personal experience getting therapy is another way to get you out of a mental rut and today's video partner better help connects you with a credential therapist who's trained to listen and give you helpful unbiased advice first you go to their site you can use our link below betterhelp.com drivetribe you answer a few questions and better help will match you to a professional who has years of experience helping people with struggles just like yours you can do it all from your phone or computer via phone call video chat or messaging however you feel most comfortable it's the easiest possible way to start talking to a therapist and keeping on top of your mental health it's a cliche that a problem shared is a problem half but it's a cliche for a reason may is mental health month and I want you to know that it's okay to ask for help it may be the best thing you ever do there are so many ways to ask for help but better help makes it so easy visit betterhelp.com for/ drivve tribe or choose drivet tribe during sign up to get a special discount on your first month the overall Bodywork of the car is in remarkably good condition there's the odd bump and scrape where little chunks have been taken out but I guess in the Arctic all the dangerous stuff is at ground level there's nothing really to hit at bumper or rear wing height it's all down there speaking of which I remember Jeremy talked about how chunky the sump guard was on this yeah that is thick definitely thicker than some of the stuff on the recent Grand Tour cars like Richard's DB9 it's interesting that that is basically an automatic modification to any Top Gear and Grand Tour car cuz the mechanics know the guys are going to put these cars in positions that they don't want to be in you'd think you'd want that sump guard to almost extend the entire length of the vehicle and just fully protect it but I guess when you're in situations where things can go really wrong you want to have access to those Mechanicals like prop shafts and different differentials instead of having a big metal plate in the way and considering what happened on the trip it's probably a good idea that there wasn't a full plate the entire way we'll get to that damage in a bit cute little Bull Bar it's about a third of the size of the one or our ramp TRX so one nil there and then Jeremy's favorite modification the spotlights completely useless but they look cool the most heavyduty modification on this vehicle is the fact that this is essentially a long wheelbase High loocks to fit those wheels and tires in you needed to create more space so what they've done is basically cut the vehicle and moved the front subframe the steering rack the suspension points forward and down to accommodate that tire otherwise you simply wouldn't fit it in the arch now on to probably the worst damage on the vehicle you can see part of it here this side step plate here has kind of got a bit of an arch to it that should be straight and if you're remember they hit a properly solid piece of ice let's have a look at the real damage underneath wow that is a hit so this is the long range fuel tank of the vehicle apparently can take 180 L of fuel and that fuel is literally jet fuel it's been modified to take A1 jet fuel crazy but that is what happens when you drive into very old ice Jeremy says it's up to 300 years old that's not going to shift for anything and that's what it does to a piece of metal the entire fuel tank is held in by a ratchet strap this probably isn't the safest place to lie but it's a top gear car come on arguably the most iconic mod on this truck the toilet the bumper dumper shall I sit where the great man once SAT take my phone out is it sturdy oh it is quite sturdy do you think Jeremy or James actually took a on this I think that was off for the camera comment down below is there anything in the back not really apart from the shovel and storage we got a jack here nothing just special Jeremy shotgun holder is the shotgun still in place uh no unless there's a pistol in there somewhere it's gone now there is a very interesting story that's come to light quite recently to me the best bit of that entire episode is when they're training and Jeremy gets pushed into that icy water has the crawl back out you can tell he is furious when that happens and he wants to tell that SAS man some pretty nippy stuff but he doesn't get the chance now Ben Collins recently did an interview with Andy Wilman on his channel Ben Collin's drives and we're going to steal the footage of him chatting to Andy about why that SAS man shoved Jeremy in and that's why I enjoyed the polar special North Pole cuz uh I remember they got round the sinkhole they cut a hole in the ice yeah they' all firstly you done all this training the camera seemed saying we were doing these things with tents polar a shooting the SPs guy trying to show you Survival how to survive apparently Jeremy took over the shotgun lesson so I'm told and at that point his card was marked in the mind of this Soldier and he then the guy said he kind of built a mound of snow and he went right that's the Polar Bear right and he goes so you got got five shots in your shotgun and he went you fire one I mean obviously it's logical you don't want to kill a polar bear because you go one over its head one to the left one to the right one the ground you got four right and then and then if it's still coming out you use the last one to blow its brains out and you're like and all of us were thinking it but Jer was like what the so you just like you you waste four bullets and this is polar be so it's like you were dutifully we like left right up in the air on the ground bang in and it's a piece of snow so you're going to hit it and then Jeremy got it I think he just offloaded about five bullets into its face and he was like I think that's a better way of doing it and like SPS man's like yeah um but they've got long memories so then when you polar bears cuz he got him on the ice and then said right get in get into the freezing water oh yeah we had to do that it's brilliant and they're all lined up and they start doing their you know chat I'm not good and the S SPS guy just quietly walks around the back with his face blurred out you know and just ye just pushes Jeremy in I've never laughed so hardz was still talking wasn't yeah he totally didn't expect it his body was all limp he had no idea it was coming and not only that then he got him out and he's yelling at him on the ground to roll in the snow it's absolutely hilarious it was we had to do that as off camera crew did you get in I I was yeah but but we jumped inv voluntarily cuz we knew it was like coming whereas Jeremy dad he was still blathering I think this guy had had enough as you say so enjoy your kicking him in but um me was that cold it was like an iron bar went cuz you try and keep your mouth shut and you can't it's impossible with the cold so you open your mouth and there's an iron bar of cold water goes down you it's mindblowing and then yes you do feel alive in a RM Hof way inside this truck is in remarkably good condition the interior is immaculate but that's explained by the fact if you turn the ignition on this truck has only done 2,348 mil so basically it did the Arctic trip and then has been retired is a proper museum piece now you might see that as a good thing or a bad thing there is the original satav screen in the car but the boat satnav that was needed because they were literally sailing interestingly the g&t aspect of that episode has been cut out if you go and watch it on rerun on I player interesting move BBC the original boat Saab then would have been on this Mount but it has been removed I thought it would have been that screen down there but it turns out and this is something definitely none of you will know in the glove box is a Playstation 2 that was to Simply keep the guys amused when the going was slow or they'd cut filming and were're just chilling out there is one gate here what is it David Beckham soccer that is not what I thought that would be are Jeremy and James into football I know Jeremy's like kind of a Chelsea fan James definitely not now we have learned something very interesting today I said that this was the first car that reached magnetic north it actually wasn't Arctic trucks have the support hux it's just over there where the Icelandic guys were sitting ready for this one to break down and apparently this car got so damaged that it started to be really slow and the presenters actually then switched into the support car and the way you can tell that if you go back and watch the episodes the windows and windscreen are quite heavily tinted in this car that was to stop the glare mucking about with the cameras and to help with that there's actually two interior lights that you can switch on to illuminate the presenters despite the tinting the support vehicle doesn't have as dark a tint so suddenly in that episode they'll go from a tinted car to a non-tinted car and that was the vehicle that got them to Magnetic North First this vehicle got there just a bit after the support vehicle I have been given the keys to this Top Gear Legend will it start oh yeah smooth as you like it's not done many miles in fact how long's it been 177 years but yeah that seems super smooth should we take it for a drive actually let's invite a friend along oh I'm going to throw up yeah don't break it don't break it don't break itthe Top Gear polar challenge James May recently revealed it was the greatest achievement of his Top Gear career and today we've got the truck fundamentally this thing is a 3 l diesel 2007 Toyota hux but you Top Gear nerds will know just how much work and modifications went into it making it one of the most Intrepid vehicles ever made the hux was a orally Modified by reic based off-roading Specialists Arctic trucks and we are at their UK facility with a company having grown from Iceland and gone worldwide to the UK Scandinavia the USA and Dubai they produce Vehicles like this nowadays and we'll also take you on Expeditions just like the polar challenge in their top range of pickups this was the first car to reach magnetic north then so has it been battered and brewed used or has it been looked after since 2007 let's take a look around it's hard to miss the wheel and tire combination on this pickup the tires are enormous looking at the sizing 38x 15.5 with a 15in rim on it I've never seen a sidewall like it apart from on a tractor they're actually made inhouse here at Arctic trucks you can actually see the holes for the studs to make these tires snow worthy will handcrew in that must take forever now on road these operate at around well in the 20s maybe low 30s PSI but as you guys will seen in the show they deflate to as little as two below two PSI what that essentially does is turn these tires into tracks so it has much more grip in the snow so this pickup truck essentially turns into a tank I often get asked how I got into car media as a career and when I think right back it was me struggling with my mental health but then recovering and getting back in the game thanks to therapy that was the real Catalyst to getting me into this industry I was struggling upstairs in the middle of University so I decided I didn't want to be a mechanical engineer and I sat and thought what would make me the happiest pure and simple after seeking help through a therapist and talking things through I found what I thought would maximize my happiness factor in life and it was creating cool content with cars I sent an email off to car throttle asking for a summer internship creating car content using my engineering degree and the rest is history it can often seem like you don't want to burden your loved ones with any issues that you're going through and that's a perfectly normal feeling through personal experience getting therapy is another way to get you out of a mental rut and today's video partner better help connects you with a credential therapist who's trained to listen and give you helpful unbiased advice first you go to their site you can use our link below betterhelp.com drivetribe you answer a few questions and better help will match you to a professional who has years of experience helping people with struggles just like yours you can do it all from your phone or computer via phone call video chat or messaging however you feel most comfortable it's the easiest possible way to start talking to a therapist and keeping on top of your mental health it's a cliche that a problem shared is a problem half but it's a cliche for a reason may is mental health month and I want you to know that it's okay to ask for help it may be the best thing you ever do there are so many ways to ask for help but better help makes it so easy visit betterhelp.com for/ drivve tribe or choose drivet tribe during sign up to get a special discount on your first month the overall Bodywork of the car is in remarkably good condition there's the odd bump and scrape where little chunks have been taken out but I guess in the Arctic all the dangerous stuff is at ground level there's nothing really to hit at bumper or rear wing height it's all down there speaking of which I remember Jeremy talked about how chunky the sump guard was on this yeah that is thick definitely thicker than some of the stuff on the recent Grand Tour cars like Richard's DB9 it's interesting that that is basically an automatic modification to any Top Gear and Grand Tour car cuz the mechanics know the guys are going to put these cars in positions that they don't want to be in you'd think you'd want that sump guard to almost extend the entire length of the vehicle and just fully protect it but I guess when you're in situations where things can go really wrong you want to have access to those Mechanicals like prop shafts and different differentials instead of having a big metal plate in the way and considering what happened on the trip it's probably a good idea that there wasn't a full plate the entire way we'll get to that damage in a bit cute little Bull Bar it's about a third of the size of the one or our ramp TRX so one nil there and then Jeremy's favorite modification the spotlights completely useless but they look cool the most heavyduty modification on this vehicle is the fact that this is essentially a long wheelbase High loocks to fit those wheels and tires in you needed to create more space so what they've done is basically cut the vehicle and moved the front subframe the steering rack the suspension points forward and down to accommodate that tire otherwise you simply wouldn't fit it in the arch now on to probably the worst damage on the vehicle you can see part of it here this side step plate here has kind of got a bit of an arch to it that should be straight and if you're remember they hit a properly solid piece of ice let's have a look at the real damage underneath wow that is a hit so this is the long range fuel tank of the vehicle apparently can take 180 L of fuel and that fuel is literally jet fuel it's been modified to take A1 jet fuel crazy but that is what happens when you drive into very old ice Jeremy says it's up to 300 years old that's not going to shift for anything and that's what it does to a piece of metal the entire fuel tank is held in by a ratchet strap this probably isn't the safest place to lie but it's a top gear car come on arguably the most iconic mod on this truck the toilet the bumper dumper shall I sit where the great man once SAT take my phone out is it sturdy oh it is quite sturdy do you think Jeremy or James actually took a on this I think that was off for the camera comment down below is there anything in the back not really apart from the shovel and storage we got a jack here nothing just special Jeremy shotgun holder is the shotgun still in place uh no unless there's a pistol in there somewhere it's gone now there is a very interesting story that's come to light quite recently to me the best bit of that entire episode is when they're training and Jeremy gets pushed into that icy water has the crawl back out you can tell he is furious when that happens and he wants to tell that SAS man some pretty nippy stuff but he doesn't get the chance now Ben Collins recently did an interview with Andy Wilman on his channel Ben Collin's drives and we're going to steal the footage of him chatting to Andy about why that SAS man shoved Jeremy in and that's why I enjoyed the polar special North Pole cuz uh I remember they got round the sinkhole they cut a hole in the ice yeah they' all firstly you done all this training the camera seemed saying we were doing these things with tents polar a shooting the SPs guy trying to show you Survival how to survive apparently Jeremy took over the shotgun lesson so I'm told and at that point his card was marked in the mind of this Soldier and he then the guy said he kind of built a mound of snow and he went right that's the Polar Bear right and he goes so you got got five shots in your shotgun and he went you fire one I mean obviously it's logical you don't want to kill a polar bear because you go one over its head one to the left one to the right one the ground you got four right and then and then if it's still coming out you use the last one to blow its brains out and you're like and all of us were thinking it but Jer was like what the so you just like you you waste four bullets and this is polar be so it's like you were dutifully we like left right up in the air on the ground bang in and it's a piece of snow so you're going to hit it and then Jeremy got it I think he just offloaded about five bullets into its face and he was like I think that's a better way of doing it and like SPS man's like yeah um but they've got long memories so then when you polar bears cuz he got him on the ice and then said right get in get into the freezing water oh yeah we had to do that it's brilliant and they're all lined up and they start doing their you know chat I'm not good and the S SPS guy just quietly walks around the back with his face blurred out you know and just ye just pushes Jeremy in I've never laughed so hardz was still talking wasn't yeah he totally didn't expect it his body was all limp he had no idea it was coming and not only that then he got him out and he's yelling at him on the ground to roll in the snow it's absolutely hilarious it was we had to do that as off camera crew did you get in I I was yeah but but we jumped inv voluntarily cuz we knew it was like coming whereas Jeremy dad he was still blathering I think this guy had had enough as you say so enjoy your kicking him in but um me was that cold it was like an iron bar went cuz you try and keep your mouth shut and you can't it's impossible with the cold so you open your mouth and there's an iron bar of cold water goes down you it's mindblowing and then yes you do feel alive in a RM Hof way inside this truck is in remarkably good condition the interior is immaculate but that's explained by the fact if you turn the ignition on this truck has only done 2,348 mil so basically it did the Arctic trip and then has been retired is a proper museum piece now you might see that as a good thing or a bad thing there is the original satav screen in the car but the boat satnav that was needed because they were literally sailing interestingly the g&t aspect of that episode has been cut out if you go and watch it on rerun on I player interesting move BBC the original boat Saab then would have been on this Mount but it has been removed I thought it would have been that screen down there but it turns out and this is something definitely none of you will know in the glove box is a Playstation 2 that was to Simply keep the guys amused when the going was slow or they'd cut filming and were're just chilling out there is one gate here what is it David Beckham soccer that is not what I thought that would be are Jeremy and James into football I know Jeremy's like kind of a Chelsea fan James definitely not now we have learned something very interesting today I said that this was the first car that reached magnetic north it actually wasn't Arctic trucks have the support hux it's just over there where the Icelandic guys were sitting ready for this one to break down and apparently this car got so damaged that it started to be really slow and the presenters actually then switched into the support car and the way you can tell that if you go back and watch the episodes the windows and windscreen are quite heavily tinted in this car that was to stop the glare mucking about with the cameras and to help with that there's actually two interior lights that you can switch on to illuminate the presenters despite the tinting the support vehicle doesn't have as dark a tint so suddenly in that episode they'll go from a tinted car to a non-tinted car and that was the vehicle that got them to Magnetic North First this vehicle got there just a bit after the support vehicle I have been given the keys to this Top Gear Legend will it start oh yeah smooth as you like it's not done many miles in fact how long's it been 177 years but yeah that seems super smooth should we take it for a drive actually let's invite a friend along oh I'm going to throw up yeah don't break it don't break it don't break it\n"