Hammond’s Budget Bond Submarine Car At Beaulieu’s World Of Top Gear

Following the airing of Top Gear’s 50 Years of Bond Cars special, fans of the show visiting Beaulieu’s World of Top Gear can now see the actual Top Gear Lotus Excel Submarine driven by Richard Hammond into a lake.

In honour of the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film franchise and the release of the 23rd Bond film Skyfall, Richard Hammond paid tribute to some of 007’s greatest moments on wheels with an hour-long Top Gear special, looking at some of the famous, and not so famous, cars used by the world’s favourite spy. Carried along on a heady wave of nostalgia, Hammond even decided to make a couple of amazing real-life Bond cars on a budget.
 
One of these budget creations was based on the unforgettable Lotus Esprit S1 ‘submarine’ car used by Roger Moore’s James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me. The Top Gear version of this iconic aquatic vehicle uses the never-popular Excel model (because 007-style Esprits were too expensive) and features extendable rear dive planes, electrically-powered rear thrusters, a double skinned passenger compartment, a roof hatch for access and a cunning ballast system which involved filling the tyres with concrete.

Amazingly, this is one of the few cut-price Top Gear projects which actually worked, and this ingenious creation can truly claim to be the world’s first fully functioning submarine car. Although perhaps its biggest achievement is that it has made it to World of Top Gear at Beaulieu, and isn’t lying at the bottom of the lake in which it was tested!

The Lotus Excel Submarine joins a growing collection of cars at Beaulieu created by the Top Gear presenters for some of their most ambitious challenges. Latest additions include the mobility scooters which the presenters raced against wounded servicemen, the cars which they drove through India in the Christmas Special 2011 and Jeremy Clarkson’s TGV12 sports train.

Regular features from the programme including the Cool Wall and the Celebrity ‘Lap Times’ boards are kept up to date in line with the show. Visitors can also watch behind-the-scenes footage of the Top Gear production zone and clips of some of the best Top Gear moments in the ‘Enormodrome’ which recreates the feel of the Top Gear studio, where the TV show is filmed in front of a live audience.

Visitors to Beaulieu can also see the original James Bond Lotus Esprit S1 ‘submarine’ car, the inspiration for this Top Gear challenge, currently displayed in BOND IN MOTION, the National Motor Museum’s exhibition of 50 genuine James Bond cars. This is the largest official collection of Bond vehicles displayed anywhere in the world and showcases all 007’s modes of transportation, including cars, trikes, bikes, sleds, boats and many more.

World of Top Gear and BOND IN MOTION can be viewed as part of a visit to the whole Beaulieu attraction which also includes the National Motor Museum, Palace House and Beaulieu Abbey.

Beaulieu is open every day, except Christmas Day, from 10am. For more information telephone 01590 612345 or visit www.beaulieu.co.uk