British motoring journalist and TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has indicated during a live show in Australia on Saturday that he has found a place to air his new car show, possibly by American companies such as Netflix or Amazon. He also recalled the final lap he drove at the Top Gear test track.
According to Sarah Buchanan of Daily Express, 55-year-old Clarkson made the announcement alongside live show co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May in the Australian city of Perth. He hinted that there was buzz on which network would air their new car show.
"Who knows, very soon once more you will be seeing us on a television or an Internet where you live," Clarkson said.
Buchanan noted that the comments were made during their worldwide Clarkson, Hammond and May Live tour. In a further sign that the new car show could be produced by a company based in the United States, Jeremy poked fun at 45-year-old Hammond for referring to the letter "Z" with its American pronunciation, "Zee," as opposed to British vernacular, which pronounces it as "Zed."
"You're not in America," Clarkson quipped.
"Not yet," Hammond replied, drawing laughter from the audience.
According to Buchanan, Clarkson previously revealed in his Sunday Times column last month that he has given up drinking at nights to focus on phone calls originating in the United States.
"Californians have a habit of ringing at 11 p.m., and I realized I couldn't think as straight as they do with their leaves and mineral water existence if I was halfway through my third bottle of Leoube," Clarkson wrote in a joking tone.
The Daily Express speculated that online streaming service Netflix and Amazon are top contenders to pick up Clarkson's new car show. That's because although ITV may have been considered before, a clause in the trio's old contracts with the BBC prevent them from making a rival car show on a UK channel until 2017 at the earliest.
According to Lyndsey Telford of the Telegraph, Clarkson drove on the Top Gear test track one last time as part of an event for a UK-based charity called Roundhouse, "which supports disadvantaged youngsters." He recalled how the BBC protected their set while he was there for his "last hurrah."
"I was feeling a bit choked as I went through the gates for the very last time," Clarkson said. "The Top Gear portable office was locked to stop me taking even a small souvenir. The hangar was empty."
Telford reported that Clarkson drove alongside drummer Nick Mason of Pink Floyd with a brand new Ferrari 488. His lap raised £100,000 (about $156,000) for the British charity.
"It was time for the last lap. And I made it a good one. A smooth one. The sort of lap that would have made the Stig proud," Clarkson said.
Clarkson went on Twitter to elaborate on the final time he was officially allowed on the Top Gear track.
"My last ever lap of the Top Gear test track is done," Clarkson wrote. "Bit sad leaving the place for the final time."
According to Telford, Clarkson indicated in his Sunday Times column that he would keep going because the track was "full of enough memories."
"The missing lamp where Black Stig went off in an Aston Martin Vanquish. The tire wall rendered cockeyed by the first White Stig's Koenigsegg moment. And the two furrows left by me after a quarter-of-a-mile spin in a BMW 1-series," Clarkson recalled.
