Driving James May's legendary Top Gear rally car to the limit on track! Ft. Tiff Needell
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
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James May made this Citroën Ami 8 famous when he picked it up at a classic car auction and took it rallying. So seeing as a friend of DriveTribe's now owns it, Mike Fernie and Tiff Needell took to the track to see what the soft, frighteningly underpowered Ami 8 could really do.
Thanks to Zander Warren at Ralle Film for letting Tiff lose in his car, check Ralle out here: / rallefilm
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Apart from that 1 F1 season in 1980.
“Season” is stretching it a bit. 1 start with a DNF and one fail to qualify to race. Still, better than my record in F1!
I know why he got rid of it. Because, it is no longer up to his STANDARD!!!s
Any chance Tiff will come back in future videos?
"I remember little bit about the car but remember lots about the passenger in it"
I see Tiff is also a MAN OF CULTURE 😏
Well, which one would you prefer writing home about, the car, or the said passenger?
@@jcgabriel1569 Neither. The car is nothing to write about...her? A Gentleman could never even talk about. Either because of the embarrassment of not succeeding, or if you could succeed-a Gentleman does not brag about his achievements. Admittedly, a notable achievement that would be, but still. You could bring her home but not talk about.
Huge, suple, heaving culture.
@@joshstiltner Or, in the words of James May himself, *"the work of the Divine Potter..."*
@@jcgabriel1569 Always cringed at that line. lol
Tiff turns 70 in October, yet nobody has told him about acting like a pensioner.
He's a natural in-front of the camera, for sure.
Don't think he'll be collecting a bus pass any time soon...
What a great tv persona, he's a lovely guy. I have met him in person, has so much patience. I spoke to him a little too long and tried to end it and he kept asking questions and it was awesome
Hes like one of those cool grandpas who never really grew up and Mike's acting as if it his grandpa I like it too be honest it's how youd expect it to be spending time with your grandpa
I'm half his age and he's twice as spritely than me.
You two looked like a couple of absolute lads out there, just having a right ol time. 🤣 😁 Just amazing.
It was one hell of a day, Tiff secretly loved it too...
@Gnome Whyte of course there is, its a mixture of both, going offscript is what made top gear legendary, they try the same thing here.
apart from irish bloke
Am I the only one who remembers that 15 months ago Drivetribe said that they'd put Tiff in a Porsche 962, like he drove in the late 80's and early 90's? I haven't forgotten Mike, I'm still gonna make sure that happens.
I haven't forgotten either, don't worry, there's something in the works...
@@mikedrivetribe8314 Make sure it's the Kurzheck version too - like the 1990 Alpha car, which Tiff was instrumental in testing to decide between the high and low downforce versions; choosing the high downforce (kurzheck) as the new chicanes meant that the ultimate top speed of the low downforce/low drag car could barely be reached, and the stability and reduced tyre wear of the higher downforce short-tail car was more beneficial.
If this video tells me one thing, it's that you're not getting Tiff on here anywhere near enough
Tiff is a real star. UA-cam needs more of him.
UA-cam does have a lot of Tiff content, he presents on the channel Lovecars, another online motoring show you should check them out too
But I do agree we need ~more Tiff
He’s the most irritating person on tv .
Engineer at Citroen: "what is dis antii-roll bar contrrraption you speak of?"
Anti roll bar was standard fit on ami 8….not on 2cv or dyane
There is no need for roll cage on old Citroen cars .. because their suspension is so soft that no mater what the wheels will always touch the ground :-P
Does it include a drive with Madison Welch?
I would like to drive madison welch
@@skrillah6259 😂😂 Im sure you would
@@skrillah6259 It would be inhumane to drive a super model and cruel to even try!
@@lazycalm41 If you are allowed to drive supercars why not super models?
@@skrillah6259 I was making a joke reference from something Jeremy once said on Top Gear!
It was so oddly satisfying to see Tiff Needell frustrated and annoyed after seeing the Citroën Ami of James May
I loved that brief second where the suspension was locked in place then just popped up again like it remembered it has a job to do🤣
Haha, it's like it shut it's eyes in fear then had a tentative look about.
Just like the French?
@@sweaspurdoddd5466 With 2000 years of wins, no.
I love that a bunch of the old top gear cars have either stuck around or been rediscovered.
Apart from H982 FKL and the rest :(
Yes! It’s so nice to see some of the cars that survived til this day, shame a lot since have been scrapped though
Still need to find the Uganda Special Cars, Burma Lorries, and Jeremys Jag from India.
There's a guy in the Midlands that still has Clarkson's green painted Alfa but the green paint has all about washed away.
most of them have been scrapped in Southampton in different locations after being sat in thr boneyard for a while
I’ve never seen a car nearly crash into the ground while attempting to go straight before.
"Tiff, Vicky stop burning our things!" - Clarkson (2010)
Tiff ends up on the trios youtube channel testing James's little Citroën Ami 8
Not only did James and Madison take this beast on a rally, but they handily beat Clarkson and Hammond as well :D
He beat Hammond and Clarkson in the race, then he beat them by getting the girl, then the girl beat his meat
@@Kronos0999 ahahahaha
Hammond had a 1953 Lanchester Fourteen and Clarkson had a 1969 Austin-Healey Sprite.
@@carlbirtles4518 It was also a timed rally and Clarkson has no time for time.
My grandad has a 1969 ami 8 which he bought brand new. I spent many hours wedged in the back between camping gear! I love it!
How nice of them to make sure you couldn't get thrown from side to side in the bends
This week on the ‘top gear retrospective UA-cam channel’ …
Its like the presenter i didnt bother remembering his name, lives in the times of topgear and dismisses the grand tour
Makes me cringe how much they cream other their own bosses
He trys so hard to be a fanboy its so sad hahaha even bought the mondeo that they all like 🤣
The body roll on that thing is just epic!
i've never seen one of these in the wild. but many years ago, you could still see a 2CV... It really was a marvel watching how close those things were to doing a barrel row at any corner, at any speed, but didn't!
i'v had two 2cv's and the best bit about them was the roll and the handling in snow.
ironically they are notoriously hard to actually roll over ..they were legendary by that.. they roll like crazy but wont tip over
@@tommyfred6180 Sometimes, when I watched a 2CV on the street, I did wonder how it would be to be inside one. But then again, wathing from the outside... scary!
How did they handle in the snow? (hardly ever snows where I live)
@@sparrowlt The Ami or the 2CV?
Tiff Needell is a timeless classic. Fantastic 😂
I love how Tiff says he hates it but you can see when he’s driving he’s loving it
Top Gear has often made the point that it can be more fun to drive a slow car to its limits.
That's true though. You can feel the car straining yet it still hasn't reached crazy unmanageable speeds, but do that with a Ferrari and you're already too fast while sipping coffee.
not just a slow car but a slow car with suspension made of jello
I have that car and i agree it´s too much fun with a 2 cylinder engine and a weird suspesion hahahah
Legends: let's go to comment section first 😂
You have to give it to Citroen. That car actually took it well. And the two of them where having a blast.
The breaking after the acceleration test was some serious driving skill
What broke?
I didn’t see anything break here??
@@e28forever30 not my first language, and thanks for the correction, you still understood me though.
Got to love a bit of Tiff. Would be nice to see him, Clarkson, May and Hammond have a bit of fun
The way Tiff described Oliver and Hammond is just... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Of all the cars James has driven, this is the one I would have.
I never drove the Ami 8 but I had a 2CV 6 for years and went from France to Marocco with it (and back !) and it's still the funniest car I had to drive. I now own a Subaru STI, it's fun, fast but it's definitely not the same fun. I had that car (the 2CV) when I was a student, and I always took my friends with me to go to any place, they loved it, made fun of it, but there was always something to remember from any trip with that car. It's just brilliant !
Hands down, that Citroen probably does many more smiles per hour than any supercar ever could
Tiff's driving was legendary! I thought they were going to roll too. I can't wait to see Lucy's behind the scenes on this one!!!
2CV chassis, hard to roll
I think I preferred James's co-driver lol
The Focus might be a little bit ;) more stable around the track, but take both through a ploughed field and see who get to the other side first!
Making Kaleb shout at Clarkson for not shooting them down
The pairing.
Mike and Tiff.
Spot-on. I genuinely laughed out loud.
Entertainment value?
Turned up to 11!!!!
That panic stop showed what a brilliant driver Tiff is.
Brilliant, can we have more Tiff please?
Hardest braking I've seen! Jesus christ! totally side to side :D
more tiff pleeeease he's great
Tiff is hilarious! Thanks for the vid and keep them coming up!
2 Motoring experts whose opinion I respect the most
The Stig & Tiff Needell
With respect to James May, it looked better before he modified it. Also, the hand crank gave it character.
Tiff Needell is an absolute legend, watching him drive that barge about was the best 4 minutes of my life.
Tiff, as HubNut would say "Power, Less is More."
Yeah, but Ian still hoots and hollers when he occasionally drives a more powerful car.
oh him...
Never thought I'd see a car look more unstable than a Reliant Robin yet, here it is!
2cv. Which this car is obviously related to
It is actually very stable, it just looks unstable it's almost impossible to flip.
A very stable car…look at the tyres they remain in contact with the road as they were designed to do
The bit that Clarkston did with the Reliant Robin, (on TG, maybe 15-20 years ago) was one of the funniest things in Television history... Ever.
@@GFHanks
true. That and his Smallest car.
Don’t forget 80kph is 50mph in 29.2secs, that makes a Land Rover Defender 90 at 16.5secs look blisteringly ‘quick’.
I wonder if Tiff can join Jeremy, Richard and James to make one episode of TGT?
Best comment and highly underrated... imagine if he joins them when they finally go to Russia🤔🏁
@@Jeff.78 Tiff pulls up in a T-55 tank just outside Vladivostok
I never knew james had this
This was insanely fun. Very fast paced video. I haven't eaten my meal yet for the whole video.
I would love to see Tiff drive that Riviera around a track.
I had the 1100 four cylinder Ami Super version. It was hilarious and made every journey a total hoot.
I love Tiff! Luckily got to meet him and go for a passenger ride round thruxton a few years ago in an M4. Safe to say he really knows how to drive a car XD
Thank you, this did chase the blues away this morning.
The wing mirror was literally scraping the tarmac! 😂😂😂
Plz find some old top gear challenge cars and see what happened to them after the challenges and where they are now? Reunite James with the ami
that amphibious pickup
Someone found the Botswana cars recently and recorded a video
@@renypayne11 so did drivetribe they made a whole video about it! Along with the Botswana Mercedes.
8:36 is the reason for the smell Tiff can't speak about.
😂😂😂
Corner on the door handles, every roundabout a full power four wheel drift. A hoot, in other words. 😍 And no danger of a speeding ticket...
More Tiff please! I didn't know that he'd be game to be in DriveTribe videos but now that I know that, we definitely need more of him.
Maybe you guys would be able to get Vicki Butler-Henderson! That would be absolutely amazing.
I remember Madison's cleveage still, what a gorgeous girl
I certainly would not have dared take those turns at that speed. Basically only the outer front tire has grip. :-D
The French deserve the Nobel prize in physics for designing a car that can lean like that and still not roll over. Somehow wormholes are involved.
They used aircraft engineers and designed a car to be comfortable whilst being fast across country
One of a few cars with a suspension so perfect you can race the complete track flat out
That hard brake looks straight out of a Spirou comic.
Those who get it, get it.
I totally can't understand why, but this "station" version of the Ami gets to my heart... :)
You can say what you want... but they always would remember this drive :D
My Dad bought us(me & my brothers) an Ami 8 to go on 'supervised' drives around the local farmers fields in... I must have been 10 or 11 at the time... Me & my brothers found where he hid the keys, that nearly went horribly wrong!
Just wow, Tiff is mad, respect for inviting him
Bicester Heritage looks like a great place
Tiff still has the reaction speed. It was cool seeing him turning the front wheels during that slow motion emergency brake test. I would have rolled it😂
That hoodie is absolute fire
Those shock absorbers are absolutly EPIC. 8:40 :O WOW French cars was the absolut best
I was waiting for the Baby Bugatti to be a peddle car or something.
Mikes shirt: Patagonia goes Mordor 😂
Glad I'm not the only one laughing at that.
I picture Tiff and James being friends that can carry on for hours at the pub or in the garage, but friends that get on each other’s nerves for their opposite personalities 😂
I have two big memories of that Citroen.
I think I know where you’re going with this, it’s the suspension and the big yellow headlights right?
Ah, the Divine Potter...
Honestly laughed, just like the old Top Gear vibes.
The 71 to 73 Boat tail Rivera, one of my all time favourite cars, what a gorgeous, striking looking machine!
I had an AMI back in 80’s I bought it for £35 at an auction it had no back seat! I drive it for over two years and spent almost nothing on it. I did discover it had 3 different sized wheels-I managed to get a matching set from a scrap yard! Happy Times!
I like this little story 👌😄
2:10 i know tiff, it's hard not to remember those two big things inside that
What a legend Tiff is! Funny, likeable, and a fantastic driver!
I’d love to see Tiff in the Riviera
Its more fun to drive a Slow Car Fast then drive a Fast Car Slow
I love Tiff. He's awesome
Amazing !! finally a fun DriveTribe video to watch. That was fun !
Love Tiff but as my ol pappy used to say "he's a little rough on equipment ".
There are people with off road 4x4's watching this that are jealous of the amount of suspension travel that car has! lol! 🤣
Real title of this video "2 yobbos abuse an elder frenchman: SACREBLUE"
Surely it is more a mademoiselle than a monsieur ?
Let's not forget that it's only a Top Gear legend because May ran out of options 🤣🤣🤣
Yea!!
Yea!!
@@iexplainjokestomakethemles1560 yea!!
That was genuinely hilarious. And great to see May's old rally car back again, with Tiff at the wheel. If only they could've convinced the hot blonde to ride along again :p
Woah! I'd love a video on that Buick. Especially with Tiff behind the wheel.
One of the few times I had fun watching a Drivetribe video, they looked like they were genuinely having fun. Which is exactly what we are missing from the TG days!
I like the car but the fact is and the fact remains that yes it leans in corners but it is definitely more comfortable than anything modern that for sure
Tiff with one of Mays' cars is quite the ambitious crossovers of all time!
Ok, the car is garbage, but any of the presenters could stop smiling during the ride.
It's not about the car, it's about the fun you have in it.
Two observations:
we need more Tiff Needell
and Tiff Needell is a braver man than I am.
'ex F1 driver' - while technically true, is... generous
No disrespect intended to Tiff but they always big up the "Ex F1" thing... well one DNF and one DNQ is more that what 99% of us will do but seriously? Lol.
@@FrontSideBus exactamundo, mon ami. His accomplishments elsewhere are FAR more noteworthy and due respect.
That’s not driving, that’s sailing ⛵️!
Finally reviewing a car lots of people bought an owned an not some 100k BMW German car, or a 500k Ferrari nobody can afford.
Nice to see Tiff here. I'm glad the whole Top Gear/Fifth Gear rivalry was never in disrespect for Mr. Needell.
proof that driving a slow car fast is far more fun than driving a fast car slow .. ( but driving a fast car fast is most fun )
Poor Tiff, he's a British treasure.