Jeremy Clarkson Drives An Incredibly Loud £1.8million Aston Martin Vulcan | The Grand Tour

Even at slow speeds, there's quite a bit of noise here, which is why I'm wearing this goofy-faced microphone so you can hear what I'm talking about. However, the

loud

est part of this car is not the engine. Those are the brakes. They're quite... They're quite squeaky. In fact, it sounds like I'm stomping on a piglet. And things get worse when you put your foot down. I'm not going to say it's like being attacked by a bear because it's not. But it's like being in a room with a bear that's thinking about attacking you. At the moment I have turned the engine down on this knob here to the minimum.

It only produces 500 horsepower. So it's not really the speed that's scary. Oh God! It's the noise, the harshness and the vibrations. It is not a very well equipped car either. The windows, for example, do not close. There are no toys. And you only get half a steering wheel. However, there is something surprising you get for your £1.8 million. An all-expenses-paid trip to the track of your choice, where an Aston Martin test driver will teach you how to drive your car, not with the engine at 500 horsepower, but with the engine on... ... full blast. Holy Cow! Ha ha ha!

The engine now produces 820 horsepower. And the speed is incredible. The bear is in attack mode. The figures say it will go from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds. And it has a top speed of 208 with that wing on the back. But it feels a lot faster than that. Oh God! The other thing you get for your money is a squad of mechanics. But unfortunately... it's not a handbrake. Well, what I've done now is I've removed... yes... I've removed the steering wheel, so I can't put it in gear to stop it from moving. Oh God. Oh. Argh, argh... When I finally managed to stop it, the jacks were deployed and the mechanics went to work.

That's what happens with the Vulcan. Wing angle, roll bar, suspension, brakes. Everything can be adjusted according to your personal tastes. After ten minutes of pretending I knew what they were doing, I was back on track. And the car felt... just as crazy as before. However, I have changed. I've been driving this thing for, I don't know, three or four hours, and I'm starting to...get it. I'm starting to get used to it. I'm starting to trust it. Now I'm starting to understand... why the Vulcan can lap the Nardo circuit in southern Italy nine seconds faster than the McLaren P1.

Nine seconds by car, that's a year!