BEHIND THE SCENES WITH best ‘It’s such a buzz!’
Freddie Flintoff, Chris Harris and Paddy McGuinness are back for their sixth series of Top Gear. In the past few years, the presenters have tried their hands at quite a few motorsports and, let’s face it, not done very well! But with all three now boasting their racing licences, the producers decided it was time to send them on a motorsport mission to the home of grassroots racing: Florida. Here, cricketing legend Freddie, 44, tells us about the bond with his co-presenters, and why this series was so much fun…
How did you find it bobsledding down an Olympic run in a Sinclair C5?
This series has been so much fun. We are all finding our feet and getting to know each other better. The producers are tailoring stuff for us more, which is disconcerting given some of the stuff they’re asking me to do! I’ve done some risky things before, like bungee jumping off a dam in a car and the Wall of Death, but this year they’ve been upping the stakes. When they said I was going to be bobsledding in a Sinclair C5, I was a little bit blasé about it at first. I’ve done the skeleton before. With that, you just lie there and move very fast downhill. But I realised very quickly that there is a lot more skill to driving a bobsleigh.
What motivates you to do these incredible stunts?
I have never really had a job, but I’ve always managed to do things I enjoy, and Top Gear is another one of those. We are all motivated to make the best show we can and push boundaries.
We also have incredible life experiences.
We get to travel to all these amazing places and do all these amazing things. It’s such a buzz.
How do you explain the great
SOUTHAMPTON GOES JURASSIC
Perfectly timed for the new Jurassic World film, visitors to Southampton’s main Westquay shopping centre can get up close to an authentic dino fossil this Summer. Dating from the Upper Jurassic period (150 million years ago), Big Sara is an Allosaurus measuring 10 x 3.5m – but won’t run through the streets of Malta like one does in the new movie. A cousin of the T-Rex, this formidable creature was a carnivore with killer claws and was discovered in 2015 in Wyoming, USA. For more things to do in the city, see visitsouthampton.co.uk