It's man versus machine, quite literally.
Three, two...
Hang on!
I suppose it's got a mind of its own, doesn't it?
It's May versus Schwarzenegger!
In truth, the jump start didn't really matter
because I was on standard road tyres
and this path was so craggy, he was always going to be faster anyway.
Look at the size of the tyres on that thing.
Ah, God, he's miles in front.
Right, if you're thinking of placing a bet on this at home,
here are the odds. Team Terminator, with the TerraMax,
they can go over terrain that I can't manage and the boffins who built it
have programmed satellite maps of the whole area into its brain.
So, it already has a pretty good idea of where to go.
And if they want, they can take control of it remotely, like a drone.
Team Top Gear, with the Range Rover, you have me,
possibly the greatest off-road vehicle in the world, and higher speed.
I also have Land Rover's Terrain Response system,
which allows you to select different settings for the car
depending on the type of surface you're on.
But there is a new feature. You can now push the knob down
and it goes into automatic mode,
and then the car will work out for itself, believe it or not,
what sort of terrain you're on, what ride height you need, all the rest of it.
Right now, though, it was speed I needed
and with these tyres on this terrain I wasn't getting any.
God above!
That looks like a short cut.
That is a shot. I'm going to risk this.
The short cut was a steep, slippery slope.
Right, hill descent.
Here we go.
Whoa!
Whoa, that's steep.
I'm losing it! No, I'm not!
Whoa-ho!
Oh, God, he's right there.
And sure enough...
Yes! Take that, Robocop!
And things could only get better
because ahead of me lay a fast, sandy track.
Wahey!
This is the 510-horsepower supercharged Range Rover.
You'd be mad to buy this in Britain. It's so thirsty!
Makes sense out here, though, and it makes sense doing this.
I've no idea where Robocop is.
But he ain't going as fast as this.
Sadly, Robocop didn't need to,
because the boffins back at base switched to drone mode,
remotely deflated the tyres for better grip in tricky conditions
and ordered it to take a short cut of its own, over even rougher ground.
Wahey!
Back on the sand track, I was at least reaping the benefits
of the Range Rover's 400-kilogram diet.
Hang on, a quick downshift to the sandy hairpin.
Look at that, it's beautiful!
But the TerraMax's shortcut had put it ahead
and now the terrain was even more in its favour.
It's not going fast, but it is utterly relentless. It just goes.
Moments later, I arrived at the ridge the TerraMax had just climbed.
Holy moly!
What the hell, here we go.
Geronimo!
Whoa!
Did you see that?
That is just... That is astounding!
Meanwhile, the TerraMax was surging ahead.
And once it had crossed the river...
it could hit its top speed of 35 miles an hour,
which meant I had to push even harder.
Whoa, that's deep.
Whoa, that's getting a bit dicey!
Whoa!
Whoa-ho!
It really is astonishing, this thing.
Let's hear you cheering, Birmingham.
Here we go. This will wade up to 36 inches, this car.
That's more than a Land Rover Defender,
more than the old car would. The air intakes have been moved up
to the top of the bonnet, so, the water doesn't get in the engine.
If there's no holes in the river, I'm across! Yes!
Back on smooth ground, I could now close down the TerraMax.
Where is he?
No sign of the metal bastard.
Actually, the driverless swine was starting its ascent of the final hill.
There's Arnie! I'm on his six.
Now, I could follow that thing and then just try and overtake it
at the last minute in a rush to the finish line,
but I don't think that's going to work, to be honest,
'cause it's just going to end up somewhere where I can't go.
On the map, Arnie's route was shorter, but also clearly steeper,
so I went for a longer, shallower track.
Here we go and it's smooth and good.
That's where I'm going. I can see a whiff of the orange smoke.
This is excellent.
Lost sight of Arnie. Absolutely no idea where it is.
Whilst Arnie ploughed relentlessly upwards,
my gamble started to backfire.
This is getting tricky. Calm down, man.
Jeez, it's getting worse.
I'm sorry, I really can't do it much faster than this.
I'll just pull a tyre off or smack something, then it will be over.
The summit was now just half a mile away.
He could be just the other side of that rise. I just...
I've got no way of knowing.
There's the orange smoke. Here we go, here we go.
Here's the chequered flag! And...
No TerraMax!