The basic concept of this race was simple: there was Clarkson in the 1,001bhp Bugatti Veyron - the most powerful production car in the world - against a newly qualified pilot (aka James May) and his hand luggage (aka Richard Hammond), in a small Cessna aeroplane.

To make things more interesting, the boys' task was to collect some small, dirty and hugely expensive fungi (aka truffles) from Alba in northern Italy and be first to deliver them to Vertigo 42 restaurant in the old NatWest Tower, central London.