Kurt Johanssen: driving license at 11, driving his truck at 15 on government contract in Alice springs; at 17 he was delivering mail through an area bigger than several European countries; fixed a broken axle with a knife and a branch of a Mulga tree; gained his pilots license and invented the road train. A bloody legend

This guy seems pretty cool, he should make a show where he travels the world in different cars.

I lived in melbourne for 20 years. A friend from England came to stay with me. He rented a car to drive to Perth to visit his sister. I asked him why you not flying. Quote " its just a good days drive isn't it?" I explained to him it would take at least 3-4 days driving just to get there and then you have to get back. He couldn't understand the vast distance it was. As he said, it doesn't look that far on the map. It's 4000km each way

There will never be another Automotive journalist that will match the fame of Clarkson. He is just the right combo of informative and funny.

Andy Wilman ….. was the producer. Now I see why top gear was so good. They developed a bond

Lol so Clarkson was just like " Right, so I'll just keep doing that for like... 40 more years? Marvelous!"

I was watching the news one night. A bloke was in court for letting his 12yo* daughter drive home while he was pissed in outback NSW. His reply to the cameras out front of court. Aussie as, dead serious. "dunno what all the drama is about, she's been driving for 3 years" NO JOKE. I laughed for a week straight 🇦🇺 EDIT* ADDED GIRLS AGE.

I lived in Katherine, more specifically Tindal, for the better part of a decade. I was born in the UK and moved to Perth as a young lad, always lived in the suburbs of big cities. Was quite a difference living 300km south of Darwin in the middle of the outback but it's a place I'll never forget. The storms, the weather, the smells, and the shenanigans we used to get up to were epic. Used to waterski with crocs, rescued a few snakes from work including an inland taipan, and used to go cane toad killing in the wet season as they're a real pest up there. Bought a dirt bike and used to ride the motocross track in Palmerston near Darwin, and the local track in Katherine was good for a bash after work. Used to be able to ride the dirt bikes from my house on base along the fire trails all the way to the track. There was also a great calm up there, where you could properly relax on the weekend and enjoy life. I will be retiring in the outback, far away from the hustle and bustle of big cities. The people are nicer, the land is nicer, the air is nicer, everything just seemed better when you weren't bogged down with all the BS that comes with the big smoke.

I live in Alice and the Finke Desert Race brings this town alive. We take the distances out here for granted but its funny hearing Clarkson just try and get his head around it all. I worked with Paul Frahn's wife (yes they spelt his name incorrectly) for 15 years. Pauls just like this in real life. Down to earth aussie truckie.

There's a saying: "Europeans think 100km is a long way, Australians & Americans think 100 years is a long time." This is why we (Aussies) don't think 100km is a long way 🙂.

When my Italian friend suggested "We drive to Darwin for a week" We live in Victoria, that drive is about a week

Fantastic quality for such an old show, thank you !!

Please note that the "nearest big city" that takes 18 hours to get to (Alice Springs) is actually a town with a population of under 25,000 people. (Which has significant fewer opportunities for theatre, or fine dining than New York, London, or Paris)

I love how they used the Soundtrack from Crocodile Dundee. So nostalgic.

Australia's cargo railways are an affront when you think of these vehicles having to do what they do. The road trains are amazing engineering mind you.

Jeremy should do, Clarksons farm out there

Omg when the woman stepped out of the car I was like holy shit 90s Jezza was flamboyant

23:32 jeez he has been working with Wilman for a long tome, also for those wondering, I think that truck is a Kenworth c509

Alice Springs Offroad Club is still going strong. The Sth road is tarmac to get there nowadays.

The nickel plating on that old Roller is still in great nick.

Thank you for uploading this I've been looking for this for a long time

The Road Train is an excellent example of how bureaucracy stifles ingenuity. That old fella had a fist full of dollars and an idea and created the road train, back when he built it you were allowed to drive things out of the ordinary. Today, something so 'modified' would be classed as dangerous and couldn't possibly be allowed to be driven, nobody would 'pass' it due to it been so different. I'm afraid Australia, once a magnificent country, has ruined it's future through grinding Gov.

Thanks for uploading

true to form, the Land Rover is no longer registered, but the Landcruiser is

They should have just renamed "Top Gear" to "Jeremy and Co". Love him or loathe him he is great at presenting (and all the writers that make his scripts). Thanks for sharing this with us.

Kurt Johanssen is still alive at age 105...amazing!

In Australia they you can out into the desert with a Land Rover, BUT IF you want to get back safely and alive take a Toyota Land Cruiser!!!!!!!!!!! Some Road Trains are bigger even than this one. Often they have a sleeper cab, very comfy sleeper cab, fridge, microwave, air con, radio, TV, some are husband and wife, or two drivers one is resting, one is driving, then they swap over. A few years flying over Australia ( i was heading to Manila ) i looked out the window ( Airbus A330, traveling at approximately 500++ kph ) absolutely NOTHING just empty land, NO trees NO animals ( that i could see ) dose for an hour or so have another look NOTHING hour after hour NOTHING just EMPTY land!!!!

Everything Clakson is good to watch, even his farm vidz😎

unreal thanks

Episode was filmed in 1996 (MCMXCVI) in case you were wondering!

A lot of the places they go in this special are revisited on the TG Australia special. Specifically the gold mine. They race a BMW, GTR, and a Bentley

that tanami c501 road train is just utterly beautiful...

Now that was good to watch. And the music they used did Clackson like that movie

This show made Australia seem like there's two towns and it takes several days to get between them LOL

I once drove from Adelaide to Queensland via the desert , it was without doubt the most boreing drive of my life .

Jeremy Clarkson should do more shows like this, proper off road Aussie 4 wheel driving up crazy steep hills in 79 series landcruisers, Nissan Patrols ect... show Jeremy what real off roading is and how to do it because us Aussies do it the best.

So glad that they interviewed Kurt Gerhardt Johanssen

17:23 Mighty Kenworth C501 BRUTE of Tanami. Good gear and great truckie behind the wheel.

@3:59 they used to do it for 6 hours. 3 hours down to finke and 3 hours back. This years time was 1:45:00 down there.

Ah, the Goldfields of w.a., what looked like lake lefroy (the salt flats). Then around the Alice, Katherine, top Springs. Worked around all of them back in the 70's and 80's.. great places to be before the bloody tourists came along. Miss those years. Though pushing a road train, where the boss loved 'retreads' was a pain in the arse. Some tyres only lasted a day.

Came for the thumbnail, stayed for the content

"Highly tuned Toyota engines" I'm doubting that for the one that had the Honda banner and that recognizable Honda J series engine note.

I remember this first time around, great.

Tourist in Cairns "We're just going to drive down to Melbourne to see the thing', sure thing Mate, that'll only take you a week.

Love the subtle Crocodile Dundee music 😂

13:13 Has to be one of the first "In The World" moments 😂

The final soundtrack just sounded so familiar until I figured I heard it in crocodile Dundee. What a coincidence

Not sure on the year this was made but you can tell it was before the time of paying stupid money for commercial music. This has some big named songs in it, makes the program so much better.

8:38 who here thought it was Mark Hamill?

nice thank you

"I'm completely lost" shows the same clip as from 45 seconds before lol you gotta love how TV tries to make things more exciting which is not needed in this instance 😄 id kill to drive one of those things

is it possible to add Captions for the deaf? Im deaf you see, I would very much like to watch thjis video :)

Jeremy + Andy Wilman = Great TV

Intriguing as ever Clarkson

Never knew that Jeremy Clarkson came to Western Australia.. love seeing the old school WA rego plates😊

Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld Series 2 Episode 4 Australia On Thursday 25th January 1996 On BBC2.

Good ole 80 series cruiser 👌👌

best episode of the Motorworld Programme

Soo.... Every TG Specials are all emphasized version of these series

This is my first time seeing that glorious intro. ahaha

Back in the good times!

Train line Adelaide to Darwin completed a few years back now

8:40 Mark Hamill was having fun on the back of that truck!

Old but gold

This is the weirdest thing about Strayla - where a big bloody V8 is required, they don't use it. Where a big bloody V8 is the most redundant thing imaginable, they do.

The camel catcher looks like Tony Beets from gold rush.

"can we have kochie" "no we have kochie at home" kochie at home: 3:05

Wow this was a long time ago. 😆

Soundtrack is so killer

1:25 - real life aussie peggy hill!

That intro is awesome even by today’s standards

I just realized. That gold mine is where they raced the M6, GTR, and HSV Maloo in the Top Gear Australian Episode

King of the Toyo Landcruisers, the LC80!

Well the music 🎶 ia awesome

You really need love that road train.

The intro really reminds me of the Grand Tour intro. The style is the same?

I want to say that the end music was lifted from Crocodile Dundee, which would definitely be fitting.

Give the lady's glasses a thumbs up :)

Love the Crocodile Dundee music at the beginning lmfao 🤣 😂

6:25. The iconic James May stripped shirt.

Between all the weird Aussie colloquialisms and Clarkson's Terrible metaphors, I was lost for the whole episode. Love the Outback though!

This terrain is why the Emu's won the war of 1932.

What a treat! Never even heard of it, but still the great stories and shot blocking we've come to expect. The Bon Jovi actually made it nearly unwatchable, though. Funny how things age.

Clarkson has this charisma

J.c was in Kalgoorlie.. awesome.

Whats the song at the 6min mark?

I just wonder will Jeremy introduce some of these systems to his farm in the U.K. Helicopter yes motorbike NO Rolls yes cows No Lets all have a think shall we ?????????????

I have a friend in England that's never been to France, which boggles my mind. I'm flying up to meet a friend in a few days and drive with them back down to home, about 14 hrs drive. It just seems so normal, but when I did the trip a few months ago with another friend, they remarked, "How many countries in Europe do you think we've crossed?"

YES

Outro of this sounded like croc dun dee!! hahaha Maybe it was.. sorry if so, LOve the epicness!!!!

That’s a nice old kenworth road train

Sadly they do not make these kind of gems anymore.

I recently drove from Lyon to Manchester and back in a couple of days. I thought that was a fairly long haul. For some Ozzies it’s their weekly journey to the supermarket! Insane distances.

Australia for life

13,000 sq. km is about 5019 sq miles. Which is absolutely insane. For perspective, that's 10 Los Angeles', 16 New York Cities, 1 Connecticut, or 1 Jamaica. That's 2,420,000 football fields, or 775,000 Walmart parking lots. It's 1/6th of South Carolina, 1/8th of Ohio, and 1/10th of Alabama. It's a lot for one property. You can't possibly manage that much land and know what's going on everywhere. It's quite possible they've had other people live there without their knowledge.

Falcon 's were the pick of the 2wd stuff for Australian conditions especially utes and wagons with the leaf spring rear-end.

Land rovers are for British farmers.... who can see the old local town from the B-road you just broke down on.

22:53 The bodies do indeed add up. I was pretty shocked that on some stretches of road you have literally dozens upon dozens of dead kangaroos along the side of the road. That was a pretty bewildering sight

Jeremy was so young in 2021😮

even by Canadian standards this is huge, and we measure travel time by hours not kms