Before there was a clubhouse, before the grandstands and before Area 27 had become the home base members know today, the original The Grand Tour brought its cameras to the South Okanagan. Now the programme has a new trio behind the wheel. Could its next chapter eventually bring them back to Oliver?
Area 27 and The Grand Tour: the first chapter
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May filmed at Area 27 in October 2017 for the second season of The Grand Tour. It was an extraordinary moment for the circuit: a global automotive show choosing a young Canadian motorsports destination before the clubhouse had even been built. The clubhouse officially opened in 2019, which makes those earlier scenes an especially vivid snapshot of Area 27 in its formative years.
The Doncaster connection
The story began long before the cameras arrived. Jeremy Clarkson and Area 27 chairman, shareholder and director Robbie Dickson were neighbours in Doncaster, England. That personal connection helped introduce the original Grand Tour team to Area 27 and opened the conversation that ultimately brought the production to Oliver.
It is a great reminder that the most interesting motorsport stories are often personal ones. Area 27 may sit beneath wide Okanagan skies, but its story has always had an international outlook—and, in this case, a connection back to South Yorkshire.
A new Grand Tour era
Clarkson, Hammond and May have retired from The Grand Tour, but the show is continuing on Prime Video with Francis Bourgeois, James Engelsman and Thomas Holland. The new six-episode season brings together three genuinely different automotive voices: Francis’s unmistakable enthusiasm and curiosity, James’s well-known Throttle House perspective, and Thomas’s automotive-journalism and track-day experience from Canada.
That mix is precisely why the new version has potential. It should not try to recreate the original trio. The chemistry will have to grow in its own way, and the best episodes will be the ones that let the new hosts bring their own humour, preferences and driving styles to the screen.
Why Area 27 would still make sense
Area 27 offers something a standard road-trip location cannot: a technical circuit designed by Jacques Villeneuve, genuine driving experiences, high-performance machinery and the distinctive landscape of the South Okanagan. It can be a serious test track one minute and the beginning of a memorable road adventure the next.
There is also a natural Canadian thread in the new line-up. With Thomas Holland based in Canada, a future Canadian story would feel less like a detour and more like a homecoming—especially for a series with Area 27 already written into its history.
No future Area 27 visit has been announced. This is the kind of return members can hope for, not a confirmed production plan. But if the new hosts ever need an exceptional Canadian circuit, an evocative landscape and a location with Grand Tour history, Area 27 has a compelling case.
Our verdict on the new three
We are optimistic. The first great decision is that the show has chosen people with distinct points of view rather than three lookalikes for its former presenters. Francis brings a joyful outsider’s eye, James brings a sharp contemporary car-culture voice, and Thomas brings grounded journalist and driver credentials. Give them interesting cars, a proper challenge and enough room for the conversations to go somewhere unexpected, and the format can move forward rather than simply look backward.
For Area 27 members, the best part is the possibility. We have already been part of the story once—at a time when the circuit was still becoming itself. A return visit would show just how far the facility, the club and the wider Area 27 community have come.
So here is to the next era of The Grand Tour. We will be watching, and we will keep the gate open.