Only in America

Grand Tour test sites

How do you make a splash to announce the arrival of a new car show? Well, one method is to take over a vast tract of Californian desert, assemble a massive flotilla of unusual machines, sprinkle in some crazy “art cars” from Nevada’s Burning Man festival and garnish it with a flame-spitting metal scorpion, a lorry that looks like a pirate ship, a gang of stilt-walkers and fire-breathers, a trio of hot Ford Mustangs, a crowd of many thousands, a live band and a squadron of jets flying overhead. Then stroll on stage as coolly as possible and say: “Hello, and welcome to the new show.”

The rolling hills of Crickhowell, Wales, near to where the trio filmed at the Glanusk Estate <DIV XMLNS="HTTP://WWW.W3.ORG/1999/XHTML"/>

Environmental as anything

Motoring manufacturers are quick these days to boast of