Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson Quadskis into Lake Como

Jeremy Clarkson, host of hit BBC show Top Gear, recently drove the New Zealand-designed Quadski, described as “the world’s first personal sports amphibian” vehicle, into Italy’s Lake Como in a race against co-presenter Richard Hammond driving an Alfa Romeo 4C. Hammond said in the shorts for the episode that Clarkson on the Quadski was “ridiculous” and “letting down a kind of James Bond piece of high tech wizardry by having an orangutan on it.”

Clarkson, who got up to speeds of 70kmh on the lake, described the 3.2-m Quadski as “brilliant”, with the best thing about it being its reliability.

The Quadski is powered by a 140 horsepower BMW Motorrad engine.

In the United States, the Quadski is manufactured in Auburn Hills, Michigan by Gibbs Sports Amphibians, which Christchurch-born entrepreneur Alan Gibbs founded in 1996. It went on sale in January 2013 in Florida and is now available in 11 American states with a starting price of about USD$40,000.

Gibbs Technologies Ltd. is based in the Warwickshire town of Nuneaton.

Company chairman Neil Jenkins was quoted by the Nuneaton News as saying: “We’re delighted that the Quadski was given the chance to demonstrate its capabilities on the show. The race was the perfect stage to showcase what [the] personal sports amphibian is all about and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the experience turns Clarkson into a Quadski owner.”

Original article by BBC America staff, February 20, 2014.