Fans turn out for Matt LeBlanc and Chris Evans as Top Gear rolls into West Kerry for GAA match
The Top Gear roadshow rolled into Kerry at the weekend, complete with a fleet of Rolls Royces, against a backdrop of blue skies and warm sunshine.
After the serious car talk at Ladies View, Killarney, and on the winding roads to Kenmare on Friday, it was off to Dingle and the edge of the Atlantic for a jaunt on Saturday.
A fashionably late Chris Evans rolled onto the An Ghaeltacht pitch in west Kerry on the edge of the Atlantic just before lunchtime on Saturday.
Two and a half hours behind schedule, he told the 400-strong crowd they were always late but that that was filming, Evans said.
Nobody complained and the response to the BBC star was warm and immediate.
But then, from the new €400,000 Rolls-Royce Dawn, stepped Matt LeBlanc, in a gleaming white shirt, a tan, and a loudspeaker in his hand.
“How you doin?” he asked, reverting back to his alter ego Joey from the sitcom Friends.
“Thanks for playin’ along!” he grinned at the swooning crowd.
Against a backdrop of a match between An Gaeltacht and Dingle, Evans pitched his 1976 Rolls Royce Corniche in competition with the drop-dead gorgeous Dawn.
However, despite the star-studded showdown, the straight-talking Seán Ó Catháin, chairman of An Ghaeltacht club, directed that gluaisteain worth around half a million euro between them to stick to the sidelines.
“I told them there was no driving on the pitch! No cars on the main pitch; they had to stick to the border,” he commanded.
Looks, comfort, and driveability all mattered. And even the players in their muddy boots got to climb into the cars, as did a group of local children driven around by Evans.
Afterwards, Evans told reporters they had decided to film in Ireland because “it’s over the water!”
“We had to come and film in Ireland,” he said. “We had the Rolls Royce Dawn and we had to have one of the most beautiful backdrops in the world.”
Best road I've ever driven on. Had no idea it existed. A great great day. pic.twitter.com/HfCVwMWtLK
— Chris Evans (@achrisevans) April 16, 2016
It's actually getting better. pic.twitter.com/z3cJsDv8zs
— Chris Evans (@achrisevans) April 16, 2016
Rear view pic.twitter.com/kJcnZy7TaE
— Chris Evans (@achrisevans) April 16, 2016
For his part, Le Blanc, who had spent the night in Killarney after filming on the Ring of Kerry and Kenmare, revealed at the end of the day he had his very first pint of Guinness.
Earlier in Kenmare, he had learned how to pull a pint.
Was it nice? So good he quickly had a second, Evans remarked.
It is LeBlanc’s first visit to this part of Ireland and it was “nice”, the people had been “lovely”, and, in what will be a surprise for Kerry County Council, “the roads beautiful”.
As for Rolls Royce, representative James Warren said they were absolutely amazed how positive people had been about the whole thing.
The new Top Gear series is to hit the screens in May.
