A tribute
Three men, three terrible bikes, one very good idea.
At Christmas 2008 the BBC's Top Gear handed Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May a shoebox of Vietnamese money each and sent them shopping for transport. It would not stretch to anything with four wheels. So they bought motorbikes, and were given eight days to get from Saigon to Ha Long Bay.
It is the reason a great many people, the crew behind this site included, first thought: I could do that.
- First shown28 Dec 2008
- The challenge1,000 miles
- Time allowed8 days
- Budget each15 million dong
A fan page. We have no connection with the BBC or the programme, and the pictures here are our own drawings.
The machinery
What they rode
Jeremy Clarkson
Piaggio Vespa
A green 1967 scooter with a two-stroke engine, bought by a man famous for disliking motorbikes. It needed a new engine on the first day.
Richard Hammond
Minsk 125
A 125 cc two-stroke built in Belarus, for decades the farm bike of northern Vietnam. He was the keen motorcyclist of the three. By Hue it had been sprayed pink.
James May
Honda Super Cub
The 50 cc step-through that has outsold every other motor vehicle ever made. Slow, frugal and very hard to kill, though he did have to push it up a hill.
Whoever's bike died for good was to finish on the spare: a tiny Honda Chaly painted in the Stars and Stripes, with a stereo playing Born in the U.S.A. A fifteen-million-dong shoebox was about a thousand US dollars, so there was no buying a way out. In the end nobody had to ride it.
Solid line: by bike, as shown on screen. Dotted line: the night train.
The journey
Where they went
Stop by stop, with the stage of our own route that covers the same road.
- 1
Start
Saigon
They go shopping for cars, learn that a Fiat 500 costs 560 million dong, and set off from outside City Hall on two wheels each. Two of the helmets are a bucket and a colander.
- 2
By bike
Da Lat
Up out of the heat into the pine hills. The Vespa breaks down twice and the Cub has to be pushed. Hammond acquires a pink helmet.
- 3
By bike
Nha Trang
Down to the sea in the rain. A clutch cable snaps, a tank runs dry, and the dreaded spare bike makes its first appearance. Clarkson presents Hammond with a large model galleon to carry north.
- 4
By bike
Hoi An
The old trading port, where the tailors make them suits to order. They are not quiet suits. May is given a marble ballerina, and the Minsk goes for a swim off the beach.
- 5
By bike
Hai Van Pass
The road over the headland north of Da Nang, with the sea far below. This is the point where Clarkson, of all people, starts to enjoy riding a motorbike. He is also handed a large painting to carry.
- 6
By bike
Hue
The old imperial capital and its Citadel and, around here, a Vietnamese riding test. Two of them pass.
- 7
By night train
Hanoi
Out of time, they take the overnight train north: thirteen hours, during which each of them kindly "repairs" the others' presents.
- 8
By bike
Ha Long Bay
A last day's ride east to the coast. Hammond breaks down again and Clarkson falls off and hurts his leg.
- 9
By water
The finish
The finish line turns out to be among the floating houses out in the bay, so overnight the bikes are turned into boats. Clarkson arrives first, Hammond second, and May swims the last few yards.
A deserted ribbon of perfection.
Why it matters
What they got right
It would have been easy to make an hour of jokes at a poor country's expense. For the most part they did not. The film looks properly at the place: the light on the paddies, the scale of the mountains, the patience of the people who kept mending their bikes. By the end even Clarkson cannot quite sum it up, and says so.
It also showed, without really meaning to, that this journey is within reach of ordinary people on small, cheap machines. The bikes were slow and constantly broken, and it was plainly the time of their lives.
About 6.7 million people watched it that Sunday night in Britain, and viewers still rate it among the very best hours the programme made. Vietnamese and international press alike have credited it ever since with putting the Hai Van Pass on travellers' lists.
Eight years later the same three men called their next series The Grand Tour. We think they had already made theirs.
If you go
Retracing it today
Why the pass was empty
A road tunnel under the headland opened in 2005, three years before they filmed, and took the trucks and buses with it. Motorbikes are not allowed through the tunnel, so the pass is still the bikers' road, though busier than it looked on television. It is on stage 8 of our route.
You can ride more of it than they did
Eight days was never enough. By the account of the man who supplied their bikes, the long coastal leg from Nha Trang to Hoi An was covered by plane and truck, and then came the night train. With three weeks you can ride every kilometre, including the north-central stretch they slept through.
Ha Long Bay is a side trip
The bay is about 130 km east of Hanoi by the fast road, but that road is an expressway and motorbikes are banned from expressways; foreign riders were fined in the north in 2026 for trying one. Most people leave the bike in Hanoi and go by bus. The floating villages have largely been moved ashore since, so do not go looking for the bar.
Start with a bike that works
A forty-year-old scooter is funnier on television than on a mountain. Our guide to renting or buying covers what to look for.
What we would not copy
It was made as entertainment in 2008, and it shows. The war is played for laughs more than once, a good deal of it was staged, and nobody would call the paperwork or the helmets a model to follow. A marble statue rides pillion.
So take the spirit and leave the stunts. Ride with a licence Vietnam recognises and a proper helmet, and keep the days short enough to stop when something is worth a look. Our licence guide and safety guide are the place to start.
Sources and further reading
Facts on this page were last checked on 14 Nov 2026. Top Gear is a BBC programme; this page is an independent tribute.
- BBC: Top Gear, Series 12, Vietnam Special
- Top Gear: Vietnam, behind the scenes
- Wikipedia: Top Gear: Vietnam Special
- Explore Indochina: a first-hand account by the supplier of the bikes
- Wheel World Reviews: the Vietnam bikes join the World of Top Gear exhibition
- CNN Travel: Vietnam by motorcycle (2016)
- VietnamNet: Hai Van Pass among the world's best scenic drives (2015)
- Wikipedia: Hai Van Tunnel
- VnExpress: new expressway halves the Hanoi to Ha Long journey (2018)
- VOV: foreign bikers fined for riding on an expressway (2026)
- Wikipedia: The Grand Tour