A hilarious TV film showing a horsebox made in North Wales being raced around a showjumping course by Top Gear star Matt LeBlanc has gone viral with more than four million views.
The horsebox made by Ifor Williams Trailers proved the surprise star of the Top Gear season finale of the globally popular TV show when the presenters were challenged to test out the ‘horse power’ of three SUVs.
Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Reid took it in turns to drive around a customised show jumping course, while towing an Ifor Williams Trailer horsebox, in an equestrian themed ‘SUV showdown’.
Obstacles on the comedy course included a giant see saw, rumble strips, two jumps – one featuring a children’s paddling pool – and a bridge, which the presenters all had to navigate before reverse-parking in a narrow pen to finish.
The timed stunt was filmed at the Elizabethan Burghley Estate in Lincolnshire, the home of the prestigious annual Burghley Horse Trials.
A video clip of former Friends actor Matt LeBlanc completing the course in a predictably chaotic fashion, in an Alfa Romeo Stelvio has gone viral on-line, so far receiving in excess of 4.5 million views and 1,000 shares on Facebook.
The clip has garnered more than 11,000 ‘likes’, ‘laugh’ and ‘loves’, on the social networking site.
“This is the equestrian equivalent of falling off your horse and then running around the course, on your own afterwards!” quipped fellow presenter Chris Harris as the trio giggled at the calamitous effort.
“Horse trials are the ultimate test of horse and rider — or in our case, car and driver,” said Matt before the ‘horsey sports day’ began.
Reading out a challenge card in Burghley Estate’s show jumping arena, the keen horseman told the other presenters: “To decide which of you has the best SUV, each of you will now compete in Top Gear’s inaugural horse trials”
“Horse trials!” he exclaimed: “Saddle up boys!”
No actual horses were used in the stunt, and instead a horse-shaped piñata made of cardboard and coloured paper, was placed in the horsebox for each section of the challenge.
The presenters also tested a Range Rover Velar and Volvo XC60, in the series finale of the BBC2 show, which first aired on April 1 and is available to watch on iPlayer for the rest of the month.
Presenters Rory and Chris respectively lost a piñata horses’ head, and leg on the run, but at least managed to keep the horse box attached to their vehicles.
Andrew Reece-Jones, Design Engineering Manager at Ifor Willlams Trailers said: “This was so much fun to watch – it was a brilliant piece of TV and we’re delighted the show chose to use an Ifor Williams Trailers horsebox.
“It really never ceases to amaze me the inventive uses people find for our trailers, but I never thought I’d see one playing the part of a ‘horse’ in a showjumping competition on Top Gear!
“Of course, we wouldn’t advise anyone to actually try a stunt like this in normal circumstances – if anything it shows the importance of driving carefully at all times!
“The way the horsebox withstood the punishment meted out as part of this unique challenge is testament to the strength and durability of our products.
“By coincidence we use the same test track as Top Gear put our new trailers through their paces before they are launched.”
Episode six of Top Gear Series 25 first aired on Easter Day, April 1 and is available to view on iPlayer here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09ynst1
