Entertainment

Zara Tindall spins out of control on Top Gear race track

The Queen’s granddaughter and her husband take part in two challenges in Sunday’s episode of the motoring show.
The Queen’s granddaughter and her husband take part in two challenges in Sunday’s episode of the motoring show.

Zara Tindall loses control behind the wheel on Top Gear and spins the car she is driving off the race track.

The Queen’s granddaughter, the first member of the royal family to appear on the motoring show, is joined by husband Mike Tindall, who is in the passenger seat in the Toyota GT86.

He tells her “no lifting, no lifting” before the car rounds a corner and spins onto the grass.

Laughing, Zara says: “That was your ‘no lifting’.”

The Tindalls both take part in the Reasonably Fast Car segment in Sunday’s broadcast of the programme, going head-to-head against each other.

The equestrian rider, who won silver at the 2012 London Olympics, says that their family is backing her to score a better race time, and that she hopes to have beaten Frankie Dettori on the leaderboard.

Zara and Mike Tindall
Zara and Mike Tindall (BBC/Top Gear) (Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer / BBC Studios)

Horse racing jockey Dettori completed the track with a time of 1:47.2 when he appeared on the programme in 2017.

Zara and Mike also take part in a fast and furious Width Restrictor Challenge on the Top Gear track.

The challenge sees them – with hosts Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness as passengers – driving between two narrow bollards at a very high speed with just an inch between each wing mirror and the bollards.

In their interview on the programme, Zara and Mike say they are not competitive over who drives when they are out together.

Top Gear
Freddie Flintoff, Zara Tindall, Chris Harris, Mike Tindall and Paddy McGuinness (BBC/Top Gear) (Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer / BBC Studios)

But Mike adds jokingly: “If we go out together I’ll generally drive… just because she likes a drink!”

On having an HGV licence, Zara says: “I can drive my truck. Because we all drive our horses around, we drive them to competitions, so we need a big vehicle to get them to competitions with all their kit and our kit – I love it.”

The episode, the third in the new series, also sees the presenters alongside co-host Chris Harris set out to turn an old Daimler hearse into the ultimate family car, and the Stig’s family make an appearance.

Top Gear is on Sunday at 8pm on BBC Two.