'Top Gear' Host Jeremy Clarkson Debuts P45, Smallest Car

For those who think a Smart car is the most diminutive vehicle on the road, "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson has got a surprise up his sleeve: the P45.

The vehicle was designed by Clarkson - who began hosting the U.K. television show about cars in 1988 - as a response to the Peel P50, the three-wheeled microcar made in Britain in the 1960s.

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On the debut of "Top Gear's" 19th season of the show, which is the most popular factual series in the world, Clarkson unveils his invention- though it doesn't look all that comfortable while he's encased in it. And it makes him look like a Lego man or R2D2.

The always snarky host then takes the four-wheeled wonder along the streets of Guildford, England, deftly avoiding a traffic jam in his narrow new ride. But on the highway, he hits a snag.

BBC

"I'm just staggered that ford GM, Toyota, all of the automotive giants haven't thought to make a car like this yet," he says, after screaming when he hits minor bumps in the road.

He says that at one point he made it up to 34 miles per hour.

It's during s a daring journey on the A3, a highway connecting London and Portsmouth, in which Clarkson realized the folly of the microcar. Being overtaken by a fuel tank truck he almost loses it.

"A lot of poo shot out then!" he yells after the truck passes.

"Top Gear" airs on BBC America in the U.S.