James May takes his first driving test since 1980 to see if he can still pass with flying colors

James May has driven millions of miles across several countries on both Top Gear and The Grand Tour, and that begs a question.

Two questions, actually.

Does that make him a good driver in the real world, and – more importantly – does it make him a good driver in the eyes of the law?

Well, May took a driving test for the first time since the 1980s to find out.

Can James May pass a driving test in 2026?

A while back, James May set up a YouTube account to promote his gin.

Interestingly, he’s been using his channel for a bit of everything, including car-related stuff.

In his latest video, May – who originally passed his driving test in 1980 – attempted to take a modern UK driving test without any prior revision.

One of the key differences between now and back then is the presence of ADAS – Advanced Driver Assistance Systems – which are now everywhere, mostly because they are mandatory in several countries.

In the clip, May made it clear he didn’t really like them.

“The first thing you do now, in case you didn’t know, is you turn off lane assist, speed warning, and stop start because they are instruments of tyranny, and I am a free man,” he joked.

But then things went wrong quite quickly.

While May correctly answered safety questions about tire pressure and so on, the driving part was a bit of a problem.

Obviously, May no trouble with the actual driving maneuvers, but he realized he was consistently breaking the speed limit, often blipping over the limit to 46 mph in a 40 mph zone and 33 mph in a 30 mph zone.

That meant he failed.

He’s not alone

Depending on where you are in the world, a driving test generally consists of a ‘theory test’ followed by a practical driving exam.

And depending on where you live, both things have probably changed significantly over the past few years, let alone the last few decades.

Translated: most people would likely fail if they took the test again today.

Especially if, like May, they first got their license 40 or 50 years ago.

Compared to the 1980s, road laws are much stricter and, more importantly, enforced.

In the 1980s, you knew you couldn’t run a red light and you knew that there were loose speed limits.

That was about all.

In 2026, you need a PhD just to figure out how to use a roundabout.

May vs Hammond vs Clarkson – who’s the best driver?

When you put together their exploits on Top Gear and The Grand Tour, alongside anecdotal evidence from their newspaper columns and social media posts, you get a clear picture of what each member of the trio was good at.

Richard Hammond was famously crash-prone on both shows, but he was consistently praised as the best driver on anything other than tarmac.

Snow, ice, dirt, mud – Hammond was generally more at home than the other two.

Clarkson was probably the fastest driver in general.

Lap times, drag races, improvised races in the Top Gear and Grand Tour Specials – Clarkson usually walked away with the win.

Also, resident racing driver on The Grand Tour, Abbie Eaton, explicitly stated in an interview that out of the three presenters, Clarkson was the best track driver.

And May?

In a newspaper column from ages ago, Jeremy Clarkson briefly abandoned his relentless sarcasm and admitted that James May was probably the best overall driver.

He wrote that whenever the three presenters were sharing the same car off screen in the Top Gear era – for example on the way back to the hotel in a rented car after filming – May was the designated driver.

Mind you, that was probably on account of the fact that Hammond would’ve crashed and Clarkson would’ve driven too fast.