South African man built a custom car so impressive Jeremy Clarkson invited him onto The Grand Tour to show it off
Published on Feb 06, 2026 at 2:08 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Feb 06, 2026 at 2:08 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
This South African man built a custom car that was so cool Jeremy Clarkson invited him – and his car – onto The Grand Tour.
Johan Ackermann is a car guy through and through; that’s beyond dispute.
When he created a Mercedes C9 replica from scratch, it caught the attention of Jeremy Clarkson and led to him appearing on The Grand Tour.
He told Clarkson and Richard Hammond how he created the car – and you will be stunned by his creative process.
EXPLORE SBX CARS – Supercar auctions starting soon powered by Supercar Blondie
How this South African man designed his custom car
Ackermann appeared in Operation Desert Stumble, the second episode of The Grand Tour, which aired back in 2016.
In this episode, the three hosts were discussing a trend in South Africa in which car lovers were making their own vehicles from scratch.
One guy had even covered his creation in denim…which is certainly a choice.
But it was Ackermann who was given the opportunity to appear on the show alongside his car.
He’d built a replica version of the Le Mans-winning Sauber Mercedes C9.
You may recall that this was the car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in 1989, alongside the 1988 World Sportscar Championship.
To create a replica of such an iconic car is already cool enough, but Ackermann impressed Clarkson and Hammond even further with this revelation.
“How did you get the styling to work?” Clarkson asked.
“There was no drawings on the internet,” Ackermann replied.
“I got a book on the dimensions, but the closest I could get was a 1:32 scale model.”
This is when Hammond interjected in disbelief.
“Hang on, so you measured your toy car, multiplied it by 32, and built the full-size one?” he asked.
That is exactly how he did it, which is remarkable.
And better yet, the car is road legal – this isn’t some glorified museum piece.
Hats off to Ackermann, that is some seriously impressive stuff.
This was 16 months of work in all, and it shows.
Click the star icon next to supercarblondie.com in Google Search to stay ahead of the curve on the latest and greatest supercars, hypercars, and ground-breaking technology
Jeremy Clarkson has seen a lot of cool cars in his time
Cars have played a huge role in Clarkson’s media career, whether it was on Top Gear or The Grand Tour.
The former show saw him do a lot of cool car stuff, whether it was driving an electric car before they became cool, racing a Ford GT to Niagara Falls, or dropping a caravan on Toyota Hilux.
Over on The Grand Tour, the antics continued.
Even though the show wrapped up in September 2024, there’s still some life in it yet – as new presenters have been announced.
They have big shoes to fill, but it’ll undoubtedly be an interesting ride.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
