When Top Gear called and asked if they could come and use our track and tanks for the day a few weeks ago, we didn’t expect to be firing paintball pellets at completely brand new SUVs for the day. But that’s exactly what happened!

The magazine photographer and three journalists arrived in brand spanking new polished-by-the-showroom perfect Sports Utility Vehicles- a Porsche Macan, an Audi SQ5 and a Range Rover Evoque TDI. Now our instructors here at Armourgeddon are usually far more impressed by multiple tonnage, armoury and the size of the tracks- yup, they are tank man through and through, but as the dust was kicked up whilst these vehicles floated down our drive towards Armourgeddon HQ, their faces lit up like kids in a sweet shop!

‘Can we come and get chased by tanks around your fields’ the scout for Top Gear had asked a week before their visit… ‘and would you be able to fire your cannons at us??’ Well, of course they were welcome, but we let them decide about the shooting of our cannons until they saw our tanks!

Once they arrived and the ooohs and aaahhs of the Top Gear guys about the tanks and the Armourgeddon team about the SUVs had subsided, Wayne and Tiny headed out with the crew to the top track. The first few loops of the track allowed the Top Gear drivers to get a feel for their cars on our dusty track- to find the dips and lumps that throw even our FV432 tanks into a fury and to learn the driving line for these super powerful vehicles. Soon, through, they were asking for the tanks to get involved.

With their photographer strapped to the back of an FV432 tank, Tiny headed off at the top speed the tank would allow followed by the SUVs in turn spinning and sweeping their way around the track, skidding sideways and providing quite a spectacle for those of us watching.

Soon the team were looking for some additional colour to be added to their shots and asked Wayne to find some paintball guns. Tiny had managed to convince the team that if we shot the giant paintballs from the tank cannons, they would dent the cars…. Not willing to take the risk (thank goodness… imagine the guilt….!) they agreed that painball guns were a better option. With their targets moving, spinning and sliding their way around the track, Wayne and Tiny showed their sharp shooting skills and the SUVs were soon spotty with various yellow and red splodges. With a request from the Top Gear team to shoot the hub caps, Tiny took aim and Wayne headed into his tank for the final top track shoot before lunch.

The next request after the teams were all refreshed was to head off down to the bottom track of our WWII bombing range here in Leicestershire with long sweeping lines dictating the direction of travel. It was quite a majestic sight from the top track to watch the tanks eat up the ground that the SUVs struggled to maneuver but with ruts at least 3 feet in height along the route.

With a whole afternoon of SHV chasing tank and tank chasing SHV, photographer on the ground, strapped to the tank, shooting photos down the barrel of the cannon and from every other angle imaginable… and a slight wheel based mishap…. The photo shoot was complete with the team from Top Gear looking to come back and enjoy a session of Tank Paintball in the near future.

You can read the article in this month’s Top Gear Magazine with a Veyron on Route 66 on the front cover.

Next time, we hope The Stig will come and drive our reasonable priced tank on our track… we will certainly keep you updated if he does!