Former Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have announced they’ll be launching a new “social network” for car fans around the same time as their new Amazon Prime Video original The Grand Tour airs.
Known as Drivetribe, the new network is intended to bring petrolheads together to talk cars, car tech and all things machine-related. As Hammond says on the site: “Gamers have got Twitch, travelers have got TripAdvisor and fashion fans have got, oh, something or other too. But people who are into cars have got nowhere.”
From Hammond’s description, it sounds as though Drivetribe will be a place “where people can meet and share video, comments, information and opinion”. Other than that, details around this new online hangout for car fans are scant. Clarkson describes Drivetribe as “like YouPorn, only with cars,” and May sees this as a refuge for “the world’s most endangered tribes – Volvo enthusiasts, for example”.
You can request early access by dropping your email into the site’s signup box. It’s not known when this access will begin, but as it’s set to launch in autumn 2016, it’s likely to be within the next month or so.
While the clout of Clarkson, Hammond and May will mean Drivetribe gets off the ground quickly – especially if The Grand Tour loops into it – it isn’t actually the first online community for car fans. Car Throttle and PistonHeads both have sizeable online communities, and lots of devoted car fans communicate and share via forums and Reddit, so it seems odd for DriveTribe to claim petrolheads have nowhere to go online.
Drivetribe appears to be headed up by former Top Gearproducer Andy Wilman and entrepreneur Ernesto Schmitt. The team is also looking to recruit “tribe” leaders, no doubt aimed at the YouTubers out there who have serious clout when it comes to car-related content.
Drivetribe could go one way or the other. While it’s likely its blend of content and hosts will ensure it stays fresh, there’s always a worry a community of any passionate fans could become a rather clique place to belong. I suppose all that awaits now is its autumn launch to find out just how successful it can really be.
