Jeremy Clarkson came in to the theme of Eye Of The Tiger as he made his first public appearance with his former co-presenters since his Top Gear contract was not renewed.

The global super car tour opened with footage of him throwing a hefty left hand, before he arrived in a hovercraft to the music.

The motoring stars said they opted to start the tour in “Bel-Fast” in Northern Ireland because “it is a long way from the Daily Mail offices”.

Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Clarkson tries out some alternative forms of transport (Liam McBurney/PA)

Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were hosting the live motoring show in Belfast in front of around 5,500 people.

The trio have not appeared on the same stage since Clarkson left the BBC following a “fracas” with a producer in March but fronted the live stadium spin-off of the hit BBC2 motoring show.

May said: “We have bad news, it turns out that the orangutan is not quite as gone as we hoped.”

Richard Hammond and James May at Clarkson, Hammond and May Live
Great banter ( Liam McBurney/PA)

The six-month global tour of the rebranded Clarkson, Hammond and May Live team will end in London in November.

The presenters said the show would feature “an array of super cars that would make even a Kuwaiti faint” as well as vehicles made from kitchen appliances.

Top Gear Live had run for a number of years but organisers stripped it of all branding following Clarkson’s departure from the BBC.

Pyrotechnics at Clarkson, Hammond and May Live
The show was an understated affair (Liam McBurney/PA)

Clarkson was suspended, then sacked by the BBC in March following the “fracas” with producer Oisin Tymon at a hotel.

After Belfast, the tour heads to Sheffield, Johannesburg, South Africa and Stavanger in Norway in June. Then it goes to Australia for shows in Perth and Sydney in July, followed by Warsaw in October and ending at London’s O2 for two nights in November.