TheDarkKnight
Mar 06, 2009, 11:48 AM
Apparently, word got around to Ferrari that Top Gear Live was not using real Prancing Horses for its stunt driving routine in Australia a few weeks back, and it sounds like the Italian automaker is none too happy about it. A spokesperson for Ferrari said, "We asked them to change it... for the Hong Kong [Top Gear Live] show (the last stop on the world tour). We said please use real Ferraris."
The Ferrari spokesperson also said that Top Gear Live had admitted to using replica Ferraris. BBC's head of communications, Philip Fleming, says that he's been in contact with Ferrari but stops short of admitting that the show's supposedly Italian machinery was fake. Whatever the case, the Top Gear Live show in Hong Kong didn't use Ferraris at all, real or fake. Instead, the sequence was changed to incorporate unspecified drift cars that TG believes are more in keeping with the the interests of the local audience. Problem solved.SOURCE (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/06/ferrari-tells-top-gear-to-stop-using-knockoffs-in-live-show/)
Supercar maker Ferrari has told Jeremy Clarkson and his team to stop using fake cars in the Top Gear Live shows.
Ferrari has asked the organisers of Top Gear Live, whose world tour included four shows in Auckland, to use real Ferraris rather than re-bodied Toyotas.
The approach came following an exclusive Drive.com.au story that revealed the controversial move to supplement $400,000 (NZ$514,000) Ferraris with Toyotas, re-bodied to look like Ferraris, in a stunt-driving series where three cars are often in close contact.
Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show, Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa said it was important to protect the brand and, as a consequence, the company had spoken to the Top Gear Live show’s organisers from the BBC.
A spokesman for Ferrari said Top Gear Live had admitted to using fake Ferraris.
“We asked them to change it … for the Hong Kong [Top Gear Live] show (the last stop on the world tour),” said the spokesman. “We said please use real Ferraris.”
The head of communications for home entertainment at BBC Worldwide, Philip Fleming, stopped short of admitting the ‘Ferraris’ used in the Auckland and Sydney shows were fake.
“Top Gear Live is a mix of the usual Top Gear fooling around, exotic cars and extremely exciting, live-action stunt driving,” said Fleming.
“Stunt driving requires highly specialist equipment. In this sense Top Gear Live is no different from any cinema or theatrical production.
"However, in the same way that magicians never divulge their secrets – we also don’t want to spoil the enjoyment and impact of the sequence by revealing how it’s done.”
Fleming says the BBC has been in contact with Ferrari since the publication of the Drive.com.au story.
“Yes, we have been in contact with Ferrari recently,” he said.
“However, it's important to point out that the Hong Kong show was tailored for the local audience and we actually used drift cars [not Ferraris or lookalike Ferraris] for the sequence in question.”SOURCE (http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/2000887/Stop-faking-it-Top-Gear-told)
The Ferrari spokesperson also said that Top Gear Live had admitted to using replica Ferraris. BBC's head of communications, Philip Fleming, says that he's been in contact with Ferrari but stops short of admitting that the show's supposedly Italian machinery was fake. Whatever the case, the Top Gear Live show in Hong Kong didn't use Ferraris at all, real or fake. Instead, the sequence was changed to incorporate unspecified drift cars that TG believes are more in keeping with the the interests of the local audience. Problem solved.SOURCE (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/06/ferrari-tells-top-gear-to-stop-using-knockoffs-in-live-show/)
Supercar maker Ferrari has told Jeremy Clarkson and his team to stop using fake cars in the Top Gear Live shows.
Ferrari has asked the organisers of Top Gear Live, whose world tour included four shows in Auckland, to use real Ferraris rather than re-bodied Toyotas.
The approach came following an exclusive Drive.com.au story that revealed the controversial move to supplement $400,000 (NZ$514,000) Ferraris with Toyotas, re-bodied to look like Ferraris, in a stunt-driving series where three cars are often in close contact.
Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show, Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa said it was important to protect the brand and, as a consequence, the company had spoken to the Top Gear Live show’s organisers from the BBC.
A spokesman for Ferrari said Top Gear Live had admitted to using fake Ferraris.
“We asked them to change it … for the Hong Kong [Top Gear Live] show (the last stop on the world tour),” said the spokesman. “We said please use real Ferraris.”
The head of communications for home entertainment at BBC Worldwide, Philip Fleming, stopped short of admitting the ‘Ferraris’ used in the Auckland and Sydney shows were fake.
“Top Gear Live is a mix of the usual Top Gear fooling around, exotic cars and extremely exciting, live-action stunt driving,” said Fleming.
“Stunt driving requires highly specialist equipment. In this sense Top Gear Live is no different from any cinema or theatrical production.
"However, in the same way that magicians never divulge their secrets – we also don’t want to spoil the enjoyment and impact of the sequence by revealing how it’s done.”
Fleming says the BBC has been in contact with Ferrari since the publication of the Drive.com.au story.
“Yes, we have been in contact with Ferrari recently,” he said.
“However, it's important to point out that the Hong Kong show was tailored for the local audience and we actually used drift cars [not Ferraris or lookalike Ferraris] for the sequence in question.”SOURCE (http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/2000887/Stop-faking-it-Top-Gear-told)