Stop faking it, Top Gear told

TOP GEAR LIVE: Ferrari was not happy about 'fake' cars at the shows.

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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.”