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The Australian version of Top Gear accelerates onto our screens on September 29 with a formula that echoes the British show, although the producers are stressing that it’s not a copy.
Three men and a Stig, lots of cars, plenty of odd stunts, and other staple ingredients of the recipe are there.
The trio of hosts includes News Ltd cartoonist, motoring columnist and historic car nut Warren Brown -- whose notoriously addled brainstorming was responsible for a group of 100-year-old vehicles retracing the route of the epic 1907 Peking to Paris trek – race driver and instructor Steve Pizzati, and radio presenter and Moto GP commentator Charlie Cox.
The Cool Wall has been replaced in the Aussie show with a segment called `What Were They Thinking’, and there’s no indication yet of what music the local Stig will have playing while he’s on the track. The British one’s eclectic taste runs from language courses to Hammond organ recitals.
The question was put to Australia’s version of the mystery driver during carsguide’s hot lap with him at the show’s launch at Camden airport, where filming has been under way for the past couple of months.
No firm answer was forthcoming, but indications are that country icon Chad Morgan may get a run on the Stig’s stereo.
Top Gear Australia is the first – but probably not the last – international version of what has become the world’s biggest motoring entertainment brand, being seen by 500 million in 120 countries.
The show will screen on SBS for eight weeks, after which the British series will resume.
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