The Fastest Star in a Car at Top Gear Live Is...

The Fastest Star in a Car on the Toshiba Track at Top Gear Live is…

They came, they saw, they competed, but only one celebrity truly conquered on the Toshiba Track at Top Gear Live; Radio Sport’s D’Arcy Waldegrave raced to the top of the Leader Board and stayed there with a stunning time of 1’53.607 taking out the Top Gear Live Trophy and also winning the honour of being the Fastest Radio Announcer of the year.

Auckland celebrities came to the Toshiba Track from Wednesday 17th to Sunday 21st of February and were taken through stunt drive training with Drive Rush’s Peter Bell, before it was time to don a racing suit, hop in a Suzuki Swift and perform in front of the Top Gear Live Festival public. Once the penalty shoot-out and extreme parallel parking challenges were out of the way, they switched to a Suzuki SX4 and headed for the Start line on the Toshiba Track.

Other Toshiba Track Stars in Cars winners for 2010 were;

- Second place and Fastest Actor: Outrageous Fortune’s Craig Hall with a time of 1’54.58

- Third place and Fastest Mayor: His Worship, the Hon. Mayor of Auckland City John Banks who drove round the Track in a cool 1’55.060, edging out Mayor Andrew Williams’ time of 1’55.339.

- Fastest Chef: Euro’s Simon Gault who carved around the Toshiba Track in 1’55.272.

- Fastest Musician: Opshop front man Jason Kerrison with a time of 1’56.774

- Fastest Newsreader: One News’ Simon Dallow who sped ahead of other media competitors in a nail biting time of 1’57.519.

There were 22 celebrities in total and the other Stars who took part included; Mayor Ross Dunlop, Mayor Andrew Williams, Bridget Hastie, Jason Reeves, Nik Brown, Lana Coc-Kroft, Brooke Howard-Smith, Ido Drent, and Shane Cortese. Shaun Summerfield, Howard Dobson, Mark Sainsbury, Chang Hung, Auckland Blues’ Jerome Kaino, Jeremy Redmore, and Hilary Timmins also set times on the Track.

Amazingly, none of the stars hit any barriers and the cars were returned intact.

At the end of the Stars in Cars competition Greg Murphy got behind the wheel with James May as his passenger and really demonstrated his motor racing skills to the delighted crowd.

Overall, the entertainment on the Toshiba Track was received with enthusiasm by show visitors as rare and classic cars, V8 supercars and expensive high performance vehicles all took turns on the track in a challenge or demonstration. Competitions were managed by the Auckland Car Club and at the end of the event, on Sunday evening, New Zealand’s own V8 Supercar driver Greg Murphy presented trophies to winners in an award ceremony.

Winners on the Track included;

- Classic Rally , Carol Liston in a Honda CRX

- Drifters , Mike Whiddett in a Mazda RX8

- Muscle cars, Tony Gordon in a Corvette

- Targa, Clark Proctor in a Ford Escort

- Holden / Ford challenge, Joe Nacagilevu ( Fiji Thunder ) in a Holden Commodore

Brett MacLeod, event organizer for Brand Events & Festivals said “The Toshiba Track at the Top Gear Live Festival was a real spectacle for visitors and not surprisingly all the Stars were very competitive! Congratulations to D’Arcy for winning the Fastest Star in Car title and we hope he’ll be able to defend his title next year,” he said.

Rob Eliott, general manager, Brand Events & Festivals added that Top Gear Live management worked closely with Auckland City Council over the weekend to try and maintain acceptable noise levels. “Our team really worked very hard, extensively modifying the Track timetable (and a few of the cars) at the council’s request,” he said.

Top Gear Live powered by Shell V-Power attracted more than 40,000 visitors over the four days of the event.

ENDS