“We had a unique experience, the kind of organization that only a program like Top Gear could have inspired me to raise my standards of corporate communication”.
Francesco Scalia, CEO of Sicily Rent Car
In November 2014, Top Gear, the famous British TV show, landed in Palermo to make the trailer for its 22nd TV season and chose Sicily Rent Car as a local partner for its production. It was impossible for us to refuse such an opportunity, which we seized on the fly and without hesitation.
Top Gear is a television program produced by the BBC dedicated entirely to cars. It is mainly about cars and has a unique style that oscillates between humorous and provocative. The format has been a huge success, winning Emmy Awards and BAFTAs, and has an estimated 350 million viewers across the globe.
Until 2015, the presenters were Jeremy Clarkson (Jezza), Richard Hammond (Hamster), James May (Captain Slow); also taking part in the program is The Stig, a driver who tests on the track, about whom Jeremy ironically told countless legends; in fact the driver’s true identity is never revealed in the show and to preserve the secret The Stig always wears a fireproof suit and a helmet.
The transmission is associated with Top Gear Magazine, a publication produced by BBC Magazines and famous also in Italy.
Top Gear chose Falcone e Borsellino airport to shoot part of the trailer for the 22nd season entitled “Stig takes a vacation”. Italy inspired the BBC as the ideal holiday destination for the mysterious pilot who, after this short break, was back to make the engines roar. Sicily Rent Car was chosen as local partner for the production of the trailer and provided the crew with a fleet of cars and all the facilities to shoot the teaser scenes inside Palermo airport.
It was an unforgettable experience to work in close contact with one of the most successful television productions in Europe, broadcast in over 60 countries around the world. We can admit that Top Gear has been and remains to this day the most watched television program, dedicated to cars, in the world. Curious to know if we’ve discovered who the Stig is? …Sorry, it will remain a mystery!
