UNDERBELLY actor Vince Colosimo will guest star in the first episode of Top Gear Australia, which will unveil the latest Lamborghini and put the new Porsche 911 to the test.
Colosimo will be the first celebrity to try out his driving skills on the show and talk about his obsession with cars.
"He actually is a bit of a car nut," Top Gear Australia's SBS executive producer Denise Eriksen said.
"He in fact has trophies for driving, he's really, really passionate about cars and he loves Top Gear, so he was a natural first for us.
"And he's such a hot bloke so all the women in the audience will love him."
Details released today about the highly anticipated local version of the hit UK show reveal a distinct Australian flavour to the stunts the program is famous for.
Hosts Charlie Cox, Warren Brown and Steve Pizzati put all-wheel drives through their paces on sand and snow, while Brown also tests the appetite of great white sharks off the coast of Port Lincoln, South Australia, using himself as bait.
Eriksen said it was important to make the show distinctively different from its British counterpart from the get-go.
"Australia's got a really special and different relationship to cars to what they have in the UK, so it was crucial for us in the show that we came out with something very Australian," she told AAP.
"For the whole eight episodes it's all very Australian - we've done no challenges that the UK guys have done."
The program, which premieres on SBS at 7.30pm on Monday September 29, shows off the new LP560 Lamborghini Gallardo super sportscar, while Cox test drives the latest Porsche 911.
Eriksen said there was a bit of rivalry growing between the Aussies and the UK Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May - but the Australian show had already notched up its first coup.
"In the first episode we've managed to get a car that they haven't managed to get on the UK show yet, the Lamborghini, so we're already one up," she said.
"I know the boys over there have been keeping a very close eye on what we're doing and there's a bit of rivalry happening."
