"Top Gear" hosts Rory Reid, Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris (BBC)
One or more members of the BBC’s “Top Gear” team could be facing jail time in Norway.
Speed detectors in the country’s 3.5-mile-long Atlantic Ocean Tunnel clocked two cars doubling and tripling the 50 mph limit during a time that the show was shooting a segment there.
One car was measured between 105-122 mph and the other at 151 mph by the automated system, but there were no police eyewitnesses to the alleged infractions and authorities are investigating exactly who was driving what cars at the time.
Excessive speeding in Norway carries a mandatory sentence between 18 and 175 days in jail, plus hefty fines and a lengthy license suspension.
Last year the show decided against shooting a piece in the country after a local sheriff said he would not allow speeding in his jurisdiction, despite permission from the federal government to close the roads during production.
The program had been granted a filming permit that allowed it to close the road intermittently for 12 minutes at a time and hit speeds of up to 87 mph. Hosts Matt LeBlanc and Chris Harris were in the country at the time of the production, which involved a Ferrari GT4 Lusso and Porsche Panamera Sport, according to The Sun. The speeding exemption was revoked after the tunnel incident and the production forced to continue while observing all posted limits.
A statement released by the BBC said it is cooperating with the investigation and that neither LeBlanc nor Harris was in the area at the time the speeds were recorded. The whereabouts of Top Gear’s third co-host, Rory Reid, was not mentioned.
“Top Gear” often uses stunt drivers to film supplemental footage for segments fronted by its hosts.