Richard Hammond - the face of Telecom’s XT network when it launched in May last year - pulled out of the New Zealand leg of the Top Gear Live show now playing in Auckland.

But if Telecom was hoping The Hamster’s absence would take spotlight away from its mobile network troubles, it was wrong.

Fellow Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May ribbed XT mercilessly during the show's opening night..

In what appears to be a game of pass-the-parcel, the BBC rights to publish the Top Gear title in New Zealand transferred late last year from the troubled Auckland publisher Jones Publishing, to the print and graphic design shop used by Jones, Image Centre.

Image Centre appeared to acquire the title in lieu of mounting debt on the part of Jones.

Image Centre appears to have enough on its plate however, having acquired another motoring title, Driver Magazine, in what appeared to be similar circumstances.

It looks as though The Stig has been unmasked.

The Stig is the anonymous star of the BBC Series Top Gear, always appearing in a white racing suit and helmet, but never revealing his face.

It has become a trademark of the show that The Stig’s identity is never revealed.

It has long been suspected that he may have been Formula One world champion Damon Hill.

But British media reports say that he is Ben Collins who began his racing career in 1994 and drove to Formula Three level.

Problems paying the print factory in tightening times appear to be the reason that most of the country’s top car magazines are now owned by their printing contractor.

Major print and pre-press company The Image Centre said today that it now owns a string of car magazines, including Driver, Classic Driver and Top Gear New Zealand.