California

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Remember the famous Top Gear scene when Jeremy Clarkson hooned a Ford Fiesta around a shopping mall while evading a Chevrolet Corvette as part of a 'sensible' road test? Well, someone in Russia has re-enacted that scene in real life using a Ferrari California to tear through a Moscow mall. The irony, though, is that this wasn't done by some random joyrider – the man behind the wheel of the sliding supercar is former Russian mayor Aleksandr Donskoy.

CCTV and mobile phone footage shows the California doing donuts and engraving the glistening floor with tire tracks while narrowly avoiding security guards trying to stop him. Watching the footage, you would think the stunt was staged, but Russian site 360 reports that it was all done without permission.

Apparently, Donskoy drove the California through the shopping mall in the early hours of the morning when no members of the public would be lurking. His motivation? He did it purely as a joke in dedication to performance artist Marina Abramovic. "I like to joke," he said. "This is such a funny performance, a way of attracting attention. But, unfortunately, not everyone took it as a joke. On the whole I think this is such a funny stunt. I chose a safe place and the best route for this performance. Everything was thought out, there was no risk of causing any damage." He was later arrested, but insisted that his stunt was a "performance" and "not a crime."