Top Gear

[davtr]

After watching tonights show, just wondered if anyone had any ideas as to who the stig is and for what reason

[Mitchell]

ive nooooooooooooooooo idea, but that was some time! smileys/smiley4.gif

[Danadaman_3]

who was it last series? i missed last one smileys/smiley13.gif

[davtr]

who was it last series? i missed last one smileys/smiley13.gif

I dont think he has ever been revealed

[dannyjay]

Facts and Rumours

While the Stig obviously has a racing background, his true identity has never been revealed by the Top Gear presenters. The intent is that he functions as an unbiased "standard" that can be used to test cars fairly. However, once Perry McCarthy's book, Flat Out, Flat Broke, was published in 2003, it became clear that he was the original Stig (from 2002 to 2003). McCarthy was a former Formula 1 driver and test driver for the Benetton, Arrows and Williams teams.

In the first episode of the third series, the original Stig (McCarthy) was "killed off", with some spoof footage of the Stig supposedly driving off the end of the British aircraft carrier HMS Invincible after failing to brake in time. This prompted a change of dress and music, and the white Stig was introduced in the second episode of series 3, on November 2, 2003. Of course, due to the Stig's disguise, there is no reason why Top Gear could not use many drivers, according to availability.

Rumours that the Stig was former F1 driver Damon Hill were supposedly confounded when Hill appeared on Top Gear on June 26, 2005. He did the lap and got 1.46.3. However, when asked if he was the Stig, he didn't actually deny this, and some took his apparently rapid availability to appear on the show in another guest's absence to indicate further evidence that he was the Stig. Many racing drivers are often asked if they are the Stig by the public.

It appears that some rarer, privately owned cars may be driven by their owner, masquerading as the Stig. This was the case for the Maserati MC12, privately owned by Frank Mountain, a successful property developer; the car was at the time the only one in the country [citation needed]. Heikki Kovalainen (the Renault F1 test driver) admitted to driving the Renault R24 F1 car around the track in the 2004 series, clothed as the Stig [citation needed]. In a Winter Olympics special episode of Top Gear, the Stig was also shown doing a ski jump using a ski mobile, suggesting that this may have been another person dressed as the Stig doing the extremely dangerous stunt. According to the Swedish tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet, the snowmobile driver performing the ski jump stunt was Dan Lang, a Swedish snowmobile cross driver.[2]
Daily Express article claiming to reveal identity of The Stig.
Enlarge
Daily Express article claiming to reveal identity of The Stig.

In January 2006, the Daily Express claimed that the identity of The Stig is former Formula 1 driver Julian Bailey.

On the 18 March 2006 the former Stig, Perry McCarthy, revealed that currently there is no one single test driver, but multiple test drivers who masquerade as the Stig when he appeared at a Palmer Sport activity day in Bedfordshire [citation needed].

In May 2006, the Stig lost control of the £415,000 Koenigsegg_CCX and ploughed through a tyre wall. Koenigsegg did accept that the car suffered from a lack of rear downforce, and took the car back to Sweden to retrofit a rear wing, in an attempt to rectify the problem.

Later that month the Stig beat all other drivers (Including F1) in the Suzuki Liana "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" challenge.

[addictedtosax]

ive always thought it to be nigel mansell or damon hill myself... smileys/smiley17.gif

[mac24]

haha i am the stig smileys/smiley4.gif

[Ibiza_Rik]

haha i am the stig smileys/smiley4.gif
wrong, i am the stig, i have a t-shirt to prove it smileys/smiley20.gif