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The Stig is the name given to the anonymous racing driver on the BBC motoring show Top Gear. In the show he is cast as a mysterious "tame racing driver" whose identity is unknown, and who never speaks or removes his helmet on camera. Nonetheless he is fully credited as a presenter, albeit as "The Stig", alongside Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

The Stig's primary function on the show is to post lap times in various cars around the Top Gear circuit in Dunsfold Park, and to train each week's guest in setting a lap time in the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car feature on the show. In addition the Stig carries out other driving duties when the need arises.

The Stig has also appeared on some of Jeremy Clarkson's motoring specials, such as Heaven and Hell and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, as well as on BBC's Whizz Whizz Bang Bang.

Origins

The Stig's name derives from presenter Jeremy Clarkson's days at Repton School. According to Clarkson, new students were always called "Stig." A proposed name for the Stig was originally "The Gimp" until protests from Perry McCarthy nixed the idea. There have been two official Stigs on the show, while various other Stigs have made cameo appearances for particular episodes.

Black Stig

The first Stig wore black overalls and helmet. It was introduced in the first episode of the current format by Jeremy Clarkson as the resident test driver, as the presenters could not consistently post fast times themselves.Clarkson noted that "we don't know its name, we really don't know its name, nobody knows its name, and we don't wanna know, cause it's a racing driver." Clarkson then described The Stig as having a very small brain, who had worthless opinions, a disorder described by Clarkson as "Mansell Syndrome". Its job description was to "just go out there and drive fast".

Black Stig posted a lap time of 1:46 for the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment. This Stig was used for the first two series of the show. It was then "killed off" at the start of the third series when he was shown driving a modified Jaguar XJ-S off the flight deck of HMS Invincible during a stunt and landing in the sea.

White Stig

After the Black Stig was "killed off", a new "White Stig" was introduced, wearing white overalls and helmet. White Stig has been featured in the show beyond just the Power Lap segment. His work has included driving cars in other segments of the show, for example finding a winner between the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, BMW M6 and Porsche 911 Carrera S on the Isle of Man, and racing against the hosts in a bid to see who would cross the starting line at a race track; White Stig driving a Caterham Seven kit car from Caterham, Surrey to Knockhill racetrack in Scotland against the hosts in assembling an identical car from the ground up. In Series 10 The Stig was recruited to take public transport in the Cross London Challenge and had to deal with such tasks as riding a bus, using an Oyster Card and having to answer a mobile phone, but instead just stared at the ringing device.

White Stig has also appeared outside Top Gear in some of Clarkson's motoring specials, such as The Good, The Bad, The Ugly where Clarkson reviewed and compared American and non-American cars, and Heaven and Hell, where the Stig was used to compare the track times of the Chevrolet Corvette C6 and the TVR Sagaris, and raced Clarkson, in a BMW M5, with a Ferrari F430.

White Stig posted the fastest lap time of 1:44.4 around the Top Gear test track for the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment..

Cameo appearances

There have been three cameo appearances of other Stigs on the show.

Episode 3 of Series 9 was set in the United States, with the presenters purchasing American cars and driving them across four states while on holiday. One of the challenges set for the presenters was for the cars to set a lap time around a racetrack, for which "the Stig's American cousin" was introduced. Nicknamed "Big Stig" by the presenters, this Stig was overweight. However, he was skilled enough to record lap times for two of the cars, although he had trouble with Richard Hammond's pick-up truck due to weak brakes.

Episode 4 of Series 10 featured the presenters driving across Botswana. To test the performance of the three cars used by the presenters around a dirt rally track, Clarkson introduced "The Stig's African cousin." This incarnation of The Stig had black skin, wore only Puma shoes, a loincloth and the iconic white helmet. He set lap times for two of the cars, but walked away from the track when Clarkson's Lancia Beta failed to start. The others joked that African Stig was trying to get a respectable time, so didn't bother using the car as it was too slow.

Episode 10 of Series 10 featured the Stig on holiday in Spain. In scenes where the Stig was lounging around a swimming pool, a bikini-clad woman appeared in the background wearing a version of the Stig's racing helmet. This woman's connection to the Stig has yet to be revealed.

Records

The Stig's fastest official lap time around the Top Gear test track was 1 minute 17.3 seconds in an Ascari A10. Faster times had previously been posted in a Renault F1 car (0.59.0), an Aston Martin DBR9 (1.08.6) and a Caparo T1 (1:10.6), but none of these were deemed street-practical due to inability to navigate regulation UK speed bumps, or because they cannot be purchased by the public.

Identity

The Stig's true identity is never revealed on the show, and in order to maintain the secrecy, all shots show him wearing full racing overalls and matching helmet. All that can be seen from the gap between his helmet and jumpsuit is that he is a white male with dark hair.

During the 24 hour race, in which Clarkson, Hammond, May & The Stig entered, Race Officials wouldn't allow The Stig to use his "stage-name" on the official records, when the results of the race were published on the internet, it Read: "Team Top Gear - Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, Ben Collins".

Ben Collins was also mentioned in the HSE report into Hammond's crash, being named as "Top Gear's high performance driver and consultant".

Listening habits

Another source of entertainment for the presenters is the music the Stig listens to while doing Power Laps around the Top Gear track. Often a specific genre will be chosen for one or more series. These have included one-hit wonders, easy listening, prog rock, baroque, advertising jingles, foreign language tapes, romantic novels, and self-help tapes. Clarkson claimed in the show's first episode that music keeps the Stig calm during test laps.

Introductions

The hosts of the show will often introduce footage of The Stig by offering humorous speculations as to his identity, such as "Some say that his voice can only be heard by cats, and that he is banned from the city of Chichester. All we know is... he's called The Stig." The introductions often include references to then-topical news stories. Previously, Stig's name would be used in formal introductions, such as "His Holiness, The Stig!!" All of the introductions that are used for The Stig can be found on the Top Gear 2008 calendar, with many other witty introductions, such as 'his face can be found on a Japanese banknote'.

References

1. "The backroom boy who put Top Gear on top of the world". Times Online. 2005-11-06. Retrieved 2006-09-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. "The original Stig speaks". Auto Trader UK. 2006-11-01. Retrieved 2006-11-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. Top Gear Series 1, Episode 1 (2002-10-20)
4. Top Gear Series 3, Episode 1 (2003-10-26)
5. Top Gear Series 3, Episode 2 (2003-11-02)
6. Top Gear Series 7, Episode 1
7. Top Gear Series 8, Episode 7 (2006-07-23)
8. Top Gear Series 10, Episode 5 (2007-11-11)
9. Top Gear Series 10, Episode 9 (2007-12-09)
10. Top Gear Series 5, Episode 8 (2004-12-19)
11. Top Gear Series 6, Episode 6 (2005-07-03)
12. Top Gear Series 10, Episode 5 (2007-11-11)
13. Top Gear Series 1, Episode 1 (2002-10-20) Clarkson: We have no idea why, perhaps it calms it down.

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