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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 "tamed racing driver" whose identity is unknown, and who never speaks or removes his helmet on camera. Nonetheless he is fully credited as a presenter 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 refusing to answer a mobile phone instead just staring at the ringing device. He also stopped in front of an escalator, seemingly scared, then decided against going down it..

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 circuit for the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment.

Cameo appearances

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

In an episode where a 2004-spec Renault Formula 1 car was driven around the test track, Heikki Kovalainen, the then test driver for the team, doubled for The Stig.

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 (perpetuating Jeremy Clarkson's stereotyping of Americans). 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 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.

Records

The Stig has only crashed once while attempting power laps - in a Koenigsegg CCX that suffered from a chronic lack of downforce. The Stig's fastest "official" time was set on the same show 1 minute 17.6 seconds - driving a replacement Koenigsegg CCX, with a spoiler added at the Stig's own suggestion, as well as adjustments from the car's technical crew. Faster times have since been posted in an Aston Martin DBR9 and a Caparo T1, but both cars were disqualified as being not "street practical" (ie: being able to successfully negotiate a standard UK speed bump).

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. It is also known that he wears size 10 racing boots as discovered by the Sunday Times when the Driving section wrote an article about the show.

The identity of the first Stig was revealed to be Perry McCarthy when his book Flat Out, Flat Broke was published in 2003. McCarthy is a former Formula 1 driver and test driver for the Benetton, Arrows and Williams teams, and also tested for BMW F1.

The identity of the new Stig has not been officially revealed. In a Winter Olympics special episode of Top Gear, the Stig was shown doing a ski jump using a snowmobile. According to the Swedish tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet, the driver performing the ski jump stunt was Dan Lang, a Swedish snowmobile cross driver. In January 2006, a Daily Express article reported that Julian Bailey was secretly the Stig. In January 2007, Russ Swift, a stunt driver that has appeared on the show a number of times, said in an interview that the Stig is not played by just one person.

The show has alluded to The Stig with Formula 1 drivers that visit the show. In the episode of June 26, 2005, Damon Hill appeared as the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car". When asked directly by Clarkson if he was the Stig, Hill played on the fact that he may be The Stig but then denied it. Mark Webber was interviewed on July 31, 2005 and at the conclusion of his lap, Clarkson presented him with an "I AM THE STIG" T-shirt. Webber was then warned not to wear it around the F1 paddock, as "Michael doesn't always wear red".

Johnny Herbert, an ex-Formula One driver has featured in quite a few stunts in the show and has been tied to The Stig a number of times, which he has never denied.

When former F1 driver Nigel Mansell appeared on the show, Jeremy Clarkson noted that the Stig theorised that the Suzuki Liana (the show's "reasonably priced car" at the time) could achieve a 1:44 time on the track. Mansell proved the Stig's theory by lapping in a time of 1:44.6; The Stig subsequently posted a lap-time of 1:44.4 in the Liana. During the review of Jenson Button's lap, Clarkson commented that he, as did most of the other F1 drivers, took very different racing lines from the Stig's. Button commented that "...obviously, the Stig isn't a Formula One Driver then".

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 town 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!!" The Stig has also been linked to ducks on various occasions, he is said to have a phobia of them, suck the moisture from them and know two facts about them, both of which are wrong.

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. "Bad boys are back in town". Times Online. 2006-06-16. Retrieved 2006-09-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. Template:Sv icon"Han hoppar med skoter". Aftonbladet. 2006-03-07. Retrieved 2007-09-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. Veronica Lorraine (2006-01-16). "'The Stig' is unmasked". The Express. Financial Times Information Limited - Europe Intelligence Wire. We can reveal he is none other than former Formula 1 and British touring car championship driver Julian Bailey. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. "Stunt driver Russ Swift". AutoTrader UK. 2007-01-17. Retrieved 2007-07-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. "Top Gear Videos, Celeb Laps: Damon Hill". Topgear.com. Retrieved 2006-10-08.
14. Top Gear Series 6, Episode 10 (2005-07-31) Clarkson: Just remember this... don't let Michael see you in this. Webber: Michael would be jealous.
15. Top Gear Series 7, Episode 5 (2005-12-11) Clarkson: The Stig has always told us, that track would give us a 1:44 in that car, and I thought...
16. Top Gear Series 8, Episode 8 (2006-07-30) Clarkson: You do that line as well! Formula One drivers all do that and The Stig doesn't! Button: Oh really? Clarkson: No. Button: Well obviously, the Stig isn't a Formula One Driver then. Clarkson: Might be.
17. Top Gear Series 1, Episode 1 (2002-10-20) Clarkson: We have no idea why, perhaps it calms it down.

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