Question of the Day: Who’s The Stig?
The identity of Top Gear’s beloved The Stig has been under suspect for years, but now, British comedian Omid Djalili’s claims that The Stig is none other than McLaren racer Lewis Hamilton. However, with Hamilton’s success and stardom, we here aren’t so sure. But, nevertheless, it’s an interesting thought.
The Stig's indentity has also been rumored in the past to be Formula 1 racer Julian Bailey as well as stunt driver Dan Lang. And, earlier this month, stunt driver Russ Swift said that The Stig is played by not one, but a group of drivers.
So, who do you think is behind the white helmet of The Stig? And, if you’re not familiar with UK drivers, who do you think the American version will be on the possible NBC Top Gear?
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
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Comments
john
I am almost certain that the Stig is multiple drivers.It should be someone like Ron Fellows or Rhys Millen for the U.S. version.
Jeff
The stig is probably not one person. It's most likely a group of 2 or 3 people, similar in height, with a racing background. Good racing background. Of course, there's a simple solution to find out: round up some suspects and look at their left nipples. Any shaped like the Nordshleife? There's your boy!
Oh, but it can't be Hamilton. No way can the Top Gear filming schedule work with his F1 schedule. Sorry. A former F1 driver? I could see that, but it's highly unlikely a current, active F1 driver could do it.
Bruce
It's not a person, but rather a machine, programed to push cars to their limits.
Ducati Minor
Don't care.
Cicero
I am with Ducati, I don't care
kellycm2
If you dont care then dont look at the question
mbslrm
I say multiple Stigs. They have new Stig for each region. For example, the fat American Stig and semi-nude African Stig.
PH
First, my comments only relate to the currently appearing white-Stig. The original, black-Stig from series 1 & 2 was confirmed to be Perry McCarthy.
It doesn't make sense that the is multiple drivers. The whole point of the test is that different cars are tested on the same track by the same driver in order to get a comparative time. It's not a good experiment if you are changing both the car and the driver.
Second, I think the Stig is a former F1 driver. His times indicate he is competitive with other current F1 drivers. It is unlikely to be a current driver due to their travel schedule.
PH
Patrick from Astoria
It can't be Hamilton. How many years has the Stig been their house flogger? Hamilton hasn't been recognized that long.
Personally, I suspect Damon Hill. About the right height and physique, plenty of talent, and enough time on his hands/no scheduling conflicts.
JN
No need to guess. It's me.
Jeb
Damon Hill.
Jonathan Fung
Some say he's the love child of God and a Ferrari F40, all we know is that he may be Lewis Hamilton. But I personally doubt it. Then again, I can't support my doubt, nor can I provide an alternative.
The Stig
Screw you all! You can eat my shyt! I don't give a shyt what you think of me, I will continue to give you my informed opinion!
X3 SoB
Oh that's just sad.
HerrDoktor Dieter Zietsche
The Stig must die!!!
Brett
This stupid Motherficker is an arshole.
Son of a Beach
Honestly, I don't care either.
turbomonkey
I don't think its an F1 driver simply because they've pointed out in several episodes that the F1 drivers all take a different line around one of the turns (Gamble?) than the Stig does. Really no clue who it is though as I don't follow racing closely enough to make an informed guess.
As for who might be a good stig for over here, maybe Ron Fellows or Boris Said.
TheTruthisoutthere
It's Madeline Albright. Yeah, I know it comes as a major surprise but whenever there is filming of the Stig at the Top Gear Centre at Dunsfold Park, Ms. A is never to be seen anywhere else.
President Clinton recently let the cat out of the bag when he quoted "Some say she has supersonic looks, can hear mice playing scrabble...but we know her as The Mad' - an obvious play on Clarkson's words.
Pocky Is God
A big part of me wishes it was Tiff. I love Tiff.
David
I'd rather not know. I enjoy the mystique which surrounds him.
Azzuri
PH is right. The original Stig was ex F1 driver (briefly, very briefly) Perry McCarthy who after a while began speaking bad French to try to put people off the scent....
Don't know know the Stig is now, but the idea of having multiple drivers is, yes, daft.
Let's hope we never find out. Spoils all the suspense...
Bert
it's Tiff Needle. Look at the way the stig stands and the way he holds the steering wheel.
Vat
I thought the current thinking was it was Ben Collins.
andrea
It can't be Hamilton: in the post foto he crosses his arms putting the left arm over the right (this probably means the Stig is lefty), while Hamilton puts the right arm over the left: http://d.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/sp/empics/4822096
and this is science...
Professor Plum
It is Colonel Mustard
Dean
I don't really care who The Stig is, I'm just glad he exists. Top Gear is one of the best shows on cars, period. Speed Vision should watch. They might learn something about photography and production values.
An American version will be a smoking turd bath of tripe, corporate posing, and probably include some mouth breathing NASCAR type.
Viva BBC America and youtube.com for allowing Top Gear to air in it's natural form.
Now if we could get Discovery in the US to allow native "Wheeler-Dealers" to air, we'd really have a car guy show.
Lucaskrown
It´s multiple drivers.
Of course it´s always the same driver on the top Gear test track, otherwise it would be just as PH said; stupid.
The snowmobile jump in The Top Gear Winter Olympics for instance was Dan Lang..
Ian
The old stig was Perry McCarthy.
The new stig is multiple drivers but primarilly Julian Bailey.
The reason for multiple drivers is that some car manufacturers insist on using their own drivers and Julian Bailey is not always available as he has a racing career of his own. The "unnamed" stig is used to add a mysterious intrigue to the programme but is also used for convenience.
Winding Road » Archive » The Stig Revealed: Who is this (Un)
[...] news in the continued hunt (for those of you interested in knowing) for the identity of Top Gear’s ever-helmeted test driver, The [...]
Roger
I also think it's Tiff Needle, Clarkson once said on top gear that Tiff was the best driver he'd ever seen!
Anonymous
The Stig is british racer Ben Collins. Except when the Renault F1 lap(that was Heikki Kovalainen) and the snowmobile jump (was a swedish stuntman, sorry i don't remember his name).
Jeremy Clarkson
I'm going to end all this speculation - The Stig is a good friend of mine, professional racing driver Allan McNish
Now let that be an end to it JEZZA
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