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From : eddiesteele
Added: Jan 13, 2008
Who is The Stig. Some say his toe-nails glow in the dark and he sleeps like a bat...but who is he? Ben Hurr?? 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. Basil's Swap Shop did a spoof of the Stig by getting Melvin Oodoom to dress up as a red Stig. The Stig's name derives from presenter Jeremy Clarkson's days at Repton School.[1] 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.[2] There have been two official Stigs on the show, while various other Stigs have made cameo appearances for particular episodes. Black Stig The Stig (Series 1 & 2)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.[4] White Stig After the Black Stig was "killed off", a new "White Stig" was introduced, wearing white overalls and helmet.[5] 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,[6] 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.[7] 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, 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. In Clarkson's latest DVD, Supercar Showdown, The Stig, in a Porsche 911, raced Sabine Schmitz, in an Audi R8, around the Ascari track in Spain, to see which was the fastest. 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. The Stig's fastest official lap time around the Top Gear test track was 1 minute 17.3 seconds in an Ascari A10.[9] Faster times had previously been posted in a Renault F1 car (0.59.0),[10] an Aston Martin DBR9 (1.08.6)[11] and a Caparo T1 (1:10.6),[12] 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. 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 Simpson Diamondback helmet.[13][14] 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 [15] and a well-timed camera flash managed to show The Stig's eyes by Auto Trader.
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