who is the stig?

Answer 1

Stig Strand, Swedish skiier
Stig Tøfting, Danish footballer
Stig Inge Bjørnebye, Norwegian footballer
Stig Andersen Hvide, Danish soldier
Stig Bergling, Swedish police officer and convicted Soviet agent
Stig Blomqvist, Swedish rally driver
Per Stig Møller, Danish politician
Stig Johansen, a member of the band The Sins of Thy Beloved
Stikkan Anderson, given name Stig, manager of the Swedish band ABBA
Stig O'Hara, a member of the fictional band The Rutles
The Stig, the masked driver in the British television show Top Gear
Evil Stig, a band featuring Joan Jett and the surviving members of The Gits
Stig of the Dump, a children's book at two TV series
Stig Hvide, an opera by Ole Olsen

The Stig is the mysterious "tame racing driver" of the popular BBC motoring show Top Gear. His name derives from presenter Jeremy Clarkson's schooldays at Repton School: "New boys at Repton were always called Stig

The Stig's 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 and also tested for BMW F1.

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. Some believe this was due to the uncovering of his identity, when whilst scheduled to appear in the 2003 Le Mans 24hr Race he was shown in an episode supposedly shot the same weekend helping the Top Gear team as the Stig in a Citroen 2CV 24hr race. 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.

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.[2] Many racing drivers are often asked if they are the Stig by the public.

On July 31, 2005, Season 6 Episode 10, a current F1 driver, Mark Webber appeared on Top Gear. He did the lap in the Suzuki Liana in 1.47.1 on a wet track. There is no reference that he is the Stig. Jeremy Clarkson even says that Webber took the same line around the first corner as Damon Hill, and that the Stig's is different. However, at the conclusion of his lap, Clarkson presents Webber with a t-shirt that reads "I AM THE STIG" on it. This is probably unlikely, as he was a current F1 driver at the time.

Rumours abound that other racers assume the mantle of the Stig in various capacities. In a Winter Olympics special episode of Top Gear, the Stig was shown doing a ski jump using a snowmobile, 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.[3] In January 2006, the Daily Express claimed that the identity of The Stig is former Formula 1 driver Julian Bailey. The article does not specify which episodes Bailey was supposedly the driver or provide sources for this claim.

In May 2006, the Stig lost control of the £415,000 Koenigsegg CCX and ploughed through a tyre wall, marking the first recorded instance of the Stig being involved in an accident. After a suggestion by the Stig to add a spoiler for downforce, 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. Koenigsegg later sent back the car with its new rear spoiler, and the Stig made the fastest ever power lap in it (1 minute 17.6 seconds). Jeremy Clarkson closed the show by jokingly saying that Top Gear doesn't just test cars, they design them.

In the same month, the Stig beat all other drivers (Including F1 drivers) in the Suzuki Liana "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" challenge with a time of 1:44.4.

Comedian Jimmy Carr finally told all during his 'Off the telly' tour. At the London event, he was asked by a member of the audience who the Stig was, and without hesitation said, "Well, it used to be Damon Hill, now it's some rally driver." This recieved an "Oooooh" from the audience, after which he said, "Yeah, I signed a contract with BBC not to release that information, but so what, I've also got a contract with Channel 4.

Answer 2

i asked a friend about this who is a racing driver a while ago. apparently the stig is a number of different racing drivers, rather than being one person.

I think the person behind the helmet has changed from series to series. He did mention some names - but my knowledge of motor racing isn't very good, so I don't remember them.

All I remember is there is more than 1 stig!

Hope that helps at all.

Answer 3

Popular opinion seems to think it's Damon Hill but currently no-one knows for certain apart from the programme makers of course.
I'm personally not too bothered who it is just as long as Richard is still there lol

Answer 4

Evel Knievel

Answer 5

I'm the Stig... And so is my wife!!!

Answer 6

I've heard it's Damon Hill but I have no evidence at all, I'm afraid.

Answer 7

It was originaly Perry McCarthy. it is now Ben collins. or so it was when we went to a live Top gear show.

Answer 8

I think that the idea is that we shouldn't know.

Answer 9

????????