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01-21-2009, 08:11 AM
The Stig(s) unmasked: Top Gear use FOUR different mystery test drivers
By Richard Simpson and Paul Revoir
Last updated at 10:59 AM on 21st January 2009
To viewers of Top Gear, the Stig is a mystery - part man, part machine with his face always hidden by a helmet.
Speculating on the identity of the driver, who posts lap times for cars being reviewed and trains celebrities to race round a circuit, has become part of the BBC2 show's mythology.
But today it can be revealed that the BBC employs at least four drivers to don his pristine racing whites.
1745917460
(Revealed: One of Top Gear's Stigs has been identified as former racer Ben Collins)
The truth came out after a possible name of one of the drivers was disclosed as Ben Collins, a 33-year-old Bristol-based former American speedway driver and stuntman who doubled for Daniel Craig in the latest James Bond film.
Suspicions were raised that he might not be the only Stig after pictures emerged yesterday showing a separate man the BBC claimed to be the Stig attending the National Television Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London on October 29 last year.
This Stig - dressed of course head to toe in racing whites and hiding behind a black visor - drove after the awards to the BBC HQ of Top Gear.
Eyewitnesses told how that Stig entered the studio late at night to change and was soon after pictured emerging from the building in jeans and teeshirt with a distinctive tight-fitting 'Arai' motor-racing woolly hat pulled over the top of his head
1746117462
(Man behind the mask: The driver, pictured in his racing gear, let slip his big secret in the unlikely setting of an art store in Bristol)
With perhaps a hint of irony, the tee-shirt, now available on high streets carried the slogan 'I Am The Stig'.
The man in question went by the name of 'Will'.
The trail heated up yesterday when a Top Gear source offered up another name.
Julian Bailey, a 47 year-old formula one driver who raced with Tyrrell and Lotus teams was also claimed to be currently working as Stig. There is one more unidentified Stig on the loose.
Further possible Stigs are also rumoured to take over when the other drivers' schedules were full.
A source on the show added: 'Look at the pictures of the Stigs from show to show. If you look at the height of Stig in different pictures, that tells its own story.
17463
(Fast lane: The Stig with F1 champion Lewis Hamilton)
'In some he looks a lot taller than others. People have become obsessed with finding who the Stig is but they have not considered that it is possible that it is more than one person.
'The simple fact of the matter is that there are currently four Stigs who drive on the test track.
'Since the Stig first drove on the show, it has never been practical to have one single driver taking care of all the Stig's many commitments.'
The source added there was frustration at the repeated attempts to identify the mystery driver.
He said: 'We love to have the mystery around who he is. I just wish people would give it a rest, it's like telling people there is no Father Christmas.
‘All the kids that come to meet the Stig they want to believe he is a robot with magnetic knees.'
A BBC spokesman said: ‘We never comment on speculation as to whom or what the Stig is.’
By Richard Simpson and Paul Revoir
Last updated at 10:59 AM on 21st January 2009
To viewers of Top Gear, the Stig is a mystery - part man, part machine with his face always hidden by a helmet.
Speculating on the identity of the driver, who posts lap times for cars being reviewed and trains celebrities to race round a circuit, has become part of the BBC2 show's mythology.
But today it can be revealed that the BBC employs at least four drivers to don his pristine racing whites.
1745917460
(Revealed: One of Top Gear's Stigs has been identified as former racer Ben Collins)
The truth came out after a possible name of one of the drivers was disclosed as Ben Collins, a 33-year-old Bristol-based former American speedway driver and stuntman who doubled for Daniel Craig in the latest James Bond film.
Suspicions were raised that he might not be the only Stig after pictures emerged yesterday showing a separate man the BBC claimed to be the Stig attending the National Television Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London on October 29 last year.
This Stig - dressed of course head to toe in racing whites and hiding behind a black visor - drove after the awards to the BBC HQ of Top Gear.
Eyewitnesses told how that Stig entered the studio late at night to change and was soon after pictured emerging from the building in jeans and teeshirt with a distinctive tight-fitting 'Arai' motor-racing woolly hat pulled over the top of his head
1746117462
(Man behind the mask: The driver, pictured in his racing gear, let slip his big secret in the unlikely setting of an art store in Bristol)
With perhaps a hint of irony, the tee-shirt, now available on high streets carried the slogan 'I Am The Stig'.
The man in question went by the name of 'Will'.
The trail heated up yesterday when a Top Gear source offered up another name.
Julian Bailey, a 47 year-old formula one driver who raced with Tyrrell and Lotus teams was also claimed to be currently working as Stig. There is one more unidentified Stig on the loose.
Further possible Stigs are also rumoured to take over when the other drivers' schedules were full.
A source on the show added: 'Look at the pictures of the Stigs from show to show. If you look at the height of Stig in different pictures, that tells its own story.
17463
(Fast lane: The Stig with F1 champion Lewis Hamilton)
'In some he looks a lot taller than others. People have become obsessed with finding who the Stig is but they have not considered that it is possible that it is more than one person.
'The simple fact of the matter is that there are currently four Stigs who drive on the test track.
'Since the Stig first drove on the show, it has never been practical to have one single driver taking care of all the Stig's many commitments.'
The source added there was frustration at the repeated attempts to identify the mystery driver.
He said: 'We love to have the mystery around who he is. I just wish people would give it a rest, it's like telling people there is no Father Christmas.
‘All the kids that come to meet the Stig they want to believe he is a robot with magnetic knees.'
A BBC spokesman said: ‘We never comment on speculation as to whom or what the Stig is.’