These are the ten men and one woman we’ve suggested might be Top Gear’s Stig.
Who do you think is the Stig? Have your say below.
Damon Hill
Ellen MacArthur
Jeremy Clarkson
Russ Swift
Ben Collins
Tiff Needell
Read about the first six in Who is the Stig?
Lewis Hamilton
James May
Mark Blundell
Julian Bailey
Simon Cowell
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362 Comments
January 7, 2008 at 4:49 pm
stop thinking F1 for the stig, it is a completley different style of driving to what the stig does, think more “touring car” driver which is an almost identical style of driving. my 2 cents is probably someone like “Jason Plato” as they always seem to give him a bit of on air ribbing
June 21, 2009 at 7:44 pm
The stig is Michel Shuwmaker!! They just told us on top gear! Ha Haaa
June 21, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Gullable fool..
June 21, 2009 at 9:47 pm
no it’s not lol they managed to get michael on the show as a guest and couldnt resist making a JOKE that it was he who was the stig.
June 21, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Michel Shumaker
June 21, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Ha fat chance, they almost certainly change the Stig depending on the task, because it’s unlikely one man is so good at say, touring car, snowmobile driving, etc.
June 21, 2009 at 9:02 pm
agree with you on Jason Plato, but I’d expect it to be more than one guy
June 22, 2009 at 5:29 pm
lol its not the first tym the stigs been in the TG studio and also when this white stig made his debut ppl say thts the day he won the spanish GP (may 9th 2004), but you have to remember TG is filmed on a wednesday so i think he is the STIG
and also you really think an F1 team like renault will let a crap driver drive thr car? and the aston martin DBR9,
and he helped make the ferrari f430 scuderia, and the ferrari FXX.
so schumacher is the STIG
June 22, 2009 at 7:04 pm
THE STIG 90% OF THE TIME IS BEN COLLINS. THIS IS A FACT. IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE JUST SEE THE OLD EPISODE WITH THE CAR FOOTBALL.
June 23, 2009 at 11:34 am
Dudes I think Schumacher WAS the stig for this particular show and lap! Think about the car he drove and what Jezza said about it. there are only 30 FXX’s in existense and Ferrari wont let the owners have them,they ferry both car and owner to whichever track.So my points are
1 Ferrari would have to give there permission for an FXX owner to lend top gear a car since they hold them all in storage
2 Schumacher,as pointed out in other comments here ,is on Ferrari payroll and ,as its unlikely that a “civilian” owner would manage a super quick lap a’la the Stig, who else would they trust.
3 The lap itself. Almost SEVEN seconds faster than the Gumpert!!!!!!!!!!!!!….WOW,we all know the Stig (whoever he is) is quick but seven seconds come on. The real Stig was only 10 seconds quicker in an F1 car on the same track.
so there you go my opinion,Schuey was the Stig for this lap in this car ! Who the real one is well the argument goes on.
June 22, 2009 at 7:07 pm
BEN COLLINS
June 22, 2009 at 7:07 pm
BEN COLLINS = STIG
January 7, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I think that new white Stig is Johny Herbert – just look at the way he stands and holds himself when not in the car – Also he’s not that much taller than the the Hamster!!! Well its my guess anyway.
January 7, 2008 at 5:26 pm
i think the stig is ……..stig blomqvist ,rally driver from the 70/80s
June 21, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Weezy
June 25, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Dude Stig Blomqvist was a hero of mine in the 80s. Hes a bit to chubby to the Stig, and when he did have a go on track rather than dirt he was that good
January 7, 2008 at 5:51 pm
The Stig is Ben Collins – Ascari’s test driver!!
)
Which is also why the Ascari A10 is the quickest car round the Track!!
January 7, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Definitely not Mark Blundel – his physique is ‘wider’ than the Stigs and Hamilton is much smaller than the Stig.
It’s most likely more than 1 person- a racing driver wouldnt go down a ski slope on a snow machine like they did in the winter olympics special. It would have to be a professional.
But if it is 1 person I agree with Grant – its probably Plato, but that would kind of annoy Fifth Gear.
And dont rule out Perry McCarthy – that would be a bigger conspiracy than May!!!!!
What do you reckon
January 7, 2008 at 6:01 pm
IT IS INDEED BEN COLLINS!
January 7, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Hi guys, well on an episode of top gear (unfortunatley i can’t remember which) Jeremy Clarkson hinted it was michael shumaker. It might of been to push people to believe it when it was not true but who knows?
January 7, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Ben Collins is my bet
January 7, 2008 at 6:43 pm
the stig is ben collins, you can tell by his size and driving style he also has links with the show.as mark pointed out and ascari if you want another link the lastest clarkson dvd is filmed at ascari test track any how take it from me its ben thats a fact
January 7, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I’m going to clear up all of this ridiculous speculation as it is so stupid it’s unbeleivable:
I work in the motorsport industry and know at least 2 national racing drivers who have been the White stig, one of them is Ben Collins, the other I can’t name as he told me in confidence as a friend.
The whole point of the Stig character is that Top Gear can use who is available at the time without explaining the changes.
The Stig is always just the best driver available when they need a car testing and they’re not “famous” or “celebrities” They’re genuinely talented and unknown drivers.
All of this speculation of Damon Hill, Simon Cowell, Michael Schumacher, Ellen Mcarther etc is just crazy! Clarkson, May and Hammond must be wetting themselves laughing reading these guesses.
June 21, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Well you couldn’t have been more wrong!
June 21, 2009 at 8:58 pm
oh come on, you really think they were being honest about schumacher? I doubt he’d be doing the ski slope..
June 23, 2009 at 7:58 am
Well I think they showed stig already in the preview for this season of Top Gear. He is a stuntdriver : Ken Block, this fellow won rally X games few years ago leaving Colin Mcrea behind.
January 7, 2008 at 8:41 pm
the stig is ben collins. i work as a test driver at millbrook and have seen him there on numerous occasions.
January 7, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Its Ben Collins
It was Perry McCarthy
January 7, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Hi everyone its time to reveal the stig …..i think hes either tiff needell or nicholas minassion
January 8, 2008 at 1:22 am
Hi folks. I reckon the ex-touring car angle might be right. Julian Bailey drove for Toyota if memory serves. Another one to consider might be Tim Harvey.
January 8, 2008 at 10:08 am
Its Ben Collins – but for how much longer I’m not sure as he is currently under negotiation with american sponsors to race there.
January 8, 2008 at 11:15 am
just in case anyone cant read, as comments have been posted today the stig is ben collins 85% of the time as cal said at least one other driver has done a stint, i also raced for 6 years in national championships , and worked at various circuits on track days with lots of drivers, there are lots of talented drivers out there who the public and top gear watchers have never heard of, so the bbc have plenty of choice without it being a household name .ben is very quick and some of the names put forward would get within 10 secs of his lap times!! the public clearly dont know how difficult it is to go quick and not make mistakes , a lap in a car with any decent national racer will show you how quick a car can go without the drama you get from a wild slow clarkson type ride any way its ben !!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 8, 2008 at 11:19 am
I think its Tiff, tongue and cheek banter with 5th Gear gives it away…
January 8, 2008 at 12:01 pm
It’s not hamilton, you can see the stigs neck and he is white not black like hamilton. Also it’s not Simon Cowell. The first time he was on the show the stig took him out in a noble, there’s a video of the 2 sat right next to each other.
January 8, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Forget Helen McC/Simon C/Damon H/Tiff and the least said about Schumy the better! It is not that obvious.
I believe an ex Rally Driver or ex Formula One test driver who is out of contract and who is changed depending on availability. Saying that, I notice the Stig is quite petite? Bernie Ecclestone!! Not.
I have the T-Shirt that says ‘I am the Stig’ and it always provokes the question ‘Are you…?’ To which I reply ‘maybe……!!’
Have fun Stig searchers!!!!
January 8, 2008 at 12:53 pm
It was Justin Wilson and Perry McCarthy a few years back, and Ben Collins currently.
The whole point of The Stig being anonymous is that the BBC do not have to contract a single driver. They change him as often as they like – far cheaper this way.
It would not be a current F1 driver, as they would cost too much.