UK Stig Unveiled?

It’s amazing that in a world where knowledge is power, everything is being explained, mystery is being removed and the everyday person knows more about Prince Harry than their own family - we can’t just let 1 small bit of fun get through.

For years The Stig has been the mystery racing driver that takes 2 cars a week over the Top Gear test track near Dunsfold Park in Surrey, UK. The idea is if the same driver is used everytime, good or bad, it should be a fair way to judge the speed and handling of the latest supercar to grace our fantasies. For reasons unknown to this blogger, the driver’s identity was to remain anonymous. He/It was called the Stig which derived from Clarkson’s childhood where all freshmen at his school were dubbed 'Stig'.

Originally The Stig wore a black suit/black helmet and managed to keep his identity to himself until 2002 (start of season 3) when he outed himself in his own biography! To make the transition, the now dubbed Black Stig was 'killed off' and the White Stig was born.

As the name suggests he wore all white and has managed to keep his identity secret, possibly, throughout season 3 -> 12. I say possibly cos how would you know if he changed every year?!? There have been many rumours about his identity with most high street publications having a crack at the title, pardon the pun. The most common answer is that there are a few 'Stigs' with Julian Bailey, Damon Hill, Tim Schrick and Russ Swift all being brought to the table. All of these however, were ultimately based on guesswork.

The latest in Top Gear merchandising genius was an official T-Shirt with the words 'I Am The Stig' printed on the front. Every petrolhead and greasemonkey on the planet wanted one and faster than you can blurt out "That chick's topless!" they were sold out. They even setup a stunt whereby the Stig 'accidentally' removed his helmet after an event in Belgium. It was promptly announced that the Stig was Tim Schrick!!!!! ah, lets all breathe a sigh of relief. The BBC were quick to say Ha Ha Got Ya' it’s not him which sparked more controversy because no one knew if it was a trick or not.

After reading a couple of articles today, it seems the Stig has been unveiled - for rool - this time. It was announced by the Telegraph that the Stig is Ben Collins (not Cousins) who background is in NASCAR, LeMans and Formula 3 racing.

I can’t help but think this is yet another ploy as the circumstances of his outage are sketchy at best. Apart from being a suspect for a number of years, all he did was go into a Bristol gallery and arrange a limited edition print of the Stig in action...So What! Also a geezer went to his house once and the Stig uniform was in a display case.......yes a DISPLAY CASE! Are you trying to tell me that the person kept secret for 5-6 years has it openly on display? What’s got my spider sense tingling even more is when you go to http://www.topgear.com/uk or http://www.topgear.com/au they are plastered with Who is the Stig? Stig Revealed? Stig-mata? OK not stigmata but you get the drift.

A true outage or another publicity stunt in the off season? You decide