Autoblog

We've all heard our share of rumors about the true identity of the one called The Stig. But after our childhood notions of the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus were shattered, we prefer to keep the legend of the anonymous test driver from Top Gear alive. So we're not about to claim that The Stig is one of us – or is he? – but the enigmatic pilot recently tried his hand at blogging. Trouble is, as we already know, The Stig doesn't have opposable thumbs or speak (let alone write) any discernible language known to man.

The entry on the Top Gear blog is part of a series of posts while the crew is out on the Isle of Man – the British isle with no speed limits and the birthplace of Nigel Mansell – where Stig is driving the Nissan GT-R. Click the Top Gear link to read the Stig's impressions of the Nissan GT-R. It is perhaps the most concise review of Nissan's supercar we've ever read.

[Source: Top Gear]

Lottery winners can often have subhuman tendencies, so it's only natural that you'd want to hang out with equally awful subset of humanity, racing drivers. The Stig is a perfect representation of those with abnormally high levels of octane in their blood, and his/its services around Silverstone were purchased for £35,000 at a charity auction buy a lottery winner recently in reciept of £5 million. The Stig's passenger got three rain-soaked laps for a price of £11,666 per, and the Stig's performance, even on rain tires, was enough to impress Fernando Alonso. For the same price, you might be able to hire a passel of goons to abduct the esteemed Stigginator and pop that darn helmet off, though that particular scenario might be as creepy as the Darth Vader death scene in Return Of The Jedi.

[Source: Top Gear]

One of the greatest wonders of the modern world is how Top Gear has managed to keep the identity of its tame racing driver, the Stig, secret all this time. The biggest clue yet to his identity surfaced yesterday when a revealing picture was taken of the always-helmeted Stig. Thanks to flash photography, the helmet's tinted visor was momentarily rendered useless giving us a clear view of the Stig's eyes. Unfortunately, all we get is his steely gaze, not enough to make a definitive ID. Is it Lewis Hamilton? Is it one of but many Stig stand ins? Is it our own Damon Lavrinc Hill? Who knows, but we can now say for certain that the Stig does not wear glasses, which eliminates at least half of the world's population. Click the source below to see the pic in full and let us know in the comments who you think the man behind the mask is.

[Source: AutoTrader.co.uk]

The producers of Top Gear have kept the identity of "The Stig" a closely-guarded secret. With such a wide audience and fan base, that's led to endless speculation over the true identity of the show's phantom test driver, and one British celebrity is now claiming he knows who it is.

Guests on the show's "a star in a reasonably-priced car" segment work with The Stig to perfect their hot lap on Top Gear's test track, but none have ever revealed his identity. Comedian Omid Djalili, however, is insistent that The Stig is actually McLaren's star pilot Lewis Hamilton. Djalili's revelation is based on speculation garnered from speaking with The Stig, who purportedly revealed his age to the comedian, and with the show's producers, who insisted two years ago that the true Stig would become famous by now. Die-hard fans, however, will point to evidence to the contrary. Think Djalili's on to something, or is he just grabbing at gasoline-soaked straws? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks for the tip, Dwight!

[Source: Digital Spy]

Bionic Woman. Knight Rider. And now....Top Gear? NBC, America's remake network, has ordered a pilot of an Americanized Top Gear. Expect to see all the usual Top Gear conventions, including three presenters; a masked Stig-like driver; a private test track; taping in a hangar before a live audience; and (probably D-List) celebs driving midsize cars. Unfortunately, you won't see the program's British hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond. And this is where it gets dicey. You see, those guys are the reason Top Gear is what it is. They're clever and witty, and they endear themselves to gearheads with segments like Clarkson's hilarious Peel P50 "review" (it's pasted after the jump). NBC's going to have a hard time finding US hosts who can replicate that vibe without being relentlessly annoying in the process. As BBC remakes go, we truly hope that a US-flavored Top Gear succeeds like The Office, but we're concerned that it might just turn into another Coupling. Thanks to all who sent tips.

[Source: Reuters]

The platitudes keep pouring in for the 2009 Nissan GT-R. Bill Thomas from Top Gear produced our favorite write up by far right before Christmas in which he pits the GT-R against its arch nemesis, the Porsche 911 Turbo, on the back roads of Germany before attacking the Autobahn. His description of accelerating to 190 mph on the 'bahn puts you right there with him riding shotgun as the twin-clutch transmission delivers terrifying levels of velocity with each snick. Thomas actually lays praise on the GT-R's gear box above any of the car's other components, including the twin-turbo VR38 six-cylinder producing 473bhp.

Of course, we all want to know what the Stig thought of Nissan's new supercar, and he fortunately (and mysteriously) walked out of a German forest and demanded a 20-minute drive before reentering the landscape and disappearing. The Stig, however, doesn't speak, so we'll have to wait until the car appears on the television show itself to see how fast it goes on the Top Gear test track with the Stig behind the wheel.

[Source: Top Gear]

Sweet Lord, how we do love progress! Cars just keep on getting faster and faster. Unfortunately drivers aren't getting any better – as evidenced by the seemingly endless stream of supercars crashing into unforgiving immovable objects – but leave it to Top Gear's anonymous pilot extraordinaire (all we know is he's called The Stig) to show the way.

The Top Gear lap record has been broken again. The new king of the Power Lap board: the Ascari A10. On this week's show, The Stig coerced the British supercar around the show's private test track in a scant 1:17.3, beating the previous record-holder, the Koenigsegg CCX (complete with special Top Gear rear wing), by three tenths of a second. The A10's more "civilized" brother, the KZ1, took a more leisurely 1:20.7 (still good enough to best the likes of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Murcielago and Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, to name just a few).

Although the Ascari may be king today, it has to watch out for potential usurpers who have some serious gripes: the Caparo T1 posted an even faster time than the Ascari (much faster, actually), but was disqualified on a technicality. Meanwhile the Ultima GTR, in an unsanctioned (read: non-televised) test, lapped the track four and a half seconds faster than the Ascari, too. Should Top Gear give either (or better yet, both) a proper run by the books, the A10's reign could be short-lived. But in the meantime, the Koenig is dead, long like the king.

Jump for the Top Ten Top Gear Top Super Cars Lap Times.

[Source: Top Gear]

We don't know much about the car or the episode, but Jeremy Clarkson rode around the Top Gear track in a specially prepared BMW 330i, and he didn't touch the controls once. The windshield ribbon reads "BMW Track Trainer," so it could be used to train drivers the right lines without all that pesky learning the hard way by driving actual laps. BMW taught the car the corners and driving lines of the track by programming its satnav. From that point, all the car needed to do was know its own limitations. They didn't time the lap, so we have no idea how close The Ultimate Driverless Machine got to The Stig, but 95-MPH through The Tires can't be all bad. Our favorite line: "Imagine if the British had built this."

Check out video of the lap after the jump.

Thanks for the tip, Paul!

[Source: YouTube]

Some say "Top Gear"'s tamed racing driver has always owned Park Place, Boardwalk and Free Parking. Others say he's never been beaten at tic-tac-toe. All we know is that he's called The Stig, and he's got his own board game called Top Gear Race The Stig Game. This electronic game looks like a combination of Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit. All we know is that we'd like to have one if anyone got our name. Race The Stig board game - $44

Next up: Good enough for the kids!

We won't spoil it for you, so you can see the results and watch the Top Gear segment with Lewis Hamilton after the jump. (You can also bittorrent the episode already on Final Gear.) Suffice it say, Hamilton did really well and drove the heck out of that Suzuki Liana on a wet and oily Top Gear Test Track. But whatever, you just want to see who won and watch the video, so click here.

[Source: Daily Motion]