Top Gear - who is the stig?

As for the Stig - I've heard rumours that he's Eddie Irvine, that "he's" one of several people, and I've heard that "he" could be a woman even. That's about all I know though - so cough up Warbs, what does the XXXXX stand for?!
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37. The preliminary arrangements for the event had been made at arm’s length, with the result that, as the date of the Elvington shoot approached, no-one from Top Gear had actually met PTLE’s principals or seen their jet cars. The jet car feature was considered to be sufficiently unusual and hazardous for GW to ask BEN COLLINS, who worked closely with Top Gear as a high performance driver and consultant, to go and see PTLE and Vampire, and to prepare a briefing for RH. It was felt that, with his extensive motor sport experience, he would be able to confirm PTLE’s competence and the quality of their equipment, and be able to see through them if they were not genuine. (This was a significant step because Top Gear had not used BEN COLLINS in this way before.)
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38. BEN COLLINS visited PTLE’s premises near Northampton on Monday 18th June. He seems to have been convinced of their bona fides. He telephoned PD to confirm his conclusions and prepared a briefing paper that he e-mailed to GW. This described Vampire’s controls and tried to prepare RH for the experience of driving the jet car.​
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I cant understand why Wabler has started a thread and then pretended to be a cute cunt. The information he posted is freely avaliable on the web so to XXXX a name is unnecessary. Any view he has on this thread is clearly his own. I'm willing to bet him €1,000 that Eddie Irvine is The Stig. Can we agree on a member of the forum to hold the money? I'll get a member of the BBC to comfirm that Irvine is "the stig".
 
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The name that Georoid gives is indeed the name, the reason I didn't give it out as I specified at the start, is that some people might not want to know. Remember the stuff that went on, on that Harry Potter thread etc? A few people PM'd me in between and I supplied it, which is how I thought it should be done. Sorry if you confuse being a 'smart cnut' with consideration, but hey ho, can't satisfy all I suppose.

My source comes from a formula 1 team based near where I live (their pit crew aren't averse to a few shandy's in the local - which might account for their current performance!!!). As in horse racing, motor sport is a bit of a 'family' and people within the industry have known for a long time.

My understanding is that there might very well be a few 'Stigs' but that Ben is the most frequently used. Irvine is currently based in California and has been for a few years, running a property business renting out homes to the rich. Where as I couldn't categorically say he's never been 'a stig' I think it most unlikely that he is 'the stig'. Apart from anything, he speaks with a strong Irish accent, which the Stig doesn't on the few occasions he's been recorded in an unguarded moment. The internet is cluttered up with alleged BBC insiders, and people who claim to know somebody who knows somebody etc (clearly briefed to throw up a smoke screen).

Mansell's observation that the Stig wasn't a formula 1 driver is also interesting. This was based on the various lines that F1 drivers took through a certain corner (they alone took a seperate line). Mansell would know Irvine, and recognise his voice, apart from anything else, he wouldn't take instruction off him as he would regard himself as the superior driver. Clarkson made the observation that all F1 drivers took the same line as Mansell, and that this was a different line to the one that the Stig advises, which is what drew Mansells riposte. Mansell would be better qualified than most to recognise a 'driver signature' and he was quite clear that the Stig hadn't driven F1.

As I said Eddie Irivine lives in California, and has done for at least the last 3 years (the period that white Stig has been used), are you seriously suggesting he flies half way round the world on the BBC expenses to train a B list celebrity every week to drive around an airfield in Oxfordshire on a Wednesday? I suggest you put this to your BBC chum, unless they work on the programme, and have spoken to the Stig, a BBC employee is just as likely to be misled by mischievous colleagues.
 
He doesn't need the money, and apart from anything else, the BBC couldn't justify paying him what he'd want when there's no end of capable alternatives UK based. Remember that 'black stig' (Perry McCarthy) was nothing more than an F1 test driver. The Oxfordshire area is cluttered up with F1 teams and perfectly capable drivers who'd cost nothing like the amount that Irvine would demand.

I've read a lot of shite on the subject since the original post (I actually find it moderately intriuging I confess), and there's only one post I've found that looks half informed that could point the finger at Irvine, and even that would require a bit of a leap of faith. I've stumbled across another who claims to work for the company who manufacture the driving suits, and they claim to have 5 seperate sizes (including one that is very petit, and likely to be female)

But this is internet rumour land, and notorious etc
 
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Actually can someone dig out the youtube of the Stig giving an interview to Dutch TV for about 30 secs before the Beeb intervene and stop him? tell me that's the voice of Eddie Irvine
 
The person who posted it on Facebook is convinced it was Nigell Mansell's voice! I'd have thought the body looked a lot more like Irvine's, myself - quite slight. http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/13/dutch-tv-interview-proves-the-stig-is-indeed-human/

However this YouTube clip seems to confirm the identity of the Stig - or at least the principal one in the last few years - beyond reasonable doubt, as ********** by comparing all the voice clips available

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeQwi-8bCEA&watch_response

This is the Facebook Discussion Board - you don't need to be registered to read it

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=21382929224&topic=4331
 
Sorry to have ruined it for you folks


Georoid, :

I was always brought on a princple. But I dare say, others on here will be prepared to take you on.


When the bastards get back from Budapest, I'll make further enquiries, but for such time I'll leave it to the TH jury to decide
 
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I'll stand by my offer that Irvine was "the stig"..... in that he was used on various shows, on various times. The stig is a myth. There has been a total of 5 drivers used. Fact remains Irvine was "The Stig" at some time or another depending on editing.
 
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I'll stand by my offer that Irvine was "the stig"..... in that he was used on various shows, on various times. The stig is a myth. There has been a total of 5 drivers used. Fact remains Irvine was "The Stig" at some time or another depending on editing.
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you seem to have gone from present tense to past tense over EI being The Stig.
 
O.K I was yanking yer chain. You can take the member out of the Betfair forum but you cant take the Betfair forum out of the member...

As to the topic I think its pretty clear who the current stig is. He drives stock cars so that would explain his non-F1 lines he takes. A look at his website fits in perfectly with what he has done on the show.
 
I do. It will settle an argument i had with a friend last week who proclaimed that he had it on good authority that Michael Schumacher was the stig.
 
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