cars reviewed meant it made sense to have a âprofessionalâ driver to really give the cars a lashing around the track.
So Andy Wilman and Jeremy Clarkson dreamt up the idea of employing a professional racing driver, who would remain anonymous at all times. There were a number of contenders who might fit the bill, but they eventually plumped for Perry McCarthy. Clarkson approached McCarthy at a party also attended by their mutual friend, Damon Hill. He explained that they wanted an anonymous racing driver for the show and that he would be called The Gimp â inspired by the silent masked figure in a particularly brutal scene from Pulp Fiction . Perry was interested, but not if they used that name, so Wilman and Clarkson flagged up a moniker theyâd first heard used to describe new boys at Repton: The Stig was born.
Early Stig was a much less refined caricature at this point. Clarkson made his infamous gag about racing drivers having âtiny little brains and worthless opinionsâ and also pointed out that they were usually very dull, something he termed âMansell Syndromeâ. They didnât know The Stigâs real name and didnât want to â all they wanted him to do was to go out on track and drive fast.
The Stigâs first feature in the Zonda is then run and the all-black mystery driver clearly seen wearing green gloves rather than matching black ones. Also, the camera angles at this point are from the rear left passenger seats, rather than up close to The Stig from the front passenger seat, as became the norm in later series. The original angle actually showed more of the racetrackfrom The Stigâs viewpoint and was in fact a very interesting approach. Back in the studio, the presenters apologised for the sounds of the Lounge that The Stig was playing, claiming he played this elevator music to calm himself down on track (maybe his dubious musical tastes were inspired by Clarkson, himself a huge Genesis fan; heâd even written sleeve notes to their box set, Selling England by the Pound ). Notably, The Stig drove the Zonda so fast that Hammond then issued a challenge to any company who had a production car that they thought could beat its time.
Within a few episodes, The Stigâs listening habits were universally abhorred and have since been the subject of much analysis over the years. Suffice to say, you wouldnât really want to have a long motorway journey with him, listening as he does to such music as Prog Rock, power ballads, jingles, Elton John, Abba, Chas & Dave, pan pipes, speeches, talking books, Morse Code and whale songs, to name but a few.
Each appearance by The Stig is pre-empted by a weird introduction and over the years these bizarre descriptions have taken on a life of their own; initially they did not happen with every appearance on screen and if they did, they would only be a brief one-liner such as âHis Holiness The Stig!â However, over time the introductions increasingly began to reveal odd snippets about this mysterious character, usually taking the form of âSome say â¦â followed by, âAll we know is heâs called The Stig!â Personal characteristics include having a left nipple shaped like the race track at the Nürburgring, his skin apparently has the same texture as a dolphinâs, if you tune your radio to 88.4 you can hear his thoughts, after making love he bites the head off his partner, his earwax tastes of Turkish Delight, heâs banned from Chichester, he isnât machine-washable, his tears are adhesive and if he caught fire then he would burn for 1,000 days.
As mentioned, the very first Stig was in fact the revered racingdriver Perry McCarthy. Stepney-born McCarthy has a long and varied history of racing some of the fastest cars on the planet so he was perfectly equipped to be the showâs test driver. A former Formula 1 driver for Andrea Moda, he also tested cars for Benetton, Arrows,
So Andy Wilman and Jeremy Clarkson dreamt up the idea of employing a professional racing driver, who would remain anonymous at all times. There were a number of contenders who might fit the bill, but they eventually plumped for Perry McCarthy. Clarkson approached McCarthy at a party also attended by their mutual friend, Damon Hill. He explained that they wanted an anonymous racing driver for the show and that he would be called The Gimp â inspired by the silent masked figure in a particularly brutal scene from Pulp Fiction . Perry was interested, but not if they used that name, so Wilman and Clarkson flagged up a moniker theyâd first heard used to describe new boys at Repton: The Stig was born.
Early Stig was a much less refined caricature at this point. Clarkson made his infamous gag about racing drivers having âtiny little brains and worthless opinionsâ and also pointed out that they were usually very dull, something he termed âMansell Syndromeâ. They didnât know The Stigâs real name and didnât want to â all they wanted him to do was to go out on track and drive fast.
The Stigâs first feature in the Zonda is then run and the all-black mystery driver clearly seen wearing green gloves rather than matching black ones. Also, the camera angles at this point are from the rear left passenger seats, rather than up close to The Stig from the front passenger seat, as became the norm in later series. The original angle actually showed more of the racetrackfrom The Stigâs viewpoint and was in fact a very interesting approach. Back in the studio, the presenters apologised for the sounds of the Lounge that The Stig was playing, claiming he played this elevator music to calm himself down on track (maybe his dubious musical tastes were inspired by Clarkson, himself a huge Genesis fan; heâd even written sleeve notes to their box set, Selling England by the Pound ). Notably, The Stig drove the Zonda so fast that Hammond then issued a challenge to any company who had a production car that they thought could beat its time.
Within a few episodes, The Stigâs listening habits were universally abhorred and have since been the subject of much analysis over the years. Suffice to say, you wouldnât really want to have a long motorway journey with him, listening as he does to such music as Prog Rock, power ballads, jingles, Elton John, Abba, Chas & Dave, pan pipes, speeches, talking books, Morse Code and whale songs, to name but a few.
Each appearance by The Stig is pre-empted by a weird introduction and over the years these bizarre descriptions have taken on a life of their own; initially they did not happen with every appearance on screen and if they did, they would only be a brief one-liner such as âHis Holiness The Stig!â However, over time the introductions increasingly began to reveal odd snippets about this mysterious character, usually taking the form of âSome say â¦â followed by, âAll we know is heâs called The Stig!â Personal characteristics include having a left nipple shaped like the race track at the Nürburgring, his skin apparently has the same texture as a dolphinâs, if you tune your radio to 88.4 you can hear his thoughts, after making love he bites the head off his partner, his earwax tastes of Turkish Delight, heâs banned from Chichester, he isnât machine-washable, his tears are adhesive and if he caught fire then he would burn for 1,000 days.
As mentioned, the very first Stig was in fact the revered racingdriver Perry McCarthy. Stepney-born McCarthy has a long and varied history of racing some of the fastest cars on the planet so he was perfectly equipped to be the showâs test driver. A former Formula 1 driver for Andrea Moda, he also tested cars for Benetton, Arrows,
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