and the stig is

[dehne]

ben collins
Ben Collins (born 13 February 1975[1]) is a single seater and sports car driver from Bristol, England. He started his motorsport career in 1994, competing in Formula First and Formula Vauxhall Junior on his way to International Formula 3. Collins is a Champion Racing Driver with success in Motor Sport from Formula Three and Le Mans Sportscars to GT and NASCAR.

Collins was placed second in the Marlboro Masters world class Formula 3 championship event in 2000. He set the pace at the 2001 Le Mans 24 hours race in his first season for approximately four hours during the rain at night. After winning the European Stock Car Championship in 2003 ASCAR stock car racing he was signed by PDM Racing to do selected rounds of the 2004 Indy Racing League, but the car never appeared. In 2005, he competed in the British GT Championship in a Porsche 996 GT3, winning races on the way before moving up to the FIA GT Series with Ascari where he led races and scored several Pole Positions

[dehne]

Work
Collins has been a test driver for racing manufacturer Ascari during Ascari A10 development[2].

As a precision-driver in the 2008 film Quantum of Solace, Collins drove James Bond's Aston Martin DBS as a stunt double for Daniel Craig in the title role.[3][4] He also holds a World Record for the maximum distance of driving a car on two wheels (a maneuver called "skiing").[4]

He has written for The Sunday Times, fronted Sky Sports' televised NASCAR coverage, along with appearances on the British car-focused television programmes Top Gear (BBC Two), Pulling Power (ITV1) and driven (Channel 4).[4]

Collins presented television programme Xtreme Teen Drivers,[4] shown on BBC Three on 15 December 2007; as an advanced driving instructor within the programme, he was trying to teach a young boy racer to drive more safely.


Top Gear appearances
Collins has appeared on the popular BBC television programme Top Gear.

In 2004, Ben Collins made an appearance during the fourth season of BBC Top Gear, alongside skydiving parachutist Tim Carter[5]. The stunt involved Carter and an aerial cameraman jumping out of a Cessna light aircraft then landing in the open-topped Mercedes car being driven at speed by Collins.

In 2005, the driver featured during series five, driving a Lancer Evo VII and then a Bowler Wildcat vehicle in a rally race against mountain boarding world champion Tom Kirkman[6][7].

At the start of series six, Collins appeared with other British Touring Car Championship racing and stunt drivers for a Five-a-side football game using a fleet of Toyota Aygo cars. Collins played in a team captained by Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond. The other drivers were Paul Swift, Tim Harvey and Tom Chilton (blue); playing against James May, Russ Swift, Matt Neal, Dan Eaves and Rob Huff (red).

On a separate occasion, following an accident involving Richard Hammond in September 2006, the Health & Safety Executive report into the event recorded that Collins had "worked closely with Top Gear as a high performance driver and consultant" and had prepared a briefing for Richard Hammond preceding the event.[8]


Regular role
On 19 January 2009, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph ran a story claiming that they had "outed" Collins as being one of the people behind the white-suited incarnation of The Stig, at the same time noting that "Collins, from Bristol, has always denied being The Stig".[3]

The Times, in a follow-up article, stated that the "identity of the white-suited Stig ... has been an open secret within the motoring world for some years, with newspapers refraining from publishing his name, to uphold the spirit of the programme." which concluded that "a newspaper broke with the convention to out Mr Collins, 33, after following up a story in a Bristol newspaper".[9]

Two Bristol-based local newspapers had published articles a week earlier, on the basis of information leaked from a local art-gallery. The driver had previously commissioned a Clifton-based father and son business in September 2008, to produce a limited-edition run of 450 poster prints to be sold on at a price of £318 each.[10]. Collins had initially portrayed himself as a BBC marketing executive[10] and only confirmed a more detailed connection to the Top Gear character after the signing of confidentially agreements by the business owners. [10] [11] The signed poster image showed a salt flat scene, with The Stig positioned standing on it.[11]

[Stuart Thomson]

Had known this since the Health and safety report into Hammond's crash named Ben Collins:

"Visit by Ben Collins (BC) to PTLE
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 BC, 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 BC in this way before.) "

Cheers
Stuart

[alfagtv58]

It will be interesting to see if they shoot this one off the back of an aircraft carrier now that his identity is known.

[Brett]

Yeah, Damon did go out with a bang. Time for the blonde bird to have a go, although a pink Stig may be a bit obvious.........

[Doug Gould]

And I always thought it was Stuart Thompson.

Doug