Some say they know the Stig but they don’t know his family. Here are a couple of the Stigs cousins.
Black Stig
The first Stig wore black overalls and helmet. It was introduced in the first episode of the current format by Jeremy Clarkson as the resident test driver, as the presenters could not consistently post fast times themselves. Clarkson noted that “we don’t know its name, we really don’t know its name, nobody knows its name, and we don’t wanna know, cause it’s a racing driver.” Clarkson then described The Stig as having a very small brain, who had worthless opinions, a disorder described by Clarkson as “Mansell Syndrome”. Its job description was to “just go out there and drive fast”. The Black Stig was then “killed off” at the start of the third series when he was shown driving a modified Jaguar XJ-S off the flight deck of HMS Invincible during a stunt and landing in the sea.
African Stig
Series 10, Episode 4 featured the presenters driving across Botswana. To test the performance of the three cars used by the presenters around a dirt rally track, Clarkson introduced “The Stig’s African cousin.” This incarnation of The Stig was black, wore only Puma shoes, a loincloth and his’ iconic white helmet. He set lap times for two of the cars, but walked away from the track when Clarkson’s Lancia Beta failed to start. The others joked that African Stig was trying to get a respectable time by walking the course, and didn’t bother using the car as it was too slow. Many believe that the African Stig is Lewis Hamilton.
American Stig: Big Stig
Series 9, Episode 3 was set in the United States, with the presenters purchasing American cars and driving them across four states whilst on holiday. One of the challenges set for the presenters was for the cars to set a lap time around a racetrack, for which “the Stig’s American cousin” was introduced. He was nicknamed “Big Stig” by the presenters because of his obese appearance and was noted by Clarkson to have a “very relaxed driving style”.
Communist Stig
Series 12 Episode 1 included a series preview montage, which mentioned “the Stig’s Communist cousin”, shown riding a motorbike wearing a red jumpsuit.
Vegetarian Stig
Series 14 Introduced “The Stig’s Vegetarian Cousin”, Janet Stig-Porter. This incarnation of The Stig wore all green overalls and similarly-coloured Diamondback Helmet, featuring solar panel stickers on top, as well as green socks, in Birkenstocks. This Stig was apparently killed by the poisonous diesel exhaust, when testing the Top Gear electric car, the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust around a circuit in Series 14, Episode 2.
Stig Farm
Stigs are bred at the Top Secret Top Gear Farm. Stigs, ranging from white, to black, red, blue, green, yellow and pink, are bred freerange, GM-free, and watched for potential Stig-ness. Most are violent, or completely useless. Some have amazing talent, like painting, and some have only rudementary car knowledge. But it was from here that the New Stig was bred.
Chinese Stig
Introduced in the second episode of series 18, during the visit to China. This version of the Stig is a martial artist and attacks James May and Jeremy Clarkson after kicking down a door. He then attacks the film crew before getting in James’ and Jeremy’s Chinese cars to post lap times. He also attacks a number of marshalls working at the track and finally kicks James in “the plums”. He was mentioned as “The worst Stig we’ve ever had” by Jeremy.
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