Canberra - Hometown of the Stig ?

Season 1 was definitely a let down. Very fake and derivative, it certainly made the “Australia” in the title ironic.

Season Two is an improvement, but more like that of trading up from a Hyundai to a Toyota rather than from a Hyundai to a Porsche.
Still feels like the hosts are heavily scripted and aren’t really in sync and whereas Top Gear UK has the means and opportunity to test cars from all over Europe, America and Asia, Top Gear Australia is relatively limited in that respect. There’s only so many unique Aussie cars, the rest are either beyond their reach or just repeating what the UK already did better.

As for the stig, Rick Bates is a maybe. He’s done some V8 work over the years but he’s done even more rally driving. The way the stig goes around the track, I was thinking there was some rally inspired moves. It’s either Neil or maybe Mark Skaife… he’s got some time on his hands now.

That was a good chuckle sexynotsmart!

Yeah season 1 was hard to cop – they ain’t no Peter Wherrets. Where DID they get these guys from? but it has gone to e second season – more than you can say for Aussie Queer Eye.

Bit better now, and there’s the basic fact: what other choice do Australia car fans have? That dumb 20-minute advertorial on Saturdays?

Where else can we see Aussie people, Aussie cars, Aussie tracks and roads, get some meaningful reviews, well-deserved regular slanging of P76s and Chargers, and some crash-hot fangs in supercars?

Rick Bates…Colin Bond…Brad Jones…who cares?

Yeah, I saw TG Aus for the first time again the other night. (I couldn’t bring myself to watch the first season, it was sh*t). and I thought it had improved a great deal. They have gotten rid of the Clarkson carbon copy, and whilst it still had it’s painful moments, it was certainly going down the right track.

As for the Stig? Well I’m pretty sure it’s one driver, but unless he goes “black stig” on us we’ll probably never really know.

grunge_hippy said :

well there are 2 people that watch it…possibly the only 2 in the country.

i just cant bring myself to watch to contrived banter that comes so easily to the UK version. its painful.

It took a long time for the original TG to have that easy banter. TG Aus is a lot better this season than last season. Probably on par with the 2nd season of the original. Last season however for the most part didn’t make the grade of season 1 Top Gear.

Rabble said :

I’ve seen a guy in a T-shirt which says “I am the Stig” at Belconnen Mall, and another one in Civic and a different one again in a servo in Dickson.

They see him here, They see him there, that scarlet Stig.

There’ll be more than one “Stig”. Helps keep the mystery alive 🙂 And that’s more or less confirmed in the o/s version.

Some say he’s “Crazy Chester”…

Rick Bates. 😉

I’ve seen a guy in a T-shirt which says “I am the Stig” at Belconnen Mall, and another one in Civic and a different one again in a servo in Dickson.

sexynotsmartbutclever

… and so we handed the keys to our tame racing driver.

Some say only a typo prevented the suburb name Palmerstig.

Some say he pronounces “Tuggeranong” with a lisp.

Some say that under his racing suit, he wears a Brumbies’ strip. And under that, another racing suit.

Some say he was once broke into the Carillon to play Collette’s 1989 summer hit “Ring My Bell”.

Some say he has never seen Parliament House. He closes his eyes before crossing Commonwealth Avenue bridge and navigates the rest of his journey by scent.

Some say that as a small child, his ability to drift Model-T Fords influenced Walter Burley-Griffin to use more roundabouts than was strictly necessary.

Some say he was edited out of the first ABC “Collectors” episode when his “Feel the Power of Canberra” numberplates was deemed of insufficient interest to Tasmanians.

Some say that on the back nine at Federal, he dents dimples into his helmet with a 3-iron.

Some say that every July he hires an Action bus and drives it around with route number 333 just for old time’s sake.

Some say he was the only ADFA cadet to ever march Graduation Parade in a helmet.

Some say he was conceived at the Private Bin, and spends Saturday nights on Northbourne Avenue asking people if they know who his mother is.

Some say he can eat the Sweet and Sour Scallops at Portia’s Place, with chopsticks, without removing his helmet.

I don’t mind top gear oz. It’s not as good as the original yet, but as a self confessed petrol head, seeing local vehicles gives me a buzz.

Julia Zemiro from RockWiz once called the Stig ‘Rick’ on live radio. So Rick Shaw or Rick Bates…. take your pick

well there are 2 people that watch it…possibly the only 2 in the country.

i just cant bring myself to watch to contrived banter that comes so easily to the UK version. its painful.

I reckon the Aussie Stig is from one of the V8 (Supercars or Fujitsu) series – and not one of the Bates boys. This week he put down a better time on the track in a Clubsport than he managed in the Evo – either of the Bates boys could have driven the Evo faster than the Clubbie.

I thought it was hilarious to the the STIG at the logies on the red carpet. Anyone else see his quick appearance?

I like the original one more however support local content on TV and have been willing to give the new series a go. Its light entertainment, kind of like RiotACT really.

you actually watch australian top gear?