The Stig's true identity is never revealed on the show, and in order to maintain the secrecy, all shots show him wearing full racing overalls and matching helmet. All that can be seen from the gap between his helmet and jumpsuit is that he is a white male with dark hair. It is also known that he wears size 10 racing boots as discovered by the Sunday Times when the Driving section wrote an article about the show.
The identity of the first Stig who was dressed all in black was revealed to be Perry McCarthy when his book Flat Out, Flat Broke was published in 2003. McCarthy is a former Formula 1 driver and test driver for the Benetton, Arrows and Williams teams, and also tested for BMW F1. Soon after, the hosts decide to "kill him off" at the start of the third series when he was shown driving a modified Jaguar XJ-S off the runway of HMS Invincible during a stunt and crashing in the sea,and replace him with the White Stig.
In January 2006, a Daily Express article reported that Julian Bailey is secretly the Stig, but this was never confirmed.
When former F1 driver Nigel Mansell appeared on the show, Jeremy Clarkson noted that the Stig theorised that the Suzuki Liana (the show's "reasonably priced car" at the time) could achieve a 1:44 time on the track.[14] Mansell proved the Stig's theory by lapping in a time of 1:44.6. Clarkson also noted that Mansell's racing line through the first corner was the same as the one taken by the Stig.
During the review of Jenson Button's lap, Clarkson commented that he, as did most of the other F1 drivers, took very different lines than the Stig. Button commented that "...obviously, the Stig isn't a Formula One Driver then"
