I was kind of reluctant when reading the reviews here but my love for Top Gear took over. The book is good. Simple. There's a ton of material about driving and half of the book describes Ben's 8 years long career with Top Gear. You won't find however anything surprising and I can hardly think of any reason why BBC put so much effort into blocking this book out.
-- SPOILER ALERT --
You will read about Ben's beginnings, his ambition to race at any conditions and any price. After joining TG team the story becomes familiar and you get a sense how massive was the amount of work put into each episode. I was expecting to find out some backstage opinions on the presenter trio (Clarkson being an arrogant type for example) but nope - seems they're the same as on the telly. You will get very detailed information about how the celebrities were taught and what was their approach to driving on the TG track. You will also find out how the driving and pass-by sequences were made and how hectic the job of Stig could be. Most of the chapters copy the epizode flow so you'll read about Veyron race from Italy to London, the charity race in Mallorca, 24 hrs endurance race in diesel BMW and so on, including all the details possible.
The Stig job must have been (and probably still is) very demanding as Andy Willman (exec producer) seems like crazily tough guy, who's been pushing the show forward together with Clarkson. There's an urgent sense of split personality when Ben Collins acted as a Stig and as well as himself during several episodes. Not to mention the fact how crazy was the TG team to keep Stig's identity secret.
The book covers the era from beginnings of white Stig until the episode with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.
-- SPOILER ALERT END --
Ben's not a writer, which is obvious after several pages, however the style of narration and description is not bad at all although you must be a petrolhead to appreciate it. For someone not keen into cars or TG, this book may probably be a huge disappointment. For me, the book changed a bit my view on Collins' departure from TG. But just a bit, I'm not that disgusted as I used to be after reading the news :).
One last thing that I found a bit annoying in the book - it's Ben's total self-focus with always right opinions, plus the fact that he never made a mistake (followed by a huge crash) during his driving career. He was in several critical situations with almost no control over the car but he always, always found a way how to make it and beat everyone else's time and amaze everyone around. That seemed a bit sci-fi to me. Only a small drawback though. The Man in the White Suit: The Stig, Le Mans, the Fast Lane and Me
Having watched the TV series like most people for a number of years, I initially thought I would not buy the book due to how Ben Collins handled his departure from Top Gear. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to buy the book.
Ben goes into detail into his earlier year and gives some interesting insight into the career of a racing driver from a young age. However he does go into minute details of certain laps within races that you wonder how he can remember such things after years of racing. The book also gives the impression that he prevails over what ever odds, but then again he is the Stig! (or was)
Its a very light read and I found that it was interesting to hear about his life outside of Top Gear.
I would have liked to have read more about the other Top Gear presenters and background to the departure from the show.
The book isnt an expose but provides some colour to the man behind the Stig.
Ben Collins, born in 1975, has competed in motorsport since 1994. He worked with Top Gear (both as the anonymous `tame racing driver' -The Stig - and also as himself since December 2003.
This is his story.
Ben Collins was born in Bristol, has competed as a junior Olympic standard swimmer while living in California and wanted to be a fighter pilot. When this career was ruled out because of his eyesight, he switched to cars. Ben won races in nearly every category he competed in: from Formula Three to LeMans Sportscars, and GT. In 2003 he won the European ASCAR title while racing for RML Motorsport. When his racing career was temporarily curtailed by a lack of funding, Ben joined the Army reserves. He also began a new venture working as a Hollywood stuntman.
In 2003, Ben became the fourth presenter on BBC TV's `Top Gear.' As `The Stig', he test drove exotic cars, coached celebrities how to get the best out of the `reasonably priced car' around the now legendary Top Gear test track. As `the man in the white suit', he was recognised by millions of Top Gear fans around the world.
This book makes for interesting reading both for Top Gear fans curious about the identity of The Stig, but also for those interested in Ben Collins as an accomplished racing driver.
I found this an easy and interesting read, especially the descriptions of his driving experiences. As an Australian, I enjoyed his reference to the yellow flags (specifically in relation to kangaroos) at Bathurst.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Was a good book, it got a bit boring in some spots mainly where he wrote about his military training, but other then that I liked it. If your a Fan of Top Gear, its definitely interesting to find out what he was going through with some of the challenges and episodes, and they are kinda fun to watch again knowing what was going on in his mind at the time. Like during one of the challenges that he raced the other presenters where he took public transportation, he had just broken 4 ribs a week or two before. That said, its not all about Top Gear, so don't go in expecting that.
He obviously knows a lot about racing, so you can definitely learn something there as well. - Top Gear - Motor Sports'
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