The Stig: Unlikely star slips into top gear

ALL this story lacks is a bare-knuckle fist-fight with volcanic eruptions of broken glass and missing teeth followed by a night cooling off in the clanger.

It already has the other key ingredients of a classic blokeish caper – men, motors, madcap antics, money, machismo, fame and a feud.

So, when Ben Collins, one of the stars of the saga, makes an appearance, it’s natural to expect a fair bit of posturing – a grunting, shoulders-hunched, veins-bulging, eyes-narrowed, shape-throwing kind of display. However, soft-spoken, unfailingly polite and extremely relaxed vision of clean living who nods his hellos with a warm smile seems to have been horribly miscast.