‘The Stig’ shares tales of Top Gear and Bond with University of Chichester students
BBC Top Gear legend Ben Collins, a.k.a. The Stig, thrilled students and staff at the University of Chichester last week with a visit to the Department of Creative Industries at the Tech Park in Bognor.
Since retiring from his most famous role as The Stig, racing driver Ben has turned his hand to the world of YouTube and esports with two popular YouTube channels. Ben was keen to hear from Esports, Sports Media and Film Production students about how he could develop his content and reach new audiences with his online videos.
Ben began his career in motorsports aged 19, progressing through the ranks from Formula 3 to Formula 2 and the Le Mans 24 Hour race. After filming a commercial as a stunt driver, he applied for a job at Top Gear, ultimately becoming ‘The White Stig’ from 2003 to 2010. The best part of working on the BBC’s flagship car show, Ben says, was “coming up with crazy ideas like Car Football”.
He has also driven in four Bond movies, including the famous high-speed chase around Lake Garda in ‘Quantum of Solace’ which he describes as “amazing fun to work on”.
Ben’s now focused on creating content for his two Youtube channels, where he shares car reviews, fastest laps and other content which has seen him grow his fanbase to 220,000 subscribers on YouTube. As part of his visit, Ben encouraged students to get in touch with him for work experience on his channels which many were keen to take up. As well as regularly filming at the former Top Gear track at Dunsfold in Surrey, Ben is shortly set to visit the infamous Nürburgring in Germany to race against another Youtuber. He has also worked in the games industry for over 10 years as a physics and car handling consultant.
Stephen Baysted, Professor of Film, TV and Games Composition at the University of Chichester said: “Having worked with Ben for over 10 years on a series of AAA video games, I was delighted to introduce him to the Department of Creative Industries’ students. Ben is very keen to offer students on the Film Production, Esports and Sports Media courses the opportunity to work with him and his team on his You Tube and social media content moving forward.”
