It turns out The Stig doesn't like it when you tell him halfway through a hot lap of Top Gear's UK test track, "I think Schumi was faster through here." How do I know? Because I told him just that. The result? He tried to scare me to death. Watch and see for yourself.


And The Stig Is... The first episode of Top Gear Season 13 is airing in the UK right now, but we can already reveal… Read more

The boys at Turn 10 Studios, the makers of the Forza Motorsport franchise, asked me if I wanted to come over to England for the announcement of the details of their tie-up with the BBC's Top Gear for Forza Motorsport 4. I wasn't interested.


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Until they told me I'd be the only U.S. journalist with a chance to come over and become a not-so-much-a-star in a reasonably-priced car on Top Gear's test track and do a hot lap with the Stig in a Lamborghini Gallardo.

It took me less than the time it takes the Stig to say ".-. .- -.— / .— . .-. - / .. ... / .- / -.. —- ..- -.-. .... . / -... .- —." to agree.


I've never been as nervous as I've been when I took the wheel of the Kia Cee-apostrophe-d and pointed it out toward the track yesterday. Frankly, I was more nervous doing that than I was driving a Lotus Exige on the same track half an hour later. But more on that next week.


For now, check out the video above of the The Stig taking me out on a hot lap of the Top Gear test track — specifically watch him try to scare the crap out of me by making a bee-line for the tire wall after I lobbed a few insults his way.

Full Disclosure: As you know, we've built a very strong relationship with Turn 10 — you helped them pick out the majority of a car pack they called the "Jalopnik community car pack." We dubbed it, much to the chagrin of Microsoft marketers, "Forzalopnik."