He may be one of the world's best racing drivers - but even Lewis Hamilton can't beat Top Gear's The Stig.
The 22-year-old Formula 1 runner-up narrowly failed to match the mystery man's lap time when he appeared on the hit BBC2 show.
Now Hamilton has asked BBC producers if he can come back to have another go.
He had been taking part in one of Top Gear's staple challenges - a timed lap around the programme's circuit at Dunsfold Park aerodrome in Surrey, using a Suzuki Liana.
None of the celebrities or professional drivers featured as guests has managed to beat The Stig, who never speaks and hides his identity under his crash helmet.
He is billed as a "tame racing driver" by the show and speculation about his identity has centred on former F1 drivers such as Damon Hill and Julian Bailey.
But Hamilton has a good excuse for not beating him - the track was wet from a rainstorm and another car had leaked oil on it earlier that day.
The conditions made it almost impossible to overwhelm The Stig's record time of 1min 44.4sec - but Lewis only narrowly missed out.
The previous closest challenger was Nigel Mansell with 1min 44.6sec.
The BBC refused to reveal Hamilton's time before the show goes out at 8pm tonight but speculation was rife that he now holds second place.
All presenter Jeremy Clarkson would says was that Hamilton had been "very, very fast".
Top Gear's Andy Wilman, who was involved in editing the programme, said: "I still keep replaying Lewis's second-to-last corner because I've never seen a piece of driving quite like it.
"The world is governed by the rules of physics but he just seems to have his own set."
Despite his efforts, Hamilton remained unhappy with his performance. Wilman said: "He asked if he could come back and set a dry time.
"You could tell he meant it because he was saying how if the appointed day was wet, the deal was he could cancel but if it was dry, he'd be there."
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Lewis slower than Stig
Lewis slower than Stig -
12-02-2007, 07:45 AM
12-02-2007, 08:06 AM
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