Back when he was The Stig on Top Gear – working opposite Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May – Ben Collins was arguably one of the most famous expert drivers in the world. But for all that faceless, identity-less notoriety on the show, Collins had somehow never driven on the Nürburgring until very recently. But in a video that he published to YouTube yesterday, the “tame racing driver” teamed up with Misha Charoudin for his first-ever lap of the Nordschleife, piloting a 520-horsepower Volkswagen Golf R around the Green Hell (and doing a damn fine job of it at that).
- Base Trim Engine
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2.0L Turbo Inline-4 Gas
- Base Trim Transmission
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7-speed Dual-Clutch Automatic
- Base Trim Drivetrain
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All-Wheel Drive
Even The Pros Need Help Sometimes
No one could call Collins a bad driver. During his seven-year tenure as The Stig, his lap time in the show’s “reasonably priced car” competition was better than that of F1 champions Jenson Button and Damon Hill, meaning he really knows how to drive. But even so, the pro enlisted Charoudin’s help, given the YouTube personality’s prolific experience on the Nürburgring. Charoudin literally lives next door to the racetrack, and his channel’s hundreds of videos show him taking different cars to the track every day, ranging from classic hot hatches to modern hypercars.
Who better than Charoudin, then, to show Collins around the track? The pair climbed aboard the Mk8 Golf R, tuned by RacingLine Performance to 520 hp, and set out to the track. Collins sat in the passenger seat to start out, and it’s entertaining watching the professional racer become visibly uncomfortable by Charoudin’s aggressive-yet-controlled behavior on the track. After a few minutes of gut wrenching, they switch seats, with Charoudin calling the shots like a rally navigator and guiding Collins around the track. For it being his first time, the erstwhile Stig does an incredible job listening to his co-driver’s commands, tracking the Golf R with ferocity.
Humbling A Few Supercar Owners – In A Golf
Collins and Charoudin took to the track on a public day, so there wasn’t much value in laying down times. In fact, there were a few portions of the laps that were yellow-flagged by minor accidents, forcing the Golf R to slow its roll. Nevertheless, it’s great to see even a seasoned professional like Collins pick up some new skills and learn from others. He says time and again that racing on the Nordschleife is a totally different experience than the smoother, more forgiving Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit, proving that no matter how much talent you have, there’s still some room for humility.
It’s also fun to watch the modified Golf R pass up far heavier metal. The driver mod is doing a lot of work here; Charoudin and Collins could probably sneak past novice-driven Porsche 911 GT3s even in a bone-stock Vee-Dub. But still, the RacingLine “Stage 3” hot hatch looks like a lot of fun to push hard thanks to its upgraded turbocharger and software that push the aforementioned 520 hp and 488 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels.
Source: Ben Collins Drives
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