Fans get chance to drive with Top Gear's The Stig

FANS OF BBC hit Top Gear will be able to experience the white-knuckle thrill of spinning round the programme's test track driven by The Stig, as well as driving laps themselves.

The corporation's commercial arm BBC Worldwide is allowing viewers to be in the driving - or passenger - seat by launching a series of high-speed attractions at Dunsfold Park in Surrey, at which the programme is filmed.

They can follow in the tyre tracks of celebrities such as Tom Cruise or Benedict Cumberbatch by trying out the "star in a reasonably priced car" course in a Kia Cee'd, just like those used on the BBC2 programme under the eye of a professional driver.

And they can experience the adrenaline rush of sitting next to the programme's driver The Stig as he silently steers a tyre-screeching lap, for the cost of £99.

The Top Gear Track Experiences are to launch on August 27 and are expected to be offered throughout the year, although they will have to fit around the programme's filming commitments.

In addition, visitors can also be taken round the famous course by another pro driver, or try off-roading in a 4X4. Younger fans aged 11 to 17 will also be able to try an off-road course, bouncing over hillocks and weaving between cones bearing the faces of presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

The programmes is already a huge money-spinner for Worldwide and the BBC, generating millions in programme sales and merchandise. Top Gear was under the spotlight this week after broadcasting regulator Ofcom ruled it had breached programme rules by including an "offensive racial term" during its Burma special screened in March.

Details of the new activities are at topgeartrackexperience.com.

By Anthony Barnes, Press Association