‘The Stig’ buys a car tuning company… called Topgear Tuning

Some say his customer service skills might somewhat be lacking. All we know is Topgear Tuning is a thing

Topgear TuningTop Gear’s original ‘Stig’ liked what he saw at car tuning firm TopGear Tuning so much, he bought the company – and now ex-racer Perry McCarthy is revealing his plans for expansion.

The former F1 driver has just launched a new website for the ECU remapping firm based in Bridport, Dorset, with the aim of rapidly growing the number of dealers and garages its systems are offered in.

  • The Stig has driven a Forza Ford Focus RS to Gamescom
  • ‘The Stig’ delivers Jeremy Clarkson petition to the BBC in a tank
  • This is what the new Top Gear line-up looks like

To date, 20,000 cars have been remapped by the tuning firm, via 270 dealers nationwide. McCarthy wants to quickly ramp that up and hopes his profile and former career as The Stig will help the company gain traction.

“I was invited by the owner of Topgear Tuning, Steve Kilcoyne, to visit their head office,” he said. “Steve thought I may be interested in the process of ECU remapping and his team’s approach to it.

“I agreed but after arriving, what was scheduled as a one-hour meeting turned in to five hours… my initial curiosity quickly changed to recognising a great business opportunity within my home ground of the automotive industry.”

Why has The Stig bought a car tuning company?

McCarthy believes the remapping sector as a whole is a growth market in the UK – largely driven by consumers becoming more aware of the performance and economy gains claimed.

Performance improvements from remapping are well known, of course: it’s the economy improvements that’s a particularly interesting growth area, given the ongoing fuss over Europe’s outdated economy test cycle…

The B2B firm is now “offering independent and larger service centres the same opportunity to take commercial advantage of increased public awareness of remaps.

“With its experience, expertise and unique brand marketing, it can deliver, manage and support existing tuners or new entrants in to the remapping trade.”

Naturally, McCarthy can’t resist reminding us of his Top Gear days either. “If only some of those reasonably priced cars that we raced around the Top Gear track had been remapped, I’m sure the leader board would’ve looked very different.” Quite.

Related Articles

Motoring Research team
Motoring Research team
News, reviews, advice and features from the award-winning Motoring Resarch editorial team.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Find a Car Review

Latest

Kia EV9 is World Car of the Year 2024

The Kia EV9 is the latest pure electric car to be named World Car of the Year – and it also scooped the World Electric Vehicle 2024 prize

Salon Privé London to host three days of champagne and supercars

Salon Privé London returns to the Royal Hospital in Chelsea next month, with special celebrations of McLaren and the Porsche 911 Turbo.

New Volkswagen ID.Buzz GTX gets 340hp and all-wheel drive

The retro-styled ID. Buzz people carrier is now offered with 340hp, making for an unlikely addition to Volkswagen’s sporty GTX range.

How to protect your car with an OBD port locking device

We explain how to prevent your car being stolen by criminals targeting its On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) port.