--- title: "Google Maps Street View Easter Egg Shows the Stig Drift the Top Gear Test Track" description: "Drop down right at the starting line and you'll find yourself lined up next to the Stig in that gleaming SLS AMG on a beautiful fall day back in October of 2013. Hop around the track or follow the course—the choice is yours." date: "2018-10-09" modified: "2018-10-09" authors: - name: "Kyle Cheromcha" job_title: "Editor-in-Chief" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/24124/google-maps-street-view-easter-egg-shows-the-stig-drift-the-top-gear-test-track" categories: - "Culture" - "News" tags: - "BBC" - "dunsfold" - "Easter Egg" - "Google" - "Google maps" - "street view" - "Top Gear" --- # Google Maps Street View Easter Egg Shows the Stig Drift the Top Gear Test Track ![]() *\www.thedrive.com\* Time travel remains impossible, but there exists a suitable stand-in. Gone are the days when pre-punch Jeremy Clarkson, pre-crash Richard Hammond, and pre-haircut James May hosted a little show called *Top Gear* on the BBC—[except in Google Maps' Street View,]() where [an Easter egg]() puts you on the show's famous test track at the Dunsfold Aerodrome while the Stig drifts around the camera car in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series. And who's that in the background? The secret session was recently highlighted by a user on [Reddit's *r/cars*,]() who stumbled upon it when he was looking at the Dunsfold area on Google Maps and realized the Street View option could be activated for the test track on the complex's runway. [Drop down right at the starting line]() and you'll find yourself lined up next to the Stig in that gleaming SLS AMG on a beautiful fall day back in October of 2013. Hop around the track or follow the course—the choice is yours. ![message-editor%2F1539106395635-startinglinestig.jpg]() **Google Maps** Nearly every corner provides a great show, with the Stig drifting all around the camera car with a few [incredibly close overtakes.]() Be sure to take a second at Chicago to zoom in down one of the side runways to spot three sports cars parked together in a filming setup with a few empty camera stands. ![message-editor%2F1539106860649-stigdriftnew.jpg]() **Google Maps** Come back around at Bentley Bend and you'll see it's a trio of Porsches with three blurry figures messing about nearby. It's impossible to say for sure that it's the original hosts, but it's a cool, place-setting detail nonetheless. Back at the finish line, you can move down the entrance/exit path and see the cars parked back at the hangar: a yellow Porsche Cayman S, a white Porsche 911 GT3, and a red Porsche 911 Turbo S. We haven't been able to find a segment that was filmed using those cars together, but if you've got any ideas as to what they might have been doing at the time, chime in below in the comments. ![message-editor%2F1539106135861-triogm.jpg]() **Google Maps** Speaking of filming, this Easter egg wasn't *quite* a secret. *Top Gear* actually turned the whole thing into a [YouTube video]() back in 2014. But that was about a year [before everything changed]() for what was once the world's most popular television show, and this small publicity stunt feels a little more special now—especially with the news that the track itself [might not be around much longer either.]() https://youtube.com/embed/vi-ljpuEGnA ## Author Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()