Ben Collins, best known as former Top Gear driver Stig, has claimed that the BBC show was in need of a revamp, and has praised the appointment of Chris Evans as host.
"I think there are very few formats that survive," he told Bang Showbiz.
"It's usually three or four years max. Top Gear had that format for about 12 or 13 years so it was a very long time and I think that definitely everyone gets to come back with something different.
"It was an absolute riot coming up with this off wall stuff but it's very hard to be new and innovating when you're producing that many shows every year and the audience becomes wise to your tricks and they expect more with bigger and better all the time and it does become very hard."
Collins added: "I think that will be true of both shows. Fans get the best of both worlds because if they want to follow the original trio they can and still get something new on BBC."
Evans was announced as host after the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May last year. The three will host a new motoring show on Amazon with a reported budget of over €200 million.
The new season of Top Gear begins on May 5.
