Perry McCarthy#Bibliography
{{short description|British racing driver (born 1961)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox F1 driver
| image = 2003 pq paddocks-perry-mccarthy.jpg|
| caption = McCarthy in 2003
| name = Perry McCarthy
| nationality = {{flagicon|GBR}} British
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1961|3|3|df=y}}
| birth_place = Stepney, East London, England
| Years = {{F1|1992}}
| Team(s) = Andrea Moda
| Races = 10 (0 starts)
| Championships = 0
| Wins = 0
| Podiums = 0
| Points = 0
| Poles = 0
| Fastest laps = 0
| First race = 1992 Brazilian Grand Prix
| First win =
| Last win =
| Last race = 1992 Italian Grand Prix
}}
Perry Edward McCarthy (born 3 March 1961) is a British racing driver, who drove for the Andrea Moda team in Formula One in {{F1|1992}}, though never making it into a race, before moving into sportscars, including driving in the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times between 1996 and 2003.
McCarthy also portrayed The Stig in the first two series of the revamped version of BBC motoring show Top Gear.
Career
Born in Stepney, East London,{{cite web |url=http://www.chicanef1.com/indiv.pl?name=Perry%20McCarthy&type=d |title=Perry McCarthy |publisher=ChicaneF1 |access-date=13 September 2014}} McCarthy grew up to work for his father's company servicing North Sea oil rigs. Unlike most Formula One drivers, McCarthy did not start racing in karts. He worked his way through the junior categories of motor sport in Europe, such as Formula Ford, Formula 3, eventually F3000 and various touring and sports car races in the US, including drives for Spice Engineering.
In 1991, McCarthy was chosen to test for the Footwork Formula One team. Although he impressed the team, his break did not come until the eve of the 1992 Formula One season, when he was signed by the independent Andrea Moda team run by Andrea Sassetti who thought that entering Formula One would be a good way to advertise his shoe business. The team was uncompetitive, disorganized and poorly managed, and after a lengthy battle to gain a FIA Super Licence the season soon descended into farce.{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/sport/formula-one/article/dick-dastardly-had-more-luck-than-me-xqpfhz76bl7 |title=Dick Dastardly had more luck than me The Times|access-date=3 May 2015}} Because Sassetti was unable to release McCarthy for Enrico Bertaggia, who had left the team before and attempted to return with the promise of extra funding, McCarthy received unfair treatment from the owner, being frequently denied more than a handful of laps in which to prepare, which led to his failure to qualify for any Grand Prix, and sometimes his car was used as a spare car for teammate Roberto Moreno. His Grand Prix debut in Spain lasted eighteen metres down the pit lane in pre-qualifying before the engine failed. In the British Grand Prix, he was sent out with wet tyres on a dry track. For the Hungarian Grand Prix, he was only allowed to leave the pits 45 seconds before the end of the pre-qualifying session, which made it impossible for him to set a lap time even if he had a faster car. Finally, in the Belgian Grand Prix, Andrea Moda's final entry, McCarthy was sent out for the qualifying session with a broken steering part in his car, which had been extracted from teammate Roberto Moreno's car, which would have led to a violent crash at the Raidillon curve had McCarthy not managed to regain control of the car. {{cite web | url=https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/2022/05/fuelling-around-podcast-perry-mccarthy.html | title=Fuelling Around podcast: Perry McCarthy on being the original Stig and competing in Formula 1 | date=26 May 2022 }} The team was expelled from the championship close to the end of the season in controversial circumstances and McCarthy was left without a drive. In a July 2004 interview with The Times, McCarthy discussed how this period in his career had contributed to his being dubbed the world's unluckiest racing driver, saying "Dick Dastardly had more luck than me".
McCarthy did not race in Formula One after 1992, but tested for both Williams and Benetton teams during the 1990s. He was denied a permanent role as test driver at Benetton because he was covering for their normal test driver, Alessandro Zanardi, who was unwell. He had little success at Williams because he did not see eye to eye with the engineers and the position was then given to David Coulthard.
=Other racing=
In 1995, McCarthy raced in the short-lived Formula Classic series, scoring two podiums.https://forums.autosport.com/topic/218051-wheatcroft-formula-classic/https://www.unracedf1.com/it-took-seven-holbay-engines-to-ruin-wheatcrofts-formula-classic/
=''Top Gear''=
After a brief retirement, McCarthy returned to sports car racing, appearing at Le Mans in 2002 and numerous other events. In 2002, he released his autobiography entitled Flat Out, Flat Broke, in which he spoke candidly about his time in Formula One and, in the second edition, his work for the BBC's Top Gear motoring show as The Stig, a masked, anonymous, racing driver who evaluated the latest high performance cars.{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11083602 | work=BBC News | title=Perry McCarthy: 'I was the original Stig' | date=25 August 2010}} McCarthy was the original, black-suited Stig, who left after the first two series. He provided commentary on F1 races for the BBC in 2009.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pressred/2009/03/whats-on-bbc-red-button-28-mar.shtml|title=BBC - Press Red Blog: What's On BBC Red Button (28 March - 10 April)|first=John|last=Horth|website=Bbc.co.uk|access-date=16 September 2018}} McCarthy now works as a corporate ambassador and after-dinner speaker for corporations around the world.{{cite web|url=http://www.perrymccarthy.co.uk|title=Perry McCarthy - The Original Stig From Top Gear|website=Perrymccarthy.co.uk|access-date=16 September 2018}}
Bibliography
In 2002, McCarthy wrote an autobiography, titled Flat Out, Flat Broke: Formula 1 the Hard Way!; it detailed his career, and the hardships he faced while trying to break into Formula One. In the second edition of this book, McCarthy revealed that he was Top Gear{{'}}s The Stig.{{cite news|title=Portrait of a driver: Perry McCarthy|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/2728147/Portrait-of-a-driver-Perry-McCarthy.html|website=The Telegraph|access-date=26 January 2013|location=London|date=8 May 2004}}
Racing record
=Complete International Formula 3000 results=
(key)
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"
! Year ! Entrant ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! 9 ! 10 ! 11 ! DC ! Points |
| rowspan="2"| 1988
! nowrap| GA Motorsports | JER | VAL | PAU | SIL | MNZ | PER | BRH |style="background:#ffcfcf;"| BIR |colspan=3| !rowspan="2"| NC !rowspan="2"| 0 |
| nowrap| Team Ralt
|colspan=8| |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| BUG |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| ZOL |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| DIJ |
|---|
| 1989
! nowrap| Cowman Racing | SIL | VAL | PAU | JER | PER | BRH |style="background:#ffcfcf;"| BIR |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SPA |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| BUG | DIJ | ! NC ! 0 |
| colspan="15"|{{center|{{small|Sources:{{cite web|title=Perry McCarthy Results|url=https://www.motorsportstats.com/driver/perry-mccarthy/results|publisher=Motorsport Stats|access-date=8 August 2023}}{{cite web|title=Perry McCarthy|url=https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/drivers/perry-mccarthy/|work=Motor Sport|access-date=8 August 2023}}}}}} |
=Complete Formula One results=
(key)
=Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%" |
| Year
! Team ! Co-Drivers ! Car ! Class ! Laps ! {{Tooltip|Pos.|Overall Position}} ! {{Tooltip|Class |
|---|
| {{24hLM|1996}}
|align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|FRA}} Viper Team Oreca |align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|FRA}} Dominique Dupuy |align="left" nowrap| Chrysler Viper GTS-R | GT1 | 96 | DNF | DNF |
| {{24hLM|1997}}
|align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|GBR}} David Price Racing |align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|AUS}} David Brabham |align="left" nowrap| Panoz Esperante GTR-1 | GT1 | 145 | DNF | DNF |
| {{24hLM|1999}}
|align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|GBR}} Audi Sport UK Ltd. |align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|GBR}} James Weaver |align="left" nowrap| Audi R8C | LMGTP | 198 | DNF | DNF |
| {{24hLM|2002}}
|align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|FRA}} DAMS |align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|FRA}} Jérôme Policand |align="left" nowrap| Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S | LMP900 | 98 | DNF | DNF |
| {{24hLM|2003}}
|align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|GBR}} Audi Sport UK |align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|DEU}} Frank Biela |align="left" nowrap| Audi R8 | LMP900 | 28 | DNF | DNF |
| colspan="8"|{{center|{{small|Sources:{{cite web|title=Perry McCarthy|url=https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/track-record/driver/perry-mccarthy-5030|publisher=Automobile Club de l'Ouest|access-date=8 August 2023}}}}}} |
References
{{Reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-media}}
|-
{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title=The Stig|years=2002 - 2003}}
{{s-aft|after=Ben Collins
As White Stig}}
{{s-end}}
{{Andrea Moda Formula}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Perry}}
Category:English racing drivers
Category:English Formula One drivers
Category:International Formula 3000 drivers
Category:British Formula 3000 Championship drivers
Category:Andrea Moda Formula One drivers
Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
Category:American Le Mans Series drivers
Category:World Sportscar Championship drivers
Category:Sportspeople from Essex
Category:Porsche Carrera Cup GB drivers
Category:Arena Motorsport drivers