Perry McCarthy on driving for 1990s F1 non-starters Andrea Moda and becoming Top Gear’s ‘Stig’

He drove for one of many least aggressive groups in F1 historical past. He by no means began a race. Simply making it to F1 was “1,000,000 to at least one” shot for Perry McCarthy. By way of extraordinary dedication, he did it.

When his uncooked expertise behind the wheel was noticed at his native racetrack, McCarthy set his sights on racing on the prime. He even labored on a North Sea oil rig to boost cash to fund his profession.

Racing in Components 3000 and sports activities vehicles in America led to an opportunity in F1 with Andrea Moda – a group that solely raced for one season in 1992. When McCarthy made it to the observe, the automobile both broke down or was too sluggish to make it by means of an additional ‘pre-Qualifying’ session.

From climbing the motorsport ladder with drivers together with Damon Hill, to testing with Michael Schumacher at Benetton, and later turning into the mysterious ‘Stig’ on TV’s Prime Gear, Perry tells Past The Grid’s Tom Clarkson an eye-opening story from a special period of F1.

To take heed to this week’s episode, merely hit go on the audio participant above or click here to hear by way of your most well-liked podcasting platform.

It’s also possible to take a look at an enormous number of earlier episodes – spanning each decade of F1 – in our devoted Past The Grid library here.