Perry McCarthy (born 3 March 1961) is a British racing driver, who drove for the Andrea Moda team in Formula One in 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. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Perry McCarthy and F1.
When Italian fashion company owner Andrea Sassetti bought the Coloni F1 team, and renamed it Andrea Moda, Alex Caffi and Enrico Bertaggia were signed as drivers. However, the team missed the first race of the season because a deposit hadn’t been paid and when Caffi and Bertaggia later complained to the press, Sassetti fired them and Roberto Moreno and Perry were signed as replacements.
However Perry wasn’t being paid, nor even getting expenses to get to the races, so did a deal with a tour company, Chequers Travel, where in return for working as a courier for them they would provide his air ticket to and from the races.
The next race was Brazil, but there were issues regarding his Superlicence, with him being told it had been a mistake and he was not entitled to it. After a heated conversation with Bernie Ecclestone, he, and the British press, rallied behind him and the Commission relented and gave him his licence back.
During this time Bertaggia had found sponsorship and the team wanted to replace Perry with him but FISA’s rules would not allow them to change drivers again.
At the Spanish GP, pre-qualifying meant six drivers had to take part in an early Friday morning session to reduce the field to the 30 cars for qualifying. On Thursday night at 11pm Perry managed to get a lift back to the hotel on the other side of Barcelona, where he was sharing a room with the mechanics. They were all still at the track but he assumed they would return later and they would all get up at 5.30am to get back to the circuit for pre-qualifying at 8am. At 7.25am the following morning they had not come back and he was going to be late for his F1 debut. Andrea Sassetti’s brother was in reception, having just coming in after a night out, and Perry persuaded him to drive him to the circuit. Doing 90mph through the city streets, through red lights, and down one-way streets the wrong way, by 8.05am he was in the garage and in the car. But they couldn’t start it but when they did a sheet of flame shot up, burning Perry’s crash helmet. After putting the fire out and getting the engine started, he drove down the pit lane and over the white line onto the circuit-where the engine stopped. As he was officially on the track he couldn’t be pulled back so after 20 yards his F1 debut was over.
Because of a binding differential he failed to pre-qualify at Imola. The next race was Monaco and while he was at Gatwick Airport, handing out tickets for Chequers Travel, a woman asked why he was going to Monaco. Replying that he was one of the Grand Prix drivers she asked if they all did this, to which he responded ‘of course, madam, Nigel Mansell’s over there with Page & Moy!’ At Monaco he did did three laps of pre-qualifying, but because the team hadn’t made a proper seat for him, he took a heavy pounding around Monaco and had double vision.
In return for making a speech to a company’s clients he got to Canada but although the team turned up there were no engines, as they had been withheld against unpaid debts. But at the French Grand Prix there were no cars at all because the transporter hadn’t been able to get through a lorry drivers’ strike.
At Silverstone he didn’t get through pre-qualifying, as he was sent out on worn rain tyres onto a dry track and on the second lap the clutch exploded.
Finally having had enough of the problems, he went to Italy to confront Sassetti, but it achieved nothing.
Hockenheim pre-qualifying saw him only complete one lap with a misfiring engine but at Hungary he was left in the pitlane while the team worked on Moreno’s car. When they let him out, 45 seconds before the flag signalled the end of the session, he wasn’t even able to do a flying lap.
Perry angrily criticised Sassetti and his team, saying they were making no effort to give him the equipment he needed to have a proper go at qualifying. Footwork boss Jackie Oliver had decided to offer Perry a test, but wanted to do things properly so first asked Sassetti for permission to approach Perry; he refused permission.
A smaller field at Spa meant no pre-qualifying but during qualifying he went off the track when his steering stiffened up. He later found out his rack had been switched over from Moreno’s car after he had complained it was going stiff under downforce.
But then team boss Sassetti was arrested over allegations of fraud and FISA banned them for bringing the sport into disrepute. Sadly Perry’s F1 career was over and he had been unable to even complete a single racing lap.
It was after a visit to Brands Hatch’s Racing School that Perry decided he wanted to be a racing driver. To achieve this he worked on North Sea oil rigs, hanging 130 feet above the waves, sand-blasting and coating, plus approached everybody and anybody to try to raise sponsorship.
Eventually raising support, he started a couple of races in Formula Ford with Jubilee Racing at the end of 1981. The first was at the Champion of Brands meeting but though he qualified on pole in his heat he crashed in the final and the FF World Cup.
1983’s Star of Tomorrow FFord series saw him win six out of ten rounds, and take the title, but despite always being fast the step up to F3 seemed far away due to the required sponsorship and finances. They say desperate people make desperate efforts and Perry contacted hundreds of companies searching for sponsorship, even ringing a company pretending he was James Hunt (imitating Hunt, he stated he had a talented driver they should considering helping).
Eventually with help from an engineering company, Hawtal Whiting, he went to Madgwick Motorsport and raced a works F3 Ralt. During his two years in F3 he was always among the fastest, especially in the rain, and there was a well earned second place at Spa. However it would be a frustrating period, due to engine and mechanical problems, accidents, and a persistent leg injury.
When he was in F3 he raced against Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell, Julian Bailey and Martin Donnelly, and they were nicknamed the Rat Pack. They gave each other nicknames: Damon was Secret Squirrel, because he played his cards close to his chest. John Herbert was Little ’Un, Mark Blundell was Mega, because he liked mega cars, mega watches, mega stuff, Julian was Grumpy, because he could be and Martin was Yer Man, because he would precede everybody’s name with ‘Yer Man’. Perry himself was Mad Dog, after a cartoon strip character who often turned up carrying the crashed remains of his car under his arm.
F3000 was the next move up but this seemed an even more impossible task due to the finances involved.
However he was invited to the Birmingham Superprix to drive Gregor Foitek’s Lola, who had been injured in a crash at Brands Hatch. In the first qualifying session the diff broke and he crashed in the second, although he had been impressively quick in the wet conditions. He raced for Ron Tauranac in the year’s final races, and despite experiencing handling problems he finished 16th though the other two ended in accidents, which weren’t his fault. The next season, he drove Roger Cowman’s Lola in three races and at Spa, despite starting sixteenth, he fought through the field to finish sixth.
From there he moved to IMSA racing for the Spice team and in his first race won the IMSA Lights class, and moved up to GTP among the works Silk Cut Jaguars, Nissans, Toyotas and Porsches. There were a number of pole positions, and he led some races, plus there was a second at Atlanta and a third at Laguna Seca.
For 1993 there was a chance of a BTCC drive though it never happened and up till 1996 he he didn’t do any racing, as he had to pay his monthly bills and keep surviving. Then he competed in a Lotus Esprit for Lotus in GT racing but they parted ways after three races.
Following this he raced a Dodge Viper at Le Mans, then for Panoz in 1997, while 1998 saw him with the Dyson team in the Daytona 24 Hours (with Butch Leitzinger and John Paul Jr.) but they were leading the race by three laps when the engine failed.
In 1999 he raced Audi Sport UK R8C coupés at Le Mans (with Andy Wallace and James Weaver) though the gearbox failed plus he with Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela for the German Audi team at Sebring and they finished fifth.
There was almost a drive for Bentley in 2001, but it never materialised and in 2003 he was back at Sebring with Audi, where he, Johnny Kane and Mika Salo, finished sixth.
Since those days, Perry has worked tirelessly to build a life for himself and his family, including making inspirational speeches and presentations around the world. There was also the BBC show Top Gear, and his role as The Stig, until his identity was leaked to a national newspaper.
