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 1” shot for Perry McCarthy. By means of extraordinary willpower, 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 System 3000 and sports activities automobiles in America led to an opportunity in F1 with Andrea Moda – a staff that solely raced for one season in 1992. When McCarthy made it to the observe, the automotive both broke down or was too gradual to make it by way 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 changing into the mysterious ‘Stig’ on TV’s High Gear, Perry tells Past The Grid’s Tom Clarkson an eye-opening story from a distinct period of F1.
To hearken to this week’s episode, merely hit go on the audio participant above or click here to hear through your most popular podcasting platform.
You can even try an enormous number of earlier episodes – spanning each decade of F1 – in our devoted Past The Grid library here.
