Perry McCarthy spent two years as The Stig (Image: Getty)
Perry McCarthy’s F1 career was an unfortunate tale as the London-born Brit failed to qualify for any of the 10 Grands Prix he entered driving for the ill-fated Andrea Moda team. However, he enjoyed a secret role away from the series as the man behind The Stig on .
McCarthy is one of three known drivers to have played the role of The Stig on the beloved motoring show Top Gear. The ex-F1 star was succeeded by stunt driver Ben Collins and then by British GT Championship veteran Phil Keen.
McCarthy played the character in 2002 and 2003, donning the iconic all-white race suit and helmet to test new car releases and set lap times for the iconic ‘star in a reasonably-priced car’ segment, in which celebrities would wrangle an ordinary road vehicle around the Top Gear test track in a one-lap glory run.
The former Andrea Moda F1 driver’s role in Top Gear was pivotal to the show’s early success after being rebooted by and producer Andy Wilman. However, the now-iconic Stig character nearly had a much more embarrassing name.
In fact, it was McCarthy who vetoed the decision. “I’d written a book back in 2002 about my career coming all the way through motor racing and getting to Formula One with pretty much no money,” he told The Chris Moyles Show in 2019.
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Perry McCarthy’s F1 career was an unfortunate one (Image: Getty)
“Jeremy and a lot of friends from Formula One were at the book launch, and Jeremy said, ‘Listen, we’re bringing Top Gear back, we’ve got this great idea for you!’ You’re gonna be all dressed in black – because first, Stiggy was all in black – so black gloves, black crash helmet, black overalls…
“He said, ‘We’re gonna call you the Gimp!’ I said, ‘No, you’re not son!’ They were really keen on it, seriously. In the end, thank God, they settled on The Stig, which is what they used to call the junior kids at their school. They were real keen on calling it The Gimp, and I just thought, I really don’t want that tag!”
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Since disappearing from the world of Top Gear, McCarthy has established a new career as a motivational speaker. In an interview with the London Speaker Bureau, he explained: “I’m an ex-Formula One racing driver, and I was the original Stig on Top Gear.
“What I do now is talk about all my experiences as a racing driver, coming through the attitudes that are necessary, and I provide those via, hopefully, an amusing speech, business speech or a motivational speech. With my career, believe me, you needed to be motivated.”