Perry McCarthy

McCarthy at the 1992 San Marino Grand Prix

**Perry Edward McCarthy** (born 3 March 1961) is a British racing driver from England.

## Early life and career

### 1981–1986

McCarthy almost fell into motor racing by accident. A friend introduced him to Formula One through magazines while he was at Basildon College in Essex, and in the interim he was building a reputation for executing wild feats on public roads. However, as a contrast, he was also proficient on the piano and began performing at a nearby store. He met Les Ager, instructor at the Brands Hatch Racing School, through the store owner, who was aware of his antics and competence behind the wheel. McCarthy was hooked for life after just one session there. Working as a spray painter on North Sea oil rigs for his father's company and with the support of some local businesses, he had saved enough money by mid-1981 to join the Jubilee Racing team for the final two races of the year in a Van Diemen Formula Ford 1600. However, in a foreshadowing of things to come, he crashed in both the last round of the Champion of Brands Series and the Formula Ford Festival World Cup, having tried a little too hard.

Indeed, 1982 established a pattern that would be repeated numerous times. He stayed with Jubilee Racing Van Diemen and competed in the Dunlop Autosport Star of Tomorrow Formula Ford 1600 championship with just enough sponsorship. However, after six rounds, he had two poles (proving that he was as fast as anybody else), but also a tendency for retirements and crashes. When his money ran out, Perry was forced to go out on a limb once more, looking for new opportunities. His father, who had made a fortune through his business, had been naturally hesitant to support his son's motorsport adventure up to this point, but for 1983 he decided to sponsor Perry on the condition that he either win the Formula Ford 1600 championship or retire from racing. Despite a mid-season switch from Jubilee Racing to Rushen Green Racing, Perry won the Star of Tomorrow title with a dominant start-to-finish victory in the last round at Brands Hatch, his sixth of the season.

In addition, he participated in the BP Superfind series, where he won four races, and he was a member of the winning British squad in the Formula Ford World Cup. With that, one might think it was time to move on to bigger and greater things, but without sponsorship, he was back at square one. McCarthy was placed with the Motosport International team for another season of Formula Ford 1600 courtesy to Van Diemen owner Ralph Firman Snr. and motorsport supporter and then-Brands Hatch owner John Webb. A hungry McCarthy, on the other hand, was not only dissatisfied with having to compete in the division again, but he was also dissatisfied with his new team. Following an uncompetitive fourth at Brands Hatch, he collided with another driver at Oulton Park, sending him barrel-rolling over the track, across the grass verge, and into the wall. Perry suffered a minor concussion, a broken bone in his back, a sprained wrist, and some bruising, as well as the end of his racing career.

However, McCarthy was back behind the wheel by the end of the year, in a one-off Formula Ford 2000 Winter Championship appearance where he finished 9th, but not before being 2nd fastest in the wet practice session - the first signs of his wet weather prowess that would become something of a trademark. And, with the goal of moving up to British Formula Three in 1986, he elected to spend one more year in Formula Ford 1600 to build career momentum. He won the Racing for Britain scholarship after an intensive self-promotion effort, and equipped with eleven other sponsors, he joined Milldent Motorsport for an assault on the British FF1600 title in a Van Diemen RF85. But, in a terrible year, despite consistently qualifying in the top half-dozen, unreliability or overdriving, too often the latter, conspired to keep him off the winner's dias.

In truth, Perry had probably not done enough in 1985 to make the jump to F3, but with tenacity and essential assistance from the Hawtal Whiting business, he was signed by Madgwick Motorsport to drive their Reynard 863 Volkswagen at a time when most others were opting for Ralts. Not to worry: in the rainy qualifying session for the second race at Silverstone, McCarthy astonished the establishment by achieving the 2nd quickest time, followed by another front row start and a 6th place result at Brands Hatch. But, as was typically the case, a mid-season drama occurred when McCarthy was forced to miss three tournaments due to an injured nerve in his right leg. When he returned, he was shaken by three accidents, two of which were enormous due to suspension issues on the Reynard, but he fought back spectacularly to take pole and finish fourth at the Cellnet Super Prix at Brands Hatch. He finished equal 12th overall with 11 points, and he had also contested in numerous rounds of the French F3 championship.

### 1987–1992

McCarthy, having established his mark, began 1987 as one of the favourites for the British F3 title, and with Madgwick upgrading to a Reynard 873, he was narrowly pipped at the post by Johnny Herbert on the Silverstone club track. But it was clear that his campaign was not only doomed by a slew of mechanical issues, but that his Volkswagen engine was also outgunned by its rivals. Madgwick was forced to switch engines mid-season to Alfa Romeo. But, despite the fact that the Italian engine pushed him closer to the pace, the dependability issues persisted, and Perry concluded the season in only eighth place with 22 points, despite the fact that he deserved far better. When Europe's greatest F3 drivers came to Silverstone for a one-off race to determine the title of European F3 champion, he demonstrated his value by qualifying on the front row and then challenged Bernd Schneider for second place before crashing into the gravel trap.

McCarthy's career appeared to have come to an end once more in 1988, with nothing left to prove in F3 and insufficient finance to move up to F3000. That was until the horrific collision at Brands Hatch, which damaged several drivers, including Herbert, shattering his legs. Gregor Foitek, widely seen as the collision's originator, had also been injured, and with no one to drive the Swiss' GA Motorsports Lola T88/50 Cosworth at the Birmingham Superprix, GA Motorsports CEO Mike Collier issued a one-time SOS to Perry. McCarthy went out in first qualifying with only 20 laps of testing experience in the Lola, only for a differential failure to start a fire, putting the vehicle out for the rest of the session. Then, in true Perry fashion, rain fell during the second session, despite the fact that the fastest driver, Roberto Moreno, was only about 0.3s slower than the slowest qualifier in the dry, Jean-Denis Deletraz. McCarthy had just done a spectacular lap that was 0.09s faster than Moreno's and was going for broke and a position on the grid when he crashed. His weekend had come to an end.

McCarthy, on the other hand, was signed to drive a works Ralt RT22 Judd in the final three rounds of the season. The RT22 was a beast even in dry conditions, but Perry demonstrated his incredible wet-weather skills by topping the time sheets in wet practice at Le Mans Bugatti. However, Gary Evans took him out during the race, and Andrea Chiesa pushed him into David Hunt at the first curve at Zolder before wrestling the hesitant Lola to a battling 16th at Dijon. Ralt founder Ron Tauranac wanted McCarthy to stay on for 1989, but he later sold the team, taking Perry's position with it. He was also passed over for F3000 drives at the Roni Q8, Footwork, Leyton House, and CDM teams due to a lack of funding. When Jean Alesi replaced Michele Alboreto at Tyrrell, Ken Tyrrell held serious talks with McCarthy but ultimately chose the Frenchman.

So Perry was back on his ear, and the repetitive sequence of coming so close but still so distant to so many seats would have broken a weaker man. Still, he persisted, pleading with sponsors and team managers, making contacts, and maintaining optimistic. It paid off when GA Motorsport approached McCarthy again, asking him to drive the Lola T88/50 Cosworth in the last round of the British F3000 season at Brands Hatch. Lola's best result in the series was a good second place, which put him equal eighth in the standings with 6 points. Meanwhile, Perry had been badgering RCR team owner Roger Cowman for a drive in the international F3000 series, and had convinced Cowman to send his name to the FIA as RCR's official reserve driver, which seemed to signify very little in reality. When RCR's allocated number of driver changes were depleted, instead of taking a pay driver as planned, they were compelled to offer the drive to their designated reserve driver - the penniless McCarthy!

His adventures in the RCR Lola T89/50 Cosworth were exciting. McCarthy did not set a time in first qualifying at Birmingham for the second time, this time due to a misfiring engine. But, in the second session, the car broke down again, and Perry, fearing a battery problem, dashed to the pits for a new one, sprinted back, and replaced it himself. Then, when he exited the pits again, he collided with a careless FIRST mechanic, and a resulting scuffle with FIRST boss Lamberto Leoni meant he didn't get out in time, and he had to accept the DNQ. But at Spa, he was an astonishing second quickest in wet qualifying, dropping to 11th in the dry, but in the race he raced past numerous fancied drivers, including Eddie Irvine, and at race's conclusion nearly took Thomas Danielsson for 6th position and a point, but 7th had already been a mighty effort. Then, at Dijon, he almost didn't qualify again, but climbed his way back up to 15th place from the back of the grid.

In reality, prospects in Europe were going to be few and far between without the correct money, so Perry jumped at the chance to race in IMSA sports cars in America in 1990. Driving for the Spice Works team in a Spice SE90P Buick in the Camel Lights class, he and Tomas Lopez finished 8th overall but won the class on their debut at Mid Ohio. McCarthy was welcomed back for five more races in the top GTP class with a Chevrolet-powered SE90P, where he displayed an odd proclivity for showing up the established stars. At Watkins Glen, he took the lead in the wet alongside Tommy Kendall, marking the first time in a long time that the works Spice team or a Chevy engine had led a race. When electrical problems forced the retirement of the works Nissans and TWR Jaguars, he was brilliantly drawing away from the field. But there was more McCarthy magic at Sears Point, where he won pole by 1.3 seconds in the car he shared with Jay Cochran, despite engine troubles throughout the race.

McCarthy and Cochran were running third in Portland before overheating dropped them to seventh at the finish, while Perry took the lead from fifth on the grid in San Antonio, but engine troubles intervened again. Finally, in Tampa, Perry was on his way to another astonishing pole when his car ran out of gasoline. Cochran, who started at the rear of the grid, wrecked after 18 laps. Perry finished 49th in the 1990 IMSA standings with 4 points, along with actor Paul Newman and Jacques Villeneuve Snr. He finished equal 23rd in the Camel Lights points with his Mid Ohio victory, with 20 points. Most importantly, Perry had established himself as a star in the US scene, and his enormous natural skill, despite his terrible luck, was recognised with the Exxon Driver Award, the JRI International Award, and Rookie of the Year accolades.

He finished the year with a one-off appearance in the World Sportscar Championship, sharing a Richard Lloyd Racing Porsche 962C GTi with Manuel Reuter in Mexico, but the car retired due to gearbox failure in a race won by Jochen Mass and one Michael Schumacher. McCarthy then returned to IMSA competition in 1991, sharing the GTP Spice with Albert Naon Jr at Miami and returning to the Lights vehicle to finish 10th overall and 2nd in class at Road Atlanta, establishing the fastest Lights lap in the process. He next had a one-off alongside Jim Adams in the Hotchkis Racing GTP SE90P Pontiac at Mid-Ohio, finishing ninth, before preparing for three more solo runs. Perry's Chevy-powered car took the pole in New Orleans, third at Laguna Seca, and fifth at Del Mar, putting him equal 24th with 24 points and equal 25th in Lights with 16 points. He also had a one-off IMSA drive in the Sebring 12hrs in a Tom Milner Racing Chevrolet GTP at the start of 1992, when he qualified third but only lasted 7 laps before the transmission failed.

## Formula One

In April 1993, McCarthy evaluated Williams's ABS at Silverstone in greasy conditions just prior to the 1993 European Grand Prix.

## Notes

1. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"The month in MOTOR SPORT". *Motor Sport*. Teesdale Publishing Company Limited. 1993-05-01.