Perry McCarthy is one of Britain’s top racing drivers and is already part of motor racing folklore. His appeal however has been dramatically widened to car lovers everywhere after being disclosed as ‘The Stig’ (the secret racing driver in black) as seen on BBC Top Gear.
McCarthy’s rise through the ranks along with close ‘Rat Pack’ friends Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell, has been against all odds and in a sport dominated by finance he recalls how he ‘started with nothing and then lost it all!’
Perry’s 10-year fight to reach the sport’s elite paid off in 1992 when he was chosen to drive for the fledgling Andrea Moda Formula One organisation. The dream however turned into a nightmare as the team stumbled from one disaster to the next and in recent years he has turned his attention away from Grand Prix to Le Mans and the demands of Sports Prototype racing.
As always, Perry’s exploits are well chronicled but when he is on the track his talent and determination shine through. His sense of humour is legendary and is frequently aired in his articles for leading publications and in his work as a TV commentator and programme presenter.
McCarthy’s bubbly personality and absolute refusal to concede defeat have made him popular with the press; The Telegraph headlined him as ‘a new cult hero’ The Times called him ‘the world’s unluckiest racing driver’ and America’s Sunday Express described him as a ‘comedian locked inside a racing driver’s body’.
In a career spanning over twenty years, McCarthy is still smiling and still fighting. However, away from the track, Perry has used his experiences to become a superb speaker who gives a highly amusing insight to the world’s most glamorous sport.
Perry is in high demand to give inspirational and motivational speeches which link his background, experience and attitude to the business world and its requirements.It has been said that he talks with the same passion and conviction he displayed in his own career.
Motor racing shares many of the same elements and requirements of commerce and industry. Perry writes bespoke speeches to echo a client’s key messages and can include the themes of:
• Team work, organisation, communication
• Building from success and building from failure
• The power of the individual and personal performance
• Risk and reward
• Commitment, excellence, performance, achievement
Perry talks from vast and varied experiences and his presentations revolve around what he expects in his own life and how he gets the best from himself and others he works with. The speech is not delivered to tell an audience how to run their business, but it is for an audience to draw on for inspiration and use it in the way they see fit for their own future. Perry is on-message but provides plenty of opportunities to laugh in-between the key points.
