Top Gear Stig to star at NZ Speedshow

he can see the funny side these days.

In 1991 McCarthy was chosen to be the test driver for the Footwork Formula One team, with his break coming the following season, when he was signed to race by the new and independent Andrea Moda team run by Andrea Sassetti.

‘‘Andrea thought an obvious way to advertise his shoe business would be to build an F1 car and enter grand prix’’ Perry said.

The team and car, however, became the laughing stock of the paddock and F1 for its unprecedented lack of competitiveness, disorganisation and poor management.

The small Italian team faced a lengthy battle to gain an FIA Super Licence and things didn’t improve once it secured one.

The unreliability of the car meant that the drivers rarely got more than a handful of laps during practice and McCarthy failed to qualify for any grand prix.

His debut at Spain lasted 18 metres down the pit lane in prequalifying and the team folded before the end of the season in controversial circumstances, leaving McCarthy without a drive.

In total, the team took part in nine world championship grands prix, officially entering two cars for several races, but still only managed to qualify for a race on one occasion when Roberto Moreno scraped through to the Monaco Grand Prix, only to retire after 11 laps with a blown engine.

While McCarthy’s F1 race career was disastrous – and he didn’t race in Formula One after the 1992 season – he fared far better as a test driver, testing for both the Williams and Benetton teams during their 1990s dominance.

McCarthy’s appearance at the Speedshow in July will be his first visit to New Zealand and, according to the organisers, he will be on hand all weekend to talk about his experiences as the Stig, as a racing driver and perhaps confirm or quash a few of the biggest questions Kiwis might have about the Top Gear phenomenon.

CRC Speedshow gets under way on Saturday, July 21, at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland for the weekend.

McCarthy also started a tuning company cheekily called ‘‘Topgear Tuning’’ in the United Kingdom.

While The Stig is better known for his all-white look, Perry McCarthy’s original Stig preferred black.

No, not this Stig. McCarthy was the original black-suited Stig from the two first seasons of the rebooted Top Gear.

As well as being the original Stig, McCarthy was also a successful racing driver.