Perry McCarthy has been known throughout his diverse and extensive career in motorsport. A former Formula One driver, TV personality and best-selling author, Perry has since developed an illustrious career as an after dinner and keynote speaker. Attending events worldwide, he has inspired audiences with his story, told with humour. Best known for playing the original ‘The Stig’ on the hugely popular BBC show, Top Gear, McCarthy raced to set lap times for some of the most prestigious cars in the world, starring alongside the iconic presenters Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond of 2002. As the anonymous character, he completed two series on the show between 2001 and 2002, driving a range of vehicles from sports cars to family saloons.
Before his role on Top Gear, Perry competed on the professional racing circuit. Funding his early career entirely through working on oil rigs in the North Sea, the unconventional fundraising allowed Perry to work his way up the ranks of Formula Ford, Formula 3 and F3000. Eventually, he got his break in 1992 when he was signed by Andrea Moda F1, an independent team. Unfortunately, the F1 team were famously unsuccessful and eventually disbanded. Perry was the most victorious in his five Le Mans appearances between 96’ and 03’.
Labelled the ‘most unlucky racing driver’ due to his bad fortune in F1, amongst other hurdles in his journey, Perry is not a stranger to overcoming adversity. Reflecting on his experiences, the ups and downs of his career and time at the top, he wrote and published his autobiography ‘Flat Out, Flat Broke’. The biography combined his famous sense of humour with brilliant stories from his career and became a bestseller.
Having attended events worldwide, Perry McCarthy is a highly sought-after and experienced speaker. Inspiring and entertaining an audience comes naturally to McCarthy, who has made over 1500 keynote speaking appearances to date for corporate and private audiences, including several blue-chip companies such as Coca-Cola, Audi, and BP. His renowned speeches cover all aspects of his career from life as the Stig, to his rise to Formula One and all the of the adventures in between. Aside from his keynote speeches, Perry has also been sought to appear on podcasts, such as the Fuelling Around podcast. Champions Speakers take great pride in being an official speaker agent for Perry McCarthy, as he shares stories from his exciting motorsport career as a motivational and after dinner speaker. Equally as relatable to a business environment, Perry McCarthy explores risk management, technology, data, and marginal gains.
In recognition of his impact as a speaker, Perry was recently selected among 25 of the Top After Dinner Speakers for Corporate Events!
Social Media
Books
Flat Out, Flat Broke: Formula 1 The Hard Way
Reviews
Perry McCarthy received a 5 star rating across 5 events in 2024
Agent Recommendation
"Perry McCarthy is a dynamic and inspiring motorsport speaker whose stories from Formula One, Le Mans and life as the original "Stig" captivate every audience. With humour, resilience, and high-octane energy, he brings lessons on overcoming adversity, embracing risk, and pushing performance to the limit. Perry’s engaging style and wealth of experience make him a standout choice for any event, perfectly blending entertainment with powerful takeaways for business and personal growth."
Perry McCarthy's official speaking topics are listed below:
- Personal Performance & the Power of the Individual
- Preparation, Focus, Resilience & Pressure
- Pursuing a Dream & Passion
- Life Against the Odds
- Goal Setting
- Turning Failure into Success
- Recognising Opportunities & Achieving Results
- Risk Management & Fear
- Teamwork & People
- Performance & Marginal Gains
- Communication & Recognition
- Brand & Customer Excellence
- Technology & Data
- Timeframe
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
"Perry’s talks never fail to impress, amuse and delight the audience … is there no end to this man’s library of tales?" - Graeme, Marketing Manager, Bang & Olufsen
"ING used Perry extensively during our inaugural year as a Formula One sponsor to help provide insight for both our media guests and key clients. Perry's natural blend of knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm, coupled with humour and an engaging style, enabled him to put complex subjects across easily and succinctly to a non-expert audience. He was a popular hit with clients and media, whether public speaking to large groups or giving technical explanations on a one-on-one basis. Perry was subsequently adopted by other business areas within the ING group, such as ING Life Insurance Russia and ING Real Estate in Holland, to successfully promote individual events and campaigns." - Jon, PR Director, F1 Sponsorship Programme, ING
"Perry does for Formula One what Bill Bryson did for travel. But beneath the wisecracks lies an inspiring tale of that rarest kind of racer: one who never gave up and was, literally, prepared to die trying" - The Independent on Sunday
"As for Perry, he was absolutely fantastic and really made our event. The perfect blend of insights and humour. So many people came up to us at the end of the event, saying how wonderful he was. It was a really nice touch how he stayed at the event to speak and have pictures with attendees. He was such a good sport with the racing, too. Couldn't recommend him highly enough." - Candyspace
"Perry was an excellent recommendation for our digital event. He was hugely entertaining, one of our guests said, “I could listen to Perry all day”, and he also went above and beyond to understand what we do and the purpose of the event. We didn’t expect him to speak about hybrid multi-cloud environments, but he very effectively helped us introduce the topic by talking about the use of data in F1 and engaged our very technical audience." - Cloud Business
"Perry was excellent both in his after-dinner speech and in his interaction with our staff and customers." - Kubota
"With Perry, you can always guarantee that your guests are going to have a fun time. His ability to grab everyone’s attention and make them laugh has ensured that we book him on a regular basis." - Audi
"Very entertaining speech by Perry. Great that he used short stories to entertain. It was good to see Perry mingling with the guests afterwards so they had the chance to ask him questions on an informal basis. Much appreciated and would recommend him for future work." - HBOS Legal Dinner
"Perry went down a storm at our event, he was very easy to get along with and interacted with many people. The Q&A session he did after his talk could have gone on for hours as people had so many questions for him!" - Zycko
"Perry was a fantastic speaker, extremely animated and made the event. His speech was very entertaining and basically made everyone laugh – a really great choice! Goodwood, thank you so much for the brilliant drivers’ briefing you did for the Revival. You had everyone in stitches, and as far as Stirling Moss was concerned, it was definitely the highlight of his whole weekend – he talked about nothing else. Your future as an entertainer is definitely assured! Thanks so much for bringing such a light touch to the proceedings, and I very much hope to see you soon." - Metis Launch Event
- 2025 - Keynote speaker for organisations such as Coca-Cola, Audi, Lamborghini, BP, Deloitte & HSBC
- 2009 - Commentator for the BBC on F1
- 2002 - Competitor at Le Mans
- 2002 - Author of "Flat Out, Flat Broke: Formula 1 The Hard Way!"
- 1995 - Secured two podium finishes in the Formula Classics series
- 1992 - Signed to the Andrea Moda Formula One team
- 1991 - Selected to test for the Footwork Formula One team
- Racer in junior motorsports categories - Formula Ford, Formula 3 & F3000
- Tested for the Williams & Benetton F1 teams in the 1990s
How to hire Perry McCarthy
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Perry McCarthy for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do NOT accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
