Andrea Moda S921

Information

Perry McCarthy, Top Gear's first Stig's car in his only F1 season. Andrea Moda Formula originally hired Alex Caffi and Enrico Bertaggia for 1992 season, but before their first race, both drivers were fired because they criticized the team. Instead, the team recruited Roberto Moreno and Perry McCarthy, although McCarthy still had a problem with his super license at that time. Later, Bertaggia returned with a big sponsorship, so the team decided to replace McCarthy with Bertaggia again. But FIA only allowed two driver changes in a season, which Andrea Moda Formula had already done, so they couldn't have Bertaggia back. As a result, McCarthy was treated unfairly, with most sources focused on Moreno, sometimes he couldn't get enough practice or even a working car. McCarthy's F1 debut only lasted eighteen metres in pre-qualifying, the engine shut down before he could even leave the pitlane.
During 1992 Belgian Grand Prix, the last race for both McCarthy and the team, McCarthy's car was fitted with a broken steering part, which was taken from Moreno's car with the team's awareness that it was broken. The steering rack broke down at Raidillon at 170mph, but he managed to control the car and avoided a terrible accident. Allegedly this was by the order of team boss Andrea Sassetti to murder McCarthy so the team could take Bertaggia.
Angry McCarthy left the team after the crash. Before the Grand Prix weekend even ended, Andrea Sassetti was arrested due to financial crime, and Andrea Moda Formula was banned by FIA because they couldn't run the team properly. This was the end of McCarthy's short F1 career.
This car later owned by Austrian Andreas Kalcher, who repainted it in Senna's 1994 Williams FW16 livery.