Andy Wallace was down at Plans Motorsport last week for a test with us to do some work with Plans on another manufacturer’s car.
Once that had finished, for a laugh, we stuck him in one of our Motorsport cars just to see what he thought.
Andy Wallace is one of the world�s best sports car drivers.
Andy won the 1986 British Formula 3 championship and the 1998 World Sports Car championship. He has won all the premier endurance races including Le Mans 24hrs in 1988; the Daytona 24hrs (three times); and the 12 Hours of Sebring (twice).
Well, he had never driven an Exige before. He hadn’t actually driven a race car with a conventional gearbox, or relatively little downforce, for a long time.
At the end of the test he said the Exige was:
“such a brilliant car… so adjustable… I really love it”
Graham (MD of Plans) said “we get a few promising young drivers coming down to us for a test looking for a career in motorsport. Andy shows promise, and with a little coaching could do well. We hope he will help us with our GT3 project”
Enjoyed watching that. His time, 1m26.7, would put him in 30th place in the Top Gear fastest lap times, ahead of the Exige (Was that a Series 2?)on 1.26.9 but behind the Exige S
I wonder how fast he could make it go round there if he was really trying?
1 Koenigsegg CCX (with TG spoiler) 1.17.6
2 Pagani Zonda F 1.18.4
3 Maserati MC12 1.18.9
4 Ferrari Enzo 1.19.0
5 Ariel Atom 1.19.5
6 Porsche Carrera GT 1.19.8
7 Koenigsegg CCX 1.20.4
8 Ascari KZ1 1.20.7
9 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 1.20.9
10 Ford GT 1.21.9
11 Porsche GT3 RS 1.22.3
12 Ferrari 360 CS 1.22.3
13 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 1.22.4
14 Lamborghini Murcielago 1.23.7
15 Pagani Zonda 1.23.8
16 Noble M15 1.23.9
17 Koenigsegg 1.23.9
18 Prodrive P2 1.24.3
19 TVR Sagaris 1.24.6
20 TVR Tuscan 1.24.8
21 Mitsubishi Evo FQ 400 1.24.8
22 Noble 1.25.0
23 Lotus Exige S 1.25.1
24 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder 1.25.7
25 Lamborghini Gallardo 1.25.8
26 Morgan Aero 8 GTN 1.25.9
27 BMW Z4 M 1.26.0
28 BMW M5 1.26.2
29 Porsche Cayman 1.26.2
30 Ferrari 575 GTC 1.26.8
31 Chevrolet Corvette 1.26.8
32 Mercedes-Benz CLS 55 AMG 1.26.9
33 Lotus Exige 1.26.9
34 Porsche 911 GT3 1.27.2
35 Spyker C8 1.27.3
Speaking with Graham earlier in the week and apparently Andy managed to match my time of 1:25.6 in the Blink car (dont know the spec but it is probably way lighter than mine is…)
Given a few more laps I would like to think I could just about get it into the late 1:24’s.
Steve Taylor did a 1:20 something just recently I believe in the Kinetic car (his is vey close to a class ‘C’ car)
p.s
I love the very last few seconds of the video where Andy says…
Speaking with Graham earlier in the week and apparently Andy managed to match my time of 1:25.6 in the Blink car (dont know the spec but it is probably way lighter than mine is…)
Given a few more laps I would like to think I could just about get it into the late 1:24’s.
Steve Taylor did a 1:20 something just recently I believe in the Kinetic car (his is vey close to a class ‘C’ car)
p.s
I love the very last few seconds of the video where Andy says…
Yeah its’s nice sigh…
reminded me of Alan Partidge
LOL
every time i’m at plans i take a look at the board in the office with the times posted, and i feel strangely proud of your time gavin
Yes, Kinetic did a 1:20 the other day… only after three or four laps.
Kinetic is a supercharged Honda, 1:20 (1:19 possible)
Blink is a completley original 1.8K Motorsport Elise 190bhp 1:25.6 (1:24 possible)
Tarmac Terrorist a NA S2 Exige 1:25.6 - (about as quick as you can go I recon!)
Anyone is welcome to come down and try to beat these times, or just try a run to compare…
