What it’s like to drive 480 kilometres per hour, from the guy who did it
WALLACE’S DAY JOB NOW IS THE OFFICIAL TEST DRIVER FOR BUGATTI
■ [Wallace laughs.] Well, speed is a linear measurement, but it’s not somehow. For instance, no matter what country you live in, for most of us, even in Germany, 240 kmph is a fast speed.
And if you take that as a fast speed to 290 kmph, although it’s only 20 per cent more, it’s such a completely different world driving at 180mph from 290 kmph.
If you then follow that all the way up, when you get to 400, it’s not double 200, it feels like four times or more.
So in terms of driving the car, if you jumped in the car and tried to do it there straightaway, I think you’d go crazy [trying to process the speed at which things fly by while also trying to maintain control of the car].
What’s the speed at which you start to notice this exponential change?
It changes depending on what car you’re driving and what its top speed is, but I always think 240 kmph is a big number.
Yes, unfortunately, you don’t do 480 kmph a lot of times [even as a race car driver]. We are always doing it in increments. All of our cars are limited to 261mph, so first I drive a standard Bugatti with the limiter removed.
The first time you do that, when you go a bit more than 420, it’s such a shock. Your [brain] can’t process [the raw speed].
How does that feel once you finally hit it?
Everything is coming toward you. And you’re steering, in control of the car, so it better do everything you ask it. And then once you’ve done that a few times, your brain gets a little bit more used to it.
Where do you feel it most in your body?
Here, in your core. Acceleration is really felt in the torso. It moves around some of your internal organs, it scrambles them [pushing them back and compressing them inside the body]. Obviously the acceleration subsides as you get close to v-max [maximal velocity].
And it’s not like you’re just sitting there along for the ride?
There were so many things to do in the car; I wasn’t just sitting going along for the ride! You’re controlling the car, checking the speed, checking for danger. Trying to keep in the centre of the three lanes. And that isn’t as easy as it sounds, because the road is very well used. It’s got a lot of ruts, and the car moves around because you’re going so fast.
The weight of the spinning wheels — the gyroscopic effect of those wheels turning — actually overpowers the steering. It’s a problem that has not been solved because it’s not necessary to solve it normally.
But you then get a situation where there’s no self-centring on the steering anymore, so when you have to make an adjustment to stay straight, that adjustment pulls the car over and doesn’t stop, and then you need another one to come back. It’s very small movements, but you’re forever doing that to try to stay straight.
So, yes, your mind is full of lots of things you have to do rather than just absorbing the experience.
During the early part of that run, could you tell you had a winner on your hands?
Yes, I could feel it. You map off landmarks in your mind, so there was the place where the guys were standing. I would always pass them normally at around 430 kmph (267mph). This particular time I went past them at 438 kmp. So I already knew, “OK, this is going quite well.”
And then another landmark — there’s a surface change, and I went over that faster than ever before. And there’s a radar on the straight that I passed well, and I thought, “Great, this is the run.” So I stayed [with the accelerator pedal pushed] flat out.
After I did the 489 kmph run, for the next week I drove everywhere at 16km under the limit. It was just a relief not to have to drive fast anymore! It’s a funny thing: When I’m not at work, I very rarely speed. First, I don’t feel the need. You have to do it when you’re at work all the time, so it’s almost a relief [not to]. But also there are so many points of danger on the normal road, particularly if there are people walking about. I’m quite happy just monitoring everything. I’m not a serial speeder — 110km an hour is fine.
Do you have to watch what you eat before doing this?
In a Formula One car, you’re braking and accelerating going through corners, so weight is important. For this in a straight line, the weight doesn’t dictate the speed. The only thing the weight does is put more load to the tires. I mean, they didn’t come and sit with me at breakfast and say, “You can’t have that egg.”
I’m 67 kilos. The car weighs 1,900 kilos anyway, so percentage-wise, it’s not so much.
What about alcohol? I know a lot of drivers don’t drink beer or wine, that sort of thing?
I would never drink alcohol before the drive, even two days before. One of the reasons is it messes with your heat exchange system. So if you’re in a hot racing car, it’s a massive no-no.