ROBIN WELLS, FOUNDER, WELLS MOTOR CARS
Why build your own car?
“I guess there’s something in all of us that wants to create our own car. Even in rental cars, I make a mental list about how I would improve the thing. Then a few years ago, I set out to buy the ideal sports car – and nothing appealed.”
You styled the car before you designed the chassis. Why?
“Yes, we deliberately did the opposite to what most people do. I was determined to have a really beautiful car. Then Robin [Hall] designed his chassis to allow us to have perfect proportions.”
Although the design’s your own, you never actually drew the car accurately, did you?
“No, I decided we would do everything full size. We would produce a shape, then just stand and look at it for a while.
That allowed me to do things like getting the spoiler lip just right so you could see the car’s extremities from the driver’s seat.”
When did you build the first car?
“Not until early 2018, because we did the whole thing in CAD first to prove that everything would fit. That proved to be one of our best moves. The car emerged fully formed, as it were. It passed its IVA test first time, in November 2018.”
You benchmarked a huge number of cars, didn’t you?
“Yes, and I bought a few to help us, too. Robin has a Caterham, which was useful, and the Porsche Boxster/ Cayman was often part of the discussion. And Robin’s experience with the Mini was fed into the steering, too. We even measured the Mazda MX-5’S gearchange throws with a tape measure.”
Where did the name Vertige come from?
“That was my idea. Vertige is French for vertigo. I reckoned this car could make drivers dizzy with the excitement of driving it.”