MEET ANDY WALLACE, THE PILOT BEHIND THE BUGATTI BOLIDE'S HIGH-SPEED R&D TESTING.
When you sit around looking at jobs and careers, some seem so good they shouldn’t be considered as jobs. In a perfect world, a great job includes something that you absolutely love doing while receiving a pay cheque. If you want to go one better, the job would include your passion, hobby and serious interests. Experienced race driver Andy Wallace is one of these people, well in our books anyway because we love all things cars, so his job may not seem like your perfect job. Of course, you’d still be wrong. Andy didn’t just land with his butt in the butter, the man has worked and driven hard for many years now. He is also part of a very select club made up of drivers who have won the Triple Crown of endurance racing; Le Mans 24 Hours, 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2022, Wallace was inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame to join legendary names like Fangio, Stirling Moss and Dan Gurney. Having this on his CV certainly helped him secure the role of Bugatti Pilote Officiel - the official test driver for the Molsheim-based supercar manufacturer, a position he’s held since 2011. “When I stopped competitive racing, I feared I would miss the adrenaline from being on track and behind the wheel of truly remarkable machines, but I quickly came to realize I had embarked upon a journey with something that has never before been witnessed with road cars. Thanks to Bugatti, I quickly reconnected to the thrill of racing car performance” said Wallace. The man also set the brand’s 3rd World Speed Record while at the helm of the iconic Chiron Super Sport 300+ when he took the car to a speed of 304.773 mph (490.484 km/h) in August 2019. I bet there was a little bit of a bonus in that month’s salary deposit, along with a case of Brasso for him to polish his brass man bits. Wallace’s expertise has been invaluable for the development of some of the most iconic models under the Bugatti banner like the Divo and the Centodieci. Those are some amazing hypercars that only really exist after a stamp of approval from Wallace.
His input in the manufacture and set up of these cars is invaluable, as the experience he’s gained from extreme high-speed driving, being able to navigate sharp corners as well as the mental and physical acumen gained from competitive driving as well as his awareness of safety considerations in high-pressure racing environments has helped shape the Bugatti Bolide. It makes sense seeing as the Bolide is a track-only Bugatti. "Every Bugatti automobile is, in its own way, unique. I’ve had the privilege to not only drive these breathtaking cars but to also work alongside the best engineers in the world, helping to achieve engineering optimization on the programs we’ve worked on,” continues Andy. “But the Bolide is very special to me; it is simply incomparable – a true Bugatti masterpiece that has taken me back to the most exciting emotions and sensations I experienced in my racing life.” Since the Bolide was revealed in 2020, Wallace has put the car through its paces at many tracks around the world to get invaluable data for the Bugatti Bolide engineering team to tweak the way the car drives and behaves - as a new-generation Bugatti hypercar should. It all sticks with Ettore Bugatti’s philosophy: “If comparable, it is no longer Bugatti”. The next phase of this collaboration of two racing legends will see Wallace climb behind the wheel of the Bolide in an attempt to unleash its full on-track racing pedigree for the final testing session before series production of the Bolide commences in Molsheim. We cannot wait to see the results of the testing, we’re expecting class track records to tumble at whichever track the Bollide’s rubber touches.
Take a look at the YouTube video from a couple of months back where the ridiculously good-looking Bugatti Bolide was given the opportunity to stretch its legs on an airbase - at the hands of Andy Wallace, a man who actually receives a pay cheque to drive new Bugattis: BUGATTI BOLIDE: High-Intensity Airbase Testing | Bugatti
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