Much is made of triple crowns in motorsport. In the overarching sport, winning the Formula 1 title, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Indy 500 is the Holy Grail. But in sportscar racing alone, there is the triumvirate of Le Mans, the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring. Andy Wallace has conquered them all, only the sixth driver to do so.
As with so many drivers, the now-63-year-old was laser-focused on Formula 1 at the start of his career. Despite no deep pockets, his dedication, professional approach and speed helped him sweep all before him in British F3 in 1986 and he also scooped victory at the Macau Grand Prix.
Formula 1 tests followed, but without any end game. His attention soon turned to sportscars and a friendship with a rival driver put him in the cross hairs of Tom Walkinshaw Racing just as Jaguar was hitting its Group C stride.
Victory at Le Mans in 1988 was an astonishing maiden performance but, as you can read here, he had already fallen in love with La Sarthe way before that.
His career swung mostly Stateside in the 1990s and 2000s, meaning his incredible record of success is perhaps not as widely known in the UK as it should be. There were a further two victories at Daytona, two at the punishing Sebring and he conquered the Petit Le Mans 1000kms in 1999 for Panoz.
He is still involved in driving as an ambassador for Bugatti’s production cars, and it was on his return from France that we managed to catch up with him. We are grateful to Wallace for his time and his answers which cover a fascinating career.
Question: What sparked the motor racing passion in you? How did you fall in love with motor racing?
James Hilton
Via email
Andy Wallace: “My dad was really keen on motor racing and he took me to quite a few race tracks when I was a kid, about six or seven years old. We didn’t have a lot of money and I think dad would quite like to have got involved in racing if he could have, but there was no chance.
“We went to places like Thruxton, Brands Hatch and Silverstone. We made a point of trying to get to the British Grand Prix each season as well. But for me, the interest wasn’t just in Formula 1, I was into everything. I loved watching things like the Special Saloon races and Formula Ford and all of it. I adored watching it and I remember thinking ‘do you know what, that would be really good if I could do that’. Of course, that opens a massive can of worms and it is in no way an easy thing to achieve.”
MN: Your first racing experience was with the Jim Russell Racing Drivers’ School, which is a well-trodden path…
AW: “I did go there. I am not sure how old you had to be to go there, but for my 15th birthday, mum and dad bought me the first lesson which you could have as a one-off so off I went to Silverstone. You basically went up and down the Hangar Straight and there were cones at each end. You went up to the cone, downshifted, came around the cone and set off down the straight to the other one. I think it was about £15. I was made up and I thought it was amazing, even though I probably couldn’t see over the steering wheel.
“I soon figured out that if I wanted to go and do the rest of the course, I would have to go out and earn some money and pay for it myself. On the course, there were lots of people flying in from South America who would come over for one or two weeks and do the whole thing and then fly back. Even the people who weren’t doing that managed to complete the entire course in less than a month. Eventually I completed the course too, but it took me two years and two months…
“Saving up my £20 for each lesson was tough and I was doing all sorts of things: I was washing dishes in the university that I lived close to in Oxford,
