The world’s fastest sportscar driver, with 18 votes, is Allan McNish

And the No. 1 Sportscar driver is... Allan McNish (LAT) » More Photos

Damien Smith, Editor, Motorsport

“Allan McNish: Two Le Mans wins on his record do not do him justice. Allan has virtually ‘owned’ Le Mans during the past decade. And it’s not simply his rapid pace that makes him stand out for me. It’s also his consistency. He can roll off quadruple stints at any time of the race at a pace that will break most rivals he comes up against. The race this year was a good case in point, where he, Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello kept their Audi R10 in touch with the superior Peugeot 908 until the rain came. The advantage switched to Audi and McNish played a major role in making the most of it through the night and into the morning. Added to his phenomenal record on the diverse tracks that make up the ALMS schedule, McNish has to be considered the greatest prototype driver in the world.”

John Hindhaugh, Radio Le Mans

“McNish…and if you really need me to explain that I'd be surprised! Allan is THE driver of his generation.”

Mark Gillies, Executive Editor, Car & Driver Magazine

“Nishie still has the speed but can temper it with nursing a car for mileage or because of a problem.”

Nicolas Minassian, Driver, Peugeot, ALMS

“He’s a warrior!”

Leigh Diffey, SPEED Broadcaster

“Seeing this diminutive dynamo lap the entire field bar the sister Audi R8 at Infineon Raceway in 2000 was something special. It doesn’t take much to get him fired up behind the wheel and when he does there’s nobody better in a sportscar!” 

Wayne Taylor, Owner, Wayne Taylor Racing, Grand-Am

“He can bring the car home when you need him to, and knows how to work with his teammates, but there’s nobody faster than McNish.”

Calvin Fish, SPEED Broadcaster

“The fiercest, most determined competitor in the paddock. A team player but always asserts himself as the quickest driver on the squad regardless of team mates. Has proven time and time again that he makes the difference.”

John Brooks, sportscar photographer

“Allan McNish...he’s been in a second class car all year, has not given up, remains motivated and motivating, his performance at Silverstone where he used traffic and raw speed to stay with Lamy’s Peugeot was as good a drive as he has ever put up, in line with Sears Point 2000 or the dawn stint at Le Mans that year. His pressure caused the French team to self destruct, and none of it was by accident...”

Ian Wagstaff, Racecar Engineering Magazine

“First, he's British, and that can never hurt. He's the obvious choice. If ever there was a question prior to Le Mans this year, Allan's performance silenced any who would believe there is a faster sportscar driver.”

Chris McMurry, Driver, Autocon Racing, ALMS

“Allan McNish. The wee Scot is able to drive a prototype faster than anyone, time and again, and over the course of many laps. If James Weaver were still running, I would have thrown him in the mix, as he was always able to do the same thing.”

Michael Lewis, Owner/Driver, Autocon Racing, ALMS

“I hate to admit it, but I agree with Chris’ picks. McNish is massively fast.”

David Brabham, Driver, Patron Highcroft Racing, ALMS

“With Allan you always get that special lap or series of laps where you say, 'where did that come from?'...”

Greg Creamer, SPEED Broadcaster

“Year after year, McNish puts up stunning qualifying laps and race laps of pure raw speed, but no one does more magic in his stints, especially double or triple or QUAD stints on a consistent basis.”

Tomas Enge, Driver, Aston Martin/Charouz Racing System

I think Allan is the quickest guy. He is the number one guy at Audi, and Peugeot drivers are always scared when they see him in their mirrors.”

Graham Goodwin, DailySportscar.com

“Allan McNish – consistently and crushingly quick - and he's that consistently quick over long, long stints - the only Audi driver who seems able to hang on to a 908 in the dry - never, ever quits.”

Stephane Sarrazin, Driver, Peugeot, ALMS

“I was with him in the Toyota F1 Team. He is the fastest driver of Audis. He is a pain and he's doing my head in!”

Declan Brennan, Radio Le Mans

“There may be no wonderful sensory experience in all of motorsport than sitting in the media center early in the week of Petit Le Mans. Late in the day, when the sun bathes the circuit in the silky ink of an October evening and the engine note of the cars passes and fades, we’re given a surreal soundtrack to accompany the site of beautiful sportscars, illuminated only by their own headlights, diving flat out down the hill and onto the main straight. The sight of Allan McNish flashing by lap after lap at mercurial speeds in his Audi R10 is the way I like to picture the world’s fastest and best sportscar pilot.”

Marshall Pruett, Auto Racing Editor, SPEEDtv.com

If Allan was previously regarded as one of the fastest sportscar drivers alive, Le Mans 2008 cemented his status as the most rapid man behind the wheel of a prototype. To those that witnessed Allan’s work firsthand, it was the stuff of legends.

And in an ode to pure ridiculousness, McNish topped his Le Mans performance by turning Petit Le Mans into his own playground, and like he’d done at La Sarthe, it was at Peugeot’s expense again. Twice? In one year? I give up.

The real delight in watching Allan exercise his talents is reserved for 3rd, 4th, and 5th gear corners. His true measure as the world’s fastest sportscar driver has been on display while fighting the 908s, whose power, aero and mechanical grip were far beyond anything McNish’s R10 has to offer.

I watched at the Dunlop Chicane early in the Le Mans 24 Hour race last year and came to appreciate McNish for the full compliment of talent and speed he works with. The leading Peugeots would pass start/finish and streak into the braking zone at wholly unreasonable speeds, dab the brakes, flick their cars left, and before they’d properly decelerated, smash the throttle and steer right with a full head of steam before disappearing under the Dunlop Bridge.

While the 908s remained planted to the circuit the entire time, Allan, usually just a tick behind the French cars, would carry his R10 another car length deeper, trying to make up lost time before braking. If the Peugeots looked like slot cars through the complex, McNish looked like he was piloting a diesel-powered anti-gravity machine.

The R10’s tail would begin to wiggle from Allan’s impossibly late braking maneuver, but it wasn’t a sequence of tank-slapping corrections for him to deal with. These were small, subtle, but rapid-fire corrections he made to keep the rear of the car from passing the front. Once he had the undulations brought under control, McNish was shortcutting the chicane by running his Audi over the inside curbs as he turned left. If he’d chosen to wait for the R10’s chassis to settle, more time would be given back to the 908s, and Allan wasn’t having that.

With his car bounding over the chicane and looking less than sure footed, he’d flick the car to the right, would often encountered a degree of understeer that didn’t suit him, lifted off the throttle abruptly, transferred weight to the front of the R10, turned right again, hammered the throttle, happily dealt with the resulting oversteer, felt the traction control tickle the electronics until the rear wheels came into compliance, and rocketed down the hill.

And then came the next lap when he repeated the same act -- of looking like a controlled crash, and did it again the next lap, and the next…

The R10 wouldn’t do what Allan wanted it to and the 908 was clearly a superior prototype, but McNish’s resolve to push his car beyond its capabilities lap after lap was the key to victory. He’d repeat this feat at Petit Le Mans and would help steer an underdeveloped Audi R15 to victory over Peugeot at Sebring.

New cars…old cars…Le Mans…Road Atlanta…Sebring…wet…dry…it doesn’t seem to matter. When the ultimate levels of speed and consistency are needed, Allan McNish is peerless.

And there it is – a clear and decisive choice for the world’s two fastest drivers, ‘Brabs and Nishy.’ They’d make a perfect driver pairing, and remarkably, their careers have been intertwined since they were boys. They battled in the junior formula in England in the late ‘80’s, with Allan taking the ’88 Vauxhall/Lotus championship ahead of Brabham. The two would fight a hotly contested war for the 1989 British F3 title, a championship initially given to McNish, but ultimately awarded to Brabham in court.

Brabs was off to F1 the following year while Allan spent his first of many seasons in F3000 hoping to earn the same break. After David’s F1 career ended and Allan’s hope for an F1 berth had fallen through, the two turned to opportunities in sportscar racing where their battles of youth would be resumed.

David would call sportscar racing home from then on, while Allan would turn his ALMS championship with Audi and turn it into a ride with the unproven Toyota team. The opportunity was too great to turn down, and despite flashes of brilliance, it was a case of Allan being in the wrong team at the wrong time.

McNish returned to the ALMS and Audi with a point to prove, and if receiving the Lion’s share of votes from our panelists mean anything, he’s clearly made his point: There are none faster than Allan in a sportscar.


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