Part 4: The reviews are coming in – Project03 Makes an Impression

Not got time to watch it now?

Read the edited transcript of Paul's review below:

"So, in theory, this is a car that will do a lap or two or three of the Nürburgring with all that power and give you an alternative for a very sensible amount of money to a GT3 RS. 

So, I've driven EVs before. I've driven a few Teslas before. What I've never done is driven a Tesla on the track. And that's a really interesting proposition because if you think about it, unless we're all going to drive classic cars at some point, we are going to have to start seeing electric vehicles on circuit.

That's astonishingly quick. The first thing I'm thinking is the way they've got this suspension set up is absolutely superb. Front end is super grippy. That is phenomenal.

Never mind all the environmental angle for EVs. Don't go saying to people you'll save the planet because you won't. But actually say if you set them up properly they could be fun to drive. That's a much better sale. I have never even contemplated life in an electric vehicle until this moment.

And the guys that have set this up, they are very experienced engineers. They have phenomenal experience in setting up race cars, fast road cars, and it really shows because if like me, you've watched the Misha videos around the Nürburgring, his common problem with electric vehicles are the fact they get too hot, they run out of brakes, or the suspension gets too soft. And obviously if the suspension's too soft, the tires work too hard, they go off, you're in a world of pain.

I can tell you in three corners, this is bloody good fun. Bloody good fun.

The speed this thing carries is monumental. It's just pinned.  The brakes on this are very good.

I have to say, I didn't think I'd like this car as much as I am enjoying it. It's just so fluid. And in a base vehicle, an ex-fleet higher mileage base vehicle that cost £10,000. 

God, the way this thing grips is unbelievable. And the power that you've got.

But the engineers behind this project basically think with the right mods, an electric vehicle can be fun on track. And it's very very hard to disagree with that having spent just even half a lap in this one. 

We're coming up behind something. What are we coming up behind?

So, there goes to show what you've got. So, you've got I think a BMW M4 there. which is a wonderful track car. And you can see the closing speed on an M4.

So before we bring it home, what is the summation of that test drive? Well, the summation is that is surprisingly good. And as a driver that's been here, I don't know, 15 years I've been coming here, driven all sorts of stuff, that's an interesting car. That's a car that actually involves you as a driver. Yeah, you miss your gear change, you miss the engine noise, but in terms of dynamics of the car and how much fun you can have three laps at a time, to be honest, the speed I was driving, you'd probably get four laps out of it. 

That's a good car. That's an interesting car. I've never even thought about an EV before. I would certainly contemplate one now.

And also, it rides well. You could have that as your daily driver setup, then go out on track and as long as the track you're on has decent charging facilities. I think you'd have a lot of fun. 

I am awarding that for a concept 10 out of 10. For execution, 10 out of 10. The fact that it's an EV, I'm going to have to give it a nine. But you know what? If you had that as your track toy, I think you'd be very happy indeed.

It's a very interesting lap. You know me, I'm not the world's greatest EV advocate, but that has really got me thinking. I can't think of another car that you could buy for 10 grand that's got 500 horsepower, four-wheel drive and correctly fettled will do a lap quite that quickly. 

As long as you don't need to do loads of laps in a row. They're not going to be great for endurance racing, but for sprints, for hill climbs, for track days, or for just going very, very quickly on the road.

It's made me think."

I kid you not, I am going to be looking online for Model 3s now because this has actually blown my mind.

Did you miss the story of Project03?

Catch up here:

Part 1: buying the cheapest Model 3 in the UK

Part 2: transformation from fleet car to track car

Part 3: getting Project03 out on track