Contrary to reports last week, David Coulthard's demonstration of the Red Bull show car did go ahead in Texas at the weekend. And Hollywood actor Tom Cruise got the chance to taste the power of an F1 car.
The events took place not only at a ranch owned by Circuit of the Americas backer Red McCombs but also in front of the Texas State Capitol Building and at the dusty Grand Prix site.
Tom Cruise, who played in the infamous Days of Thunder movies about NASCAR accepted an invitation to test drive the Red Bull Racing F1 car in Southern California on Monday, August 15.
Coulthard served as Cruise’s instructor for the day with support from a 12-person crew, who flew in from Milton Keynes.
Cruise, an avowed racing fan who has driven various race cars over the years but never an F1 car, reached a top speed of 181 miles per hour, just four miles per hour off of Coulthard’s top speed, when racing the 850-horsepower car around the 2.5-mile (4km) Willow Springs race track in Rosamond, California.
Cruise completed 24 laps during the seven-hour session, which began with Cruise and Coulthard lapping the track in a passenger car to get familiarized with the racing lines before Coulthard showed Cruise the intricacies of the F1 machine.
Between stints on the track, the team went over the car’s telemetry data with Cruise, comparing it to Coulthard’s lap information. Cruise improved on his initial lap time by almost 11 seconds by the final lap.
"Tom's the real deal. I was surprised that he picked it up so quickly and is such an accomplished driver,” said Coulthard.
“His recall was incredible considering how complicated driving an F1 car is. He's a guy who really pushes the envelope in real life. This day was not green screened. He thoroughly impressed me."
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| Photo: Chris Tedesco/Red Bull Media House North America, Inc. |
The events took place not only at a ranch owned by Circuit of the Americas backer Red McCombs but also in front of the Texas State Capitol Building and at the dusty Grand Prix site.
Tom Cruise, who played in the infamous Days of Thunder movies about NASCAR accepted an invitation to test drive the Red Bull Racing F1 car in Southern California on Monday, August 15.
Coulthard served as Cruise’s instructor for the day with support from a 12-person crew, who flew in from Milton Keynes.
Cruise, an avowed racing fan who has driven various race cars over the years but never an F1 car, reached a top speed of 181 miles per hour, just four miles per hour off of Coulthard’s top speed, when racing the 850-horsepower car around the 2.5-mile (4km) Willow Springs race track in Rosamond, California.
Cruise completed 24 laps during the seven-hour session, which began with Cruise and Coulthard lapping the track in a passenger car to get familiarized with the racing lines before Coulthard showed Cruise the intricacies of the F1 machine.
Between stints on the track, the team went over the car’s telemetry data with Cruise, comparing it to Coulthard’s lap information. Cruise improved on his initial lap time by almost 11 seconds by the final lap.
"Tom's the real deal. I was surprised that he picked it up so quickly and is such an accomplished driver,” said Coulthard.
“His recall was incredible considering how complicated driving an F1 car is. He's a guy who really pushes the envelope in real life. This day was not green screened. He thoroughly impressed me."
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| Photo: Chris Tedesco/Red Bull Media House North America, Inc. |
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| Photo: Chris Tedesco/Red Bull Media House North America, Inc. |