Wow! I am surprised they kept this very quiet. http://www.racer.com/tom-cruise-tests-red-bull-f1-car/article/210147/?DCMP=EMC-RACER_DAILY
the article forgets to mention that Tom Cruise has a decent road racing resume... back in the day... he was a protege of Paul Newman when Paul was "all in" into racing, the two of them would share races etc... a good outing in the RedBull F1 should not come as a surprise
Coulthard is out of the saddle some time now and was never that fast to begin with. That said, it sounds like Cruise did a bloody good job and congrats to him for that.
Kinda funny how the article fails to mention he had a hard off track excursion, (3:40 into the video) maybe that the reason RED BULL went ahead & opted drove the car off road at the ranch & track construction site. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyW8FdzH9dg[/ame]
Thank you for posting! That was a great video. I would not consider his "off" at turn 5 a major issue. That is a benign area of the track to spin at and very easy as the entrance to 5 is a downhill left that unloads the rear of the car. What is impressive is that they let him drive the car at the Willow Springs 2.5 mile "big track", not the smaller Streets of Willow. It is called the Fastest Road Course for good reason.
honestly I'd much rather drive an F1 car on big Willow than Streets. you'd never be pointed in a straight line on Streets! btw, is it just me or did they repave big Willow? certainly looked that way on the video. I haven't been there since May, but I haven't heard anything about a repaving either.
yes he did. he was very quick @ charlotte motor speedway and at the time he averaved over 170 mph lap times which if i recall would have qualified him or come very close to qalifying for a nascar race in that vintage.
What year f1 car was this? Someone said it might have been a v10; but I doubt that...just curious. This was a very cool promo by Red Bull....
Saw the video today, I gotta say he certainly looked the part. DC seemed genuinely impressed. Reminded me of the comments about James Garner during the making of Grand Prix. IIRC he is quite the motorhead and is a big motorcycle guy (despite being vertically challenged ). +1; that would scare the crap out of me but the mess would be worth it. Let's not forget he was the fastest celeb on Top Gear: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qexo0eI3eE4[/ame]
Very impressive. If I were in his shoes I would be so tempted to cash in some movie money and just go racing for a few years. Start small (smaller than F1 anyway!) and see where it takes me.
Paul Newman introduced Tom Cruise to track racing, if I remember correctly. Or they at least shared that passion.
i totally agree. at least go out and get an scca nationational championship or run an FA season or two and try to finish high in the points or....
That's so awesome. I have a buddy who got to ride in that thing as a cameraman while it did loops. He said it was insane. Cruise has a P-51 Mustang, so I'd guess he's a pretty experienced pilot. Pics here: http://justjared.buzznet.com/gossip/2006/04/tom_cruise_flying.php