Smoking tyres, screaming engine, a huge crowd shouting for more… it must be another day out for the Red Bull Racing show car team.
David Coulthard took the RB7 for a quick spin on Sunday around Santiago’s Plaza Italia. The show car hasn’t been in Chile for quite a while so DC pulled out all the stops to give the 60,000 spectators the full experience.
Chilean TV personality Martin Carcamo kicked things off a little after 3pm, with the show also including an appearance from Enduro motorcycle rider Francisco ‘Chaleco’ López who wowed his home crowd on the bike with which he will contest the 2013 Dakar Rally and hopefully ride triumphant back into Santiago where the rally will finish.
After that DC put the 2011 Championship-winning RB7 through a blistering set of donuts and burnouts, while pushing the Renault engine right up to the limit of mechanical (and aural) endurance on the urban track constructed between Plaza Italia and Elidorio Yañez Avenue. The crowd loved it – and David didn’t have a bad time either.
“Down the years I’ve been involved in more show car events than I can remember, they’re always special but it’s safe to say that this weekend Chile has made a huge impression on me. The welcome we’ve received has been absolutely amazing, the support for the event has been astonishing and I think the crowd actually drowned out the sound of my engine – which takes some doing. It’s been fabulous driving the RB7 around the streets of Santiago.”
That’s it from the show car for now – but there is still the small matter of the RB8 contesting two races and two championships in the next couple of weekends as F1 takes it’s first trip to Austin and the new Circuit of the Americas, before heading to São Paulo and the rather more familiar ground of Interlagos and the Brazilian Grand Prix.
DC thrills Santiago