David Coulthard won’t be competing in his home Grand Prix this race for the first time in 16 years.
But he still gets to take F1 cars for a spin every now and then. Yesterday he demonstrated a Red Bull show car in Lima, the capital city of Peru. Here’s some pictures and video from the event.
The South American country has never held an F1 race, and since the loss of the Argentine Grand Prix at the end of 1998 the continent has only had one race per year in the form of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Judging from this video footage, it looks like the speed restrictions that get placed on events like this in Britain don’t apply in Peru!
Here’s some photographs from the event on La Marina Avenue in San Miguel district. If you were there and took any pictures or video please share them with us on the F1 Fanatic drop.io.
Update: According to Red Bull:
More than 100,000 people watched David Coulthard tear down the streets of the Peruvian capital at the weekend – and some locals even stormed the run to race him in a minibus.
The 1.2km run took place in downtown Lima along the Avenue de La Marina and got the official seal of approval when the Peruvian president asked for the car to be parked with the royal guards outside his palace.
As well as the normal run, David visited the local Inca market, was pictured on the front cover of the largest news paper in Peru, quizzed by journalists and drove round the city in a public minibus.
?���?�and half way through Saturday’s run, David was challenged by two men in a very similar minibus to see if he wanted a race. Never one to resist a challenge, David took them on – and won by some way after the minibus’ engine overheated.
Following his final run, Coulthard greeted the public waving the Peruvian flag. Then, right after he finished DC took off his suit to reveal a T-shirt which read ?�?�Yo Amo Per?�???�?�, or I Love Per?�??. Thousands of Peruvians cheered and then yelled back: ?�?�David, Peru te ama?�?�.
They loved him – and the showcar spectacle – too.
Images (C) Getty Images/Red Bull
Chaz
15th June 2009, 21:12
Cool! Wow…
Edú Laca Peirano
16th June 2009, 0:51
Hi, What a wonderful saturday with the RBR and DC in Lima!!! Fantastic and Unforgetable, you can watch my video too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn65h9HGcKo
mp4-19b
16th June 2009, 3:33
is that the 2005 red bull?
Patrickl
15th June 2009, 21:30
Wow there is hardly any security at all.
I remember at Zandvoort when they had only a single fence and you could get as close to the cars as in this clip. You could actually feel the wind of the F1 car passing and smell the funky F1 car smell (there is nothing like it).
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th June 2009, 21:48
I think there was a bit of a fuss after the last such show in Britain, when they did it in London in 2004.
Mark Hitchcock
15th June 2009, 22:15
Really? I saw some footage of that recently and it looked amazing, didn’t look like anyone was in any danger either.
Aaron Shearer
15th June 2009, 21:38
Looking good, would be nice if they could manage and get a decent HQ video uploaded.
Yeah does anyone know if DC is still the reserve driver for Red Bull or is it just Brandon Hartley?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th June 2009, 21:57
Yeah it’s Hartley now he’s got his superlicence. You often see him on TV hanging around the Red Bull garage looking like he’s about to start singing “Mmm Bop”.
Owen G
16th June 2009, 5:11
Ha! Very true Keith. I reckon he must be one of the least F1 driver-looking guys knocking around the scene. A real prospect though from what I’ve heard (but maybe the NZ media is a bit biased!).
Mark Hitchcock
15th June 2009, 22:08
I stumbled across this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhF_Zp8nM7o of a Red Bull on the streets of Sao Paulo from a few years ago and even though it’s pouring with rain it still looks like he hits some pretty high speeds. And there are people crossing the road in front of the car at some points!
Pink Peril
15th June 2009, 22:49
Williams did a similar thing in Melbourne a few years ago & got in trouble for exceeding the 60kph speed limit. So, as much as I love these street demonstrations, I’d prefer that they do it places like Lima who are not such sticklers for the rules. I mean, what IS the point of an F1 car doing 60kph?
Matt
16th June 2009, 3:19
And Webber drove across the Sydney Harbour Bridge too… decent bit more than 60km/hr but it was twitching over the bumps terribly.
“his first F1 win since Melbourne 2003” lmao
Neil
15th June 2009, 23:04
It’s very telling that more people go to this than the Malaysian, Turkish, Chinese etc. GPs.
Maybe Bernie should change his “go East” strategy to “go West”.
chaostheory
16th June 2009, 0:43
It’s not like people don’t want to watch F1 it’s just too expensive for many.
ranilom
16th June 2009, 10:38
exacltly!
long are gone the times were the F1 w-end was a family event. I remeber when entire families use to pitch tents on the hills of imola. In friday to secure the best spot, out Sunday. Everybody roasting something on the grill for 2 1/2 day…
Now, if an average family of 4 want to see a F1 race…have to think: “shall I take my family to F1 for 1 day…or take them to the beach for a week this summer?..” sad…very sad !
Jose Jaramillo
15th June 2009, 23:57
Here’s the facebook link of the event. Take a look at it.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lima-Peru/Red-Bull-Formula-Lima/196521630327?ref=nf
Edú Laca Peirano
16th June 2009, 0:53
What a wonderful saturday in Lima with RBR and DC!!! It was fantastic and exciting… I love it!!! You can watch my video too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn65h9HGcKo
tifosidude
16th June 2009, 4:10
Cool event. It’s no secret that Peru’s leaders are scumbags though.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/15/headlines#10
Maybe f1 should focus on working with governments that don’t slaughter people anymore.
aa
16th June 2009, 8:56
Like China? Like UAE? Like …
Random Chimp
16th June 2009, 11:31
hehe, sad really though.
todd
16th June 2009, 10:00
wow he didn’t crash…
Kovy
16th June 2009, 13:20
You mean: wow, Nakajima didn’t crash into him.
Juan
17th June 2009, 3:26
Un espectáculo inolvidable en Lima – Perú.
Gracias David Coulthard!!!!!! gracias Red Bull!!!!!
David
17th June 2009, 5:07
Realmente este 13 Junio fue el día en que las calles de Lima rugieron gracias a la gran demostración de velocidad y dominio del gran David Coulthard sobre su auto de Formula 1 y su equipo de Red Bull.
Red Bull Formula Lima, lo máximo!!!!!!!!!!!!