Tom Cruise test drives Red Bull Racing F1 car
 

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6072/...14d0d6df_z.jpg

Tom Cruise test drives Red Bull Racing F1 car
Days of Thunder, 2011 Edition

Red Bull invited Tom Cruise to take a break from production of his new movie, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, to pilot the Red Bull Racing F1 car through Southern California's 2.5-mile (4km) Willow Springs circuit.
 
He reached a top speed of 181 mph (291 km/h) - just 4 mph off the top speed of his instructor and 13-time Grand Prix winner, David Coulthard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyW8FdzH9dg

Interesting post and well driven by Tom.

Helicopter loop is win!

Very cool vid, he actually did good. I was expecting a lot worse driving

Never been to willow springs but it looked like that was some brand new track surface

Man, some people have all the luck :(

Man. Talk about a blessed life.

That was impressive. If you all remember, there was a TG segment a few years ago where Hammond drove a Renault F1 car and he could barely get I around the track. Cruise seemed to be driving the car quite well. What an amazing experience.

Can't believe how well he drove it. I knew he was mildly interested in cars but didn't realize he actually had it in him to manage an F1 car like that.

Must be Dianetics.

Weirdness aside, he's an accomplished pilot and honest gearhead. I believe he's got a not insignificant amount of open wheel experience.

Awesome vid and I can't wait for formula one to hit TX!

I would cut off an arm to have an opportunity like that. To bad they didn't actually give us his lap times.

That's very impressive! Good for him!

Man that guy is living the life. Pretty awesome!!

That's just some creative color correcting of the footage. That track surface is crap. Don't thinks it's been repaved in about 5 years.

Tom Cruise is a BOSS! I've met him a couple of times and he's totally cool.

What a cool exprience to have! I was impressed in what he was able to do.

He's #4 out of 27 on the Top Gear Star in a Reasonably Priced Car leaderboard, too.

wonder what xenu's thoughts are on this

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to IIVVX again.

Quite impressive!!

What a lucky man!! He got an amazing experience that everybody wants!

Wonder what his insurance company thinks about him driving an F1 car at 200mph and doing loops in a heli?

He really did a great job, charmed life Tommy!!

High premiums or violation of contract. Either way, I'm sure they're covered.

What a day he had!

Big track was re-sealed in late June this year (not re-paved); I think that's the color you are seeing (no color correction). One of the first things I thought to myself while watching the video was: what about the "hump" around T6....my GT3 could get air there and I'd like to see what the Red Bull does! LOL! I wonder if they graded it down before the re-sealing.....!?!?!?

It is a shame lap times were not officially released; I'd really like to know if that RB chasis could set the record. (I think it should be able to).

Wow..What a great experience for Tom Cruise...:golfclap:

Nice driving skills! However, the top speed he achieved does not really matter much. I would be much more interested to know how much slower he was through some of the corners.

He owns a Veyron Super Sport. So I am sure he has gone faster.

Makes sense. Does he own 2 other Bugs as well?

way cool

and the loops, crazy!

Very impressive!