Red Bull Racing dropped a Formula 1 car around Mount Panorama.
The 2011 RB7 Formula 1 car was driven around Bathurst by Liam Lawson on Saturday, as part of the 12 Hours programme.
“Honestly, the first lap was tough going up the hill with all the altitude, and I was pretty nervous,” Lawson said. SpeedCafe.
“But by the second lap, I actually felt pretty comfortable and the car was really good, so I loved it.
“It’s a bit rough at some points, but for a Formula 1 car in this place, I suppose it would be worse, just feeling cool, just feeling really cool.”
With stops to burnout and donuts, the driver who won the championship was the crowd winner… but it wasn’t the fastest Formula 1 car to take on The Mountain.
That honor goes to the McLaren-Mercedes MP4-23, which finished 1:48.8 with Jenson Button behind the wheel to set an unofficial record.
Craig Lowndes, who at the time was racing in Vodafone’s blue V8 Supercar, was just over a second behind in his time in the F1 car.
The official lap record at Mount Panorama belongs to Christopher Mies, who set a time of 1:59.2910 in the Challenge Bathurst 2018 sprint behind the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS Ultra.
The fastest in-lap lap from a GT3 driver went to Shane van Gisbergen, who clocked 2:01,567 at 12 Hours in 2016 and the fastest lap from a V8 Supercar was Chaz Mostert with a 2: 04,7602 in 2019.
