Coulthard took part in unusual races with an RB7

David Coulthard competed with many drivers during his career in motor racing, and during the years of his continued association with Red Bull he had all kinds of adventures, performing demonstration drives in a Formula 1 car in various countries around the world.

But it was his first time taking part in the highly unusual competition, which took place on Thursday evening in the Polish city of Wroclaw. David was challenged to a duel by Polish motorcycle racer Maciej Janowski, his country’s two-time speedway champion and bronze medalist at the 2022 World Championship.

The races took place in the Wroclaw Olympic Stadium on a standard oval speedway track with a lap length of 400 meters, with the stands almost full: there were many who wanted to see how the local hero motorcycle racer and ex-Formula 1 pilot would compete .

That’s not surprising at all: when will we ever see an F1 car on a dirt track again, albeit from previous years, with a weight of 630 kg and a powerful V8 engine of more than 700 hp? This is not her element at all, so it came as no surprise to anyone that Maciej Janowski, nicknamed Magic, was clearly faster on his racing bike, which weighs only 77 kg.

David, driving an RB7 (Mark Webber drove in Formula 1 in 2011), simply had no room to accelerate, because the straight lines at the stadium are very short and the race at the speedway consists of only four laps.

Naturally, the car had to be modified for these fun races, although the modifications were minor: some underbody elements of the RB7 were removed, the ground clearance was increased to the maximum, the electronics responsible for engine control were reconfigured and additional fans were added . added to the cooling system.

In addition, the car was equipped with Pirelli tires, specially designed for a circuit with such a surface, which is somewhat reminiscent of both rain tires and rally tires, only much larger.

The duel took place in the form of a pursuit race, i.e. Coulthard and Janowski started on opposite sides of the stadium, and by the fourth lap the motorcycle had overtaken and passed the Formula 1 car.

But then David came up with an interesting idea: “How about a retake, but now let’s change the direction of movement? Because you have the advantage when making left turns!”

Janowski took up the challenge, and this time the Formula 1 car was faster than a motorcycle, which is simply not designed to drive a lap in the opposite direction, where you have to turn not to the left, but to the right. Maciej had problems with the steering settings, the location of the exhaust pipe and even the not very effective brakes.

“We have already driven a Formula 1 car through the desert, on ice, even on the roof of a skyscraper, but this was the first time on a speedway! I must admit that this was a very interesting experience,” David summarized the races. “Our car is not suitable for driving on such tracks, we cannot accelerate to normal speeds anywhere, so there is no downforce.

You could hardly expect us to overtake a motorcycle that was in its element, especially when ridden by such a master as Maciej. But as soon as we went clockwise, we switched roles, although the most important thing is that we put on a good show for the fans!”