On Houston’s nicest weather day since April, thousands of motorsport fans gathered at Discovery Green for Red Bull Showrun. The first of its kind in the Space City, Showrun sees Red Bull’s championship winning RB7 and RB8 Formula 1 cars take to the streets of a city for an unmissable display.
Taking over the streets surrounding the park, legendary F1 driver David Coulthard, alongside Red Bull Racing Junior Arvid Lindblad, treated the massive crowds to the sights and sounds of a naturally aspirated V8 hitting nearly 18,000 RPM. With several locations around the circuit carved out for donuts, fans closest to the action were engulfed in tire smoke.
Joined on track by Mad Mike Whiddett with his custom-built McLaren 650S GT3 drift car (boasting a 1000 horsepower 20b rotary engine and a hydraulic handbrake), off road racer Andrew Carlson, Aaron Colton practically ghost-riding a motorcycle, an all-electric Ford F-150 race car, and a brand new Ford Mustang GT3 car, Coulthard and Lindblad gave Houstonians a spectacular taste of the world of motorsports.
Over the course of two hours, the cars made several trips around the circuit, broken up by intermittent breaks for music and various show cars to show off for the crowds. During a lengthy intermission, Paul Wall and DJ Mr Rogers treated the fans to some Houston rap classics, complete with a parade of slabs. Red Bull went to great lengths to include elements of Houston’s car culture, even putting elbows and longhorns on one of their static F1 show cars.
At one point, Wall joined Whiddett in the McLaren for a few smoky laps around the course, sporting his trademark grill that could be seen glistening behind the windshield. Red Bull closed out the event with Lindblad and Coulthard taking to the track simultaneously, culminating in one final burst of smoke and sound from the cars.
All photos by Morgan Rosenbaum
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