Now, here is something genuinely wild for you. As Motorsport.com España reports, Red Bull brought together five completely different motorsport machines for a battle on a frozen lake in Eagle River, Wisconsin, United States, at the inaugural Ultimate Winter Race. The lineup featured a Formula 1 car, a MotoGP bike, a rally car, a Pro 4 truck, and a snowmobile, all tearing across the ice using special spiked tires and custom-designed racing lines to level the playing field.
Getting this crazy machine out onto the ice required some proper engineering. Former Formula 1 driver Patrick Friesacher jumped behind the wheel of the RB7, none other than the car with which four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel claimed his 2011 title. Friesacher explained that the team lifted the car slightly and tweaked the cooling for the biting 15 degrees below zero temperatures, setting the fastest calibration lap of the five participants with a 1:11.
Meanwhile, the bike ridden by former MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa was heavily modified for the extreme freeze. The Spanish rider detailed that they shortened the suspension travel, swapped the carbon brakes for steel discs, adjusted the engine mapping, and fitted 207 spikes in the front and 300 in the rear—the largest spikes of any machine on the grid. During calibration laps, the snowmobile of Gunnar Sterne and Pedrosa's KTM both registered a 1:12, while the Pro 4 truck of Andrew Carlson and the Subaru WRX rally car driven by rally driver and former F1 driver Scott Speed both clocked a 1:13.
With just two seconds separating all five vehicles in calibration, the grid was set for the ultimate showdown. When the lights went out, Sterne's snowmobile rocketed into the lead, but it faced the longest route around the track.
Pedrosa steadily reeled the snowmobile in before making a decisive pass in the final corner to claim the victory. Sterne's snowmobile crossed the line in second position, while the Formula 1 car rounded out the podium in third. The Pro 4 truck took fourth place, leaving the rally car to close out the classification in fifth.
F1
F1
