RB8 Lights Up Red Bull Race Day

To fill the void between the Hungarian and Belgian races, the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing show car team packed an RB8 into the back of a transporter, crated up Test and Reserve Driver Sébastien Buemi and headed for the hills. The destination: the foothills of the Jura Mountains in Switzerland for the Red Bull Race Day.   

Topping the list of attractions at Grenchen Airport, 25km North of Bern, were local hero Sébastien Buemi and the double title-winning RB8. To the delight of the 36,000 spectators who attended the event, the Red Bull Reserve Driver completed a series of flat-out runs, doughnuts and burnouts in the 2012 Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship-winning machine. 

“It’s a special event,” Sébastien said afterwards. “It’s cool for the fans, but also for the drivers, mainly because you get to do whatever you want with the car on a big airfield like this! It’s an amazing feeling, especially because we’re in Switzerland and I don’t get too many opportunities to drive in front of my home crowd. So, yeah, a very special day.” 

A host of other Red Bull motorsport stars and their machinery joined the show car crew across the weekend. European Drift Champions Elias & Joe Hountondji (AKA The Drift Brothers) also flew the flag for four-wheel motorsport, while on two wheels Sébastien’s compatriot Mat Rebeaud represented for bike fans. The Freestyle Motocross World Champion brought something different, performing a series of spectacular tricks in near total silence as he took an e-bike to the extremes of capability. 

The action wasn’t confined to terra firma, either. Red Bull Air Race stars Matthias Dolderer and Nicolas Ivanoff took to the skies for some eye-popping runs at speeds of over 370 km/h.