REMEMBER THIS WILD F1 TRANSPORTER STUNT?
A race transporter. A ramp. An F1 car. How did everyone come out of this stunt alive?
Image: EMC/Dell/Pole Position Motorsport
Nobody:
Absolutely no one:
Lotus F1 Team and EMC: Let’s jump a race transporter over a multi-million-dollar F1 car driven by a human being.
This stunt dates back to November 2014. The Enstone-based Lotus F1 squad had signed a deal with EMC (now owned by Dell) the previous year to revamp its IT infrastructure. The plan was to get the edge over its competition in the technology space, which would translate to on-track performance. And it made sense, given how important data is to Formula 1 teams.
However, the partnership needed something more visual, and viral, to show just how far they were pushing the limits. And then came the idea from somebody, somewhere, to attempt a world record truck and trailer jump that also involved one of Lotus’ retired F1 cars.
And so, the wildest transporter stunt we’ve ever seen was in motion. Renowned stunt driver, Mike Ryan, was hired to make this happen. And behind it all was some mind-boggling math to figure out how far the truck could jump, what speed it would need to travel, the best launch angle, and what sort of ramp could handle such a load at full noise.
To stop it from, well, disintegrating with Mike inside, the big Renault Magnum prime mover was fitted with an advanced roll cage and Mike’s seat scored some extra cushioning. Surely he wouldn’t feel a thing once gravity got involved?
But the real worry was for Martin Ivanov in the F1 car. Without any F1 experience, Martin needed to quickly swerve beneath the transporter while it was airborne. In an interview Martin did last year with Piotr Zajac, Martin said that he had a fair bit of time to come to grips with the Lotus F1 car the previous day and practice getting as close to the ramp as possible.
But he said that did little to calm everyone else’s nerves on a cold day in Rendlesham. He was offered a slightly safer option to cross in front of the truck and depend on some camera trickery, but Martin wanted to do it for real. And the backup plan? Go straight if the ramp disintegrated under the weight of the truck. That seems safe, right?
You can watch how it went below.
As you see, the stunt couldn’t have gone better, with the truck taking some serious damage but still driving in something resembling a straight line, and Martin safely crossing underneath before spinning onto a slip road on ice cold tyres.
In the behind-the-scenes footage we’ve linked below, you can see the door of the Renault Magnum opens up and Mike is thrown around in his seat, but expertly keeps the ensemble under control along the runway.
The jump broke a world record measuring 86 feet. And what of that publicity for EMC? Well, the video went viral earning coverage on just about every automotive and motorsport news outlet. The original is no longer on YouTube, but reuploaded videos have still earned well over a million views.
And how did the transporter fare? Well, it shed a lot of bodywork and the rear axles took more punishment than we’d care to think about, but we’re going to do some digging this week and see where it ended up. Stay tuned!
You can see the full sequence below. These screenshots are thanks to Pole Position Motorsport, and originally EMC/Dell.