Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder Redux

Looks like the USGP Austin people are not a messing around when it comes to the build up for next year's United States Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing has been in Texas doing some promotional events and certainly giving people the taste of F1 that has been missing for years. They have run a F1 car through the streets during a filming session, drove a F1 car on the newly graded yet unpaved Circuit of the Americas and today released news that Cole Trickle, excuse me, Tom Cruise secretly tested a Red Bull F1 car at Willow Springs Raceway in California reminiscent of a certain test in a Rowdy Burns's NASCAR Chevy Lumina at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

According to Autosport.com, the test was overseen by former F1 driver and Red Bull ambassador David Coulthard and he was left as impressed with Tom Cruise as Harry Hogge. "Tom's the real deal. I was surprised that he picked it up so quickly and is such an accomplished driver. His recall was incredible considering how complicated driving an F1 car is. He's a guy who really pushes the envelope in real life. This day was not green screened. He thoroughly impressed me." He obviously isn't getting a race seat, but impressive nonetheless with the lap time improvement of 11 seconds throughout the day. I would certainly would have liked to know the lap time.

Cruise is no stranger to motorsports, driving and pushing the limit. Most conspicuously he starred in the movie Days of Thunder but he has been on the wildly popular Top Gear (UK) discussing automobiles and thrashing around the show's "reasonably priced car".

We know about the marketing experts at Red Bull that have their brand on just about everything motorsport but I think you can expect a lot of Hollywood types getting in the mix. Cameron Diaz, another automotive buff and friend of Tom Cruise will surely be drafted in, hey maybe even George Lucas. Also, we can not forget Jay Leno who is an absolute car nut with a car collection that rivals museums just to name a couple. Moreover, there have been no shortage of Hollywood types at Grand Prix in Canada and around the world. As I mentioned earlier this month,  (Click Here) I can not wait.

Links:

Tom Cruise tests F1 car
Tom Cruise & Cameron Diaz Top Gear
Red Bull F1 car in Austin
Jay Leno's Garage