Oracle Red Bull Racing put Sebastian Vettel’s 2012 championship RB8 onto Madrid Metro rails this week and drove it through closed tunnels as if a subway line had suddenly become a racetrack. Heritage Team staff and Spanish engineering collective Andtonic did the work at Metro de Madrid’s Canillejas workshops, racing a two-week deadline to finish custom metal wheels before the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at the new Madring circuit.
The rail gauge was already near enough to the RB8’s track width that neither the car nor the rails needed to be shortened. Everything depended on wheels that were light enough not to damage the suspension, transmission, or driveshafts. Early prototypes were very hefty. The final pieces consisted of a central hub and precision-cut spokes weighing 29.8 kilos each, which is about twice the weight of a regular Formula One wheel. Renault’s 2.4-liter RS27 V8, which produces approximately 750 horsepower at 18,000 rpm, remained in situ. The kart test came first, followed by the real car.
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Patrick Friesacher, a former Minardi driver, took over once passenger service was suspended. He passed Estadio Metropolitano station and the Sacedal and Chamartín depots, traveling almost five kilometers of gloomy tunnel. The steel wheels slipped slightly at first, but eventually held. Friesacher described the journey as strange, and he now includes Metro driver on his resume.
After 45 years, Spanish Grand Prix racing returns to Madrid, having previously taken place at Jarama in 1981. Madring will even have a Metro station inside the circuit grounds, allowing fans to ride underground to the track. Red Bull brought the old double-title vehicle down there first, filming the entire process, and leaving the current drivers, Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, to tackle the asphalt this weekend.
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