During the Sami Kontio Air Challenge 2012 in Finland at the weekend (19-20th Aug 2012) I had a chance of a lifetime – Mika Salo, ex Ferrari F1 driver, had his Ultimate Driving display and I had the chance to drive a Formula One car – it was a Jaguar F1 and the experience was fantastic… Those things are FAST! 290 kph down the runway. The amazing thing is how quickly you can stop also……maybe I should return the favour and take Mika for some loops and swoops and a buzz around the block in the Extra?
Mika Salo – Ultimate Driving Experience
Mika Salo is a racing driver from Finland. He competed in Formula One between 1994 – 2002 and he also won the GT2 class in the 2008 and 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans. His chance with Ferrari came when Michael Schumacher broke his leg at a crash during the 1999 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. In his second race in Ferrari, at the 1999 German Grand Prix, Salo led the race but team orders demanded that he hand the lead to Irvine, who was fighting for the championship with Mika Häkkinen. Following the race, Irvine handed his victory trophy over to Salo as a gesture to show his gratitude. He also finished third at Monza, ahead of Irvine.
The Abarth connection… After F1 and due to his strong links with FIAT he became part of the development program of the Maserati MC12 GT racer and raced both Maserati and Ferrari sports cars to victories all over the World including victories at the legendary Le Mans and Sebring endurance races.
Jaguar Formula One
Jaguar Racing was a Formula One team that competed in the FIA Formula One World Championship from 2000 to 2004. It was formed from the purchase by Ford of Jackie Stewart’s Stewart Grand Prix Formula One team in June 1999. Ford renamed the team Jaguar Racing as part of its global marketing operations to promote their Jaguar premium car company. Despite this branding, they continued to use Ford-Cosworth engines in the cars, no Jaguar engineering was involved.
In 2004, energy drink company Red Bull purchased the Jaguar Formula One team from Ford. The new team, named Red Bull Racing.
Drivers included Eddie Irvine, Johnny Herbert, Luciano Burti, Pedro de la Rosa, Antônio Pizzonia, Mark Webber, Justin Wilson and Christian Klien.
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