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LONDON, ENGLAND, July 8, 2004 – The Minardi F1x2 team has participated in some exceptional events in the course of the last three years, but there is no doubt that Tuesday night’s Formula One Comes to Regent Street was the most memorable yet. Staged on a glorious summer evening before a massive, and enthusiastic, crowd in the heart of London’s West End, the programme featured cars from eight of the current Formula One World Championship teams. Regular Minardi Cosworth driver, Zsolt Baumgartner, took the wheel of one of the team’s fleet of eight two-seater F1 cars for the unique event, his passenger being Kylie Flynn, fiancée of Cantor International’s Lee Amaitis, who bid a staggering $275,000 at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix Ball charity auction to secure the ride.
“It was amazing – simply amazing,” commented Kylie after climbing from the passenger cockpit of the Minardi at the end of the run. “I was nervous at first, I don’t mind admitting, but the thrill of seeing all those people cheering us on was a truly memorable experience. Life is never going to be the same again.”
For Minardi race driver, Zsolt Baumgartner, who drove an F1x2 car in front of a similarly rapturous crowd in his “home” city of Budapest earlier this year, it was an evening to remember. “I think these sorts of events, which bring F1 to the people in the big cities, are just great,” he said. “The temporary course here on Regent Street was very tight and bumpy, so there wasn’t much chance to show what a Formula One car could do, but even so, the crowd was amazing, and people have now had a chance to see and hear what F1 is like in the middle of London. It was also great to have Kylie as a passenger – she was really enthusiastic and I think enjoyed being a passenger in front such a huge crowd. It was a lot of fun.”
It was left to Minardi Team Principal, Paul Stoddart, who had been present for much of the day in Regent Street, to sum up the occasion. “It has been an awesome evening – what an incredible sight to see Formula One cars running on the streets of London,” he said. “Tonight, Londoners had the opportunity to experience F1 at its best, with eight out of the 10 World Championship teams performing in front of a massive audience, estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.”
Media contact
Graham Jones
Tel: +44 20 8657 3942 Mob: +44 7767 301303
e-mail: Graham.Jones@MinardiF1X2.com
Minardi F1X2 Operations Centre
European Hall, Bromyard Road, Ledbury, Herefordshire United Kingdom HR8 1LG
Tel: +44 1531 638105 Fax: +44 1531 634525
e-mail: enquiries@MinardiF1X2.com |
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