Red Bull Racing drives world's highest road through the Himalayas

Filed under: Motorsports, Marketing/Advertising, India, Racing



You'd think that a racing team that was about to seal up the Formula One World Championship would be focused entirely on the task at hand. But not Red Bull. That team's got resources to spare, and was relaxed knowing that its own Sebastian Vettel was just one point away from the title heading into the Japanese Grand Prix this past weekend. So while Vettel and the rest of the team were at Suzuka, the team's demo squad were in India for another feat.

Neel Jani, a Swiss driver of Indian ancestry, drove the 2005 RB1 that was converted for use by the demo team up Khardung La. The Tibetan mountain pass through the Himalayas is widely regarded (but often debated) as the highest-altitude drivable road in the world, so, suffice it to say, it made for different conditions than those to which F1 teams are accustomed.

The route took Jani and the RB1 up the hill more than 7,000 feet - from 11,000 above sea level to 18,830 - passing along the way the famous Thiksey Monastery and the Shanti Stupa shrine - both iconic sites to Buddhists around the world. See the results in our high-res image gallery.Red Bull Racing drives world's highest road through the Himalayas originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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