Racing driver Neel Jani took a Red Bull Racing Formula One show car up the world's highest driveable road, the 18,380ft-high Khardung La pass in India. But how did he do it? Anthony Ward from the Red Bull Racing team answers your questions about this spectacular achievement...
What modifications did you make to the car so that it coped with the high altitude and low temperatures of Khardung La?
AW: Tony (Burrows, Support Team Manager) is best to answer this but (I believe) we pressurised the fuel cell, the ride height of the car was set to the maximum and the engine guys played around with the data sets massively. The engine consumed a much higher percentage of fuel but produced less power: at 11,000ft, it was down 20%.
© Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool
© Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool
Did Neel Jani take oxygen or other special measures to cope with the altitude?
We had oxygen and an ambulance on standby as a precaution but Neel coped well. As we had to stay at the top longer than we had hoped to get the final shots we got mild altitude sickness and a couple of the guys could not return to the top the next day for filming.
How did you manage a pitstop up there?
Well we had to change the tyres as the terrain became rougher and the last few 100 metres was snow and ice. But obviously we didn’t have our normal 20-man crew as they were busy helping Sebastian Vettel win his world championship. We didn't do it in under two seconds either because rushing around at that altitude quickly knocks you out! We all needed a couple of cans of Red Bull to keep our energy levels up.
© Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool
© Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool
How did you get past the final few kilometres to the top?
The road were too bumpy and pot holed for portions of the last few km's, so we had to load the car on to the truck during those portions. We were also unlucky because the day we attempted it saw the first snow of winter and it carried on snowing for the next few days.
How much kit did you have to bring with you and how did you get it all up and down the mountain?
We had five tonnes of equipment but because the terrain was so challenging we took just one truck load with the bare minimum on it to the top. The clutch started to go near Khardung-La and we were worried we would have to start again the next day as the main bulk of our spares were back at 11,000ft (3300m). We only had one shot at the top, we took it, and pulled it off. Putting it mildly, it was a relief.
© Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool
© Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool
How did this compare to the Formula One Santo Domingo Beach Run and the Canadian Red Bull Frozen One on ice?
This was the most challenging project I have ever worked on. It was a massive team effort. We struggled with everything from the simple tasks like finding a forklift (we eventually borrowed one from the military) to flying in dry ice from Delhi even to sometimes just find some paved road. Add that to the cold, the snow and the altitude, it all made for quite an ordeal but when you see the results you know it was worth every second.
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