Watch An F1 Car Blast Through A Busy City As Part Of A Loud Publicity Stunt

If you’re thinking ‘bringing a single-seater racing car on the Gumball Rally doesn’t sound terribly practical’ you’d have a point. That’s why ‘Team Betsafe’ will be bringing the shouty little monster only to “select UK locations” rather than on the whole trip.

It’s not strictly speaking an F1 car, but was “built…in collaboration with top Formula 1 experts from Only The Fast” and is powered by the Ferrari Type 056 2.4-litre V8 used by the Scuderia team in the 2009 season. In this particular car it produces 631bhp (from the sounds of it the unit doesn’t rev quite as high as it did in its F1 days), propelling the 640kg machine from 0-60mph in two seconds dead. It even includes a KERS system, as well as a Sauber F1 steering wheel.

As to whether or not this little run through Manchester was legal, we’ll let you speculate…