You gotta hand it to Red Bull. They continually come up with ways to push the limits with the world’s top riders in everything from Red Bull Rampage to Triathlon. Along those lines, Kriss Kyle is no stranger to not just pushing the limits, but completely reinventing them. Amazingly, Kriss claims his latest stunt was one of the scariest things he’s ever done – and we’re talking about a guy who has ridden a BMX bike in a mini skatepark suspended 2,000 feet in the air from a hot air balloon.
However, when there’s a screaming F1 car heading straight for you, that’s sure to kick the adrenaline up a notch.
Kriss Kyle worked with the Red Bull Advanced Technologies team for more than seven months to figure out if the stunt was even possible, and then dialed in the specifics on car speed, jump angle, and timing. One of the biggest hurdles to the stunt was coming up with a kicker ramp that would allow Kriss to clear the car, but wouldn’t destroy the RB7 F1 car in the process.
Greg Borrill, Heritage Chief Mechanic for Red Bull Advance Technologies, said, “We like doing crazy things, and driving a BMX bike at an F1 car was a challenge we thought we were up to. We put the wheels in motion with Red Bull Advanced Technologies and Kriss, and needed to make sure that safety was paramount. A lot of design work by Red Bull Advanced Technologies went into creating a bespoke kicker that Kriss could use to jump over the car and would enable the car to get out of the way safely. Overall, the feat was nailed, and it was amazing to see”.
After finally nailing the jump, Kriss Kyle said, “It was one of the scariest things that I have ever done! Hearing and seeing the F1 car come hurtling towards me was terrifying, but I just had to clear my mind and concentrate on what I needed to do to make it over. The mental preparation was the hardest aspect of this challenge, but it has been a dream come true to achieve this feat.”
What will they think of next?
