championship-winning Formula One car challenging the

normalcy of midday traffic on the city streets of Weehawken

and West New York, New Jersey.

So what the hell was that all about?

Well, let me tell you a story.

In late 2011, word got out that New York City and New

Jersey were going to have a GP race.

All the way back to 1983, there were pronouncements of

open-wheel races coming to New York.

So when Leo Hindery, a very politically-wired New York

business guy and racing aficionado, announced he had a

deal, I still said to myself, yeah, we've

heard all this before.

Now cut to June, 2012.

Infiniti and Red Bull invite us to the official New Jersey

Grand Prix press conference in Weehawken, across the river

from my New York City, to announce the F1 race and to

show us the construction of the pit garages.

We came to get interviews and video all the action.

David Coulthard and Sebastian Vettel were on hand giving

ride-alongs in their Infiniti G37 IPL performance cars.

New Jersey state and city officials were on hand.

The cops were there acting like everything was under

control until we jumped into the Infiniti with Coulthard

for our police-escorted hot lap.

And that's when it became apparent New Jersey was not up

to speed on F1.

The streets were not shut down, regular

traffic was not diverted.

The escorted laps were more like scenes

from Ronin, the movie.

As we cut through traffic, jumped red lights behind the

cop car at 80 to 100 miles an hour.

One officer had to swerve to avoid T-Bone

crashing into a Camry.

We can't show you the video because, mysteriously, all the

in-car video footage went missing.

The one piece of footage that we did sneak out of New Jersey

was Seb doing his unauthorized doughnut.

Watch this cop's reaction.

POLICE OFFICER: That's beyond dangerous.

That's reckless.

LEO PARENTE: But all that gets us to today and our latest

chapter on the New Jersey F1 story.

12 hours ago, Mike Spinelli gets an email about something

Red Bull happening in Weehawken the next day.

Show up at a certain New Jersey fire station at 10:00

AM to learn more, it says.

Spin kind of blows it off.

J.F., who lives in New Jersey, remembers hearing about the

Lincoln Tunnel being closed for filming.

No further details.

Holy [BLEEP].

We're real journalists figuring out a story.

So a 10-minute, New York City to Weehawken ferry ride later,

we arrive at said firehouse location to find two RB7 Red

Bull GP cars, a race crew of 10 people, Renault engine

techies, and 30 Red Bull Media House videographers.

And it was obvious.

Red Bull the racing team was serious stuff.

So doing my thing, I started chatting up the crew guy that

looked the most plugged in.

Turns out I guessed right.

He was Tony Burrows, the head of the team

here to run the cars.

But this was no simple promo team.

Burrows and the labs are the support team

to the F1 race team.

I'll let him explain exactly what that means.

TONY BURROWS: OK, this is a support team.

Our primary function is to support the racing.

So what we do most of the year round is we either travel to

races to support them or we go and do development tests in

aero-testing in Spain, is our main function.

We do a lot of that.

As you know, Adrian likes his aerodynamics.

And we're always trying to improve the car and trying to

find them few tenths to get the jump on people.

So that is our primary function.

With the restriction in testing that they have now, we

find ourselves with a bit more time on our hands.

So what we do is we take one of our championship-winning

cars around the world, running it up and down highways and

main roads, and just try and bring some awareness of

Formula One.

These are our RB7 cars we have here.

We have the Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber's cars.

We always bring two, because you've got to take enough

spares, so you might as well build it up into a car.

And we can always react quickly

if we have any problems.

So that's why we bring two cars.

We arrived last week, just before the weekend.

We've been preparing the car.

Our first run we did was on Monday where we went to

Liberty Park.

And we drove up Freedom Road and along the boardwalk, and

got some spectacular shots of the Manhattan skyline in the

background and the Statue of Liberty.

So that was our first shot on the first day.

On the second day, we went back and did some more along

Freedom Road, some of the shots that we'd missed.

And then we decamped and went down to the Lincoln Tunnel

last night.

At about two o'clock this morning, we were running

backwards and forwards through the tunnel.

It looks fantastic in the dark under those lights.

The car looked wonderful.

So our first couple of runs with me in a camera car,

directing what I want David to do--

and then the second and third runs were just him flat out.

So it was really cool.

LEO PARENTE: And Red Bull Media House are equally

buttoned up at hot stuff.

You know them from The Art of FLIGHT and the Austin F1

cow-punching promo videos they did, among other work like

taking on WRC promo videography.

So all the right players were here and ready--

the Red Bull team, David Coulthard to drive the car,

the camera crew, New Jersey cops, the city politicians.

Surprisingly not here was anyone from the

race promoter group.

For now, here's the car [INAUDIBLE] we caught as Red

Bull Media House shot their promotional video, which will

be online in a week or so and David Coulthard did

his race car thing.

[SOUND OF ENGINE]

LEO PARENTE: By the way, Tony explained for an event like

this, the ride height goes up 1/2 to 3/4 inch, softer

springs go in the car, not to put as much strain on the

parts, and fans were installed in the

radiators to help air flow.

And David--

he said he just leaves himself a bit more margin driving, so

as to not auger the thing into a tree, a house, or the

Starbucks here in New Jersey.

And we couldn't shoot the car up close, because it really is

the real spec 2011 championship car.

And pieces like the exhaust are very much like the current

configuration.

Ferrari, McLaren, and Lotus--

they don't need any extra design help, thank you.

And then we had a few words with David Coulthard.

So, David Coulthard, we're here in New Jersey.

You're the only guy that's driven both US Grand Prix

tracks that are coming up in '13 and '14.

Tell me about this track as it compares to the

personality of Austin.

DAVID COULTHARD: Well, two completely different venues

and two great tracks, in my opinion.

The one in Austin-- it's a purpose built track out near

the airport, easy access to the city.

It's going to be really challenging for the drivers.

But it is a bespoke racecourse that we use 12

months of the year.

Here in New Jersey, you have a track which is going to be a

combination of Monte Carlo, Singapore, Valencia, the

street circuits we go to.

But what will make this unique is not just the great backdrop

of Manhattan, it's the fact that it will be 200 miles an

hour across the front street, which will make it the fastest

street circuit that we race in Formula One.

LEO PARENTE: Now, you just drove parts of this track.

Jack And even though it was a promotional run, you were

carrying a little pace.

Which parts of the track already caught your attention

from a racing driver?

DAVID COULTHARD: OK, well across the top section-- and

excuse me, I don't know the name of that street-- but the

natural curvature of the road actually adds an interesting

challenge for the driver.

They were talking initially about completely flattening

that area out.

But I think it adds personality to the track to

have this sort of big, wide open crest.

And I don't think it's an issue at all for the cars.

But when you drop down past the sewage works, or the water

treatment plant, that's incredibly fast over a brow

into a really long, sweeping right handle and then brings

you onto this front section.

And that's where it's all going to be flat

out and wide open.

And I think the tracking shots for when we come here for the

race will just look incredible.

The fans are going to have a great view.

Those who have got apartments and houses along the race

course, they get a free view.

LEO PARENTE: 19 turns, hairpins, high speed--

passing zones already figured out in your mind?

DAVID COULTHARD: Yeah, absolutely.

And the top section, before you do the 90 right down the

hill, great overtaking zone, likewise before you come onto

this front section, and then down into the pits complex

here which they're still working on.

I think it will give three really good overtaking spots.

For Formula One, that's already more than a lot of the

tracks have got.

LEO PARENTE: What do fans in the US-- what do people in the

US need to know to want to come to this race?

DAVID COULTHARD: Well, Red Bull wouldn't be doing this if

they didn't think that it was going to be something that was

going to be popular with the public.

You don't need to know anything about Formula One.

If you like cars, if you like speed, if you're intrigued to

know what makes Formula One the fastest form of

closed-circuit racing in the world--

that's a fact.

We're not just sort of doing that as PR.

These are the fastest cars around the racetrack and of

this type of nature.

And the technology is the technology of tomorrow that

you'll have in your road cars.

Carbon fiber was first developed for Formula One.

Traction control, turbocharged engines-- all of those things

came because of Formula One racing.

LEO PARENTE: You're an announcer with the BBC.

So without trading your trade secrets, what's the current

vibe in news in the F1 pits and paddock?

Is it all about drivers?

Is it all about Mercedes?

Is it all about new venues like this?

What's carrying their attention right now?

DAVID COULTHARD: I think, actually, we're getting an

overdose right now in Formula One of excitement.

Because we're having an absolute golden era in terms

of the drivers battling for the championship.

Red Bull have dominated the last couple of years.

But it's a real battle this year for them with Ferrari,

with McLaren--

Lotus are right there looking like they can get a win as

well, Mercedes, of course, have won a Grand Prix.

So we've got some great drivers and a very competitive

series of Formula One.

The future is about new technologies, as I mentioned.

They're going to go to turbocharged, turbocharged

engines-- sorry, my Scottish speech impediment--

in 2014.

And again, that's all about trying to eke the maximum