The Red Bull Showrun attracted over 60,000 spectators to the streets of Taichung on Saturday to witness F1 racer Yuki Tsunoda tear through the central Taiwanese city.
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00:00The Red Bull showrun Taichung has drawn huge crowds to this street in central Taiwan to
00:07witness a spectacle of raw automotive power. This is the first time such an event is being
00:12held in the country, after being hosted in other cities around the world, including Tokyo,
00:18Washington and Prague. All 30,000 tickets to the event were sold out minutes after going
00:23on sale.
00:24I got goose bumps. It's my first time seeing a real car in Taiwan. It's a rare opportunity.
00:35And people without tickets gathered outside the venue to try to get a glimpse of the event,
00:41bringing the total number of spectators to over 60,000.
00:44I didn't get a ticket, so I just came in to take a look.
00:48The Red Bull showrun brought the entire F1 Red Bull racing team to Taichung, including
00:5324-year-old driver Yuki Tsunoda. Red Bull believes he could be the first Japanese driver
01:00to win a World Championship Grand Prix. Tsunoda showed off his skills using the 2012 F1 champion
01:06car known as RB8, but it was his first time behind that vehicle's wheel, and he spent
01:12some time getting used to it.
01:14In terms of setup, to be honest, as long as the car goes forward, I'm happy. Yesterday
01:20we checked the seat position, everything, because I'm quite short, so it's hard to reach
01:27the pedal, so we put a lot of pads behind myself, so make sure I can fit into the, make
01:33sure I can reach the throttle.
01:35Before hitting the road, the racer joked about accidentally breaking the law.
01:40The one thing I have to worry about is probably the speed camera. I saw the speed camera in
01:43the middle of the road. I hope I don't have to pay, or I don't want to go to jail, so
01:49hopefully everything switched on.
01:51Tsunoda wowed the audience in Taiwan with tricks like tyre burnouts and donuts. On the
01:57last lap, the excitement peaked when the vehicle overheated and burst into flames. Unfortunately,
02:04staff quickly stepped in to extinguish the fire. Red Bull says this is common at F1 races,
02:10but the crowd in Taiwan had never seen it before.
02:14Alongside the spectacle, visitors also had the chance to get a closer look at a racing
02:18legend.
02:19Behind me, it is the Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19. It is one of the most dominant cars
02:25in the history of Formula One championships. This icon here has won 21 races out of 22
02:31it has competed in, and for F1 fans here, to see the champ up close is a whole new experience.
02:37It's huge. It's such a scary looking car. It has so much aura to it. Seeing it up close
02:44is just like, wow, like really taking it all in is crazy.
02:49The short show in Taichung was not an official Formula One race, but the event marks an important
02:54milestone for the city as it tries to raise its profile on the international stage.
02:59Justin Wu, Ryan Wu and Sanni Qi for Taiwan Plus.