Formula 1 fans probably noticed Hollywood star Tom Cruise attended this past weekend's race at Silverstone. The 59-year-old actor was quite happy when Lewis Hamilton managed to take the win by overtaking Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc in the penultimate lap of the F1 British Grand Prix. As it turns out, he flew to the UK not just for the race, but also to shoot a promotional video for Channel 4.
In a video also starring Mark Webber and David Coulthard, Tom Cruise challenges the former F1 drivers to a dogfight while Top Gun's OST "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins is playing in the background. To drive the point home, Tom Cruise calls Channel 4 F1's presenter Steve Jones "Iceman" – a nod to Tom "Iceman" Kazansky played by Val Kilmer in the 1986 Blockbuster movie.
The only way this video could get any better is by featuring an exciting car, and the Porsche 911 GT3 certainly fits that bill. Add into the mix the legendary British race track and you have all the ingredients for a thrilling video, filled with Top Gun references such as "I am dangerous," "there are no points for second place," and my personal favorite – "I feel the need for speed."
The fake machine gun sounds made after using the shift paddle are hilarious, as is the "missile lock" noise made by the front parking sensors. After playing a bit around Silverstone with Porsche's naturally aspirated track-focused machine, the crew starts singing Johnny Rivers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" as yet another Top Gun allusion.
Tom Cruise And Cars:
Channel 4 put in an impressive amount of effort for this promo video in the lead up to this year's British GP and we'd argue this clip eases the wait a bit until the release of Top Gun: Maverick scheduled for November 19.
Source: Channel 4 F1 via Double Apex