Filed under: Motorsports, Etc., Videos, Mercedes-Benz, Humor



Vodaphone is a huge mobile communications company, and it's also the primary sponsor of the McLaren Mercedes F1 team. The video after the jump shows just what their millions of dollars in sponsorship money can buy: a viral video staring Lewis Hamilton. Vodaphone makes the Blackberry Storm mobile smart phone, and the video kicks off with some office nerds who have hacked the Storm to control an R/C F1 car. They use the phone's built-in accelerometer so that turning the phone like a steering wheel controls the car's direction. The accelerator and the brake, meanwhile, are controlled via buttons on the phone's touch screen.

After publishing a video of their office grand prix on the web, the team of programmers is invited to the garage of McLaren Mercedes where team engineers have adapted the system to control Lewis Hamilton's actual F1 car. Hilarity ensues when Hamilton himself takes the car out on the track, sans driver, and does a lap behind the wheel of the Blackberry Storm. It's an amusing viral video and halfway convincing if we weren't willing to swear on our mothers that McLaren Mercedes would never allow its multi-million dollar F1 car to be controlled via a phone, let alone outfit the car with enough servos to actually perform the functions of steering, braking and changing gears. Follow the jump to watch for yourself. Hat tip to everyone and their mothers.

[Source: YouTube]Continue reading VIDEO: Lewis Hamilton controls F1 car via Blackberry Storm

VIDEO: Lewis Hamilton controls F1 car via Blackberry Storm originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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Autoblog
03-11-2009 03:54 PM