Final 2007 European appearance for Minardi 2 seater
As viewers of BBC Television’s Any Dream Will Do talent show will know, Lee recently landed the lead role in London West End musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in dramatic fashion, at the conclusion of a nail-biting, knock-out competition. Today, however, the 25-year-old, from Southend, Essex, traded the Technicolor dreamcoat that goes with the coveted stage role for a pair of Minardi F1x2 racing overalls in order to take the ride of lifetime.
Lee was at Brands Hatch to provide support for another passenger, Julia Temple, whose husband, Crawford, was the high bidder in a very successful charity auction that took place on eBay earlier this year. Following his F1x2 passenger ride, and still obviously more than a little impressed by the experience, Lee commented….
“Superb! Unbelievable! This was my first experience of a race car, and the rate of acceleration was just incredible. Despite that, it somehow felt very safe. We’re here today to help raise awareness of the Mildmay Hospital Charity, but to combine that with having such a great experience is just amazing."
Minardi F1x2 Team Principal, and co-owner of Minardi Team USA in the Champ Car World Series, Paul Stoddart, commented, “Today’s event at Brands Hatch marks the completion of another successful program for the Minardi F1x2 Team, as well as our final European event of the year.
“In addition to Lee and our other VIP guests, who clearly enjoyed their F1x2 experience, we were particularly pleased on this occasion to be able to provide passenger rides to a large contingent from our longstanding technical partner and tire supplier, Bridgestone, as well as to guests of a number of our other valued sponsors and official suppliers, including Azzurri Communications, Hydraquip, Autoglym, VoIP Unlimited and Alltria Technology Solutions. There’s always lots of work involved in organizing one of these two-seater days, but the payoff is seeing the reactions of the passengers when they climb from the cars. It was certainly the case today."
The Team’s final official engagement of the year occurs in two weeks’ time, November 9-11, when the F1x2 cars will be in action at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, in Mexico City, as part of the concluding Champ Car World Series event of the 2007 season.