Have you ever photographically flirted with dummy Alonso, fully attired, his latest Arai F1 helmet on and comfortably sitting in what appeared to be his (now forever) last title-winning car, Renault R26 painted in bright orange 2008 team colours? I mean, dummy Alonso was the best model I ever had: he didn’t complain, he didn’t run away, he never gave me the evils, I miss him in a way. What a great guy!

All this took place, bizarrely enough, downtown Lisbon in late 2008 when Renault F1 Team staged their roadshow right in the heart of the Portuguese capital.

I was reminded about this event via Renault Portugal Tumblr (such an excellent blog, I totally recommend it even if you can’t comprehend or read Portuguese, you can simply drool over Renault cars from the past, not so much from the present day: these self-driving boxes of electronics and touchscreens on wheels don’t excite us much!).

Similar promo events is something Formula 1 must consider for the future of the sport (yes, I know, Red Bull take their massively modified showcar to exotic locations around the planet to promote… only Red Bull or try to kill poor DC?), it’s much better than grid kids or virtual kid sports, all this virtual stuff goes nowhere. Too much political correctness and not much else.

Also, I probably wouldn’t lift my ass off the sofa to watch a super-ugly super-boring hybrid F1 car puff and whistle and fart, what a junk. Even my cat would scoff at the idea.

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But let’s carry on with the story.

Lucas di Grassi was on hand to drive the R27 (gorgeous car, despite its lack of results) up and down Avenida da Liberdade, ah, that V8 noise! Makes my nasal hair fall out!

Little did young energetic Lucas know back then that he would go on to win Formula E title one day as a grey-haired heavily bearded man and drive for Virgin Racing in Formula 1 still as a relatively young man, their CFD-designed machinery was slow, it wasn’t for the lack of trying though. I think Cosworth-powered V8 cars sounded awesome up to this time.

I’ll leave you with the images.

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