Hamilton and Stewart in F1/NASCAR car swap

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and NASCAR's double title winner Tony Stewart will swap cars for the day at the Watkins Glen circuit in upstate New York on June 14, both sides announced Friday.

Hamilton, the 2008 F1 world champion, will drive the number 14 Chevrolet Impala while Stewart will try out the Briton's title-winning McLaren MP4-23 in an event organized by their teams' mutual sponsor Mobil.

"I spend a lot of time in race cars, but this will be the first time I've been at the wheel of a NASCAR stock car," Hamilton, who is racing this weekend at the Turkish Grand Prix, said in a statement.

"Tony and I will have some fun with the swap and make sure we put on a good show."

Stewart added: "When you've been around competitive racing for as long as I have, you really look forward to new experiences. This car swap with Lewis is definitely one of those opportunities."

Are they going to televise this ?

Are they going to televise this ?

Not live, but it will be televised Tuesday night:

Tony Stewart has driven an awful lot of fast cars in his career, everything from USAC Midgets to World of Outlaws sprint cars, IndyCar open-wheelers, dirt late models and, of course, his familiar No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet Impala NASCAR Sprint Cup car.

But Tuesday at Watkins Glen International, Stewart will get to try on something even he has never driven before: Lewis Hamilton's Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 Formula 1 car.

Thanks to a promotion organized by Mobil 1, who sponsors both Stewart’s car and the McLaren F1 team, Stewart and Hamilton will take part in what’s being billed as the “Seat Swap.” Stewart will drive the McLaren, Hamilton will pilot the stock car.

SPEED and SPEED.com will be there for all the action, with live online updates, photos and videos, as well as the television special “Seat Swap: Hamilton vs. Stewart,” which airs on SPEED at 8 P.M. ET Tuesday.

The drivers will pilot each other’s car on the long course at The Glen, experiencing the 3.4-mile, 11-turn layout in the Finger Lakes region of New York. This is nearly one mile longer than the 2.45-mile short course the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams run on.

Stewart is psyched about the opportunity to drive the high-tech McLaren.

“It’s huge,” Stewart recently said of the opportunity on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain on SPEED. “I’m really excited about it. Lewis and I got to do a commercial shoot earlier this year and he’s a great guy. I really enjoyed my time with him. I’m very excited about the opportunity to finally say I got to drive a Formula One car. So, the next thing … I’m hopefully going to get something set up with Schumacher Motorsports and get to test drive a Top Fuel dragster, too, so I’m bouncing all over the board but I want to check these things off the list before I get too old to do it.”

Bob Varsha, longtime voice of F1 on SPEED, hosts Seat Swap: Hamilton vs. Stewart with analysis from Larry McReynolds and Steve Matchett and Ralph Sheheen reporting from the pits at the road course.

“People tend to forget that Tony Stewart's resume includes an IndyCar championship, so he has that open-wheel experience to draw on,” Varsha said. “Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, has spent his entire career in high-downforce cars with lots of grip, so I think he has the greater challenge to get the most out of a heavy car that needs to slide around a bit to be quick. And having covered Hamilton for years, I'm sure he wants to experience everything the Cup car will give.”

Watkins Glen is only about a two hour drive from here and my husband and I plan to go. They are calling for about a 40% chance of rain and a very cool day. But to see Tony we are heading down to Watkins early in the morning. It should be fun.

Thanks for the info on when it is televised and have fun im4tony.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Tony Stewart figures he's driven more than 20 types of race cars in his career. He's about to try another, and it just might be the ride of his life.

On Tuesday, the two-time NASCAR Cup champion and Formula One star Lewis Hamilton will take turns navigating Watkins Glen International's 3.4-mile long course -- Stewart in his No. 14 Chevrolet and Hamilton in his McLaren Mercedes MP4-23.

Then, they'll switch cars in what's dubbed the Mobil 1 Car Swap at The Glen, with Hamilton taking the helm of a non-open-wheel race car for the first time and Stewart hopping in an F1 car.

It promises to be an eye opener for both, but especially Stewart. F1 cars are long, low and sleek, weigh about 1,400 pounds -- a ton less than a Cup car -- and are designed for road courses. They're also sleekly shaped, go well over 200 miles per hour, and are capable of accelerating from zero to 100 and back to zero in six seconds with a V-8 engine that whirrs at 18,000 r.p.m., about double what Stewart is used to.

"I'm somewhat familiar a little bit with what kind of downforce they have, but I've never run one at a road course," said Stewart, who has a record five Cup wins on The Glen's 2.4-mile short course used by NASCAR. "It's going to be one of those things you can talk about all day long, but you're not going to fully understand it until you actually sit in the car and drive it."

Stewart, who won an IndyCar Series title before leaving for NASCAR in 1999, is counting the minutes.

"The further my career went along, the more that you wanted to have opportunities to drive everything," said Stewart, who has raced on the long course that includes the famed Boot section, competing in a Grand-Am Rolex Series race six years ago. "Obviously, having the opportunity to race in the IndyCar Series and knowing that the final step of that would be Formula One, it was always a goal ... to say at some point we'd get an opportunity to drive one. Once I stopped racing in the IRL full time and started NASCAR full time, I thought that opportunity would never come about."

Watkins Glen bills itself as the soul of American road racing, and its storied open-wheel history includes Formula One's United States Grand Prix, which ended a 20-year run in 1980.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Glen's inaugural F1 race, so the timing was perfect for WGI president Michael Printup, who has a soft spot in his heart for Formula One.

"It's not a money thing. It's a fun thing. It's going to be phenomenal," said Printup, a spectator at the 1975 U.S. Grand Prix won by Niki Lauda. "I made a promise to the community -- you will see a Formula One car at this track. I didn't say series, but I did make a hard promise. I got an email the other day, and it said, 'You kept your word. You got your car."'

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon and former F1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, a Cup regular now, did a similar swap nearly eight years ago to the day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That planted the seed.

"We were just talking about when Jeff and Juan did it at Indianapolis," Stewart said of a meeting with Mobil, a sponsor for Stewart-Haas Racing. "They took that ball and ran with it. The next thing we knew they had talked to McLaren and basically had set this all up for us. I'm really excited."

Printup said there was a rumour last summer that a swap might happen with Sam Hornish and Hamilton. Nothing materialized, although Hamilton's engineers made a visit to WGI.

Rumour became fact in December, and the parties involved made the trip to The Glen in the dead of winter.

"We had a covert meeting," Printup said. "I told them they couldn't wear anything because people around here are fanatic. I said, 'Don't wear gear. There will be spies on us in a minute."'

After the meeting, a track inspection was needed to start planning with a TV production crew that's producing a 30-minute special.

"We came up here, and we had a blizzard of a storm. We actually had to plow the track, which is the worst thing you can do to a racetrack because the snow actually insulates the track from frost-heaving," Printup said. "They wanted to get on the track -- the Mobil 1, McLaren and Formula One people. They wanted to be able to film it so they could get a feel."

.Formula One hasn't raced in the U.S. since 2007 after an eight-year run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Printup has no illusions about luring F1 back to The Glen -- the cost would be too great and the series already has plans to begin racing next year at a new track in Texas. But just hearing the distinctive roar of one of those engines again at The Glen will be music to more than a few ears.

"It's free, so I think we'll get a lot of people," Printup said, hoping for a walkup crowd of 7,000 or more. "But a lot's going to play on the weather and, 'Am I going to play hooky today and go out to The Glen?"'

The forecast is calling for a 40-per cent chance of rain.

Watkins Glen is only about a two hour drive from here and my husband and I plan to go. They are calling for about a 40% chance of rain and a very cool day. But to see Tony we are heading down to Watkins early in the morning. It should be fun.

I'm only 4hrs away. Maybe going not sure.Have to find a babysitter

I'm only 4hrs away. Maybe going not sure.Have to find a babysitter

WHOA, that would be cool, Duffy! Find a way to get there... you could use the distraction, a change in scenery, if you catch my drift.

Bring a camera and take lots of pics. Then you can post them here.

Did ya read it was FREE~~~~~~~~ Go if you can !!!

Thanks!! I think it will be awesome to watch.

I'm only 4hrs away. Maybe going not sure.Have to find a babysitter

WHOA, that would be cool, Duffy! Find a way to get there... you could use the distraction, a change in scenery, if you catch my drift.

Bring a camera and take lots of pics. Then you can post them here.

I know what you mean,HH but were not going. In laws have a DRS appointment and my sister has to work.I would love to go,Do you want to babysit?

Did ya read it was FREE~~~~~~~~ Go if you can !!!

Yea i read its free -------

I'm only 4hrs away. Maybe going not sure.Have to find a babysitter

WHOA, that would be cool, Duffy! Find a way to get there... you could use the distraction, a change in scenery, if you catch my drift.

Bring a camera and take lots of pics. Then you can post them here.

I know what you mean,HH but were not going. In laws have a DRS appointment and my sister has to work.I would love to go,Do you want to babysit?

I would, but I'm not sure I could get from Indiana to your place in time... sorry.

If you had a rocket you could of made it.
We were going to go with little one but it was raining hard here so we said forget it.

I just got home from watching it! Lewis did an awesome burn out with the #14 right in front of me! It was great. I'll post pictures later.