Schumacher's Crazy Cab Ride
Retired He May Be But Schumacher Is Still Quick Behind The Wheel
Dec 12, 2007
Michael Schumacher is renowned as one of the fastest – if not the fastest – drivers in the world, with a stack of records including an unprecedented seven world driver’s titles in Formula One behind him and, when he retired from racing at the end of the 2006 season, many feared he wouldn’t be seen driving fast again.
When it came to missing a flight with his family earlier this week, however, the race ace was once again on form. Hailing a cab in Bavaria, Germany, Schumacher reportedly gave the driver a €100 euro tip and took over the wheel.
According to Abendzeitung, a Munich newspaper, Tuncer Yilmaz’s taxi was commandeered by the retired driver, who then wended his way through the streets at high speed to ensure he caught his plane. “Having Schumi behind the wheel was incredible,” Yilmaz said. “He drove at full throttle round the corners and overtook in some unbelievable places.”
If fans are hoping that this is a sign of a possible return to racing for the German-born driver, they will be disappointed. Schumacher, who now lives in Switzerland with his wife Corinne and their two children, had flown to the Bavarian town of Coburg to collect an Australian Shepherd dog named Ed. Schumacher’s love of animals is legendary and Ed will be joining the family’s growing menagerie of animals.
Schumacher also found himself linked to a return to racing in November following a high profile test for Ferrari at the Circuit de Cataluñya in Barcelona, Spain. Despite a year away from competitive driving, Schumacher set the fastest time two days running as he helped the team in a purely advisory capacity. The rules for 2008 decree that driver aids such as Traction Control will be outlawed and to govern this the FIA, Formula One’s ruling body, have provided each team with bespoke Electronic Control Units to manage each car’s electronics. Schumacher is one of the few drivers around who raced in the days before Traction Control and Ferrari have been using his experience to gain technical data on how the car will handle next season.
Regardless of his exceptional performance in testing last month, not to mention this week’s Bavarian sprint, the former driver has ruled out any chance of a return to competitive racing.
The Turkish taxi driver whose car benefited from Schumi’s golden touch was, however, elated to have found himself alongside the great German. “It was the coolest drive of my life,” Tuncer Yilmaz said, “and the fastest!”
In deference to his generous fare, Yilmaz was coy about the speeds that Schumacher achieved whilst racing for the local aerodrome. When pressed on the matter by a British journalist, Tuncer simply replied: “I don’t want to get him in to trouble.”
