KEY POINTS:
Drivers in the Toyota Racing Series have seen and ridden the future of personal mobility. At least, that's how the marketing pitched the Segway two-wheeler when it was launched in the US.
The latest look in pit lane is a TV camera operator rolling up and down the grid perched atop a Segway X2 personal mobility device.
It's emphatically not a scooter. Developed in America and now sold worldwide, the Segway has a powerful computer-controlled electric motor, and achieves its own eerie balance independent of the user by activating an advanced gyroscope in the base of the machine. This gyro functions whenever the Segway is turned on or unlocked, enabling the user to move about without even needing to use their hands to steer.
Cameraman Tony Wilson has used the Segway to gather high-quality images of the TRS cars on the grid. He says it gives a unique view of the drivers and cars, and riding it quickly becomes intuitive even with heavy digital betacam gear on his shoulder.
It has been used at the Lady Wigram Trophy, the New Zealand Grand Prix and the TRS races at the A1GP race meeting in Taupo during New Zealand's summer of motorsport.
It is the first time a Segway has been used for motorsport paddock, pit and race grid camera work for New Zealand television. As soon as the drivers saw the machine in use, they were badgering the TV crew for a chance to try it themselves. So when the TRS rolled into Taupo at the weekend, a relaxing game of Segway polo beside the lake was the order of the day for drivers including series leader Andy Knight, Earl Bamber, Ben Harford and Christina Orr.
"They are great to ride," Orr said. "It takes you a moment to get used to and the feeling is quite strange to start with, but they are so easy to steer and so agile."
