Paddock: An article with original text and pictures from the Porsche Christophorus magazine – on her camping trip, Porsche works driver Simona De Silvestro shows her connection to nature and her Porsche Cayenne.
The successful racing driver travels through Switzerland with a roof tent – here she shares her experiences and photos of the picturesque landscapes highlight her camping adventure with Porsche!
Camping Ratgeber:
Simona De Silvestro and her Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupé
A typical Swiss moment: a winding single-lane mountain road, a gorge on the right and, of course, a post bus coming towards you at this very moment.
This is not for the faint-hearted.
Simona De Silvestro reverses her Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupé completely calmly.
She confidently moves a little closer to the bottom until the yellow bus can squeeze past.
The driver says a friendly hello and De Silvestro accelerates.
Once on a plateau, she enjoys the panorama of the Bernese Oberland.
Cows graze on lush green alpine meadows, above them the massive rock and ice masses of Wellhorn and Wetterhorn cut through the blue sky.
“My home is fantastic,” says the professional racer, spreading her arms out as if she wants to take it all in.
After this moment of pause, we head downhill.
The destination is the Manor Farm 1 campsite on the shores of picturesque Lake Thun.
De Silvestro was born in Thun in 1988.
She started her journey into the world from here. 
(Source: PORSCHE Christophorus Magazine) Camping was high on De Silvestro’s agenda during the coronavirus summer of 2020. “I’m a child of the mountains and an exercise enthusiast.” Eight-hour hikes, tough mountain bike tours or stand-up paddling to the point of exhaustion are physical and mental training for her profession. The Swiss athlete is one of the best racers in the world. She competed five times in the famous Indianapolis 500, gained Formula 1 experience in the Sauber team, was a regular driver in the Andretti Autosport Formula E team and was the first full-time female driver in the popular and tough V8 Supercars Championship in Australia. The highlight of her career so far: De Silvestro has been a Porsche works driver since September 2019, the first woman ever to do so. The sports car manufacturer deploys her as a test and development driver in the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team. She is an experienced Formula E driver and has been with the team since 2015. In 2016, she was the first woman to score points in the series. Accordingly, she was able to support the young Porsche works team in its debut season 2019/2020, especially during the demanding preparation in the race simulator at the Weissach Development Center. Maneuvering on the campsite is not digital at all. The Cayenne has to be positioned on the scales in real life. “I don’t sleep well in an inclined position.” 
(Source: PORSCHE Christophorus Magazine)
In love with home
Simona De Silvestro was given opportunities in America and Australia that she was initially denied in Europe.
The racing driver lived on other continents for 13 years.
Since her return, the Swiss driver can hardly get enough of the Alpine panorama.
Ten years ago, she could never have imagined racing in an electric car, says the 32-year-old.
Times have changed.
“The cars in Formula E are getting faster and more efficient, the races are cool, the power density is high and the wheel-to-wheel battles are always exciting.”
She is also enthusiastic about the series because her generation is very concerned about the environment.
“When I look back in 30 years’ time, I will be able to say: ‘I was there when it all started in Formula E.’ With all-electric racing, we are also pointing the way to the future of mass mobility.”
In parallel to her Formula E job, Simona De Silvestro will be racing a Porsche 911 GT3 R in Timo Bernhard’s team in the GT Masters.
“No matter where: Porsche races to win – that’s the brand’s aspiration and mine too,” she enthuses.
Her path to the top was not easy.
De Silvestro’s racing career came to an end several times.
There was no lack of talent, performance, passion or assertiveness in a male domain.
But there was a lack of sponsorship money.
The Formula 1 project also failed for budget reasons.
“But I’m determined, persistent and very reluctant to lose – so I never gave up,” explains De Silvestro as she expertly turns the food on the barbecue.
The roof tent has long since been folded out for a night under the stars. 
(Source: PORSCHE Christophorus Magazine)
House by the lake
Professional racing places the highest demands on physical fitness.
De Silvestro prefers to complete her training program in the great outdoors.
When camping with her Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupé, driving fun is not neglected either. 
(Source: PORSCHE Christophorus Magazine)
Even as a little girl, she dreamed of a Formula 1 career.
She would sit next to dad Pierluigi on the couch and watch Grands Prix or ride on his lap in the go-kart.
At the age of seven, after much nagging and when her legs finally reached the pedals, she got her own kart.
She competed in kart races for ten years before entering formula racing.
De Silvestro, who also has an Italian passport thanks to her father, drove her first races in the Formula Renault junior racing series in Italy in 2004.
“I am determined, persistent and very reluctant to lose.”
~
Simona De Silvestro
At the age of seventeen, she dropped out of school and moved – alone – to Indianapolis.
A sponsor had been found in the USA.
If she had stayed in Europe, she would have had to give up, she says.
Her path led via success in the Atlantic Championship to the American equivalent of Formula 1, the IndyCar series.
In 2010, De Silvestro was voted rookie of the year at the Indy 500, and in 2013 she finished second on the podium at the race in Houston.
Between these two highlights lies a shadow, her most serious accident: during practice for the Indy 500, the rear suspension of her Dallara broke on May 19, 2011.
De Silvestro spun at 350 km/h, crashed into the wall, bounced off, the car caught fire and finally came to a halt after rolling over.
The driver hangs upside down in her seatbelt.
She suffers second-degree burns on one hand and loses confidence because the material has failed – not her.
Her mother, who has learned to deal with her fear for her speed-loving daughter, becomes her greatest support.
She advises Simona to carry on as quickly as possible.
And so, less than 48 hours after the crash, De Silvestro climbs back into the cockpit.
She made it into qualifying and was christened “Iron Maiden” by the motorsport fans.
She likes the nickname.
The music of the rock band of the same name is less her cup of tea. 
(Source: PORSCHE Christophorus Magazine)
At the end of 2019, after ten years in the USA and three years in Australia, Simona De Silvestro returned home.
Not to Lake Thun, where she was born, nor to Lake Geneva in French-speaking Switzerland, where she grew up from 1990 and where her father still runs a car dealership.
Now the well-traveled nature lover lives a ten-minute walk from the shores of Lake Zurich.
From there, she can be in the water with her stand-up paddleboard, quickly in the mountains for camping, hiking and skiing and, of course, quickly in Germany, at Porsche and on the racetracks.
She has big goals for her return to her home continent.
“I want to compete for victories and championships – that’s possible with Porsche.”
And: “I want to make history as a woman with Porsche.”
Source: Images and text from the Porsche Christophorus magazine.
Click here for the original article:
