Car park
I’ve had a financially debilitating interest in old Italiancars since I first got my driver’s license, aged fifteen. After a decade and ahalf of driving reliably dull machines, I finally got my hands on somethingworthy of being called a car.
My pride and joy was a ‘75 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV: woodensteering wheel, Bertone badge and sonorous engine. In its day it was a classycruising GT and the poor man’s Ferrari. In my day, men of a certain age wouldstand and applaud as I drove by, gawping at their teenage pin-up in the metal.But while its classic status earned kudos, it was still just a poor man’sFerrari.
Ferrari has always had a stranglehold on the legendary and afirm grip on the dreamscapes of the automotively underprivileged. It is intothis expectant arena that Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will open its doors, in justa few days. Will the theme park live up to the legend?
A recent interviewee told me that building theme parks waslike engineering people’s dreams. For Aldar, the developer of Ferrari World,there are a lot of dreams to fit in. Fortunate then, that perhaps the project’smost distinctive element so far is the massive red roof. The sight of thisalone is worth the drive-by, or, if you’re a bit lazy, check it out on GoogleMaps.
In one of those tricks designers manage, it looks like aFerrari, without actually being one. The distinctive colour helps, but it’sthere in the curves too. Underneath this epic 200,000m2 roof will be an86,000m2 theme park, holding some 20 attractions. Each one is apparently‘designed to bring to life a different part of the Ferrari story’: I’ll believeit when I see it, smell it and hear it.
Naturally there’s a headliner, the one attraction that willget all the attention in the beginning. It is billed as the world’s fastestrollercoaster, and tipped to travel at speeds exceeding 210 km/h, in an effortto impersonate the sensation of being in an F1 car. I guess we’ll have to wait andsee if an F1 driver gives it the thumbs up.
Some lucky power players will get to enjoy the firstofficial ride shortly, and as they do they will race on and past all the hardwork of the construction teams involved in the project. It’s been a big job andthe inherently spectacular nature of the project has brought it plenty ofattention. When you’re building the public face of a legend, every detailcounts and contractors will all be hoping their contribution, whatever it is,performs spectacularly well.
Performance will need to be excellent, as the place willtake a hammering from the public. Projected visitor numbers are big and arebound to surge around the time of AbuDhabi’s F1 race. The operations team will have as biga job cleaning up after the visitors, as they did cleaning up after the build.
As people parade through the venue to experience a bit ofFerrari magic, everyone will be hoping the place performs like a dream. Let’salso hope there’s plenty of room in the car park.
Stuart Matthews is the senior group editor of ITP Business’ construction & design tiles.
