A year after its first F1 race, Abu Dhabi hopes to lure even more tourists with “Ferrari World” — a grandiose theme park that is the first of its kind for the iconic Italian carmaker.
Ferrari World Abu Dhabi announced on Monday that the park will open in 100 days featuring a record-breaking roller coaster ride meant to emulate the feeling of being in a Ferrari F1 car.
Sitting next to the futuristic Yas Marina circuit that hosted Abu Dhabi’s inaugural Grand Prix race last November, the sprawling complex will be the world’s largest indoor theme park.
Due to open on Oct. 28, it will be housed under a huge triangular red roof on the US$40 billion Yas Island development.
“It is an indoor thing with an outdoor feeling,” Ferrari World Abu Dhabi general manager Claus Frimand said.
“You forget that you are inside a building because the roof is between 35 and 50 meters above you and there are no support structures, except the funnel in the middle and one row of columns,” he said.
Abu Dhabi hopes the park will help to draw tourists from around the globe along with several other projects, including branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums.
Ferrari World spreads over 86,000m², while the red roof bearing the world’s largest logo of Ferrari’s prancing horse stretches over 200,000m².
Among its 20 attractions are two roller coasters, including the F1-themed Formula Rossa, which is set to be the fastest ever, reaching a top speed of 240kph.
“It gives you the feel of driving in an F1 car very close to the ground,” park manager Andy Keeling said.
The second roller coaster features two tracks with Ferrari-shaped trains.
“The unique feature is that it has two tracks, two trains side by side and depending on the weight of the passengers, one will cross the finish line first,” Frimand said.
Right in the center of the building, out of a big funnel that is the only area with daylight, visitors can experience the space-shot G-force Tower.
“That is the highest we could build on the island,” Frimand said. “We can shoot people up through the roof where they can look over the whole island … It gives you the G-force that the drivers are experiencing during the race.”
A large replica of Ferrari’s Maranello factory will demonstrate the manufacturing process from the design stage to the finished product.”
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