The opening of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world's largest indoor theme park, has been delayed due to the death of a ruler in another part of the United Arab Emirates, organisers said on Thursday.
The postponement until November 4 came after the ruler of the tiny but strategic emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qassimi, died on Wednesday at the age of 92.
The park had been due to be inaugurated on October 27, but it will still open before before Abu Dhabi hosts the eagerly awaited final Grand Prix in this year's tightly contested Formula One world championship.
Despite the delay, journalists were allowed inside the park which features 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 hosts the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the theme park is housed under a massive triangular red roof on the $40-billion Yas Island development.
Ferrari World spreads about 86 000m², while the red roof bearing the world's largest logo of Ferrari's prancing horse stretches about 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 240 kilometres per hour.
Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates capital, hopes the park will help to draw tourists from around the globe along with several other ambitious projects including state-of-the-art branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums.
British tuner Oakley, better known for their unique Porsches, will unveil a production version of their special Ferrari 458 Italia during this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas. The car will be featured in HRE booth, which is relevant becasue it actually has HRE lightweight, high-strength custom forged alloys wheels, specially made for the 458.
Oakley’s 458 also sports a distinctive aero kit with a front spoiler (ugly) a rear spoiler (magnificent) which both add a considerable amount of downforce at high speed, while the airflow is improved with the central radiator vent, radiator exhausts next to the headlights, stylized side sills, and new rear and underbody diffuser.
All that aerodynamic tweaks are much needed becasue of what they’ve done to the engine. They’ve remapped ECU, a larger carbon-fiber air intake box, larger ram air feeds and larger diameter white silicon pipes with Oakley Design logos connecting the air boxes to the intake.
The result of that is ten percent more power, from 562hp to 618hp and five percent more torque from 540 Nm to 567 Nm, and the result of that is 0.4-second improvement in 0 to 60 acceleration and top speed of 330 km/h.
US magazine Car&Driver released a new great video, a comparison test between Ferrari 599 with the optional HGTE handling package and the Lexus LF-A. Both cars have similar performance but the Lexus, being more exclusive and all, is more expensive. Now, that’s kinda funny becasue between these two if you pay more you will end up with the worse badge! So the LF-A must be extraordinarily good to drive, so it can justify its insane price tag. But is it? Watch this video, you may find the answer!
