Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[VIDEO: Formula for Safety? Abu Dhabi Police unveil the F999]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/26/video-formula-for-safety-abu-dhabi-police-unveil-the-f999/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/26/video-formula-for-safety-abu-dhabi-police-unveil-the-f999/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/26/video-formula-for-safety-abu-dhabi-police-unveil-the-f999/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


Abu Dhabi Police F999 - Click above to watch the video after the jump

Wednesday evening before the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last month, crowds gathered along the Corniche, Abu Dhabi's seafront boulevard. Two police cars sped down the road, swerved to a stop, an officer got out, pulled out his gun and began opening fire at a masked man pulling a checkered flag off a formula racing car. A driver climbed into the cockpit and drove off down the closed-off street to the applause of the gathered crowd as a marching band played on and a helicopter flew overhead. The point? Why, to promote road safety, of course!

The F999 - a formula racer decked out with emergency lights on the rear wing and police livery - is a project of the Abu Dhabi Police, and could very well be the fastest police car the world has ever seen. It's part of a public awareness campaign that sought to capitalize on the fever that swept the gulf emirate leading up to its first F1 race. The F999 is only the most recent in a slew of special police vehicles in the emirate that has recently included a police-spec Nissan GT-R, Chevrolet Camaro and a customer chopper, to name just a few. It's Abu Dhabi's way of getting people excited about road safety, and while it may seem counterintuitive to the rest of us, it's certainly garnered its fair share of attention. Follow the jump to watch video footage of the F999's unveiling and read more in the press release. Thanks for the tip, Ali!

[Source: Abu Dhabi Police]

Continue reading VIDEO: Formula for Safety? Abu Dhabi Police unveil the F999

VIDEO: Formula for Safety? Abu Dhabi Police unveil the F999 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ferrari World Abu Dhabi - Click above for high-res image gallery

Television coverage of Formula One grands prix typically end with an aerial shot of the podium and the fans beneath it, a panorama usually dominated by the tifosi passing a giant Scuderia Ferrari flag over the crowd. That view may have been largely absent with the void of Ferrari victories this season, but if you were watching the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this past weekend you might have noticed something even bigger: the site of Ferrari World, the new theme park being constructed adjacent to the marina circuit on Yas Island.

The park can easily be picked out from the air, housed in a giant red roof that sports a 200-foot-tall Ferrari logo, the largest ever made. With doors set to open in the new year, details are now being released while work is underway on the attractions that will be included in the 200,000 square meters (over two million square feet) of indoor space dedicated to the park.

Among the 20+ rides that will be housed in the largest indoor park on earth will be the world's fastest roller coaster, a g-force drop tower breaching the 150-foot-high red steel roof to extend over 200 feet into the sky, racing simulators, karting and a flume ride through a giant Ferrari engine. Of course there will be plenty of hospitality and shopping to go along with the rides, more of which you can read about in the press release after the jump.


Gallery: Ferrari World Abu Dhabi


[Source: Ferrari World Abu Dhabi]

Continue reading Ferrari World Abu Dhabi gears up for grand opening in 2010

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi gears up for grand opening in 2010 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Click above for high-res image gallery

Les jeux sont faits. The line signifies the last call for bets at a casino, and is all too familiar to racing fans visiting Monte Carlo for the annual Monaco Grand Prix. But these days the Mediterranean principality isn't the only place that features state-of-the-art Formula One race cars speeding past casinos. Nor is it the only exotic locale anymore that stages an F1 grand prix around a marina, for that matter. Over the past couple of years, Valencia and Singapore became two of the newest circuits that incorporate trackside docking for mega-yachts alongside wheel-to-wheel action, and this year Abu Dhabi joined the fold with the much-hyped Yas Marina Circuit. But by the time the F1 circus sailed in to the Gulf emirate for the last round of the 2009 Formula One World Championship, the titles were already settled and the champions already crowned.

With the major plays already made, some might have dismissed the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as insignificant. Indeed, if Bernie Ecclestone had his way with his proposed olympic-style medal system, the race might have been canceled altogether. But if you ask us, removing the title chase from racing boils motorsport competition down to its essence, all eyes focused purely on the checkered flag instead of scoring points in the larger context of the championship. And if anything, the action on Yas Island only proved the point. Follow the jump to read how it unfolded.


Gallery: 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Continue reading SPOILER ALERT: 2009 Formula 1 season wraps up with a bang at inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

SPOILER ALERT: 2009 Formula 1 season wraps up with a bang at inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seatbelts have been spun as fashion items before, but not like this. In an effort to counteract the low take-rate of seatbelts in the United Arab Emirates, the Salama Road Safety Public Awareness Initiative will be launching soon. The initiative will adorn the potential life savers with haute couture logos like Gucci, as well as the logos of sports teams, flags, and so on as a way to make buckling up suddenly hip to young motorists.

Abu Dhabi's Health Authority (HAAD) cites figures that it can entice more than the current 11% of Emiratis to click the buckle if it appeals to the citizens senses of pride or style. Peer pressure to avoid belts was also cited by respondents to the HAAD's as a reason for not belting. The idea may not work, but it's worth a shot to flip the script on the fashion conscious and turn seatbelts from lame to haute couture.

[Source:Arabian Business via Luxist; Source Image: Zumiez]

UAE attempts to make seatbelts more fashionable in order to encourage use originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang edition - Click above for a hi-res gallery
When Bugatti rolled out the limited-edition Pur Sang edition of its Veyron at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, European customers snapped up all five before any American buyers could get their checkbooks out. As a result, Bugatti had to make the Sang Noir the following year and offer U.S. customers first crack at the limited run of fifteen. But for those who really wanted the original polished-aluminum and bare-carbon-fiber edition that kicked off the raft of special-edition Veyrons that followed, they may get that chance as one appears to have popped up for sale.

A premium car dealership in Abu Dhabi has posted an example of the Pur Sang for sale on its website. In all likelihood, this is the same example that was spotted on video a year ago and which showed up for the Top Gear photo shoot in good company a few months later. No word on price, or even confirmation that this is, indeed, a Pur Sang, but the website does allow you to place the order immediately. And if that doesn't tickle your fancy, they've got a Mansory Vincero up for grabs, too. Follow the link to check it out.


Gallery: Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang for sale in Abu Dhabi


[Source: Prestige Cars via CarScoop]

Super-rare Supercar: Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang for sale in Abu Dhabi originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Abu Dhabi is scheduled to hold its first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix on November 11 of this year. Due to tight capital, though, it is being reported that the event's organizers are behind on the building schedule for the race track and new support hotels. If that race gets replaced, rumor has it that Montreal will be asked to step up. Montreal would certainly get our sympathy vote -- the city's grand prix site still features a timer that is busy counting down to nothing...

For his part, Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay has been speaking to Bernie Ecclestone about bringing F1 back to Montreal in 2010, and Quebec's gem could be slotted into an October space to substitute for the Middle Eastern race. Tremblay said he doesn't want to consider a one-off event, he wants a long term contract that brings F1 conclusively back to Montreal. Thanks for the tip, Pat.

[Source: F1 Live]

Rumormill: Montreal GP could be back as soon as this year originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HUMMER H2 Convertible

"Hello, Abu Dhabi? Yeah, this is Taste. I'm outta here." Well, you can't really blame Taste now can you? There's only so much abuse a sense can take, and the motorists of Abu Dhabi - the same gulf emirate that ordered up the gold-plated Rolls-Royce - have taken things one step too far. Several, actually.

Your eyes do not deceive you, and this is not available for rent to drive your kids to their homecoming. This custom HUMMER H2 convertible was spotted at the Emirates Palace Hotel, a location whose overdeveloped sense of opulence is rivaled only by the horrid monstrosity parked in front.

A topless HUMMER? Okay, the original H1 was available without a roof, but not with a seven-seat, red leather interior, a matching tribal pattern paint job, blistered wheel arches housing chrome wheels and what appears to be a hood scoop packed with a row of driving lights. You know, just in case someone could have missed this tooling around the streets of Abu Dhabi at night.

Gallery: HUMMER H2 Convertible


[Source: gtspirit.com via World Car Fans]

Continue reading Tattooed, chopped HUMMER H2 convertible spotted in - yep - Abu Dhabi

Tattooed, chopped HUMMER H2 convertible spotted in - yep - Abu Dhabi originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 07 Feb 2009 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Click above for high-res gallery of the Abu Dhabi F1 track

The last round of the Formula One Grand Prix has in recent years been held in Brazil. Next year's provisional calendar makes Brazil the penultimate round, and puts the final race in Abu Dhabi at the country's brand new track. The F1 circus runners got a chance to see the track where next year's championship will be decided (cross fingers), and as one might expect from something out of the Middle East, it's got everything and then some.

Designed by the man who created the Bahrain, Sepang and Valencia tracks, the Abu Dhabi circuit gets a course that runs through a hotel, a pit lane that runs under the track, and boasts 20 turns. Around the track will also be Ferrari World, the Yas Island Marina, a water park and sports facilities. All of that is fantastic, but we want the one thing we haven't heard about yet and that we didn't get from the new tracks in Valencia and Singapore: passing. Check out the galley of high-res images below and see if you think that enormous back straight will do the trick.

Gallery: Abu Dhabi Formua 1 Circuit


[Source: F1 Fanatic]

Abu Dhabi F1 track has everything but loopdy loops originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Click to view the RR Phantom Peony edition in hi-res

Wealthy customers in the United Arab Emirates seem to have a penchant for special editions of the most expensive luxury saloons. As if it wasn't enough to get the Maybach Landaulet revealed right there on their home turn, one Arabian customer recently ordered a custom gilded Rolls-Royce Drophead. Now Rolls-Royce has followed up with a special edition of its Phantom limousine targeted specifically for the UAE.

Called the Peony edition, the bespoke Phantom borrows its name from the indigenous Asian flower that symbolizes royality in ancient Oriental culture. The car features a special two-tone pearl blue exterior and Seashell interior, emblazoned with the peony floral motif. It even comes with a complementary bottle of perfume specially crafted by Emirate fragrance specialist HIND. The special edition was created by the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Program, which does the bulk of its business with Middle Eastern customers. No word on how many will be built or how much it costs, but if there was ever a case of "if you have to ask, you can't afford it", this is it.

Gallery: Rolls-Royce Phantom Peony Edition


[Source: Motor Authority]

Rolls-Royce creates special Peony edition Phantom for UAE originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After the numerous reports we've brought you about the wealth of Bugatti Veyrons to be found in the United Arab Emirates, it should hardly come as any big surprise that when Top Gear magazine turned up in the capital Abu Dhabi, it had no trouble finding one for a photo shoot. In fact it didn't find just one, but three examples of the million-dollar supercar, with reclusive owners willing to hand over the keys to the British magazine.

Nor were these any run-of-the-mill Veyrons, either. Any true gearhead would know that the Veyron typically comes in two-tone paintjobs, but a few have left the factory in Molsheim with monotone tints, like the all-red example we reported on previously. That one, or one just like it, was one of the vehicles which the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority tracked down for TG, along with an all-white example and the extremely exclusive Pur Sang bare-aluminum-and-carbon edition spotted in the emirate previously. It's not every day that you see three Veyrons in the same place - let alone together with The Stig and, reportedly, a Koenigsegg CCX as well - but if it were to happen anywhere, the UAE seems to be the place. Thanks to all who tipped in!

[Source: PassatWorld]

Goodness Gracious: Top Gear magazine asks for a Veyron, gets three instead originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 May 2008 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's a testament to car culture in general that an automaker believes it can build a theme park based on its brand and that people will come. Ferrari is one of the few names with enough draw to make such a venture work, and Abu Dhabi is perhaps the only place in the world with enough real estate and wealthy patrons to keep it running. Hence the Ferrari theme park, which we've spoken of at length in years past, has laid the first brick of construction on the 2,500-acre Yas Island it will call home. Yesterday a "Foundation Stone Ceremony" was held on the site where a time capsule was buried containing a connecting rod and piston from the 2007 F1 World Champion Ferrari car, as well as the first rendering of the theme park that was commissioned.

For those who think Ferrari merely sold its brand to a construction company that will paint some old Disney rides Rossa Red, consider that Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was on hand at the ceremony yesterday to press the flesh with fellow investors. Aside from being a theme park with various sorts of Ferrari-themed entertainment to enjoy (we call front car on the Enzo Coaster!), the facility will have its very own circuit built right in its center that will host driving schools, as well as the first Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix in 2009.

Thanks for the tip, Marc!

[Source: Ferrari]

Gallery: Ferrari Foundation Stone Ceremony

Continue reading Ferrari theme park lays the first stone... and it's red

Ferrari theme park lays the first stone... and it's red originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's not scheduled to open before 2009, but we're already looking at flights to Abu Dhabi. (Yes, Abu Dhabi, that obscure place Garfield used to send Odie to.) Why? Well, because of a little project underway that'll do a lot to put the place on the map. The project we're talking about is Ferrari World, the high-octane theme park currently under construction in the small gulf emirate. We've reported on the project previously, but new reports suggest the park could now include a world-class F1-spec race track.

The circuit would accompany Ferrari World along with beaches, night clubs, restaurants, high-end stores, luxury hotels, premium condos, golf courses, two marinas, a polo field and equestrian facilities (for those other prancing horses), all on a 6000-acre plot on Yas Island, the largest isle in Abu Dhabi. The park will be linked by a ten-lane highway to the newly-expanded Abu Dhabi International Airport, facilitating the hoards of tourists the oil-rich royal family is anticipating will flock to this new destination.

Don't read too much into the addition of the racing circuit to the plans. While lower-rung racing events (touring cars, GP2, Champ Cars) could be held there, Bahrain has a multi-year deal with F1 Management for the only grand prix in the region (Turkey notwithstanding). When that contract expires, we wouldn't be too surprised if Abu Dhabi put in a serious competing bid. The royal family's business front, Mubadala Development Company, owns significant interest in two F1 teams: Ferrari (5%) and Spyker (17%).

[Source: GrandPrix.com]

F1 circuit to join Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Jan 2007 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>abu dhabiAbuDhabicircuitf1ferrariislandracetrackworldyasThu, 18 Jan 2007 07:02:00 EST<![CDATA[Fiat confirms buyback of Ferrari shares]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/05/23/fiat-confirms-buyback-of-ferrari-shares/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/05/23/fiat-confirms-buyback-of-ferrari-shares/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/05/23/fiat-confirms-buyback-of-ferrari-shares/#commentsFiled under:

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has confirmed that Fiat intends to exercise its option to repurchase most of the Ferrari stake it sold in 2002 to a consortium of banks led by Mediobanca.

Fiat originally sold 34 percent of Ferrari to the consortium, which in turn sold a 5 percent stake in 2005 to an investment company backed by the government of Abu Dhabi. Fiat will repurchase the remaining 29 percent still held by the banks, apparently allowing the Abu Dhabi group to remain a Ferrari stakeholder.

The buyback plan will up Fiat's controlling interest in Ferrari to 85 percent.

[Source: Italiaspeed]

Fiat confirms buyback of Ferrari shares originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 23 May 2006 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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