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THERE ARE MOTORHOMES AND THEN THERE IS A FERRARI MOTORHOME!

Ferrari has unveiled its new motorhome at the Spanish Grand Prix and, as would be expected from the world’s most successful motorsport team, about all that the Ferrari Motorhome shares in common with more normal motor homes is that (a) it’s a home and (b) it can move.

Consider a few statistics. For a start it is made from 35 tonnes of aluminium and another 12 tonnes of steel. Despite using the latest fibre optic technology to reduce wires, there are 50 kilometres of cables in it and it can hold 3000 litres of diesel fuel to run its generators. And what do those generators power? For a start no less than 27 giant LCD screens and a giant state of the art LCD screen. The paint job – Ferrari Scuderia Red, of course – took more than 1000 litres of paint. This massive motor home arrives as six vehicles and has a team of six crew and a manager to assemble and run the motor home. Indeed the three level structure is so large that a site inspection has to be carried out prior to delivery to ensure that the site is up to housing the Ferrari Motorhome!

But is it really a motor home?

Despite its high-technology forward facing image, the world of Formula 1 is not averse to embracing traditions and one of those traditions is that, even if they don't have wheels and are actually temporary buildings, the structures in the paddock used to house the team offices, hospitality and media facilities are still referred to as "motorhomes" and the people who work in them as "motorhomers."

Maybe because it has a longer tradition in the sport than any other team, Scuderia Ferrari stayed with the real motorhome vehicle for longer than most, but for this year, an entirely new unit has been built to replace the previous two double decker coach-based motorhomes used as the Ferrari media facility and the hospitality unit.
And another inevitable tradition is that these vehicles get to make their public debut at the first European race of the season, which is why the new Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro facility was seen for the first time at the Circuit de Catalunya at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix (13 May 2007). It is the only race of the year where the people who actually work in the paddock behave like tourists and spectators, looking in awe at the new creations that they will soon take for granted!
"We started talking about this vehicle two years ago and the instructions to actually proceed came at the end of 2005," said Jon Williams of Procar International, the company that has been providing vehicles for Ferrari for more than a decade. "Procar developed the concept which we took to the designer, Fran Cush at Sepang Design, who did all the styling and he has followed the project since its inception. The actual building began in April 2006, under the guidance of an Engineering Consultancy, Frazer Nash, who oversaw the engineering elements of the project, so the entire building of the structure alone has taken one year."
The impetus for the new unit came from the fact that Scuderia Ferrari wanted to upgrade its existing facilities while increasing the efficiency of its operation.

"The idea is to have an integrated unit to be more efficient in all areas; manpower, catering, audio visual, IT and communications and to house everything in one structure," confirms Williams. "The ground floor is dedicated to the media, which has a central dining and press conference area with three offices down the side in one module, for the press officer, a general office and a photographers' office. The upper deck is for team's guests, again with an open seating area in the middle and a VIP meeting room. Furthermore, we have a roof terrace that provides 360 degree viewing, accessible from stairs in the right hand module. It is a large structure that complies with the FOM regulations regarding paddock vehicles. The whole complex is 11.1 metres wide and 14 metres deep. Across the back is a service trailer containing a 7.5 metre long fully fitted catering kitchen. It also houses the generator, water, gas, air conditioning and other services. On top of this service trailer is another module housing a toilets and showers."
Efficiency of operation has also been the guiding principle behind the task of transporting and erecting the structure. Several paddock units belonging to other teams now take many days to build and require a lot of manpower. This is not the case with the Ferrari unit, as a company a renowned for its speed as Ferrari could not have anything with its name on it that was slow. Even a motor home.

“The structure is delivered to the race circuit on six vehicles, with seven staff on the operating crew, made up of six drivers and a manager," explains Williams. "It takes just one day to put up the basic structure, with a further day required to fit it out. It is a low manpower project so that it is more easily managed and that was part of the design brief from the very beginning. The interior design was carried out by Country Lab and its designer Francesco Carboncini. The unusual feature is that the structure is made up of large modules that weigh approximately eight tonnes. That's for the four main stacking modules, with the roof terrace weighing 5.5 tonnes and the service trailer is 22 tonnes. Erecting the structure requires an 80 tonne/metre crane to lift the modules and position them after a survey station goes on site first to check all the levels.”
The basic statistics are impressive: the construction of the unit has used 35 tons of aluminium, 12 tons of steel, 50 kilometres of electrical cable, 3000 litres of diesel fuel tankage and one thousand litres of paint. Just three fibres link all four main modules and these fibres carry all video, audio, data and telephony information. 28 screens including a state of the art LED screen are available for watching available broadcast channels.

(ENDS)

Picture Caption: Yes, that’s Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen watching the video about how to assemble Ferrari’s new Motorhome. Just in case they need something else to do alongside ‘the day job’!

For further information, please contact

Kevin Wall
/ Tel: +61 2 9701 8000
General Manager, European Automotive Imports / Fax: +61 2 9701 3555
Official Ferrari importer Australia & New Zealand / E:
Edward Rowe
/ Tel: +61 2 9701 8000
Public Relations Manager / Fax: +61 2 9701 3555
European Automotive Imports / Mob: +61 407 913 244
Official Ferrari importer Australia & New Zealand / E:
EUROPEAN AUTOMOTIVE IMPORTS PTY LTD
Street Address: Heritage Building, Campus Business Park, 350 Parramatta Road, Homebush NSW 2140 Australia.
Postal Address: Ateco Automotive Pty Ltd, Locked Bag 260, Silverwater, NSW 1811, Australia
A.B.N. 79 115 107 189
EAI Media web site: Australia: http://media.ateco.com.au/
New Zealand: http://media.ateco.co.nz/

Release Number: Ferrari_193

Date of Issue: 12 May 2007. Time of Issue: 16:55:11