The Script

Welcome to the quant, outback town of Radiator Springs. A sleepy little settlement that's about to be woken up! Rev up your engines and get ready to put pedal to the metal! You're about to be let loose on the set of Pixar's Cars, a wild spin-out around the canyon that sees you bump into a few familiar faces along the way...

Production Guide

Fuel-up for fun and get in gear to join this roaring rally on the dusty desert track of Route 66 - sure to be the most gas-guzzling good time in the whole of Carburetor County!

As you step onto the cracked and ruptured asphalt of old Route 66, the garish designs and unmissable signs of Radiator Springs welcome you to the world of Cars. The route takes you past the race rally itself, which lies in the shadow of a huge billboard for Flo's V8 Café. Further along, at Doc Hudson's workshop, Mater and Lightning McQueen are waiting for you! They've parked out front to meet the new tourists in their sleepy township and are ready to rev you up for the Race Rally.

Entering the attraction, you're led through numerous corridors and rooms in the unusual collection of Radiator Springs buildings, before stepping out into a canopy-covered "backstage" area. The path then leads downwards into Flo's V8 Café itself, the popular drive-thru diner where the tire-squealing spinout begins...

Climb aboard your automobile volunteer from the Cars world, get in gear and put pedal to the metal! Soon enough, you're spinning wildly out of control around the dusty desert tracks, throwing up dirt behind you and gliding through handbrake turns and countless near-misses with the other madcap motorists! As you pull an impressive full spin, you switch tracks - into the path of the oncoming cars - and complete a full figure of eight!

At each corner of the track, famous faces from the film are waiting to cheer you on or taunt your driving skills. As the rocky desert landscape whizzes past and the canyon walls spiral around, your super-charged spinout hits the finish line, with seconds to spare!

Will you win the Race Rally? Whatever the outcome, enjoy the ride! You're about to experience an amazing journey into the world of Radiator Springs.

Production footnotes

The attraction will be a heavily customised, park version of Zamperla’s 'Destruction Derby' ride. Unlike normal versions of the ride, however, Cars Race Rally will feature two pairs of turntables, rather than just one. Walt Disney Imagineering have designed the attraction, with Zamperla credited as merely manufacturer. Zamperla have previously manufactured a huge number of Disney’s flat rides, such as Dumbo the Flying Elephant and Flying Carpets Over Agrabah nearby.

The ride area, with its two pairs of turntables, will lie 1 metre below ground level, with extra banked scenery behind it to give a full "canyon" effect. The Willy's Butte rock formation from the film will feature as key icon of the new area, whilst the queue is to be themed to the various well-known town buildings from the film.

Guests will not ride in vehicles based on key characters from the film but instead generic vehicles from the Cars universe, with all the expected facial features. This goes back to the original project idea of 'Doc Hudson's Desert School of Driving', with guests having to teach the rookie vehicles to "turn right to go left".

A "streetset" featuring well known buildings from Radiator Springs has been re-created to cover up the attraction's queue line and includes a photo location with Luigi and Guido in front of their tires store.

History

Previous project names have included "Doc Hudson’s Desert School of Driving", "Cars: Radiator Springs Spinout", and "Road Rally Racers". "Cars Race Rally" was announced as the official name through a page on the official Walt Disney Studios Park website in June 2006.

This is the third attraction of this type Disney have built in the world. Other examples are ‘Francis’ Lady Bug Boogie’ at Disney’s California Adventure and ‘The Whirlpool’ at Tokyo DisneySea. Both feature only one pair of turntables. Cars Race Rally, however, has been built in Italy and will use a revised ride system design to these two previous models.

The exact nature of the attraction was not confirmed for quite some time. Rumours persisted it could be a new version of Autopia or a land-based version of Tokyo DisneySea’s Aquatopia. Ultimately, the spinning turntable ride rumour broke through and was confirmed at a preview of the new attractions programme in September 2005.

Construction began 10th July 2006 with a huge pit dug for the turntable foundations.

Protective fences around the Lighting McQeen, Mater, Luigi and Guido statues were added shortly after the attraction opened to prevent guests from climbing on top of them.

Route 66 signs were added a couple of months after the attraction officially opened.

© WDS Fans