Ferrari's Formula One drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, and the team principal, Stefano Domenicali, center, sit in a Ferrari Rossa roller coaster car at the Spanish Grand Prix last week.

Last month, Ferrari’s 599XX, a racecar derived from the stunning 599, lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany in less than seven minutes. At the same time, the 599 GTO made its debut as the brand’s fastest production car ever.

Last week, those two wild horses welcomed a new stablemate, the Formula Rossa roller coaster. It was bred not in the foothills of Maranello, Italy, but in the Arabian desert.

According to Ferrari, the ride moves from zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just two seconds. It also inflicts 1.7 g’s of lateral acceleration through 70-degree corners and tops out at nearly 150 mph (241 km/h), sufficient numbers to take away world’s-fastest-coaster bragging rights from Kingda Ka, the marquee thrill at Six Flags Great Adventure and Wild Safari in New Jersey.

Formula Rossa, designed by Jack Rouse Associates, is the latest attraction at Ferrari World, the multibillion-dollar theme park, heritage museum and resort amalgam opening this fall on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island.

“The idea is to bring the sensation to people of what a Formula One driver is experiencing,” said Ferrari World’s general manager, Claus Frimand, in a video on the Ferrari World Web site.

Formula One racing is central to the ride’s concept. Ferrari emphasized that connection by introducing the roller coaster’s train during last weekend’s grand prix at Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya, outside Barcelona, with its two drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. However, where their cars only accommodate one person, the coaster seats eight.

Park visitors are propelled from an air-conditioned loading area to the desert beyond via a 20,800-hp (15,500 kW) winch and reaches a maximum height in less than 5 seconds as it climbs out of the Ferrari World’s main dome roof.

Wayne Meadows, Ferrari World’s director of maintenance, said that passengers would be pulled along a launch area of 400 meters, “very similar in the way a carrier launches a jet aircraft.” Over the 1.3-mile (2.07 km) track, the coaster also tops a 171.6-foot (52 meters) rise and barrels through a series of sweepers.

The dramatic performance mandates certain precautions. Because of the speed and that Abu Dhabi is “subject to heavy sand and dust storms,” Mr. Meadows explained, Ferrari World “made the decision that all our guests will wear goggles.”

At Ferrari World, the roller coaster joins a side-by-side Ferrari F430 race simulator, a free-fall plunge and a flume ride that courses through the plumbing of a 599′s V-12 engine.

Ferrari World is scheduled to open to the public on October 28, ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which will run at the neighboring Yas Marina Circuit on November 14.

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Source: wheels.blogs.nytimes.com, stuff.co.nz and carmiddleeast.com

Porsche 911s and Nissan GT-Rs and Corvette ZR1s are very nice cars and quite quick around the Nurburgring Nordschleife. But the exclusive Ferrari 599XX, presented last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show, managed to travel the approximately12.4 miles (20.832 kilometer) Nordschleife (North Loop) circuit in just 6 minutes, 58.16 seconds, breaking the 7-minute barrier and making it the fastest derived car from a production model, traveling the “Green Hell.” That’s almost half-a-minute faster than the mighty Ferrari Enzo.

The 700 hp supercar, and almost $1.9 million has been conducted successfully by the one of the most experienced Ferrari test driver, Raffaele de Simone. To achieve this performance, the 599XX received a new traction control system and Actiflow System technology, which increases the aerodynamic down-force at high speeds.

However, the 599XX failed to rank in front of the Radical SR8, which drew 6 minutes and 48 seconds in 2009, but is built on the chassis of a racing model.

Check out the in-car video above from the lap. Enjoy.

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Source: wired.com and mibz.com