The world's press and a galaxy of VIP guests were invited to the bash on a private island off the coast of Bahrain. Oil lamps lit the way down a kilometre of carpet to the venue where everything Arabia is famous for was on show.
A Gearhouse team was in charge of technical production, and their producer, David Plail, brought in Vertigo Rigging to stage the dazzling entrance of a Red Bull Racing car and a Scuderia Toro Rosso machine, which swept through the air on hidden wires to arrive on stage as if on a magic carpet.
Vertigo was briefed to fly and track the two replica Formula 1 cars - each weighing 400kg - diagonally down stage in three dimensions - raised, lowered and twisted using a CyberHoist / InMotion 3D system.
With the CyberHoist motors hidden discretely upstage behind Starcloth, each car was flown, using special elongated wheel nuts, from four CyberHoists, suspended from Gearhouse's self-climbing ground support structure and a Gerriets Joker Track. Two more CyberHoists per car provided the horizontal tracking using pulley blocks.A dual-G5 InMotion 3D control system handled the movements.
A team from Vertigo including projects managers Tim Roberts & Claudia Connelly, whilst Paddy Burnside and his team of four rigged and programmed the system, which achieved full 3D tilting and tracking of both cars and millimetre accuracy.
David Coulthard's team-mate Christian Klien observed: "As usual with Red Bull, everything about the venue and party is fantastic." The event was given the official seal of approval by the presence of FIA president Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone.
