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WATCH: New Flying Aces rollercoaster opens at Ferrari World

Abu Dhabi - "This is what we mean by zero gravity, the same thing that astronauts experience in space," smiled one of the supervisors of this new world record-breaking rollercoaster.

The one second before the drop feels like an eternity. You hold your breath and grab on to the sides of your seat so tight that your palm sweat! A quick glimpse down is enough to comprehend you are over 50 meters off the ground. A split second later you drop. It feels like free falling, as if your body is suspended in the air, as if the gravity has disappeared.
"This is what we mean by zero gravity, the same thing that astronauts experience in space," smiled one of the supervisors of this new world record-breaking rollercoaster.

Flying Aces, the latest rollercoaster launched by Ferrari World last Wednesday (24.02), has not one, but 10 zero gravity moments during its 135 seconds ride. It also breaks three new world records for world's tallest non-inverted loop, steepest and fastest inclined cable lift for a steel rollercoaster.
"It is the newest, most thrilling, most dynamic rollercoaster! It represents the latest evolution of speed and innovation," said Jesse Vargas, general manager of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi.
To reach the world's tallest 52 meters high loop, equal to a 17 floors building, there is a cable lift climb, inclined at 51 degrees that accelerates to 30 kilometres per hour.
There are also two thrilling inversions and five extreme twists and turns, with the ride reaching 120 kilometres per hour along its 1.5 kilometres track.
Designed and built by Intamim Amusement Rides especially for Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Flying Aces' construction required 1.5 million man-hours. It consists of 165 tracks and 200 columns that needed over 1400 tons of steel. Its 63 meters high lift is supported by two columns only, which is considered a rollercoaster breakthrough in terms of architecture and design.
All Flying Aces "movements" are inspired by the flight of a bi-plane, an aircraft with two sets of wings placed one on top of the other. First flown in the early 1900s, bi-planes became notorious during World War I, but by the end of it they reached the end of their limits and were replaced with more performant mono wings planes.
Nowadays, bi-planes only take to the skies during air shows and for show purposes only, during the Flying Aces launch, a bi-plane was racing against a Ferrari. Not surprisingly, the Ferrari won!
"You might wonder what a bi-plane has to do with Ferrari? Everything," pointed out Vargas.
"Flying Aces is inspired by Italy's 'ace of aces', Count Francesco Baracca, a famous Italian aviator from the 1900s, who painted the prancing horse, which later became the Ferrari emblem, on his bi-plane during World War I," he explained.
Baracca's mother was a big fan of Enzo Ferrari when he has just begun his racing career and later on she asked Enzo to put her son's prancing horse logo on his car to bring him luck, just as it did for her son.
This story that tells the history of the Ferrari emblem is well detailed in the queue line for the Flying Aces ride.
Just as with its other world record breaker rollercoaster, Formula Rossa, which reaches 240 kilometres per hour speed, Flying Aces is expected to attract queues of up to 600 people during peak holiday days.
silvia@khaleejtimes.com