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Imagineering

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The Making of Cars Race Rally.

Every Disney theme park dream begins at the exact same place: Walt Disney Imagineering.  The true dream factory of the world of Disney, the Imagineers have been responsible for each and every groundbreaking, magical at Disney parks since the very first Disneyland opened in 1955.

With Cars Race Rally, they return to a concept first premiered on Disneyland's opening day - the classic tea cups - and (quite literally) put a brand new spin on it.  With its detailed Radiator Springs environment, heavy focus on child-friendly fun and a lot of unique atmosphere in a relatively small space, Cars Race Rally has already been applauded as a successsful and very well "Imagineered" addition to the park.

And so here we celebrate the art, design and creation of Cars Race Rally...

Concept Art

This is the full collection of Cars Race Rally concept art as released, annotated with its release date, artist and additional notes about each concept.  The pieces have been listed in as close to chronological order as possible, with early ideas first and final designs last.  General concept art for the land is included throughout.

ImageToon Studio - General Concept 1

Artist: Jim Shull, November 2004

Released: 17th January 2005, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts presentation

The very first piece of concept art for the new Toon Studio area shows nothing of Cars Race Rally at all - up to this point, an attraction from 'A Bug's Land' at Disney's California Adventure park was still pencilled in to fill the area.

ImageToon Studio - General Concept 2

Released: 11th February 2005, Walt Disney Company Annual General Meeting

Just one month after the initial concept art was released, this second version places Cars Race Rally in its final position, but appears to feature a ride system based on Aquatopia at Tokyo DisneySea park. The Wheel Well Motel can perhaps be seen in the desert rocks, whilst the side of Art of Disney Animation appears to host a giant drive-in theater screen. The concept also shows early proposed enhancements to Animation Courtyard.

ImageDoc Hudson Concepts 1 & 2

Released: 10th September 2005, Disney Celebration Evening

The following series of concepts were shown at the fan event in September 2005 to give a ride-through perspective of the new attraction. They show the original concept of 'Doc Hudson's Desert School of Driving', here seen from outside the attraction.

ImageDoc Hudson Concepts 3 & 4

Released: 10th September 2005, Disney Celebration Evening

Inside the proposed waiting line with Luigi's Leaning Tower of Tires in a covered industrial area, then looking across to Crush's Coaster through windows in the building.

ImageDoc Hudson Concept 5

Released: 10th September 2005, Disney Celebration Evening

On-board the attraction, with guests riding in vehicles themed directly to characters from the film, such as Doc Hudson and Sally. The concepts appear to show a ride system similar to that of Aquatopia at Tokyo DisneySea (vehicles following a pre-definited radio-controlled path without track) or Autopia (vehicles driven along track by guests).

ImageDoc Hudson Concept 6

Released: 10th September 2005, Disney Celebration Evening

Guests speed by Sheriff in their Doc Hudson vehicle. The system of Aquatopia allows the vehicles to come within centimetres of hitting props and other vehicles with its local GPS tracking system. Ultimately, however, it was never confirmed if this ride system was originally considered or whether these concepts were created solely for story purposes.

ImageDoc Hudson Concept 7

Released: 10th September 2005, Disney Celebration Evening

The final concept in this set shows the attraction closest to its final form, with guests appearing to be spun around at speed whilst on-board the vehicles.

ImageRadiator Springs Spinout Concept 1

Artist: Jim Shull

Released: 10th September 2005, Disney Celebration Evening

Also shown at the event were two very colourful concepts more similar to the attraction's final design of two interchanging turntables and spinning vehicles. This first in particular is far more colourful than the final design, with strong primary colours and green cones from Salley's Cozy Cone motel.

ImageRadiator Springs Spinout Concept 2

Artist: Jim Shull

Released: 10th September 2005, Disney Celebration Evening

A view at ride-level, showing the vehicles to be based on Lightning McQueen, Doc Hudson and, curiously, a yellow Sally. The Radiator Cap rock formation can be seen in the background. As the concept evolved further, this was replaced with the sharper Willy's Butte.

ImageToon Studio - General Concept 3

Artist: Christian Hope

Released: 21st February 2007, Euro Disney SCA Shareholders AGM

This early concept art shows the entire Animation Courtyard/Toon Studio area, designed to highlight the improvements to the existing land as well as the new attractions. The design of Cars here appears to be based on the two concepts above, with the queue buildings connected to Art of Disney Animation and large green traffic cones featured near the entrance.

ImageRadiator Springs Spinout Overview Concept

Released: 10th September 2005, Disney Celebration Evening

Finally, the closest concept to the final design shown at the September 2005 fan evening, with the correct waiting line building, Flo's V8 Café boarding area and canyon ride area. The exterior themeing around the entrance has since changed, whilst this concept also shows the Radiator Cap rather than Willy's Butte. For the first time the storefronts of the building can be seen, although Italian Casa Della Tires later moved to the far right.

ImageToon Studio - General Concept 4

Artist: Christian Hope

Released: 30th September 2006, Toon Studio construction walls

This is the key final concept art for the new Toon Studio area. It shows Route 66, the circular entrance building, Flo's boarding area, the two pairs of turntables and gives a fairly accurate concept view of the surrounding desert themeing. This concept also adds the large neon 'Cars' logo atop the building, plus Lightning McQueen and Mater next to the entrance. (Close-Up 1) (Close-Up 2)

ImageCars Road Rally Racers Concept

Artist: Jim Shull

Released: March 2007, Disneyland15.com preview video

This concept, which shows the attraction fairly close to its final form compared to other concept art, shows the canyon race area, the gas station canopy and the circular entrance building. Notice the attraction is here named 'Cars Road Rally Racers', features the Dinoco dinosaur on the gas station roof and uses an alternate rock formation - the Radiator Cap (as seen towering behind Radiator Springs in the film) rather than Willy's Butte. Lightning McQueen, Doc Hudson and Sally are featured as the ride vehicles.

ImageLuigi Replica Concept Plans (videocap)

Released: March 2007, Disneyland15.com preview video

A videocap showing the plans for the life-size sculpt of Luigi that sits inside the Casa Della Tires set as a guest photo location, part of the queue buildings of the attraction.

ImageCars Race Rally Entrance Concept (videocap)

Released: March 2007, Disneyland15.com preview video

A videocap showing the rare final concept art for the entrance to Cars Race Rally. Notice the Cars neon logo, the tiles covering the circular building, the brown Cast Member shelter, the Radiator Springs buildings and wall to the right, the 'V8 Café' sign, and a large backdrop of the famous jagged rocks from the film.

Concept Models

Concept art can give the feel and atmosphere of an Imagineering project, but when the time comes to test the blue sky idea in reality, the Concept Model allows the designers to see the attraction in full 3D. For Cars Race Rally, this allowed the Imagineers to ensure they got the queue layout and vehicle design of the brand new attraction just right...

ImageCars Queue Buildings Maquette (videocap)

Released: April 2007, Disneyland15.com preview video

The entire series of queue buildings were constructed as a miniature maquette, helping Imagineers to map out in 3D the location of every theme detail, poster and prop in this detailed area. Notice that even the smallest props and license plate decorations were planned in detail in advance.

ImageCars Vehicle Maquette (videocap)

Released: March 2007, Disneyland15.com preview video

A videocap showing a miniature maquette for one of the Cars Race Rally vehicles.

Layout Plans

Layout plans, diagrams and blueprints are, of course, the foundation of the final attraction design to be built in the park. They also give a sense of how the attraction will fit into its surroundings and the exact layout of the exterior, waiting line and ride area.

ImageEarly Toon Studio attractions plan (videocap)

Released: 10th September 2005, Disney Celebration Evening

This early layout plan was shown at the fan event in September 2005, showing the location of the two major new Toon Studio attractions.  The exterior design of Crush's Coaster later changed quite substantially, whilst Cars Race Rally itself for some reason appears slightly smaller than would be expected.

Logos

Both for advertising outside the park and recognisable signage around the attraction, the art design of logos has long been an important step in the Imagineering process. As with many new attractions at Disneyland Resort Paris, Cars Race Rally has more than one logo and the attraction's name has been altered for different international audiences. The official in-park name is infact in French: 'Cars Quatre Roues Rallye', and is featured at the entrance of the attraction with both a glowing 'Cars' logo atop the building and bright blue customised neons for the words 'Quatre Roues Rallye'

ImageCars Race Rally logo

Released: 10th July 2006, Disneyland Resort Paris marketing release

The original Cars Race Rally logo, using the logo of the film with the added subtitle in modern type. Both logos have also been seen in a slightly altered design placing the sub-title above the actual 'Cars' logo, which then led to some guests reading the signage as "Race Rally Cars"...

ImageCars Quatre Roues Rallye logo

Released: 26th July 2006, Disneyland Resort Paris marketing release

The original French Cars Quatre Roues Rallye logo.  Both logos have subsequently been altered on advertising material to place the subtitle (Race Rally/Quatre Roues Rallye) above the Cars logo, rather than below it.

Advertising Visuals

Disney always looks to make its new attractions look more interesting and marketable than before, and so concept art has now largely become disused in the mainstream advertising of new additions. Instead, the marketing teams create key visuals and supporting visuals to give a strong sense of what the new attraction entails, whilst including as many characters and as much visual interest as possible, following all the design conventions of a movie poster, for example. This area of publicity for upcoming Imagineering creations also includes park maps and resort maps.

ImageCars Quatre Roues Rallye Key Visual (Vertical)

Released: 12th September 2006, Disneyland Resort Paris marketing release

The Cars Race Rally marketing key visual, with added text and the French logo. It gives little away about the actual attraction, instead placing Lightning McQueen upfront with more members of the Cars cast behind him.  The billboard behind shows Sleeping Beauty Castle, rather than a Walt Disney Studios symbol.

Image2007 Resort Map

Artist: Walt Disney Parks & Resorts

Released: November 2006, Official 15th Anniversary Brochure

The 2007 resort map adds Toon Studio to the featured park locations and makes sure to exaggerate its size to highlight the new attractions. Two turntables, some desert rocks and the circular entrance building of Cars Race Rally are shown, with the vehicles taking a bright rainbow of colours.

Publicity 'Making Of' Photos

Disney always documents the creation of its new attractions with incredible dedication, collecting concept art, models, construction milestones and more to archive the history and expansion of its parks. When Cars Race Rally began to near completion, some of these photos and videos collected during the design and construction were released online and to the press to help build anticipation for the new attraction and its new Toon Studio area. This is a Disney tradition, but not usually with quite so much insight to the behind-the-scenes creative process.

ImageBackstage: Sculpting Luigi (1)

Released: 29th January 2007, Disneyland Resort Paris press release

A glimpse backstage at an Imagineer sculpting the life-size Luigi now located at the Luigi's Casa Della Tires photo location.

ImageBackstage: Sculpting Luigi (2)

Released: 29th January 2007, Disneyland Resort Paris press release

A close-up look at the intricate detail of the sculpting process, here the mouth and original badge of this 1959 Fiat 500 model are given an extra finishing touch in front of the cameras.

ImageBackstage: Sculpting the ride vehicles (1) (videocap)

Released: May 2007, Disneyland15.com blog video

Similar to the sculpting of Luigi, these stills from a short video posted on Disneyland15.com show the sculpting of a mould for one of the actual ride vehicles, being sanded down by hand to give the best final effect.

ImageBackstage: Sculpting the ride vehicles (1) (videocap)

Released: May 2007, Disneyland15.com blog video

Details of the wheel/tire area and the details on the side of the vehicle.  Each of the three different designs features various elements from popular cars which would have been seen on Route 66 in its heydey, revived for these new rookie racers.

ImageInstalling of the ride vehicles

Released: May 2007, Disneyland Resort Paris press release

The completed vehicles were then transported from Zamperla's workshops in Italy to Marne-la-Vallée, and installed one-by-one onto their turntable bases - first lowered by a small crane and team of workers, then installed and fixed into place by Imagineers and Zamperla engineers.

ImageMore Installing of the ride vehicles (1) (videocap)

Released: May 2007, Disneyland15.com blog video

These stills are from a video filmed to document the installation, showing the precise lowering of the first red vehicle into the canyon environment.

ImageMore Installing of the ride vehicles (2) (videocap)

Released: May 2007, Disneyland15.com blog video

Construction workers assist Zamperla engineers in installing their ride system, as Walt Disney Imagineers (in gold construction helmets) watch the work as their designs are completed before their eyes. The second car to be installed is blue.

Cars Race Rally :: In BriefFull GuideImagineeringConstruction Timeline