The starting gate of the ski world championships - designed by Audi
Ingolstadt, Germany (ots)
The alpine skiing circus gets a new outfit: the design department of AUDI AG has newly designed the starting gate and the exit gate for the Alpine Ski World Championships in St. Moritz, February 1st till 16th, 2003. During the opening celebration of the Ski World Championships on Saturday, February 1st, the starting gate "designed by Audi" will be shown in public for the first time.
The clear lines and the dynamic design clearly make the newly designed starting gate stand out as a product from Audi. Similar to the aluminium frame structure of the Audi Space Frame, like it is being used in the new Audi A8, the flag ship of the Audi car range, the Audi starting gate has been made of an aluminium corset that has been panelled all around with aluminium sheets. The sides have been covered with printed, yet transparent plastic sheets, so that they allow a view on the ski racers inside while they are getting ready for the start. The basic dimensions of the Audi starting gate are four by six metres and at its highest point it is 3.80 metres high.
The Audi designers were faced with a challenging task in the new design. The Audi starting gate could not become too heavy, because it has to be pre-fabricated for a major part in the valley and it is then being flown up the hill by helicopter. The Audi starting gate can be taken apart completely within one hour, but at the same time it is so stable that it can withstand the extreme weather conditions of the alpine areas.
The design language at the Ski World Championships is unified: corresponding to the Audi starting gate, Audi Design also designed the exit gate by which the ski racers are leaving the finish area, like a kind of triumph arch for the athletes. The basis size is three by three metres, with a height of three metres.
Comprehensive image material from the initial sketches, the subsequent computer models up to the ready-to-use starting gate can be found in the Audi sport press database on the internet:
www.audi-sportpress.com/special, user: Audi, password: start.
The images are under embargo until Saturday, February 1st, 2003, 18.00 h.
ots Original Text Service: Audi AG
Communication: Corporate and Finance Joachim Cordshagen, Telefon: +49 (0)841 89 36340 E-Mail: joachim.cordshagen@audi.de
Lifestyle Larissa Braun, Telefon: +49 (0)841 89 36066 E-Mail: larissa.braun@audi.de
Original content of: Audi AG, transmitted by news aktuell