| Every Imagineering creation begins life as an
idea or a simple sketch, but then, before it becomes a reality, the new
attraction is drawn, painted and designed down to the smallest detail. Here,
we celebrate the art, creation and design of Cars Race Rally, through
concepts and plans spanning several years… 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. |
 | General
Toon Studio 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. | |
 | General
Toon Studio 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. | |
 | Doc
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. | |
 | Doc
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. | |
 | Doc
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). | |
 | Doc
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. | |
 | Doc 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. | |
 | Radiator 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. | |
 | Radiator 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. | |
 | General Toon Studio 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. | |
 | Radiator 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 Caf� 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. | |
 | General Toon Studio Concept 4
(Close-Up 1)
(Close-Up 2) 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. | |
 | 2007 Resort Map Artist: Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Released: November 2006, Official 15th Anniversary Brochure The new 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. | |
 | Cars Road Rally Racers Concept Artist: Jim Shull Released: March 2007, Disneyland15.com preview video / WDSfans.com 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. | |
 | Luigi 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. | |
 | Cars Race Rally Entrance Concept (videocap) Released: March 2007, Disneyland15.com preview video A videocap showing the 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 Caf�’ 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 vehicle design of the brand new cars just right… |
 | Cars Vehicle Model 1 (videocap) Released: March 2007, Disneyland15.com preview video A videocap showing a miniature maquette for one of the Cars Race Rally
vehicles. | |
 | Cars Vehicle Model 2 (videocaps) Released: March 2007, Disneyland15.com preview video Videocaps showing a larger scale model of one of the vehicles, being
sculpted by an Imagineer. | 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. |
 | Early Toon Studio attractions plan 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. | |  | Attraction Layout Plan Based on official concepts and plans along
with current construction. 1: Radiator Springs sign 2: Route 66 road 3: Route 66 signs 4: Lightning McQueen & Mater vehicles 5: Attraction Entrance (Ramone’s) 6: Doc Hudson’s/Traffic Court 7: Lizzie’s Radiator Springs Curios fa�ade 8: Casa Della Tires with Luigi & Guido vehicles 9: Flo’s V8 Caf�, boarding area 10: Dirt track/canyon, ride area 11: Roadside prop element 12: Willy’s Butte rock formation | 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 – with the attraction’s name altered for different international
audiences. The official in-park name will infact be French: ‘Cars
Quatre Roues Rallye’. |
 | Cars 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. | |
 | Cars 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. |
 | Cars 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. | Publicity Photos The creation of every new Disney attraction
is charted in detail through concepts, models, photography and video, useful
both for keeping the Disney Archives up-to-date as well as some good
pre-opening publicity… |
 | Backstage: Sculpting Luigi 1 Released: 29th January 2007, Disneyland Resort Paris press release A glimpse backstage at the sculpting process of the life-size Luigi model to
be situated at the Casa Della Tires photo location. | |
 | Backstage: 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. | |
