To mark the 25th anniversary of the first Fast & Furious films, Universal Pictures original plan was to release the 11th movie this year. That isn’t happening. But Universal Studios theme park in California did meet the deadline for their new roller coaster “Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift”. The new ride is set to open this summer, and features 360 degrees of rotation making riders feel like they’re drifting! This week, Universal gave the public a first glimpse at the ride vehicles, based on iconic cars from the F&F films.
VeilSide Mazda RX-7 FD: This ride vehicle is inspired by the 1997 Mazda RX-7 driven by Han Seoul-Oh in “Fast & Furious 3: Tokyo Drift”. It features the iconic VeilSide ‘Fortune’ widebody kit painted orange and black paint.
R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R: Not to be confused with the custom silver and blue 1999 GT-R from ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ this ride car is based on the 2002 R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R in Bayside Blue that which was enhanced with extensive performance and styling modifications and is renowned for its unique appearance.
Toyota Supra Turbo: This is the car start started it all. Inspired by Brian O’Conner’s hero car from 2001 movie “The Fast & the Furious” this orange 1994 Toyota Supra is powered by the legendary 2JZ twin-turbo inline-six engine. The original “10-second car” handed to Dom at the end of the movie.
Dodge Charger R/T: No surprise that the leader of the pack is Dominic Toretto’s signature car, the sinister black 1970 Dodge Charger R/T with the big-block Hemi V8 and a Whipple supercharger standing proud of the hood. All the alpha-males at the amusement park will want to be in the drivers seat of this vehicle, featured in featured throughout the film franchise.
At some point Vin Diesel will be too old to play Dom Toretto, and the movie series will end. But through branding initiatives like PUMA’s F&F basketball shoes, and Haagen-Dazs ‘Not So Fast, Not So Furious’ ice cream, the F&F legacy will live on. The “Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift” is a $300 million rollercoaster with ride vehicles zooming along at 115 km/h, down 1.25 km of elevated track. That’s serious money for a franchise supposedly at the end of its run.
Vin will never retire from these movies. He’ll just license an AI-generated version of himself.