Page 159 - Decadence

BEHIND THE SCENES
THE EPITOME OF THE BLANCPAIN SLOGAN ‘THE ART OF LIVING‘
During the last race of the Endurance season at the Circuit de Catalonia, we were able to photograph the facility in full swing, between 600 and 800 people a day are catered for in the restaurant and bar areas, and we had exclusive access to see how a dedicated team of professionals can conjure up the kind of food and service you would except in a top London restaurant, but trackside from a mobile kitchen.
So we thought as this is closing issue of the 2017 season we’d take a peak behind the curtain and see what’s cooking and who’s cooking it.
The assembly team rock up 5 days before the event into an empty paddock in a eet of four trucks and two big vans. The business club is all hydraulic and emerges from one truck, like a giant transformer, it takes three days to assemble the entire structure and then two days to prepare the interiors. The entire package was a design collaboration between engineers, architects, interior and graphic designers. But amazingly only takes two days to dismantle.
The restaurant is raised 1 metre above the ground – which helps with its commanding stance in the paddock and the Air Conditioning unit kicks out 200 kilorigories, which in plain English means it keeps it nice and cool for all guests even at the hottest races.
The entire unit sits on 625 sq meter plot and at it highest point is 7 meters on the two oors of the business club, with the entire structure weighing in at 120 Tons.
As for the food and drink, the favorite drink of the 2017 season was the Aperol Spritz, although the
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