Erecting of new Ferris wheel at Linnanmäki amusement park in Italian hands

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The Linnanmäki amusement park, one of the most-loved tourist attractions in Helsinki, is getting a new Ferris wheel. The new ride, manufactured by the Italian amusement park equipment company Technical Park, will replace the old Helsinki Wheel from 1964.
      The pitching of the Ferris wheel is being overseen by Technical Park engineer Giuliano Targa and electrician Daniele Cuoghi. The Italian veterans have supervised Ferris wheel construction sites around the globe. Their employer Technical Park, from the city of Melara, north of Bologna on the Po River, has manufactured amusement park rides for 25 years.
      "We have already erected Ferris wheels identical to this one in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Athens, Greece. It gets easier every time", Targa points out.
      "We have some language issues since we both only speak Italian. The construction crew is Finnish, but fortunately they understand the same hand signals as we do."
     
The Ferris wheel arrived in Finland in parts last week and the assembly and erection work began on Monday. Tuesday already saw the mounting of the wheel's hub and its supports.
      "The wheel itself will be put together from five to six modules. That work will commence on Wednesday. Our job will be finished by next week. After that the surrounding area will still require some finishing touches", notes Targa.
      Linnanmäki amusement park's new attraction will become the largest Ferris wheel in Finland. Its rim will reach a height of 75 metres, in other words, 11 meters higher than the old one. It will have 24 cars - the Helsinki wheel had 20 - and its radius is going to be 35 metres, as opposed to the Helsinki wheel's 24-metre radius.
      Name suggestions for the new equipment are being called for through a public competition. So far, some 15,000 proposal have been submitted. The new wheel is set to be operational when the amusement park opens on April 28th.
      The old Helsinki wheel has not gone to scrap - it will be operating at the Tykkimäki amusement park in Kouvola from the summer of 2007.


Links:
  Linnanmäki amusement park
  Linnanmäki (unofficial fan site)
  Technical Park

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