RED BULL HANGER 7 – SALZBURG
F1 Race Car and Aircraft Museum in Austria
I was telling a somewhat disinterested friend I was visiting the Red Bull Hangar 7 in Salzburg and he asked with complete innocence, is Red Bull involved in speed sports? Um…. I don’t know frankly whether Dietrich Mateshitz, the Austrian son of Croatian school teachers who acquired a drink in Thailand meant to keep truck drivers awake and turned it into billion dollar worldwide enterprise which sponsors two Formula One Racing Teams, an Aerobatic Team, air racing competitions, and flying humans with jet packs, was always interested in speed and extreme sports, or just saw them as fitting the brand as a legal liquid form of “speed”, but for anyone with an interest in such things, Hanger 7 at the Salzburg Airport is a sort of mecca.
The actual Red Bull headquarters is somewhere nearby the town of Salzburg, reportedly in an unmarked building, but the Hanger 7 facility is intended to be the public face. In 1982, already a successful businessman, Matechitz tried a caffeine and taurine drink called Krating Daeng which was suggested as a cure for his jet lag. So impressed with the effect, he formed a partnership with the drink’s Thai creator Chaleo Yoovidhva, with an English translation of the name into Red Bull, with the logo of two red charging bulls. The product was launched in Austria starting in the late 1980s and expanded around the world by the late 1990s, grown into a world powerhouse of marketing.
Hangar 7 began as a planned home for the Flying Bulls aircraft restorers, beginning in 1999, when a facility in Innsbruck proved too small for the growing collection of airplanes, taking the idea of an aircraft hangar into entirely new territory as a showplace. Aircraft hangers are normally square boxes of metal sides, but the design for the Red Bull hanger evolved into an architectural showplace to house a growing collection of racing cars and aircraft, as well as restaurants and a bar for visitors. The design by Salzburg architect Volkmar Burgstaller of steel superstructure supporting an elliptical glass shell from the outside is rather similar to the shape of an airplane wing. The twin glass entrance towers hold space for offices, lounges and the restaurant. Hangar-7 fulfills its function as not only an airplane garage but a place where technology, art and entertainment join in a salute to speed.
Car and Plane Collection at Hangar 7
The collection of racing cars, motorcycles, airplanes and flying suits at Hangar 7 can change depending on what is going on in the world of Red Bull. Most prominent and largest in the collection is a DC6 once owned by Yugoslavian Strongman Marshall Tito (see Tito Birthplace), now flown for events and airborne party charters (the bar was being stocked on my visit). Among the fully restored collection of aircraft in the museum, all airworthy and flying, some still used for aerobatic competition, Russian Sukhoi Su-29, Extra 300L designed by German Walter Extra, Lockheed P-38L "Lightning", the legendary twin boom fighter of WWII from the Lockheed “Skunkworks”, a Mitchell North American B25 bomber and Chance Vought F4U-4 Corsair folding wing Navy fighter. A variety of FI Grand Prix cars are arranged throughout, with examples from Renault engined Red Bull Racing, and Ferrari driven Scuderia Toro Rosso, and a super-fast concept car designed for team driver Sebastian Vettel. Also on display is the flying Red Bull wingsuit. All watched over by a changing art display, and a now permanent portrait by Daniel Kubini of Queen rock star legend Freddie Mercury made of wine corks.
Restaurant Dining, Cafe and Bar
The Restaurant Ikarus at Hangar 7 is the high-end cuisine dining experience featuring a different world class guest chef every month, so a return visit for the food is will be different every time, whether traditional, fusion or molecular cuisine. The Carpe Diem Lounge Café offers more casual dining environment and the Mayday Bar with deck views of the museum display floor offers imbibing of something stronger than an energy drink for weekend late nights.
Visiting Red Bull Hanger 7
The Red Bull Hanger 7 is located on the grounds of Salzburg City Airport to the southeast of the city center. The aircraft and racing car museum exhibit is open from 9 am to 10 pm daily and admission is free. The Restaurant Ikarus is open for lunch, noon to 2 pm and dinner 7-10 pm. The Mayday Bar is open from noon to midnight Sunday to Thursday and until 1am, Friday and Saturday. There is an outdoor lounge for good weather. © Bargain
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Hangar 7
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SEE ALSO:
TOUR THE RED BULL RING F1 TRACK - SPIELBERG (Video)
HOHENSALZBURG FORTRESS
CAFE
TOMASELLI
SEEWIRT AT THUMSEE - SIGMUND FRUED
