Sandro Dias is a 50-year-old Brazilian skateboarding legend; he's a six-time vert world champion. Well, he recently made history once again when he dropped in from the curved facade of a 22-story building in Brazil.
Until now, the Centro Administrativo Fernando Ferrari (CAFF) building in Porto Alegre, standing 88.91 meters high, has been a white whale in the skateboarding community, which has dubbed the unique structure the "ultimate skate ramp." — Dias himself says he has dreamed of riding CAFF for some 13 years.
After a month of planning and another 30 days or so of transforming the facade by laying about 800 plywood panels over the concrete exterior, Dias' dream came true.
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The stunt, dubbed the Red Bull Building Drop, was incredible, with Dias hitting 64 miles per hour after starting from nearly 70 meters high, with a 60-meter drop. Dias experienced a peak force of about 3.9 g—the equivalent of supporting nearly four times his own body weight. Dias started at 55 meters high and worked his way up the ramp gradually with successful attempts at 60 meters, 65 meters and 70 meters.
The team had to lay plywood down because, although the building looked fit to ride, the exterior was weathered and cracked, not the ideal surface to skate down at nearly 65 mph. The effort included 115 metric tonnes of ramp materials, which will now be repurposed—the metal scrap will be recycled, and the 800 sheets of plywood will be donated and used as biomass.
Guinness World Records representatives were on hand to certify a pair of records, "the tallest drop into a temporary quarter pipe" and "the fastest speed on a temporary quarter pipe." Still, it wouldn't have been possible without some incredible engineering—oh, and crash pillows, safety gear, and a lifetime of training.
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