Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
The concept of Gulf Air's amazing F1 flying machine was first envisaged by talented artist Bader Yousif Murad five years ago.
It is through his sheer determination and belief in the project that it lifted off from a drawing board proposition and into the skies as a reality.
Bader, an aircraft analysis manager with Gulf Air in the corporate development department, explained: "The work on the original design began in 2003. I wanted to promote the country and the event and was excited about the entire concept - the race in the desert which is an integral part of the country and is the home of the Bahrain International Circuit.
"I began working on my design in early 2003 under the 'Tree of Life'. I spent a lot of time there and noticed that the colours of the sand changed according to the season. In summer it was as if the sand had taken on the shades of a pearl.
"The pearl and the desert - a combination of the sea and land - became my main theme. To bring to life the vision in my mind I had a special colour mixed.
It is now painted all over the fuselage of the plane. An additional lacquer spray delivers a 'pearl effect' giving an aura of elegance and sophistication to the design and offering a sense of balance - blending earth and water.
"The second important colour is gold - which represents the wealth of the kingdom, its Arabic heritage and the corporate identity of Gulf Air. On one side of the gold band is the checkered flag of the race track and on the other our national flag.
"All three ribbons go around the aircraft just as the race track goes around the circuit. Every angle creates a unique sensation of the design disappearing into infinity ... or reappearing again to return back to its origin."
Perhaps for internal political reasons the idea to promote Bahrain's race in this manner was rejected by management in 2004, 2005 and 2006. At the time it had to take into account the feelings of its multi-national owners representing other Gulf countries.
The idea, however, was not dismissed completely and even found favour with former chief AndrŽ DosŽ in 2007 - but the chief executive officer's sudden departure last year brought Bader's project back to earth with a bump.
Determined Bader, not one to give up his dream, then presented the proposal to new boss Bjšrn NŠf who he said decisively accepted the idea in five minutes. Luckily, there was an Airbus A330-200 in need of repainting in two-weeks and it was decided that it would become Gulf Air's first F1- themed aircraft.
The project continued to face challenges. The special paint needed two to three weeks to be mixed, certified and delivered from Holland while the aircraft was being stripped of its old paint at Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) facility.
Bader said: "We were working on a very tight schedule and the paint company said it could not send the order by air because it was considered to be a hazardous material. The order for the paint went on February 14. The plane was in ADAT on February 28 and the paint arrived on March 7 just in time for work to begin."
Although the design was ready on paper it needed fine tuning because the original design was worked on a flat sheet of paper and had to be transferred on to a tube-like aircraft shape.
The entire process was closely supervised by Bader, who explained: "Thirty-two skilled artisans and technicians spent more than 7,000 man-hours in about 21 days on endless emails, phone calls and exceptional teamwork to complete the design on schedule.
"It consumed 7,000 litres of paint, 87,670 km of masking tape, 1,000 kg of brown wrapping paper and 1,500 pair of gloves."
The aircraft is scheduled to fly on the A330 routes of Gulf Air to destinations such as Frankfurt, Paris, London and Kuala Lumpur.
Bader describes himself as an aviation buff who has been passionate about aircraft from a very young age.
His passion and hobby of collecting aircraft models became a part-time profession when he began making replicas of aircraft, yachts, race cars and so on for private clients around the world.
In 1992 he took a Masters of Aeronautical Science in Aviation from EMBRY-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, USA.
In 2000 his name was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for his aircraft model collection. In 2003 he showcased around 300 models of aircraft at the Bahrain National Museum and his story is offered to enterprising young people as an example through a Pearson Longman publication in London.
