The last thing that likely comes to mind when you think of Honda is flowers, but the company will soon be setting a very flowery record for the longest float ever to appear in the 2014 Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.
This year is the 125th anniversary of the parade which Honda has sponsored since 2011 and presented a float in for each of the last 38 years. Honda already set the record for longest float with a 207-foot creation back in 2005, but they decided to go really, really big for this major anniversary year.
The “Keeping Dreams on Track” float will measure an unbelievable 274 feet long and will be the lead float in this year’s parade. It will measure 30 feet tall at its highest point, 18 feet wide at its widest, and come in at 50 tons. There will be five connected train cars in the float and it will have a special soundtrack titled “Of Friendship & Dreams” which was composed by six-time Grammy-winner Daniel Ho.
Leading the float is the locomotive car which was inspired by the Acura NSX and which will be driven by humanoid-robot Asimo. The second car will be a Honda engine while the third is a gigantic robotic arm to represent Honda’s focus on technology.
The fourth car of the train will have two huge LED video monitors measuring 30 feet by 10 feet which will display images of parade spectators along the route giving everyone a chance to virtually ride the float. Finishing it all up is a caboose that looks like a plane in honor of HondaJet.
The float will have approximately 8,980 total flowers, nearly double last year’s float. This includes 5,900 roses, 2,500 carnations and 580 gerberas. There will also be a variety of plants and seeds used in the design.
Despite its gargantuan size, Honda has still made their record-breaking float an environmentally friendly ride. It will be propelled along the parade route by a specially configured hybrid low-emission engine.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
