Press releases | 01/28/2015 Liebherr crane erects enormous Pegasus statue in Florida

  • A Liebherr LTM 1400-7.1 mobile crane from operator Allegiance Crane produced fantastic performance
  • Good support in advance by Liebherr ensured that the erection of statue went smoothly
  • The new sculpture is the largest bronze horse statue in the world

A bronze sculpture in the form of a Pegasus and a dragon measuring 33 metres high and 63 metres long was being created in Gulfstream Park in Florida last year. It is the largest bronze horse statue in the world. A Liebherr LTM 1400-7.1 mobile crane operated by American company Allegiance Crane worked on the project. The 400-tonner produced an astonishing performance and showed off its wide-ranging functionality.

LTM 1400-7.1 erecting the heaviest component – the left wing of the bronze Pegasus weighing 58 tonnes. (Photo: STARK Ingenieure)

Single image, web (229 KB)

LTM 1400-7.1 erecting the head of the Pegasus statue (Photo: STARK Ingenieure)

Single image, web (227 KB)

The order for the statue was awarded to the well-known art foundry Strassacker in Süssen. It was only through the decades of experience of Strassacker working with its international partners and specialists that this extraordinary project was actually possible. Stark Ingenieure, an engineering agency based in Ludwigsburg and Miami, a team which specialises in special support structures and one-off engineering projects, was charged with developing the technical design, planning the erection work and producing the wide-ranging complex engineering solutions required for the statue.

An LTM 1400-7.1 operated by Allegiance Crane took on the erection of the various bronze components in Florida. And what a good choice it proved to be, as Michael Stark, owner of Stark Ingenieure and Günter Czasny deputy CEO, report. "Adam Cote, the Manager of Engineering at Allegiance Crane, and his team were extremely professional on the site. We worked extremely well and closely with each other. And the crane produced an absolutely amazing performance. It has a compact design and has excellent setup processes coupled with enormous load capacities which meant we didn't even have to move it between the various hoists. This saved us around half the time which was very important to us."

The LTM 1400-7.1 was equipped with Y-guying and full ballast for this job. The crane set-up was completed entirely by self-assembly. The left wing of the Pegasus was the heaviest single component, weighing in at a massive 58 tonnes. The Liebherr crane had to move this component to a radius of 22.3 metres. This load capacity is excellent for a crane of this class.

"The fantastic support from Liebherr in advance enabled us to plan all the hoists precisely. The service was really great", says Michael Stark. He and his team were able to simulate all the processes in advance using the 3-D data for the LTM 1400-7.1 provided by Liebherr so that they could find the best way of proceeding. They knew about all the problem edges which they managed to bypass or eliminated in advance so that there were no nasty surprises on site.

The massive "Pegasus and Dragon" statue is completed by now. The completion of the theme park is planned for summer 2015. The new statue will then become a magnet for visitors and an eye-catching symbol for a new equestrian spots park which will provide a range of entertainment and leisure facilities. A four-dimensional experience theatre will be installed in the lower section of the statue.

The oldest attraction in Gulfstream Park is a horse racing track which was built in 1939. A number of investments have been made over the last few years in the spaces around the track to make it more attractive. For example a "village" provides a wide range of retail and entertainment facilities to bring both locals and tourists into the park.

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Here you will find the press release and images for download.

Presseinformation Deutsch PDF (19 KB)
Press Information English PDF (19 KB)

Contact

Wolfgang Beringer

Marketing and Communication


Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH

Dr.-Hans-Liebherr-Straße 1

89584 Ehingen

Germany