America's Cup Building

The Valencia Street Circuit (Valencian: Circuit Urbà de València, Spanish: Circuito Urbano de Valencia) was a street circuit in Valencia, Spain which hosted the Formula One European Grand Prix for five years (2008–2012). The first race meeting on the circuit was held over the 23/24 August 2008 weekend, with Felipe Massa winning the main event, the European Grand Prix, after starting from pole position. The circuit used the roads skirting the city's harbour and America's Cup port area – including a section over a 140-metre-long (460 ft) swing bridge – and also included some roads designed exclusively for racing purposes by the German architect Hermann Tilke, who also designed the infrastructure buildings for the circuit. The 2012 edition took place on 24 June and was the last to go under the name of the European Grand Prix until 2016, when the Baku City Circuit used the title for one year. It has not been used since 2013 after a deal fell through to alternate this venue with Catalunya in Barcelona to host the Spanish Grand Prix.

HMS Packington (pennant number: M1214) was a Ton-class minesweeper completed in 1959 by Harland & Wolff for the Royal Navy, but transferred before commissioning to the South African Navy as SAS Walvisbaai. The ship was decommissioned in March 2001 and was sold to the Walt Disney Company in 2003 to be used in the Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Post filming the vessel was sold and was subsequently converted into a private yacht.

The 2008 European Grand Prix (formally the 2008 Formula 1 Telefónica Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One motor race held on 24 August 2008 at the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain. It was the 12th race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship. Felipe Massa for the Ferrari team won the 57-lap race from pole position. Lewis Hamilton finished second in a McLaren car, with Robert Kubica third in a BMW Sauber. Massa started on pole position, with Hamilton second, and Kubica third. Massa got cleanly away, while Hamilton fought hard to fend off Kubica, but managing to keep second. The top three remained the same through the first round of pit stops, and after the first stop, Massa took a large lead over Hamilton. In Massa's second pit stop he was released straight into the path of Force India driver Adrian Sutil, and had to back off to avoid a collision. The stewards announced that they would investigate the incident after the race. They later ruled that Ferrari would be fined €10,000 for the pit lane incident, but that Massa would keep his victory, as although the release was unsafe, no sporting advantage had been gained. Massa went on to take the victory, with Hamilton second and Kubica third. Hamilton's closest rival in the Drivers' Championship going into the race, Kimi Räikkönen, failed to finish, after having an engine failure. Massa's victory in the race enabled him to overtake his teammate, Räikkönen, in the Drivers' Championship, moving him into second. He was now Hamilton's closest rival, behind by six points. Räikkönen moved eight points further behind Hamilton, due to his non-finish, with a deficit of 13 points now separating the two. In the Constructors' Championship McLaren caught up two points on Ferrari; Ferrari led, eight points ahead of McLaren, with BMW Sauber a further 17 points behind.

The 2009 European Grand Prix (formally the 2009 Formula 1 Telefónica Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One motor race held on 23 August 2009 at the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain. It was the 11th race of the 2009 Formula One season. The race was contested over 57 laps, an overall race distance of 308.9 km (191.9 mi). The winner was Rubens Barrichello for Brawn GP after starting from third on the grid. The 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton finished second for McLaren-Mercedes, while 2007 world champion Kimi Räikkönen finished in third for Ferrari. Championship leader Jenson Button finished in seventh for the second race in a row, but extended his lead as Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel both failed to score. It was Barrichello's first Grand Prix victory since the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, 85 races before, while he was still driving for Ferrari. He also marked the 100th victory for a Brazilian driver in F1. Hamilton's second place granted him another podium, while Räikkönen's third place was his second podium in a row. The race saw the debut of GP2 Series driver Romain Grosjean. He replaced Nelson Piquet Jr. at Renault. This race also saw the Grand Prix return of Luca Badoer who had not raced since the 1999 Japanese Grand Prix. He replaced the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari. Also, Timo Glock scored his first, and Toyota's last, fastest lap. No overtakes were recorded during this race.

The Costa de Valencia is coastline and tourism region of the province of Valencia in Spain. It covers the coast along the Gulf of Valencia on the Balearic Sea in western part of the Mediterranean Sea. It extends from the Camp de Morvedre in the north to Safor in the south. The Costa de Valencia has the most beaches with Blue Flag status in Spain. To its north is the Costa del Azahar (in province of Castellón) and to the south lies the Costa Blanca (in the province of Alicante).

El Cabanyal (Cabanyal-Canyamelar) is a neighbourhood in the city of Valencia which is part of the sea village. It is located in the eastern part of the city, very near to La Malvarrosa, Valencia's main beach. In 2020, The Guardian classes El Cabanyal as the third coolest neighbourhood in Europe.

Marítim is a metro station of the Metrovalencia network in Valencia, Spain, and is the terminus of Lines 5, 6, 7, and 8. It was opened on April 3, 2007, as an extension of Line 5 to connect with the existing surface tram lines to the east. This occurs via an underground cross-platform transfer on one of two island platforms. The southernmost platform is not in revenue use and does not have cross-platform fare gates. The station is located in a wide median space of Carrer Jeroni de Montsoriu. At the east end of the station, the tram tracks ramp up to street level and follow Carrer de Francesc Cubells. When the station was originally opened, it had the name "Marítim-Serrería" and served only Line 5 (metro and tram). However, when many stations across Metrovalencia were being renamed with the opening of Line 10 in 2022, the name was changed to only "Marítim".

The Port of Valencia is a seaport located in Valencia, Spain. It is the fifth busiest seaport in Europe and the busiest port in the Mediterranean. As of 2019, it moves an annual cargo traffic of around eighty-one million tonnes (eighty million long tons; eighty-nine million short tons) and 5.4 million TEU, ranking first in Spain and second in the Mediterranean basin in container shipping (after the Port of Piraeus), and second in Spain in annual cargo traffic, after the Port of Algeciras. The port is also an important employer in the area, with more than 15,000 employees who provide services to more than 7,500 ships every year.

The 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup held in Valencia, Spain, from April 16 to June 6 was the event used to select the challenger for the 2007 America's Cup. Eleven potential challengers competed in the competition which consisted of two round robins, two semi-finals and a final. The winner was Emirates Team New Zealand, who challenged the defender Alinghi in June 2007 for the America's Cup.

The 33rd America's Cup between Société Nautique de Genève defending with team Alinghi against Golden Gate Yacht Club, and their racing team BMW Oracle Racing was the subject of extensive court action and litigation, surpassing in acrimony even the controversial 1988 America's Cup. Since the two parties were unable to agree otherwise, the match took place as a one-on-one deed of gift match in gigantic, specialized multi-hull racing yachts with no other clubs or teams participating. The Golden Gate Yacht Club swept the two races as their yacht USA 17 powered by a rigid wing-sail proved to be significantly faster than Société Nautique de Genève's yacht Alinghi 5. The litigation leading up to the match included which club would be the challenger, the dates and venue for the regattas, certain rules governing the regattas (in particular the measurement rules), and the construction of the boats. The Americans won back the Cup after they last lost it in 1995. When Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) successfully defended the trophy in the 32nd America's Cup, they immediately accepted a challenge from Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV) a Spanish organization formed expressly for the purpose of challenging for the cup and keeping the regatta in Valencia. When SNG and CNEV published their protocol for the 33rd America's Cup challenge, there was widespread consternation over its terms, with some teams and yacht clubs calling it the worst protocol in the history of the event.The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) filed its own challenge for the Cup and then filed a court case asking that CNEV be removed as Challenger of Record as being unqualified under the Deed of Gift. GGYC also asked that it be named as the rightful Challenger of Record, being the first club to file a conforming challenge. There followed a long and acrimonious legal battle, with the New York Court of Appeals finally deciding on April 2, 2009, that CNEV did not qualify as valid challenger, and that the GGYC was thus the rightful Challenger of Record.

The 2007 America's Cup was the thirty-second challenge for the America's Cup and was won by Alinghi in the 7th race. The Cup is the most famous and most prestigious regatta and Match Race in the sport of sailing. As per the Deed of Gift of the America's Cup the yacht club that holds the Cup is the one that chooses the location for the next challenge to take place. Alinghi, the syndicate representing the Société Nautique de Genève, the winners of the thirty-first edition, are based in Switzerland which is a landlocked country, so Alinghi put the hosting rights out to a competitive bid process. During a preliminary selection the bids of Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Porto Cervo and Elba were eliminated. The four finalists were Cascais (near Lisbon), Marseille, Naples (ITA) and Valencia. On November 27, 2003, it was announced that the venue would be Valencia, Spain. A new building, Veles e Vents designed by David Chipperfield, was built in the harbour of Valencia to house the central base for all the America's Cup teams.By winning the 32nd America's Cup, Alinghi changed what seemed to have become a tradition: that the winner of race three goes on to win the match. Emirates Team New Zealand, despite winning the third heat, was not able to capture the Cup. The score of the 32nd America's Cup has also differentiated the match from previous editions. The past three America's Cups – 1995, 2000 and 2003 – were all sweeps. Eleven challengers from nine countries submitted formal entries prior to the closing deadline of April 29, 2005.

Aqua Multiespacio is an office skyscraper in Valencia, Spain. Completed in 2006, it has 22 floors and stands 95 metres (312 feet) tall. This makes it the third tallest building in Valencia, after the Hilton Valencia and Torre de Francia. The complex consists of two towers. Construction began in 2002 and ended in 2006. The complex was designed by two architectural firms: E. Clerk Architects and L35 with Eduardo Simarro. It is located near the City of Arts and Sciences. The five-story parking garage has a capacity of 2,400 vehicles. The construction of the parking garage took more than a year. The design of the study project was Jerde California, who specializes in the development of tertiary areas, however, it was Spanish architectural firms, Simarro and Escribano, which gave shape and form to the construction. Additionally, the buildings have art. The building was opened on June 1, 2006 and has 110 stores in an area of 35,000 square meters. The office tower is 23,000 square meters, and there is also 16,000 square meters for two hotels. The construction cost was €240 million.The shareholders for the project are Iberdrola estate, whose headquarters have been moved to the complex and Valencia Gesfesa residential.