PH in Dubai - The track day
Dale goes in search of hypercars at a track day in Dubai; finds PHers and usual suspects instead
Fast cars, cheap fuel, blue skies - as expected
Two bright red cars, six cylinders each, carving through the American-style, ultra-wide and many-laned highways. The Porsche pilot is Phil McGovern, partner in an automotive marketing and publishing firm and long-time ex-pat here.
Our destination is the Dubai Autodrome racing circuit, and the event is a regular Friday track day. It will be my first taste of car culture in the UAE as well as vital schooling for “the big event” a few days hence (more on that later). I’m not sure exactly what to expect, but my head is full of Sheikhs, Enzos and Zondas.
PHers, old Clio Cup cars and rest not so much
But there’s not a single hypercar to be seen. The most exotic car on track is a wobbly Ferrari 458. A handful of Porsches are doing their best to worry some apices and a white Caterham R500 is sliding through the infield on maximum attack.
“It’s not what you might expect,” laughs Phil. “Most of the locals are more interested in cruising the high streets than lapping a race track. Track days aren’t that well advertised or promoted,”
He’s not wrong. My initial impression is that it’s like a track day at Mallory Park in the late 90s. A handful of enthusiasts, an owners’ club and a few club racers banging in the practice laps. In fact, the entry for the half-day, open pitlane session is just 800AED (less than £140). Not exactly hypercar territory.
Ah, that's a bit more like it
I’m not driving today, so for my first lap of the track, I’m thrust into the passenger seat of a black and orange Porsche GT3 RS driven by John Iossifidis.
“It’s a lovely circuit,” he points out. “And not easy to get right.”
The shorter National configuration that we’re driving is still a great racetrack by anybody’s standards, and a great workout for John’s Porsche. The kerbs are relatively low, but the dust is everywhere, particularly offline.
John’s driving with the Porsche Club of UAE, although it’s a quiet day and I can actually only spot six Porsches here.
The view from the passenger seat ... for now
Meeting with the PH massive
It’s easy to spot the PH forum members though. Their car choices lay in the ‘sensible’ end of the spectrum with a pair of older Clio Cup race cars being run from a very modest pair of trailers in the middle of the car park. Another pair of British ex-pats are just leaving in their red Clio 197. And Dan Hannam is packing up what must be the only Ford Escort Mk2 in the whole of the Arabian peninsula.
Yep, the track day’s already over. The superbikes are warming up.
Track time done it's time to head into the desert
I’m in.
“Then we’re going to go out to the desert in the 4x4s and hit a trail or two…”
I’m definitely in.
To be continued…
PH in Dubai:
Dune bashing
The Dream Drive
Pic Of The Week
Ferrari 458 Challenge vs McLaren 12C Sprint with Dragon Racing
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That little clio is wicked though, especially with a YOOOORKSHIRE sticker on it!
Any more info on that wide body Swift? Is it 4WD mega-turbo-nutter spec? Or just some extra glass fibre and spacers?
Any more info on that wide body Swift? Is it 4WD mega-turbo-nutter spec? Or just some extra glass fibre and spacers?
Its a full Suzuki Swift Cup car, so its stripped out and is a genuine race car, although its not packing much punch as the engine is stock (per championship rules).
....incidentally the X-Bow is packing insane horsepower with a HUUUGE turbo installation.
The other week we had 11 new porsche turbo-s' come to the track as a local family had all bought the same car and brought them to break in on the track and last week we had a Ferrari trackday with over 30 Ferraris on track (but sadly no LAFerrari).
As for the selection of track metal driven by people here, there’s a few factors to consider. Many of us live in apartments with one parking spot, so sometimes we have to find one car that does it all (Unless you are Shirt and a master at hiding cars
). Reliable enough not to leave you stranded in the 50c heat, comfortable for the daily drive and not so expensive that you don’t spend all day crying when someone in a 4x4 parks over it in the mall. Also, many people are on short-ish term assignments here and may need to sell up in a hurry if we get moved on. I’d love a Gt3 but it’s too much of a risk to me if I had to leave and try to sell it quickly. The market for trackday cars is o.k but nothing like as active as the U.K. Shifting my C4S in a hurry is a much more comfortable proposition.Attendance at trackdays tends to be on a can-do basis. Many people here live in Dubai but have jobs that include a lot of travel within M.E and Africa. I’d love to do a load of days at the ‘Drome, but I’m not in Dubai enough of the time to do this regularly.
Looking forward to the rest of your article, for considering the size of the U.A.E, the car culture here is amazing.
More coming soon!
As for the selection of track metal driven by people here, there’s a few factors to consider. Many of us live in apartments with one parking spot, so sometimes we have to find one car that does it all (Unless you are Shirt and a master at hiding cars
). Reliable enough not to leave you stranded in the 50c heat, comfortable for the daily drive and not so expensive that you don’t spend all day crying when someone in a 4x4 parks over it in the mall. Also, many people are on short-ish term assignments here and may need to sell up in a hurry if we get moved on. I’d love a Gt3 but it’s too much of a risk to me if I had to leave and try to sell it quickly. The market for trackday cars is o.k but nothing like as active as the U.K. Shifting my C4S in a hurry is a much more comfortable proposition.Attendance at trackdays tends to be on a can-do basis. Many people here live in Dubai but have jobs that include a lot of travel within M.E and Africa. I’d love to do a load of days at the ‘Drome, but I’m not in Dubai enough of the time to do this regularly.
Looking forward to the rest of your article, for considering the size of the U.A.E, the car culture here is amazing.
terry - this was the weekend before the auto-x otherwise we'd have headed down.
dale, thanks again for being the catalyst for a great day out. let us know if you head back anytime so we can plan ahead,
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