Motoring Middle East: Car news, Reviews and Buying guides

Can you really go racing on a tiny budget? Motoring Middle East is on a mission to find out.

By Noel Ebdon

Racing log 6
17th January 2016
Alright in white!

I recently collected the now rather racy looking Peugeot from MRA (Motoplex Rally Academy) in Umm Al Quwain, complete with a shiny new roll cage, seat, harnesses, windows and gleaming white respray. The paint for the car came from Akzo Nobel, who were very helpful in working out the right amounts and what would look good on the track.

On the advice of well-known off-road racer Ali Al Shawi, who runs MRA, I also had a roof air scoop fitted to channel some air into the car. With closed windows and no air blower in the car, he suggested fitting the modification to stop me personally boiling over towards the hotter end of the season. And he should know, having won his class in the UAE Desert Challenge a number of times.

MRA, which is owned by long-time motorsport supporter Sheikh Marwan Bin Rashed Al Mualla, have done a really good job bearing in mind my extremely limited budget. They are far more cost effective than many other garages and have probably built more racecars than the rest put together. The moral of this story is look beyond the big city offerings. There’s a lot of expertise just over the horizon.

The more eagle eyed amongst you will also no doubt have noticed there is no windscreen on the car. The original was already cracked when I got the car and it’s an immediate fail on scrutineering at any track, so a new one is on order.

Whilst the car was away I bought a race suit and some boots from the helpful guys at GulfSport Racing, leaving me with only a helmet left to buy to complete my race kit. Everything else I already owned from other racing or accumulated from racetracks around the world.

I still need to fit the electric cut off switch, fire system, steering wheel, stickers and sort the messy post re-spray electrics. I also need to find the source of the fuel leak that erupted just before it went off for the roll cage fitting.

As far as the budget is concerned, I am already half way and still need to buy suspension, sort the brakes and get the engine parts, so it looks like it’s going to be touch and go for hitting that target.

The next race is at the very end of January, so my goal is to make that race meeting, regardless of how competitive the car is. It looks like I’ll be running a completely stock engine, brakes and suspension, but I need to get the car out on track.

Better be out there running at the back, than not running at all!

Latest spend:

Painting 5,000
Plastic Windows 2,000
Roof Scoop 300
Seat and belt fitting (with slide bracket) 1,000
Roll cage 6,500 (with Emirates Motoplex membership)
Race suit 1,590
Race boots 610

Total to date:  30,704 AED

Thanks once again to MRA Garage. You can contact them via their Facebook page.

Thanks to Akzo Nobel for their help with the paint for the car. Find them at: www.akzonobel.com

Racing log 5
6th December 2015
Rollcage fitted!

As mentioned in the last update, I dropped the car off to MRA (Motoplex Rally Academy) in Umm Al Quwain, so they could fit a cage, the seat and harnesses, new windows and respraying the whole car.

Watch my video by clicking below 

They are well known in the off-road racing scene and build some of the best cages in the business. Their garage, which is at the Emirates Motoplex, is positively overflowing with cars at various stages of build.

I’d previously been back to MRA a couple of times to check on progress, but when I got the call from Ali that the cage was in the car I shot down the bypass to Umm Al Quwain as fast as was legally possible to have a good look.

Now, I’ve learnt a thing or two about roll cages in the last few weeks. Firstly, if you think about it, you can’t weld it all together outside the car and then fit it, as clearly it wouldn’t be able to go through the door. You also can’t weld it inside the car, as you’d never be able to weld all the way around the joints, as the car would be in the way. Then the cage wouldn’t be strong enough to do its job. It’s a bit like one of those puzzles that only the person who knows the trick can do.

So how does it work? Simple. You cut holes in the floor! It might sound crazy, but if you cut some strategic holes in the floor you can build the cage inside the car, weld all the way around the joints and then lift it up inside the shell. You then weld up the holes and job done!

Anyway, with the cage now in place, MRA can respray the car, fit the plastic windows and fit the seat and harnesses I dropped off to them. Now the cage is in, that work shouldn’t take too long, so hopefully I’ll have it back very shortly.

Whilst I’ve been waiting I’ve also picked up a steering wheel, boss and quick release kit from the UK, so I now have some shiny bits ready to bolt on the car.

I also need to crack on with trying to sort out the brakes and suspension. Oh, and the engine is stock standard… and I’ve missed the first race of the season.

Clearly I need to get this project moving or I’m in danger of missing the whole season!

Latest spend:

Steering wheel: 371 AED
Boss: 298 AED
Quick release adapter: 566 AED
HANS Device: 1,323 AED
Total to date:  13,704 AED (the above parts were already included in update four)

Racing log 4
1st October 2015
Getting the race licence

So with the car away at Middle East Rally Academy Garage (MRA) having the cage, the seat, harnesses and new windows fitted, as well as a quick respray, I thought it might be an idea to sort out my race licence.

After a quick call to Dubai Autodrome, I booked myself on the next available course and the admin people sent me over some forms to fill out and a crib sheet on the various flags to learn ahead of the test.

Having been on racetracks across the world for years, I initially dismissed the flags as a given, until I noticed a few I actually didn’t know. What made it worse was that if you get even one flag wrong in the test you automatically fail. Clearly some studying was needed.

On the day of the test I headed down to the track armed with an encyclopaedic knowledge of vexillology (that’s the study of flags for anyone without access to Wikipedia). First job of the day was to watch an ancient VHS (yes, VHS) video about racing, covering what is expected of you and quite a few clips of crashes. Very reassuring.

I then sat a short multiple-choice test, which turned out to be mostly fairly simple to answer. There were a few slightly ambiguous ones, but it wasn’t the hardest test I’d ever sat. The test also included the dreaded flag test. I knew them all back to front, but still triple checked each one, for fear of being sent home early.

I then grabbed a helmet and headed out to meet one of the instructors for a few laps of the circuit in a Subaru WRX. Driving a car you’ve never been in before, whilst trying to prove you aren’t an idiot on the track isn’t easy, but it’s even harder when there’s a critical pair of eyes sitting next to you holding a clipboard. Interestingly, the instructors aren’t looking for speed. They are looking for the ability to drive the racing line and to be consistent.

About five laps later and back in the pits, there were a few quick questions in the car, before I was sent inside to await my fate. Thankfully, it turned out I passed easily and even managed 100% in the written test. First time I’ve ever done that!

Then it was off to the doctor for a quick medical. The test consisted of a simple check over of my vitals, as well as eyesight, balance and reactions with one of those funny little hammers. Nothing for anyone vaguely healthy to worry about in my opinion.

With all that in the bag, the final job was to send off all the papers, along with the medical test to the ATC, who are the regional representative for the FIA, the world’s governing body of motorsport. A few weeks later I picked up my shiny race licence with my happy face staring back at me.

Now, I need to point out I’ve held a race licence before, as I used to race motorbikes, but ever since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to race cars. To date I’ve either been too busy with other things, not had the disposable income or simply not had the opportunity, so for me this was a serious bucket list tick.

Of course, it’s not complete until I make the grid for that very first race and set off when the lights go out, but for now, the fact I am carrying a car race licence in my wallet is a major step in the right direction.

Will it turn out to be a licence to thrill? Not at this rate, but watch this space.

Budget spent so far

Licence test: AED1,500
Medical: AED600
FIA licence: AED600

Quick shifter: AED259
Front strut brace: AED645
Used brake master cylinder: AED153
Bonnet pins: AED200
Cut off switch: AED198
Fire system: AED1,647

Total to date: AED13,704

Racing log 3
15 August 2015
Noel’s battered Pug ventures out on track for the first time

So having procured the Peugeot and got it running, I booked myself on the very next Dubai Autodrome track day, or track evening to be more precise. In preparation I checked the water and oil level, made sure there was nothing loose in the car and that was it.

The idea was to do two things. Firstly, I wanted to know how much the car weighed in road trim. Secondly, I needed to know just how quick the little French hatchback was and to see what I had to work with. To say I was little pessimistic would be an understatement. I wasn’t 100% sure the car would make it off the trailer, let alone complete a lap.

On arrival the range of cars already assembled at the track compounded my lack of optimism. It was an assortment of exotica, including a Boxster, a 911, a Nissan 350Z, a Camaro, a Caterham 7, an amazing Lotus 2-Eleven and a bunch of fire breathing Radicals. Things were looking a little ominous for the little French car.

The one thing working in our favour was the temperature. Despite being the end of June it was ‘only’ in the mid-thirties with little humidity and a nice cooling breeze. What you’d describe as ‘balmy’ outside of the Gulf.

Dubai Autodrome kindly let me use their car scales in the scrutineering bay, with the little Peugeot weighing in at 1062 kgs with very little fuel in it.

Then it was out on track to see how it would run. I took it easy for the first couple of laps, before pushing a bit harder. The car’s temperature didn’t go over about two thirds which was encouraging and it braked in a straight line and accelerated without any hesitation, which I wasn’t expecting. Don’t forget this car had been standing for at least a year before I got it running again.

On the downside, the suspension is very soft and will need sorting. More powerful brakes will make a big difference and the engine will need to breath much better to be vaguely competitive.

A friend used his iPhone stopwatch to give me a rough indication of lap times, as official timing at track days is quite rightly not allowed, and the car was running around one minute, thirty laps of the club circuit, which is about 15 seconds off of mid-pack at the last round of the NGK series held on the club circuit.

That’s encouraging, as I was running on road tyres (at road pressures), with a full interior, standard brakes and very soft suspension. The engine is also stock standard with a lot of kilometres under its belt, so although there is plenty of work to do on both the car and my driving, I am a lot happier than I thought I would be at this stage.

I also went out in all three sessions and didn’t get in the way or slow anyone up, which was a key concern. It got a bit hectic when the final session turned into an open pit lane and I found myself being buzzed by a couple of Radicals, but with that aside I think its mission accomplished.

Next job is to strip the car and start getting all the safety gear in place.

Budget spent so far

Car: AED2,000
Transfer of Ownership: AED480
Injector cleaning: AED179
Spark Plugs: AED75
Engine repair: AED1,960
A track day: 600 AED
Fuel: 50 AED
Total: AED5,344 AED

Racing log 2
22 June 2015
We’ve bought a car to go race in. And run into expensive problems straight away. Uh oh!

As you’ll know from the first instalment of this madcap idea, setting a budget of AED60,000 means that I need to find a car as cheaply as possible. In fact, it needs to have a number of key markers to be right for this project. Firstly, it needs to cost almost nothing, secondly it needs to be quick (ish) out of the box, and thirdly it needs to be a car that can be easily modified with a long list of parts suppliers.

And so, drum roll please, here it is. The Motoring Middle East project race car is… a 2.0 litre, 138 bhp, Peugeot 206 GTi.

Built in 2000, this car belonged to a friend of mine, who bought it new. She stuck a set of lowering springs on it, a fat exhaust and then sprayed the wheels baby puke yellow (I think it was meant to be gold). Having bought a another car since then, this little Pug has been sitting outside her house gathering dust, making it perfect for our project.

The car was eventually acquired for the princely sum of just AED2000 (point one definitely ticked). The downsides were that the AC didn’t work (which doesn’t matter on a race car) and it wouldn’t start from sitting around for so long.

However, once the deal was done things got a little more complex when I went to pick it up. The car had just been towed away by Dubai Municipality for being unregistered and parked on the street!

So my friend and I set off for the impound yard and after a lot of paperwork, some fines (for her) and a long search of the thousands of cars currently sitting in a very sad sand pit (they don’t actually note down where they put them), we found the Peugeot parked between a smashed up Corolla and a slightly worse for wear classic Mercedes SL.

After a lot of sweating, brought on by pushing a car that wont start in soft sand, we got it on the trailer and dropped it to my home.

The next day I washed it, fitted new plugs and cleaned the injectors, only to be greeted by… nothing whatsoever. The car was powering up, turning over, but not firing. The following week was spent with a number of people’s noses under the bonnet, a lot of tea and a fair amount of head scratching. But all to no avail. The damn thing just wouldn’t start, despite being a runner when it was originally parked up.

So eventually I gave in and dropped it to the guys at Capital Auto in Al Quoz. They soon diagnosed a dodgy fuel injector (despite me having them cleaned at Bosch) and a wiring fault to the ECU.

They fixed the injector and bi-passed the bad wire, but it’s something I’ll need to address in the future, as I now can’t get any fault codes from the ECU in its current state.

I also got hit with a bill for AED1,960, so the AED2000 ‘bargain’ car just doubled in price. This is not going to be an easy challenge.

Now it’s time to get it out on track and see what we have to work with.

Budget spent so far

Car: AED2,000
Transfer of Ownership: AED480
Injector cleaning: AED179
Spark Plugs: AED75
Engine repair: AED1,960
Total: AED4,694

Racing log 1
3 June 2015

Can you really go racing on a tiny budget? Motoring Middle East sets out on a mission to find out how to go racing in UAE!

A wise wit once wrote ‘if you want to make a small fortune in motorsport, start with a large one’.

Motorsport is expensive, period. It involves cars, which are invariably not a cheap thing to buy in the first place, and lots of parts companies across the world like to charge large amounts for. Then there’s tyres, consumables, entry fees, etc. all eating into your wallet.

And yet, across the world, people are racing on tiny budgets. They’re fixing their cars in their garage themselves during the week and racing them on the weekends. And we’re not talking Porsches and Ferraris here. We’re talking about cheap hatchbacks, low cost saloons, the odd classic, home builds and a host of things that probably shouldn’t be on a racetrack. But importantly, they are out there, racing and having a huge dollop of fun.

Now in the Gulf things are a little different. With few exceptions, the bulk of the racing fraternity are rich, monied or extremely comfortable, providing grids of exotica that are often both low on entertainment value, lacking in numbers and very short lived.

What’s missing is the garage warriors, the guys who race for the hell of it and aren’t interested in looking like a Le Mans winner. As long as they’re racing they’re happy. They wouldn’t know a bespoke race trailer from a brolly dolly’s Jimmy Choos.

One key problem is a lack of cheap cars. It’s hard to find a low cost hatchback or saloon in the Gulf, whereas in Europe and the US you can bag a bargain for next to nothing, giving you that all important base to build upon.

The other problem is snobbery. Regionally, people appear to want to be seen racing the top brands, prepared at great expensive to look wonderful in the pits and out on track. With this project there’s no room whatsoever for any form of snobbery. If I can race a lawnmower I’ll give it a good go.

I firmly believe that with a bit of common sense, a chunk of bartering and a large dose of remaining humble, it is possible to buy a standard road car, convert it to race spec and run it in a local race series for a whole season, without a major sponsor or a Swiss bank account full of cash.

So how is this going to work? Well, I’ll buy a car (in fact I already have) and turn it into a FIA-spec racecar. I’ll then go and race it in the UAE Touring Car series, held at Dubai Autodrome and Yas Marina Circuit.

To prove you don’t need ultra-deep pockets, I’ll set myself a budget of just US$16,000 for the whole thing. MME will keep a running tab of the expenditure and I’ll keep everyone up-to-date as I go along.

Any questions? In fact, don’t answer that.