Dubai Motor Festival 2014 – Packed out success
Wall-to-wall carxtravaganza at Meydan was fun for all the family, especially the petroheads
By Shahzad Sheikh
Dubai Motor Festival 2014 is a go – hence the green lights!
Dubai’s first proper full-on Motoring Festival was a massive hit with the crowds at Meydan yesterday, as it packed out the day with a staggering line-up of exotic and classic cars, high-octane action from stunt bikes and drifters, displays and competitions, live music and fun for the family.
There were many jokers in the crowd, good thing Batman dropped by
Wound tightly around the Meydan Hotel upper deck, the 2014 Dubai Motor Festival was an opportunity for petrol heads to meet the new Mustang and the Mercedes AMG GT, as well check out a never-ending line-up of supercars heading up a grand parade, numbering over 600 cars allegedly over a 47km route through Dubai’s main tourist spots.
Pretty huh? No, no, to the right. The new Mercedes AMG GT!
Heading up the sensational convoy were the Dubai police supercar fleet, as well as the Ambulance service sportscars including a Mustang, Nissan 370Z and Lotus Evora. They even set a record for the largest number of car brands in a single motorcade at 58 marques with a shorter 3.2km route around the ‘Motor Village’ venue.
Black Beauty – it’s the all-new Ford Mustang. Did you take to the latest pony?
Another separate Guinness Record was set for the longest selfie relay with 289 participants. I don’t think I know what a Selfie relay is, and I thought I was up to speed with Selfies!
‘Lots of trouble, usually serious’ that’s what this ‘Fast Responder’ is for!
Deafening DJs vied for your attention with a stream of exhibitors including Drift UAE’s Drift Academy, Dubizzle, Nissan off-roading demos, Infiniti light shows, football, live art, dancing and R/C racing competitions.
Amazing airbrushing on this Emirati Prowler – it doesn’t get more ‘National Day’ than this
With free entry and ample parking (as long as you didn’t follow all the other drivers foolishly onto the dead-end bridge (as I did) which ended in a bottleneck U-turn) plus the great weather, fantastic view of the Dubai skyline, and the restaurants, live music and kids area, meant the weekend crowds streamed in – as many as 10,000 visitors according to the press release.
Peterbilt singing: ‘Mercy sakes alive, looks like we’ve got us a convoy’
In the evening the hardy souls that stayed were treated to the Red Bull Car Park Drift finals, in which the fast and furious sideways action, twisting around the unforgiving steel pillars in the Meydan car park, saw Jordan’s Ahmad Daham take the Drift King title in spectacular style.
Loads of prancing red horses, but this dark stallion stood out for for – that’s one classy classic
It was a great inaugural event which only added to the deluge of motoring events going on this weekend throughout the Emirates confirming the UAE as the car-lovers paradise in the region.
A great place for young petrolheads to get close to the coolest cars and their heroes
On a personal note, I do want to berate some of the spectators and visitors that seemed to think it was okay to touch, lean on, sit on, and in the cases of open-top or unlocked vehicles, jump in and out of with careless abandon, private owners personal cars, parked on display in the parade area.
One of Dr Muhammed Ben Sulayen’s runabouts cruising by. MBS opened the proceedings in style
Honestly speaking if I owned a collectible or exotic car, I would not be leaving it alone for a minute having witnessed the utter lack of respect shown for other peoples’ property. C’mon people.
Fast cars and happy policemen – welcome to Dubai and rev it up!
