Early friday morning, I woke up to my phone ringing and I knew that I had to get up. K, Monichum, and a few others called me to get up, so I called a few other people trying to make sure they wake up as well for a good breakfast. We didn’t know exactly where we were heading, but it was a beautiful day and we had to get up. We decided to meet in the city since we had to pick up a few people and ended up with 7 people, a few wouldn’t wake up to their phones ringing. Met up with K, and we took off to the City to meet up with Monichum and a few other people, then we went to Qurtoba and kidnapped one guy from his home.
As soon as we got going we were flying to Al Koot Mall for a change, we were enjoying our drive and the empty highways. A little street racing was taking place after we filled up the gas tanks down Malik Fahad Highway, it is fun to drive in Kuwait as long as the streets are empty. Our main plan revolved around seeing Ironman that day, we were all looking forward to it. There was also the boat show, but I just wasn’t sure of the dates or when it was opening since it was delayed due to the dust storms.
We go to Al Koot Mall in record time, there were some corners that you couldn’t help but drift through them. The streets of Kuwait are fun as long as its empty, it was pretty cool that day as well so it wasn’t too hot outside. We got to Al Koot and had breakfast at Paul’s cafe since their weren’t too many breakfast places there that we knew off. At that point we were planning our day and what time we were meeting up for the movie and other plans for the night.
Somebody explain what the hell happened on Monday evening. From 5 pm onwards the police started blocking every road around Bayan Palace and every highway that could possible lead to it. In the diagram above anything in Dark Grey was empty highways because the police blocking off all exits, and anything in Red is EXTREME traffic due to the police blocking of those roads in Dark Grey.
There was no notification what so ever of this traffic or that the police were going to be blocking off roads. I read the newspapers and there was no mention of this, there is a meeting in Bayan Palace with people coming from out of state. This caused havoc on the roads of Kuwait for several hours, I hated being outside due to this hellish traffic. The usually 20 minute trip took me an hour and 10 minutes, and a 15 minute trip took one hour in the car. I went nuts sitting in a car going 10 kph, and knowing the traffic is being cause by the idiots who didn’t plan this out. They should have a fleet of helicopters to transport these dignitaries instead of causing over 7 hours worth of traffic without any warning.
I do appreciate that my work is located in Shuweikh, I avoid about 90% of all the traffic since everyone is heading to the city. This time it was a bit different since my training course is located at the Court Yard Marriot and I have to be there by 8:30 am.
I take a bit of an odd route, going into South Surra then Damascus street to the city, but people would be surprised how fast that is. The only problem I found out was that today, a lot of exits on the First Ring Road and the Sheraton Round About were closed because of some important people being in town. Due to these circumstances it led me to the round about way to getting to the city, and I ended up taking longer then I expected. I avoid Fahaheel Expressway if at all possible so I took this round about route, and 90% of all the traffic lights were green, but then there was this unaccounted for traffic. I felt like an idiot since I was going back and forth trying to find the right way to get to the city, and talking to a few friends they were all stuck in traffic. Instead of 40 to 45 minutes it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to the city. I was going to go nuts! What the hell is all this traffic, I didn’t ming going around too much in too many circles, but this time it was just ridiculous, a lot of traffic came to a stand still.
Sometimes in Kuwait you can’t be helped by idiots on the road. I have been annoyed with some of these idiots but today just wasn’t the right day for someone to do something stupid to me. The most annoying this is when I’m signaling to come through and they don’t let you through, they speed up not to let you through when you switch on the turn-signal, but if you didn’t they would give you space.
This person decided not to let me through, but since I’m in the Landcruiser I thought why the hell not and kept pushing through slowly since we were all traveling at 7 km/h he honked and flicked me off. At this point I didn’t believe what he just did, traffic came to halt seconds after that. He was right next to me and so I waved at him (very angrily) to lower his window. From that point there was some shouting and I asked him to step out so that I could teach him some manners, and also let some steam off. He was a Kuwaiti man in his late thirties or early forties, so I decided its fair game to beat the crap out of him. I haven’t had the best day so neither will he, and this point I could tell that he didn’t want to go that far, he should have remembered that before flicking me off. At that point I want to drag him out of his car and use his head as a bat to knock his hood in but traffic started moving and so I just left while he kept a 10 meter distance between me and him. It honestly felt good that I did something to him, at least mentally.
I was happy to see the website has been updated and there are a lot more pictures there then just mine. There are pictures at the car wash and other times, the best thing I am waiting for is the video which has to be fantastic. They also updated information of all that took place, I went ahead and copied the information regarding who won. We still talk about everything and how much fun we had, even getting there was hilarious. I will be first to register when they open the event for next year.
Results:
Circuit Champion : Mohammed Al-Sayer in his Noble M400
Drag Champion : Ali Ashkanani in his Porsche Turbo
Ultimate Driver : Mohammed Al-Sayer in his Noble M400
Link: GulfRun Media
After finishing with my car I needed to get it cleaned up and I need to get all the paint residue removed from the vehicle. So I went to Al Falah Car Wash, and the funny part is I ran into another GulfRun Driver on the road on the way there. It was funny, I think Al Falah Car Wash will turn into the Ace’s Cafe of Kuwait, where we all meet up every once in a while.
I took my car straight in and I asked the guy to get rid of all the large smudges, and it showed especially from all the dust in the day. As soon as I took it in I said hello to a few people and kept snapping away as usual. Then I was talking to my friend about the whole race and who was a screw up, who was good, who needs a lot of improvement, what surprises we had, and how want to go back but after we recharge everything. It was one hell of an event and we all enjoyed it, now Al Falah Car Wash will always remind me of good times, other then the really good service I will be going back to meet up with people for 20 – 40 minutes. I just wanted this wash to get the car cleaned up which they did.
After the major car service I’m taking it for a detail and that is when these guys shine. I liked my car more with the GulfRun Stickers!
So for the first set of things I was planning to do was change my brakes and all my tires. The fronts are almost completely gone, the backs are mashed up, and so I went to Michelin and got the rear tires. I would have to wait another week until HH Tuning gets the front tires for me and I will have Michelin mount of them for me.
When I went to Michelin I asked them if they have someone who is skilled in installing brake pads for sports brakes, 8 pads in total. At first they said no but then they told me they do have someone and they introduced me to him. When I asked him if he can install the brake pads on this car, he said “Germans didn’t invented the brake pads, pads are pads”. I was surprised from his answer and confidence so I let him go ahead with it, he really knew all that he was doing and I was very very happy. If anyone needs an aligment then go to Michelin and his name is Mohammed, he is damn good and he is the one who installed the brakes, a really tall guy.
All my pads were completely gone, I mean only 2 -5% left and thats about it! I was told to pump the brakes every time they installed the front and rear set for the sake of the ABS system.
Michelin Pilot Sport 2 cost 118 KD per tire so 236 KD in total, labor was only 10 KD for all the pads which is great in comparison. I was very happy with the results, I felt the grip and the brakes felt much better. Now for the front tire then alignment, but before that I will be taking it to the dealership to have all the fluids changed.
The 2nd day was an open session for all vehicles and there were some GulfRun vehicles as well as some RUF modified Porsches which looked nothing short of scary. Some of us were enrolled in this track day, but I felt completely beat up after the long day on the track the day before.
It was amazing seeing those machines, and there were three Z06s there and one very modified Z06. They looked nothing short of monstrous, the one driver of the Z06 is a formula 3 driver and the Z06 has the fastest track time from the open sessions, that is just insane.
Then after that was the motorcycle session which got my blood going!! I so wanted to be riding on the track, but I was bikeless and gearless! I really want to get my bike on the track, and we have already talked to some peopel about setting up a GulfRun for bikes, which will be amazing. I know a lot of people who would like to go and ride on this track.
Some of those bikes were going so fast my camera wasn’t able to capture them! I really want to get on the track, it would be amazing to ride this beautiful track.
I have to say that I was impressed with the way they were handling things for this whole event, there was a lot taking place and for the return trip they had to prepare a lot especially since going through the Saudi Border is like going through hell for them. They make it as difficult as possible, but the organizers are the only ones handling the cars and not the transporters.
The trailers themselves are high end and have been prepared for very low sports cars, it was very difficult to scratch the bottom of the car while loading because of all the pieces used to angle the vehicles. I’m impressed with the capabilities of GulfRun and Agility to make the transport this way. The only thing I think they need is someone to fix the Saudi check point, there is a difference between doing their jobs and abusing their positions which is what the Saudi Customs Officers were doing.
The people who were loading the vehicles at the Bahrain International Circuit from Agility were the same people from the loading evening on Monday and they were as professional as they were the day of loading the vehicles.
There were a lot of things going on in the track, and a lot of people were getting some insane numbers. Also I learned a lot after driving around the track and trying to improve my skills, the whole point is to also learn the limitations of your car.
Best Car on the Track:
- Noble M400
- Porsche 997 Turbo
Worst Car on the Track:
- Mercedes SL55 AMG
The fastest I reached on the straight away was 271 kph but then I couldn’t make the turn so I had to slow down and enter the safety run-off but we were laughing when it came to a stop. My friend was saying, “Turn .. Turn… Turn.. TTURRRRNNNNN”. I told him “We are going straight and will make it past the WALL!!!!” With music blasting and driving we were just laughing, and kept going after that I figured out the fast I could reach to make the first 100 degree turn is 245 kph. I was surprised from the capabilities of my vehicle, and I was very happy even though I was running some very crappy tires, next time I know what I need.
Technical Issues:
- Break Downs:
- Porsche Turbo – Coolant Issue
- Audi RS4 – Clutch Cylinder Issue
- Noble M400 – Gear Box or Clutch Issue
After the Track there a few thing that needs to be done to bring my car back to health since what I did was total abuse of Bavarian engineering, all I have to say is that Germans know how to build them.