[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yGh1efQp4s?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

This is a video from the creative guys of 360 Dewan, it is unreal, it got my blood pumping. Cars have already started rolling into Bahrain, people started flying and driving in. I can’t wait until it starts, there are a lot of scary machines on the track. People are still prepping their cars to the last moment, its going to be exciting I can’t wait to get it started.

Check out the amazing post & full post at 360Dewan

I always look forward to the Car Show in 360 Mall, I have participated in all of them and spending most the weekend there is pretty entertaining. It also helps that Open Flame Kitchen is right there, so we had lunch and dinner there pretty much every day, and breakfast and Laduree which is really good. This time around the guys were even more organized then before, cars were put in efficiently, and it was quickly done, then they started setting up the lights and all the other stands to get things going for the Car Show.

What I love about it is the unique machines that are placed there and the number amazing machines. The funny part is that there are about 20 more machines that aren’t placed there because there isn’t enough space but I still liked the selection. I do love seeing those KTM XBows they look like they came out Batman’s cave, very cool looking machines. I picked up a few GR hoodies this year since they were flying off the racks, and got all my GR ID’s and gear. I’m curious to see how the McLaren MP4-12C & Italia 458 do on the track since they are known as track machines. But there are also a lot of heavily modified Japanese Machines so we shall see how that goes. Also one of the best part of the car show is seeing the reaction of the kids, some of them really thought the XBow as the Batmobile, and they either like specific brands or they love specific colors. The Black Nissan GTR with the Red rims attracted a lot of people and especially kids.

The beast that was parked on its own requires to be mentioned, an Underground Racing LP1500-4, heavily modified suspension and brakes, this is far from a normal machine and it even sounds scary when you start it up. This is the first time I have seen a Gallardo with a roll cage built into it, you can’t tell by looking at it, only when you open it up. It is an excellent piece of machinery.

The best part now to GulfRun is coming up, Bahrain International Circuit from the 24th until the 25th of January. Lets just hope all the machines make it there, its going to be quite a scene to see all these machines on track. Usually I take it easy when I start but that isn’t always the case, but lets hope I get some good timings on the track.

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This is when all the normal super cars turn into race cars, there is something about designing the stickers and placing them all over the cars in the right spots that just make them look faster. The best thing about GulfRun is that they get the permits required so you can drive your car on the road with these stickers, and a permission letter from the Ministry of Interior, but there are always a few idiotic cops to deal with.

Thursday night the cars piled up, it seemed like it was a challenge between the Nissan GTRs and the Porsche GT3s, and all of us are caught in between. This year there were two Challenger SRT8s, I know some people don’t think they are track cars, but they cool look and I bet the guys driving them will have a lot of fun. Now for my unexpected challenge is the appearance of a new 2013 BMW M6, I want to see how this will turn out between the two of us, the challenge has been accepted by the owner so I’m going to have something interesting to challenge on the track.

AS usual the staff at Al Falah Car Wash were quick handling over 40+ cars and getting them arranged ready for the stickers. And the sticker guys were all over the machines, quick and efficient as usual. The only major thing I did for GulfRun was to switch out my tires and check the brakes, I won’t be pushing too much but I won’t be beat that easily too. Just writing this gets me excited, can’t wait to get to the track.

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Things have just started up again with GulfRun, everthing going into full swing, drivers getting ready for this exciting event. Honestly I have seen the list of machines participating this year and I’m a bit freaked out, some of these guys went all out working on their machines all year long. These high performance machines have high numbers as well and they have been testing it out on the track. A large number of Nissan GTRs & Porsche GT3RSs have joined, and they do look like they mean business. All I did from last year was change my engine oil and I just changed my tires two days ago, so I’m at the same level that I was last year.

The Car Wash is at Al Falah Car Wash At Al Soor Street TODAY! From 6pm Until about 10pm, and the Car Show is on Friday & Saturday this weekend from 10 am until 10 pm every day, and it looks like its going to be a lot of fun. The Car Wash is always ridiculous to tell you the truth, everyone revved up to fly to 360 Mall, you have machines ranging from 300 Horsepower all the way to 1800 Horsepower, they will want to speed but lets see what happens, speeding with a police escort it always fun.

The Karting Event in December was a lot o fun, personally these guys put a huge amount of effort into and there is a lot planning to compete with other teams. They really try to put the best strategy they can to compete against other teams, and usually they screw up over night. This is the video by TJC, this guy does some awesome stuff. Feels more like a Lemans video then a Go-Karting Race. Some of the drivers were up over the 24 hour mark which is insane.

Watching this video makes me want to go outside and race someone, seriously it gets my blood pumping and is a hell of a lot of fun. I can’t wait until GulfRun in Jan, nothing left, it’s around the corner. As usual the car show is in 360 Mall which is going to be a lot of fun.

This was probably one of the dumbest situations I have been in because of a cop with a grudge. Took place around 4:00 pm on a Friday.

I just left 360 Mall and exited onto the residental road in Zahra to get to 6th Ring Road quickly, I was traveling about 50 or 60, taking my time just had a good lunch with a few of the guys. There is a police station lot on the right hand side after about 300 meters. A police car pull outs in front, about three cars in front, didn’t think twice I was driving normally, turned right and so did everyone else to get to the bridge that goes over, just like the map, below I was following the blue route. As I was taking the curving exit back onto 6th Ring Road he was still a few cars in front of me, and was the exit was merging he switched on his lights and people were passing him and as I passed he shouted “Owner Of The BMW Pull Over”, I thought to myself this will get interesting. He pulled me over at the red spot on the map just before merging onto 6th ring road.

I stepped out of the car right away and a young police officer stepped out and came to me, I told him hello and whats wrong? He said nothing, went to the front of the car and said license and registration I gave him both. He said your license place has been modified it should be in the center, then I said what do you mean modified, he said you can’t move the location I said that is the mount do you see any screws in the middle, he didn’t say anything, then I said it just passed Car Inspection and last I checked the License Plate has to be in front of the car bumper not specifically in the center. Then he said it was loud and I said this is from the dealer, then I asked him what car he thought this was, he said 625 (That isn’t even one of the models), I told him its not, its a modified sports version of it. He seemed to be ok with that and then the other cop stepped out of the police car and he was white and chubby. The First guy was Bader Al Mutari and he was pretty decent and didn’t seem intent on anything. The other guy came out, his name was Ahmed Yousef, I won’t be forgetting his name anytime soon, and hopefully Karma will bite him in the ass soon enough.

Going back, when the second guy came out the conversation took another turn and this time it was a twist and this is how it went:

• Him: Write him up for a violation
• Me: What exactly is the violation
• Him: Your license plate
• Me: Its in the front and you could see it

Then He Changes

• Him: Your car is loud
• Me: This is from the factory and its not a normal car, what car do you think it is
• Him: You made a 635 this way
• Me: This isn’t the same car and you should know the difference, this is an M6 which is louder and faster and a different color then the normal 6 series
• Him: Where is your proof
• Me: You have the Car Registration in your hand, look at it
• Him: Ah, yes M6

Then He Changes Again:

• Him: Your Car is Two Colors Thats Illegal
• Me: What are you talking about illegal
• Him: It says only Blue in your Registration
• Me: Read under the second color, it says Black, just under the stamp and why would I change a color from the Factory, again its an M6, I think you as a traffic cop would know the difference between cars
• Him: Ah, ok..

(Sometimes you have to BS some of these guys cuz they try to push)

Then He Changes Again:

• Him: Your Car is Tinted
• Me: Yes It Is
• Him: Thats Illegal
• Me: It was just recently legalized
• Him: Yours is more then the legal limit
• Me: I’m not gonna argue with you, it is tinted
• Him – Talking to the Other Officer: Write him up, IN Total Violation Of Tinting Laws
• Me: What exactly do I have to do now
• Him: We are impounding your car
• Me: WHAT! For tint, I wasn’t even driving fast, just heading home
• Him: ….
• Me: Take my license, my car registration, both, why the hell would you impound the car
• Him: … (again ignoring me)
• Me: What exactly is going on here, you stopped me for one reason and now want to impound me for tint, thats over the top

Things went south from there, I tried calling a few people but on a Friday nobody was answering and I was out of luck. He told the other officer to get in the car with me and for me to follow him to the Impound yard, which is in Sabhan. He also shouted that it is illegal for me to make phone calls while driving. When we got in the car I spoke to the other officer and I said I’m going to make a few phone calls, he said go ahead and try to talk to someone, he seemed like a normal guy. I asked him what exactly was his problem, he said you are under his mercy at this point. Just my luck nobody was answering their phones so I took the car and the lot in Sabhan is run by KPTC.

Throughout this period I was talking to them in a respectful way, even when we were at the impound lot the Egyptian Manager tried to reason with the police officer but he wanted my car put into the system right away. If the car is put into the impound system there is no way the car can be released without a direct order from the Minister of Interior or the wakeel. I called my friend, who we will call “Cake”, to come pick me up because he knows where this is. The police officer left and I had my sweater with a few things in my pockets from what I took out of the car.

The Egyptian Manager called me and said he tried delaying the car registration into the system because he wanted to give me an opportunity to make a few phone calls and get out of this. But the officer was on top of him to get him in right away, no one else he did that for, even the other officer tried to make up a reason to leave. Ahmed Yousef really had a grudge and I didn’t know why, but I stayed cool because there was nothing to do about a corrupt cop. He just going from one reason to another to try to impound the car. After I was sitting outside waiting for Cake to arrive people started calling me back and when I told them the situation they started making phone calls trying to get to this guy’s boss. And the best part was that the Central Radio System of the Police was down on Friday so they were communicating Via phone, the radios weren’t working to my luck. So if someone had an emergency they would call the officers not radio them.

A friend told me that this cop had it out for me and he was a dick and shouldn’t have impounded my car, it a difficult process to get it cleared since you have to go to a lot of places to get the paper work done. And even on Sunday he didn’t submit the violation into the system since I think he wants to keep it going at least another few days before I can even start sorting it out. This is the reason why we don’t respect police in Kuwait, when there is a reason for them to get involved they are not there, when they don’t have anything to do they just abuse their power. The problem in my situation is that the law is lax about what a police officer can do and even if he lies its hard to prove him wrong. A few police officers called me back and said that what he did was not within his right since he is from another department and his shift was done a few hours ago and why was he still roaming the streets. It seems it was just my luck and lets see how this turns out over the next few days.

This is the 2nd year this event takes place and my hat goes off to all the participants, it was extremely professional by the organizers and the teams, and these guys were ready to drive for 24 hours. I was there for a 6 hours the first day and 9 hours the second day, I for one managed to sleep but some of these teams went all out. It was an extremely fun event in the Mishref Fairgrounds, people were operating like they were professional F1 teams, they really had their work cut out for them, and some teams even had team managers.

The Final Ranking of the Top Four were:

1 – Team Shanabz
2 – JPS Racing
3 – Gulf Cable Company
4 – McDonalds

I admire what these guys did and some of them have been training for months, and some of these guys race regionally and I honestly think we have the best of the best in Kuwait. There were so many kids going nuts and how intense the racing was, you could feel the electricity in the air. I for one loved it, there was a few close calls, I tried taking as many good pictures as I can when the carts were coming around the corners but there was a few times when it got a little too close. It’s great seeing companies such as Wataniya Telecom, Audi, GoPro, Goal, Moonlight Studios, Goal, Gulf Cable, and The Quarter Mile Club supporting such an event, it honestly was extremely professional organized by GulfRun & Provision. I think everyone was very happy the way things turned out.

You could even watch race results online through an Application called Race Monitor, I was impressed, everyone kept checking the stats on their phones while the application was running during the race. Food was constantly coming in, and people were passed out in different spots, you could tell some of these drivers were operating purely on willpower, going over 30 hours with no sleep in extreme physical conditions, I think they might have slept for two days after that race. It was a hell of a time and I loved watching them towards the end.

Team Shanabz & JPS Racing were really going at it towards the end and these guys were extremely strategic with their driver selection. Two factors came into play, Driver Weight and Skill, that was it. I don’t think I would have last more then 20 mins driving one of those Karts let alone 2 – 3 hours like some of those drivers.

You just won’t believe this was done by amateurs, and I know it takes a lot of skill to control those cars like they did. It really does look as good as a blockbuster movie, and I loved that all the cop cars were corvettes. RC Helicopter just took it over the top, very cool.

The Ferrari F12 Berlinetta is the 740-horsepower replacement for the 620-hp 599 GTB. But they put it against the best of the last breed and both the 599 GTO and the F12 are beautiful machines. 661 bhp 599 GTO vs the F12 740 bhp, and damn they looked good. The point was to see how well the newest in the line of Ferrari’s front-engined V12s stood up against the highest and hardest-edged iteration of the last. Italians know how to make their machines.