At last the videos are coming up! I knew some videos were coming but I wasn’t sure what video was going to be released but I really like this cool video. It looks better then how wet and messy it got, they did a really good job of detailing those cars. I really liked how my M6 came out, too bad we can’t keep our cars like this all year long the police wouldn’t let us drive at all with those on. They were really shuffling through the cars, jumping from one to the other with all the different stickers and positions, some of those cars looked really good.
Link: GulfRunBlog
I think that I’m out of breath from all that has happened in GulfRun, I got really busy with it last week. I didn’t even have a chance to check my emails over a week or anything online, and I was immersed with all that is GulfRun and I loved every moment of it. So much was going on during the day, going out at night and passing out exhausted and waking up early in the morning.
So many ridiculous machines and excellent drivers with lots of surprises, I think this is probably the best year I have seen with so many people. Lots of people came on Thursday but on Friday the whole area was packed full of people, kids, families, friends, and so many people just walking in. I loved going to Aadliyah at night to go get a bite to eat with all my friends, I have been driving around Bahrain enough that I have figured out most of it but the internals of Manama get me all messed up and if you get caught in traffic there is no way out, you are just going to have to wait it out.
We stayed at the Banyan Tree which was fantastic, just 5 minutes from the track and very relaxing and as usual our villa was over flowing. The villa limit was at four people but we went more then double that and we couldn’t stop laughing. The weather went really cold by Wednesday which is surprising but good for all those who had turbos. The amazing event was the drifting for me, seeing some of those drivers going nuts was fantastic, especially the ISF and the Z4M. The 995 Gemballa did an amazing job as well, so many surprises this year.
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Meeting up and heading out isn’t a very simple process, with so many guys who are itching to take off in their cars. We met up at Tilal Complex in Shuweikh, it had the largest amount of parking spots which would be decently empty in the afternoon. We were expecting about 10 to 15 cars to show up when about 30+ cars show up, I knew it was going to be an interesting drive to Doha with this many cars in row. Luckily we had a few SUVs with us that were helping us block off the roads, some times there can be a bunch of maniacs on the road but that went smoothly enough.
The loading went very smoothly, four different trailers filled up completely with all the vehicles, top and bottom. You can check out the list of cars over at the GulfRun Blog, now that looks interesting, some very mean machines are coming to the track. People seem to be more prepared for the track this year then any other year.
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GulfRun @ 360 Mall was one the best car shows that I have seen in Kuwait yet. The number of assembled cars was fantastic, a number of interesting machines in the show, my favorite being the Porsche 995 Gemballa, that is a true racer, a monster of a machine. I like it was separated, I was thrown on the German side next to my twin sitting next to my M6, looks like its going to be an interesting race this year with such a variety of machines.
The machines I worry about the most are those Mitusbishi Evolutions, they are machines to be feared. The way they look has no indication of what can be under the body, some can be monsters at 600+ bhp and others can handle like go carts. Then there is that Nissan GTR which looks really good in red, I’m curious what the Mercedes SLR is going to be doing on the track against all these machines, then there is the other 20 cars which weren’t at the car show since they were getting worked on.
The booths were filled with some sponsors, the most active being Wataniya Airways with their airline staff handing out the Diwaniya Membership program, then Wataniya Telecom, Huperoptic had an interesting stand with all the types of tint, then there was Dent Xpress who were catering to all their customers. I was at the GulfRun booth taking some t-shirts for keeps for later, and I go my hands on the hoodie that I wanted. I talked to so many people over those two days I lost my voice the next day. I can’t wait until 360 Mall opens all it’s shops, it is taking some time, I’m assuming that they will all be open by this summer at least. Thanks to (Bassem @ Wataniya Telecom for the photo)
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Time has flown by and we are almost at GulfRun, I had my car done with some very impressive cars in the mix. Some very scary cars in the mix as well, I’m asking some of the GulfRunners which is the most insane cars and there is this Evolution MR which is looking very mean and not including a few surpises at the track in Bahrain. The sticker sizes are based on a predetermined pattern from types of sponsors and the size of it, and real estate available on the vehicle. Wataniya Telecom being the largest as the Title Sponspor, followed by Agility, Consolidated Contractors Company, Dent Xpress, and Wataniya Airways as Platinum Sponsors, then Al Sawan Travel, Credit One, and Slider Station as Gold Sponsors on all the vehicles, lots and lots of stickers all over the cars, and some of them look really good.
Now some of these machines are going to be on display at 360 Mall on the 15th & 16th of January, this weekend by the ramp and main reception area. Then there is the raffle tickets for the GulfRun Vespas, I really want the black one because it looks really good and all proceeds go to Hayat Cancer Foundation. I’ve heard of a few of the sponsors who will be at the Car Show in 360 handing out special items to people at the show, I’m honestly curious. I know one hting is that I will be trying out a lot of restaurants at 360 this weekend thats for sure, maybe throw a movie into the mix.
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Three weeks of planning, 30 Kilograms of meat, 7 kilograms of chicken, 8 boxes of water, 4 boxes of soda, 1 Landcruiser, 2 FJ Cruisers, and 7 guys. That is what it took to make an adventure of a lifetime. The perfect group of people to take a nomad trip to the most beautiful desert in Saudi, sleeping outside in the night sky is amazing, the sky is so clear you don’t need lights at night, the moon lights up the whole area its fantastic. You feel your chest clearing up from all the fresh air coming in, no telephone signal in the areas we were in. First night we came in and found our main camp site, and for each night we had a different camp site going in deeper and deeper into the desert. We had the Garmin 276c with the updated Saudi Desert maps, so we can coordinate our locations, walkie talkies are a must for these trips, and all the fighting takes place across the radio waves.
Took us about 5-6 hours to get to the first camp site, we started the fire to get some tea going, the smartest thing we did was have dinner before heading out to Saudi. You need a certain list of equipment for the cars, cooking, sleeping, precautions, and emergencies. I had an Iridium Satellite phone which was only to be used during emergencies, it looked like something out of 24 to call those bomber planes in the air. Then there was the air pump, jump start cables, battery charge unit, and tow cables. The tow cables I got were rated at 30’000 lbs with huge hooks at the end, they look menacing and we had to use it once because of an incident but I won’t mention that. Then there was a case that I was facing a flat tire in the rear tire, but we kept pumping up the tire and it would last the whole day so I decided not to change the tire, but when we got to Kuwait I found that the tire had two screws and one piece of would in it, those Yokomahas are tough tires, not the best but they did a fantastic job.
There were stretches of sand that we were flying over 100 kph per hour as if we are in a Dakar Rally, it was insane and my blood was pumping to an extreme point, it feels like you are floating on clouds when you are going over the soft sand. Then there was the amazing white and black camels all around, so many different kinds in all the dunes area, these camels didn’t care about us what so ever. These are some majestic dunes, they are at least 7 to 10 stories tall with dune up dune, with deep basin’s inside of them, even with pictures they don’t do reality justice, and the sand is so clean and orange, its amazing. There was even some dunes at about 20 stories high but I would have probably flipped the car backwards trying to climb it.
We had a three part day, morning for breakfast then we had out, then we find another location for afternoon break, then we head out in search for another location to find the best sleeping place. There was one point where we picked a location which was slightly slanted, and in the morning I woke up with one guy’s knee in my back and the other guy’s foot in my chest, luckily everyone was in a sleeping back. The most amazing thing was seeing the clear sky it was beautiful, you can see all the stars, you can see clearly until the horizon, it was a sight to wake up to in the morning as well. We got some rain the first night, it was a continuous light drizzle but the fire lit up and we slept perfectly fine, a little water didn’t hurt. The best part of the afternoon and evening stops was playing Risk, we played strategically making our alliances, and playing unexpectedly, I was more a Kamikaze during that game then trying to win, my goals were offense oriented, I tried killing off certain people with nothing else in mind. People were shouting, treaties were made, and troops were decimated, it was fantastic and the best time to play that board game.
The best part about it is how hungry we got, or pretty much how hungry I got and at night I would devour the food. Some of us would pass out right after, and I woke up few times at night, and I would feel some ice on top of my sleeping back but my morning it would all be gone. Some nights it got really cold but overall the weather was fantastic and I loved every moment. This was probably one of the funnest trips I had in a long time, I want to do it again, and I have a few ideas in mind for the next trip.
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Detailing is a real artform and very few have perfected it in Kuwait, and these few places that I have listed below have done a good job of coming close.
I am one person that likes to drive and ride all forms of machines, I also take care of those machines. One aspect that people forget about is taking car of the vehicle’s exterior & interior, not just the mechanical parts.
We have bad washing practices in Kuwait, not including bad weather, dust and all possible forms of damage to a cars exterior. You lose the color, the vibrance of teh car, your interior might even change shades of color and you might not notice.
Detailing Steps:
- Air Pressure
- Clay
- Full Wax
- Leather Treament
- Engine Detailing
All these steps will bring back the color and shine of your car, getting rid of those annoying scratches on the car, getting rid of the circles from washing your car with crappy quality cloth. Getting the color of your leather back to its original look and feel. I recommend a full detailing at least once every 6 months, you will love the way your car looks and your car will thank you. I’m doing this to my Landcruiser after taking it for a major beating in the deserts of Saudi for five days.
Recommend Companies:
- Al Falah Car Wash (Al Soor Street, Kuwait City)
- Zeibart (Al Rai on the way to Avenues from Safat Alghanim)
Back from an adventure for new years, we have been planning this trip for some time and I got back Sunday after having so much fun in the desert. We drove over 6 hours to get there, and almost 1400 Kms of driving in total over a four day period from Kuwait and back. This adventure was nothing short of a Toyota advertisement with two FJ Cruisers and one Landcruiser, the way we were driving was probably the best advertisement Toyota could get. With 300+ photos of the whole trip I will be posting a lot up later but for now this is just a few pics for now. We moved every few hours, right after breakfast we would find another location in the dunes of Dhana, a nomad style of camping which was organized and everyone had their task at every point.
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Taking a nice break for a few days, about 5 days I think in total, the logistics aren’t completely worked out. We are heading out to a location in the Saudi Desert for some fun in the sand. Something different to do for New Years, I wanted to take a break, and this is the best possible break. No forms of communication in any direction, its a risk but really worth taking and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it. I think we will be traveling 800 to 1200 kilometers to get to our destination but it is a beautiful location that we went to in 2007 so I’m looking forward to it, and I get to test the new Landcruiser in the desert.
I hope everyone has a great new years!
We went for the car show weekend, didn’t know what exactly to expect their but I was really looking forward to it. We went to the convention center bought our tickets and walked in, starts off by the modified vehicles area, motorcycles, and ATVs. The variety of the machines was amazing, so many amazingly tuned cars, they looked really good, and some very very ugly machines as well, tasteless, the best part was seeing so much in real life. The SLS looks better in real life then I expected, the LFA is a beast, I wish they had the normal version rather then the racer version. I liked the organization of the whole expo, from car modifiers to car manufacturers, there was a simple pattern to it. I was surprised not to see Chrysler or Lamborghini or Honda there, and they had some new cars too so I was expecting everything, but they really must have a tough time not to show up. I know that I will be looking forward to visiting it again next year, click below for a ton of pictures.
Surprises:
- Mercedes SLS
- VW Scirocco
- Fiat 500
- Ferrari California Hamman Edition
- Chevy Stingray Concept
- Toyota Landcruiser Extreme
- Mercedes ML 63 Barabus
- Subaru Sti
- Benley Mulsanne
- Lexus LFA
- BMW M1
- Cadillac CTS Coupe
Disapointments:
- Aston Martin Rapid
- Bugatti – All the Models
Be careful when you click this post, there are over 100 pictures to see, but so many nice cars :)
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