Archive | February, 2005

Busiest Week of Motorsport at Bahrain International Circuit

Bahrain International Circuit has enjoyed its busiest week of motorsport competition and corporate activities since it was opened in March last year. The circuit is now really living up to its motto “the Home of Motorsport in the Middle East� with countless events taking place at the circuit during the last seven days.

The list of events underlined the circuit’s portfolio of activities and included the opening round of the Bahrain International Drag Racing Championship with record crowds and two days of intense competition. In addition the circuit hosted the FIA sanctioned second round of the FIA Middle East rally Championship with rally headquarters, the service area, parc ferme and the Start and Finish all taking place at the circuit. Everyone involved in the rally, (and there were many nationalities from the GCC, Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe represented), were overawed by the scale and professionalism and the organisation of both the Bahrain Motor Federation (BMF) and the Bahrain International Circuit. Winning driver Nasser Al Attiya commended the organisers on a fantastic event held in facilities of such a high standard.

Cyprus Round of the World Rally Championship to be launched from Bahrain

The Cyprus Rally, one of the rounds of the World Rally Championship, will be launched from the heart of the ‘Home of Motorsports in the Middle East’ today.

The Bahrain International Circuit will host the launch venue of the sixth round of the championship during a press conference held at its premises.

“It gives us a great pleasure to host the launch of the Cyprus Rally from the Bahrain International Circuit. The launch will add another achievement to BIC’s track as Home of the Motorsports in the Middle East,� said BIC General Manager, Martin Whitaker.

Porsche Michelin SuperCup comes to the Middle East

For the first time in the Middle East, the opening round of the 2005 Porsche Michelin SuperCup will take place at the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on April 1,2 & 3. The new Porsche 997 will also be tested on the circuit a week prior to the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management (FOM) organisation has given special dispensation to the Bahrain International Circuit to allow the German manufacturer the opportunity to test the new car.

The car is ‘so new’ that the SuperCup teams have not had the chance to test the all new 997 and will be eagerly awaiting the opportunity to try the new car on the Sakhir circuit.

The SuperPrix aims to bring together identically prepared Porsches to compete as a supporting event to Formula 1 races. The cars are on an equal footing and competition is fierce with lots of wheel-to-wheel racing and contact. The drivers are world class road racers including young and upcoming international stars, recognizable names from the past, plus a celebrity racer (former great from racing, rallying or motorcycling).

TrackShare Comes to Bahrain International Circuit

Trackshare is an English based company who run track-day based events using a fleet of GT racing cars and high performance road cars. They are in Bahrain until the 11th of March.

Trackshare have brought with them 2 of their most exotic racing cars: a Porsche GT3 and a Ferrari Challenge.

Don’t just watch these cars from the stands, experience the extreme speed and g-forces of these racing cars for yourself. Trackshare will teach you to conquer the long straights and fast sweeping corners of BIC’s award winning track. The ability to handle powerful cars at high speed is an art. Now you can learn that art for yourself here in Bahrain.

Is it worth it?

A Bahraini blogger was reportedly arrested this morning, no charges are published yet, but the draconian way of the arrest is alarming. Probably armed with an arrest warrant from the public prosecutor, the police went to Ali Abdulimam’s house and on not finding him there, arbitrarily have taken his sister instead probably to ensure that he turns up at the station.

Disregard all of that. It remains to be seen why he is arrested, and what the arrest warrant says.

Ali runs montadayat.org bahrainonline.org a site very critical of the government, and its commenters even more so. So Ali is paying the price…

Holding judgment for a moment, I hope that Ali and other fellow bloggers realise where the line is. For not knowing definitively where it is, is a dangerous enterprise. We just have to follow logic, no more and no less. It is vitally important as well to understand that with freedoms of expression comes responsibility. It behoves us to realise that just as “regular” journalists, we have to ensure that we do not defame people, symbols or entities without just cause.

It’s too early for me to judge Ali and his arrest. It is however amply demonstrated that once again, the government has overstepped its line probably to derail yet another excellent attempt by the Crown Prince to right this country… just after his Economy Reform launch…

update: Bahrania is a lot more “on the pulse” of this situation than I am. I suggest if you want quicker and more thorough updates, please go visit her site. On my side, I’ve done some contacts here and there and my contacts are as flabbergasted as I am. So hopefully some common sense will prevail soon.

update 2: The case has been taken up by various rights organisations locally and internationally:
• Committee to protect bloggers
• Reporters without Borders

update 3:
• Chan’ad posts about a protest in support of Ali Abdulemam which happened yesterday in front of the Public Prosecutor’s office in Manama.
• BahrainiBlogger suggests that we should have one day of solidarity with Ali and write one article severely critical of the government to (1) see how they react, and (2) to essentially tell them that if they shut one person or site down, tens of others will spring up.