We RUMBLED in the Desert!

Once again the Bahrain International Circuit has beaten its critics to a pulp. Once again they demonstrated that the BD 150 million they spent on the track was worth every fils. Once again the BIC demonstrated its ability to act as a catalyst of excellent business opportunities which should be capitalised by the whole tourism, manufacturing, engineering and entertainment industries.

5,000 people were packed into the Oasis Grand Stand overlooking the Drag Strip, not counting the hundreds who were outside the gates desperately waiting to get in. The event was completely sold out and I have heard one of the fans on the grand-stand say that tickets were being sold by touts at anything between 20 through to 50 Dinars each. He himself begged tickets off Saudis who have come over especially for this event but had to leave early, so he bought their tickets to get back in!

I never – ever – realised that Drag Racing was such a popular sport in Bahrain. I never realised as well that we had quite a number of folk who probably spend their whole monthly salaries on their cars. Judging by the love and affection that some of them were bestowing on their rides at the accompanying Car Show in the Paddock area yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they actually work in order to keep their cars well cared for! They were real gems, brilliant.

I’m not just talking about the plethora of Lamborghinis, Porsches, Ferraris, TVRs which were very well represented at the Car Show, but even a Nissan Skyline (remember that one?) and what I thought to be a Datsun 140J and they were both pristine and shiny, their engines and bodies lovingly maintained and to their owners (and a lot of enthusiasts I watched yesterday) are just as pretty as a new bride.

Arif and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, we arrived at about 2:15pm after getting our VIP tickets personally delivered to us by Shaikh Nasser Al-Khalifa of Batelco, a million thanks goes to him and especially Amira Al-Hussaini who arranged for the wonderful day we have had! And because of them of course I got to be the super-duper-fantabulous-dad for a thrilling afternoon and evening!

Thanks of course also goes to Batelco for allowing us to use their suite at the track, it made the event even more enjoyable. Especially that Arif met one of his school buddies there and they both spent a good time together.

Arif came armed with his digital camera and digital binoculars and put them both to very good use. I’ll put up some of his pictures once he uploads them on his computer. They should be fun to watch, an 11-year-old perspective of the Car Show and the Drag Race.

As to my own pictures, I have been doing a running “shoot and upload” from my mobile phone! I uploaded 39 pictures to my flickr account just as soon as I shot them! I dread to think how much my mobile bill is going to be since I discovered this flickr thing! I’ve been uploading pictures almost on a daily, sometimes hourly basis.