a legend returns - Nissan Lebanon

Now, one would say that this is taking things
a bit too far as how come one make of
vehicle be so enduring to the competitors
and by the way, what is this form of motorsport
that makes for a frenzied dash in a Nissan to
participate in?
Well, it is hill climbing, only here in the Arabian
peninsula the connotations change to dune
climbing and the most famous of them all are
the Tal Moreeb in Liwa, Abu Dhabi and the Tal
El Saad in Al Ain – both in the UAE. There is one
big dune in Saudi Arabia which is also huge, but
it is the aforementioned dunes that all exponents
of this very technical and exciting sport want to
conquer. Think of dune climbing as a different
form of drag racing wherein instead of racing on a
flat track, one speeds up a dune having an angle
of 38 degrees (checked by GPS). Total length of
the track depends on basically how big the dune
is, but Tal El Saad (our point of focus here in this
article) is about 200 metres long with 65 metres left
as braking distance. Even then 135 metres going
vertically is nothing to scoff at as the competitors
found out at the Red Bull Reach the Top event that
took place in earlier in April this year.
Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh
Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, this event saw a
score of mainly Emiratis taking part. with the most
MOTOR SPORTS
popular wheels of choice being the effervescent
Nissan Patrol.
Around 15,000 UAE and foreign spectators
came to applaud the 21 winners of the quad and
4WDs categories. Sheikh Ali Sultan Al Khatiri,
Mr. Abdallah Al Qobaissi, vice-president of the
organizing committee, and Mr. Mohammed Bin
Barrak Al Zahiri from Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority
distributed the prizes. He cherry on the cake for
the winner in the car category was a pristine white
Nissan Patrol, courtesy of Al Massoud Automobiles,
the Nissan dealer in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.
That the racing was fast and furious was an
understatement as the competitors place a lot
of emphasis on doing well as it reflects on their
standing in the local tuners’ market. Racers and
indeed winners are accorded cult status and much
was expected of last year’s winner Hamdan Al
Mazroui but sadly, the Tal El Saad is a great leveler
of man and machine and he failed in his quest to
take top honours.
Fastest man on the night was UAE’s Bader
Ibrahim Ahli from the Formula team. He darted up
Tell El Saad in his 8-cylinder Patrol in a scorching
time of 8.426 seconds. He was followed in second
position by Ibrahim Abbas Al Balouchi with 9.006
seconds, with Abdallah Al Hamli taking third with a
time of 9.032 seconds.
In the 6-cylinder category, Hamed Mohammed
Jassem Al Mouni ranked first with 12.066 seconds,
followed by second placed Thani Khalifa Al Muhairi
(12.734 seconds) and Waleed Salah Ibrahim with
12.394 seconds rounding off the podium.
As for the standard car category, Jassim
Mohammed Al Ali took the top spot after scoring a
good time of 9.721 seconds. He was followed by
Saeed Al Mazroui in second position with 10.483
seconds, while Saeed Bou Samarah finished third
in a time of 10.903 seconds.
Surprisingly enough, Bader Ahli did not
only win the title of 2006 UAE 4WD Champion
of the Red Bull Reach the Top competition held
in Tal El Saad, Al Ain, but he was also awarded
the championship shield of all car classes, after
the points he had previously scored in the car
championships held in Tal Moreeb, Liwa and Tal
Awafi, Ras Al Khaimah were added up with the
points of this championship.
Ahli expressed his joy of winning the title and
said: “I am extremely happy, especially that I am
crowned twice tonight: the first time because I
scored the best time in Tal El Saad and the second
time because I scored the highest number of
points at the end of the season that started in Liwa
and Awafi then ended in Tal El Saad”.
“After my first trial, I realized that the drivers
were unable to beat it, so I decided to wait before
making the second one. I was in fact waiting for
Al Mazroui in particular because I knew he was a
strong competitor. However, I was lucky and he
was not”, he explained.
47 cars raced yesterday: 13 in the 6-cylinder
standard category, 14 in the 6-cylinder full category
and 20 in the 8-cylinder category. This number
was more than sufficient to offer the spectators
the expected excitement and enthusiasm. The
wait grew longer and longer and reached its peak
when the car of Saudi driver Ahmad Al Chaqawi
rolled over after crossing the finish line. However,
he came out of the accident unharmed and waved
to put the audience’s mind at ease.
All in all, it was a good evening of racing and it
is but a tribute to the strength of the Nissan Patrol
as it proved to not just be the fastest vehicle up
Tal El Saad but the most preferred among the
competitors.
2006 29