16 May 2013
Off to Abu Dhabi
Dubai to Abu Dhabi is about 140kms and my options were taxi or bus. The bus was cheaper but took considerably longer and they only go to Abu Dhabi city so I'd still need to catch a taxi back out to Yas Island so I might as well catch a taxi all the way then. To embrace the thrifty backpacker spirit I caught the free shuttle from my hotel to WAFI city (an Egyptian themed mall of day spas) and then jumped on the metro (monorail) to get as close to the Abu Dhabi end of Dubai as possible. The metro didn't cost me anything because I scored a card with some credit from a mate at my old work, thanks James :D The metro itself is really good (suck it Adelaide trains); it's clean, fast and fully automated. I didn't really know which stop to get off at because the last one is obviously closest to Abu Dhabi but I didn't know if there'd be taxis there. I jumped off at the fourth to last station because I could see taxis there and it's lucky I did (or maybe it was skill) because I didn't see taxis at any of the other stations as we drove by. We did 140km/h (the speed limit for cars) all the way there and most of the way the meter way ding-donging with intermittent messages of "you are speeding" and "you have been fined/fired (not sure which)". The trip was 100kms and it cost me 176AED or about $55 AUD; petrol is bloody cheap here.
The Hotel
The Centro hotel was really nice and all the staff was extra nice; it was almost too much having to say hello to everyone as you walked past. The best thing about it was that I could walk to the race circuit in about 20mins, well the entrance to the circuit anyway, it took me another 15 minutes to walk through it all to the driving school.
Yas Marina Circuit
Like a kid on Christmas morning, I was super excited and I got to the track 2.5hrs early. There's a Jonnie Rocket's there (some American burger joint) so to kill some time I ordered some food and a chocolate and peanut butter thickshake; it was as great as it sounded :D I still had 2hrs to kill after lunch and there was no way I was going to walk back to the hotel and then pretty much straight back again in the 38 degree afternoon sun so I managed to catch a tour of the circuit. The tour went to the northern grandstand (apparently the best seats because you can see 30% more of the track than any other grandstand), the du arena (concert area) behind Ferrari World, the villas for the race teams, the main garages, pit straight, the main control room and the podium. In the garage we also saw the top fueler that you can drive for the bargain price of $25000 USD per run.
Formula 3000 Drive
Back at the racing school, we all got changed into OMP race suits and race boots (both are on my Christmas list now). We had a short briefing session then went out to the track where we jumped in Renault Clios for some practice laps of the track. We didn't actually use the whole track, only the northern section but there was still a good mix of high speed and tight turns. The Clios were left hand drive, as it everything in the UAE, so that was a bit weird but I made it work. I still prefer RHD. After the Clios we kitted up and jumped into the Formula 3000s. The air temp was high 30s and the track temp was low 60s so when you're wearing a full race suit and helmet, you're pretty keen to get moving. They didn't just let us loose on the track, we were split into two groups and had to drive in a train behind an instructor with no overtaking. The cars are 3L V6 engines with sequential 6 speed paddle shift gearboxes. The cockpit is fairly tight getting in but there's enough room to do what you need to do once you're in. You sit with your feet higher than your bum and you can barely see over the nose cone, but you don't need to so it's no big deal. Fly by wire throttle makes it fairly doughy down low but they go alright once you're moving. We did about 6 laps over 20 minutes and IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME! I WANT ONE! They have a very linear engine (I suspect it was toned down for us) but they handle fantastically and sound incredible with about 20cm of exhaust and clutchless paddle shifts (no lift off either).
Other Cars
While we were waiting around we got to see a Yas Supersport SSV, Aston Martin GT4 and an SLR Merc go for hot laps. Hearing all these cars flying round a race track almost makes we want to stay here longer so I can try them all.
Karting
Outside the driving school there's a go kart track that's 800m long with 20-something turns that was designed by Schumacher. It was $40 for 15 minutes still feeling the buzz from the previous drive, it was too good to pass up. It was the best karting I've ever done; the karts were quick and the track was is great condition. The challenge was trying to get around all the unpredictable teenagers that really couldn't drive. They also make you create an account before racing so they can track your times and I came third (yes, there were more than 3 karts on the track).
Drag Racing
Thursday night is drag night at Yas Marina Circuit... Tonight is Thursday night!!! Why no go see some "money knows no bounds" drag racing. The drag strip is 1.4kms long (longest in the world apparently) but the whole set up was really relaxed/unofficial; you could stand along the wall or right behind the cars as they launched. Some of the cars I saw were:
-BMW X5s (some turbo)
-turbo M5
-Merc SLS
-turbo AE92 Corolla (definitely the odd one out)
-hot V8 Jeep something-or-rather
-twin turbo Camaro (didn't actually see this run, just heard it light it up all the way down the track and explode at the end)
-supercharged new V8 Patrol (didn't actually run but it did fly through the car park a few times)
-Merc CLS
Most of the cars were running low 11s @ ~190km/h. The CLS was the fastest that I saw doing 11.1 @ 201km/h.
There is a shuttle that goes between the track and the hotel but I'm pretty sure I missed it so I just walked the 30mins back to the hotel, feeling pretty bloody good.
Off to Abu Dhabi
Dubai to Abu Dhabi is about 140kms and my options were taxi or bus. The bus was cheaper but took considerably longer and they only go to Abu Dhabi city so I'd still need to catch a taxi back out to Yas Island so I might as well catch a taxi all the way then. To embrace the thrifty backpacker spirit I caught the free shuttle from my hotel to WAFI city (an Egyptian themed mall of day spas) and then jumped on the metro (monorail) to get as close to the Abu Dhabi end of Dubai as possible. The metro didn't cost me anything because I scored a card with some credit from a mate at my old work, thanks James :D The metro itself is really good (suck it Adelaide trains); it's clean, fast and fully automated. I didn't really know which stop to get off at because the last one is obviously closest to Abu Dhabi but I didn't know if there'd be taxis there. I jumped off at the fourth to last station because I could see taxis there and it's lucky I did (or maybe it was skill) because I didn't see taxis at any of the other stations as we drove by. We did 140km/h (the speed limit for cars) all the way there and most of the way the meter way ding-donging with intermittent messages of "you are speeding" and "you have been fined/fired (not sure which)". The trip was 100kms and it cost me 176AED or about $55 AUD; petrol is bloody cheap here.
The Hotel
The Centro hotel was really nice and all the staff was extra nice; it was almost too much having to say hello to everyone as you walked past. The best thing about it was that I could walk to the race circuit in about 20mins, well the entrance to the circuit anyway, it took me another 15 minutes to walk through it all to the driving school.
Yas Marina Circuit
Like a kid on Christmas morning, I was super excited and I got to the track 2.5hrs early. There's a Jonnie Rocket's there (some American burger joint) so to kill some time I ordered some food and a chocolate and peanut butter thickshake; it was as great as it sounded :D I still had 2hrs to kill after lunch and there was no way I was going to walk back to the hotel and then pretty much straight back again in the 38 degree afternoon sun so I managed to catch a tour of the circuit. The tour went to the northern grandstand (apparently the best seats because you can see 30% more of the track than any other grandstand), the du arena (concert area) behind Ferrari World, the villas for the race teams, the main garages, pit straight, the main control room and the podium. In the garage we also saw the top fueler that you can drive for the bargain price of $25000 USD per run.
Formula 3000 Drive
Back at the racing school, we all got changed into OMP race suits and race boots (both are on my Christmas list now). We had a short briefing session then went out to the track where we jumped in Renault Clios for some practice laps of the track. We didn't actually use the whole track, only the northern section but there was still a good mix of high speed and tight turns. The Clios were left hand drive, as it everything in the UAE, so that was a bit weird but I made it work. I still prefer RHD. After the Clios we kitted up and jumped into the Formula 3000s. The air temp was high 30s and the track temp was low 60s so when you're wearing a full race suit and helmet, you're pretty keen to get moving. They didn't just let us loose on the track, we were split into two groups and had to drive in a train behind an instructor with no overtaking. The cars are 3L V6 engines with sequential 6 speed paddle shift gearboxes. The cockpit is fairly tight getting in but there's enough room to do what you need to do once you're in. You sit with your feet higher than your bum and you can barely see over the nose cone, but you don't need to so it's no big deal. Fly by wire throttle makes it fairly doughy down low but they go alright once you're moving. We did about 6 laps over 20 minutes and IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME! I WANT ONE! They have a very linear engine (I suspect it was toned down for us) but they handle fantastically and sound incredible with about 20cm of exhaust and clutchless paddle shifts (no lift off either).
Other Cars
While we were waiting around we got to see a Yas Supersport SSV, Aston Martin GT4 and an SLR Merc go for hot laps. Hearing all these cars flying round a race track almost makes we want to stay here longer so I can try them all.
Karting
Outside the driving school there's a go kart track that's 800m long with 20-something turns that was designed by Schumacher. It was $40 for 15 minutes still feeling the buzz from the previous drive, it was too good to pass up. It was the best karting I've ever done; the karts were quick and the track was is great condition. The challenge was trying to get around all the unpredictable teenagers that really couldn't drive. They also make you create an account before racing so they can track your times and I came third (yes, there were more than 3 karts on the track).
Drag Racing
Thursday night is drag night at Yas Marina Circuit... Tonight is Thursday night!!! Why no go see some "money knows no bounds" drag racing. The drag strip is 1.4kms long (longest in the world apparently) but the whole set up was really relaxed/unofficial; you could stand along the wall or right behind the cars as they launched. Some of the cars I saw were:
-BMW X5s (some turbo)
-turbo M5
-Merc SLS
-turbo AE92 Corolla (definitely the odd one out)
-hot V8 Jeep something-or-rather
-twin turbo Camaro (didn't actually see this run, just heard it light it up all the way down the track and explode at the end)
-supercharged new V8 Patrol (didn't actually run but it did fly through the car park a few times)
-Merc CLS
Most of the cars were running low 11s @ ~190km/h. The CLS was the fastest that I saw doing 11.1 @ 201km/h.
There is a shuttle that goes between the track and the hotel but I'm pretty sure I missed it so I just walked the 30mins back to the hotel, feeling pretty bloody good.
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| Me, again, in the car with my gear still on (yes my eyes look like piss holes in the snow) |
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| Me in the Formula 3000 after the drive |
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| The kart track |
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| WAFI City entrance (the Egyptian thing) |
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| Scoreboard from karting |
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| The drags |
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| Race control (wall of monitors) |
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| View from the northern grandstand |
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| The Formula 3000 (on the Christmas list) |
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| The Clios doing a run to get familiar with the track |
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| Track stats during the tour but I drove in the same conditions |
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| Turbo M5 about to run |
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| The top fueler |
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| A few toys in the garage |
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| Photo op on the podium (part of the tour so I hadn't even driven yet) |
Fantastic Tommy :D
ReplyDeleteLOL @ the Alias of the dude in the middle, Shabs > Slabz :P LOL