2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
The weather was pretty cold today but a lot of people passed by the Gulf Run car show at 360 Mall. I got there at 1PM, had lunch at OFK and then spent the rest of the day hanging out at the GulfRun stand. Tomorrow is the last day for the show so pass by if you can and check out all the cars. I’m probably going to be there all day again tomorrow.
The GulfRun race day is creeping up quickly just over a week left before everyone heads out to Bahrain for the two day event. Today everyone got together at the Al Falah car wash in Kuwait City to give the cars a nice rinse before applying the final sponsor stickers and heading out to 360 Mall where they will be parked the next two days for the car show.
The car show in being held at 360 Mall on Friday and Saturday (Jan 14 & 15). You will be able to check out all the cars up close, buy some Gulf Run merchandise and also raffle tickets to win some great prizes. Here is the link to the Gulf Run website [Link]
The blog Cyrographics took the video above of this SUV burning in the middle of the road. Not sure how a car suddenly bursts into flames but it seems to be a common occurrence. The picture below is of whats left of the car. More pictures and details available [Here]
The weekend is upon us and the GulfRun 6 car show is around the corner. With that we have the raffle which all donations going to the Hayat Cancer Foundation. The prizes this year are:
1. Polaris Razor RZR800 from Seas & Deserts
2. Can-Am DS450 ATV from Al-Ghanim Marine
3. Can-Am DS450 ATV from Al-Ghanim Marine
4. Mercedes-Benz All Terrain Mountain bike from Albisher & Alkazemi Co.
The Mercedes Benz Mountain Bike is a special limited edition version valued at $3300 from Abdul Rahman Albisher & Zaid Alkazemi Company. Just as the Mercedes Benz perfect their high performance machines this bike is not lacking in any options with disc brakes and a specialized suspension.
Mercedes-Benz All Terrain Mountain Bicycle
I would honestly love to get my hands on this bike out of all the amazing prizes in this raffle. Tickets can be purchased during the Gulfrun 6 Carshow this Friday 14th and Saturday 15th at the 360 Mall. The winner will be announced Saturday Evening. Here is the link to the GulfRun page with more details [Link]
Posted by Marzouq
Is it just me or does anyone else dislike the color of our current taxi’s (pictured above)?. I hate the beige and white combo and it really doesn’t add any life or color to the Kuwaiti cityscape.
On the other hand I love the color of the old taxis with the bright orange paintwork(pictured above). They’ve got more personality and when you see a group of them together its very colorful.
So why don’t we apply the orange color on the current taxis? New York have the yellow cabs, London the black cabs and we could have our orange cabs again.
After I posted about the Fiat 500 being available in Kuwait their brand manager contacted me and offered the Fiat 500 to test drive over the weekend. So I picked it up on Thursday and spent the weekend just driving the 500 around.
The car is cute, to me it’s like a Vespa except it has 4 wheels. Everywhere I went people would check it out, kinda like the effect the Mini and VW Beetle had when they were modernized and first launched. The dealer has currently imported one version of the Fiat 500 which is the Lounge model with the 1.4L engine. It’s fully loaded with leather seats, electric sunroof, dual logic semi automatic transmission, automatic climate control, steering wheel controls, fog lights, chrome trimmings and more. It generates only 100hp which I thought would be pretty lifeless but was actually surprised by the performance… for a small 1.4L car.
Friday morning I woke up and headed out to the junkyard to take pictures of the car. I know junkyard? But truthfully it’s one of my favorite places to take pictures since the place has a lot of color. Driving the Fiat 500 on the 6th ring road the car easily managed to keep pace at 120KM/h without a sweat. What I found though is that the car is a lot more fun to drive in more densely populated roads and areas where the Fiat is easy to maneuver and navigate. Finding parking isn’t a problem for the 500, I got to Ruby’s Friday night and found a tiny parking spot where some motorbikes had parked, with a little skilled maneuvering I was able to squeeze the Fiat in and parked alongside the motorbikes. The trunk is pretty small as well with enough room to fit just one large travel bag. But when you fold down the rear sits you end up with a lot more space. I picked up my dad from the airport Friday night and I managed to fit two large bags and one carry-on with still plenty of room to spare. The interior console is also pretty cool, very retro and definitely an eye grabber. Headroom was a slight issue for me, I’m 6’1 and had maybe an inch or two of clearance on top of my head so someone taller than me might have a problem.
For me the car would make a lot of sense back in Lebanon, the low gas consumption and the small size would make a perfect day to day car. I could easily imagine myself driving the Fiat 500 to work daily and then using the Toyota FJ on the weekends. In Kuwait on the other hand gas is cheap and unless you’re driving around in Shuwaikh at 1PM you could really drive around in a Hummer H1 and not run into problems. But I guess sometimes when you just need to go on a quick short trip, maybe you need to go down to Hawalli and pick up a new hard drive or pass by Sultan Center in Salmiya on a weekend, I can see the Fiat being very practical in those cases. University students looking for a first car might also be attracted to it. There aren’t that many cars in the Fiat’s price range which have a personality of it’s own.
The Fiat dealership is launching sometime at the end of the month. At first they will just be selling the Fiat 500 but they will also be bringing in other Fiat models as well. The Fiat 500 is selling for KD6,500 which is similar to the UK prices. They’re also going to be bringing in a model without a sunroof which should cost around KD6,000. Now the #1 question I was asked by my friends about the car is if the dealer will be bringing the turbo charged Abarth models. Well according to the brand manager they are currently in talks with Abarth and they’re hoping to open the first Abarth dealership in the region here in Kuwait. So that’s good news for people waiting for the Abarth model. If you have any questions about the car you can ask me in the comments below and I’ll try to answer it.
MSN had a report on the “10 worst cities to drive in” and Kuwait didn’t make that list but they just released a new list called “10 worst cities to drive in” and Kuwait’s on that list. Here is what was said:
q8SK said: “Kuwait is just dangerous, plain and simple. Poor driving education mixed with too much money, too young. Give a teenager five litres to play with and that’s only going one way, straight to the scene of the accident! On average two people die everyday on the roads here.”
Here is the link to the article [Link]
Thanks Othman
I’ve got the Fiat 500 with me for the weekend to try out and so far my first impression is that it’s a really fun little car. I took the picture above this morning and have a couple of more which I will post with my proper write up.
G-Force are putting together a private meet for GTR owners and their accompanied friends. There will be a Coffee Republic stand serving refreshments as well as a photo shoot for the GTR’s. It’s a chance for the GTR community to meet each other, share experiences and arrange future events. If you’re a GTR owner and would like to attend you can email them on [email protected]
Date: January 12th, 2011
Time: 7PM
Location: G-Force Parking Lot, Free Trade Zone
Gulf Run just released a list of the cars participating this year which you can check below. There will be a total of five events they will participate in: Inner Circuit Track, GP Circuit Track, Autocross, Quarter-mile Drag and Drift Competition. For more information on Gulf Run click [Here] or click the link below to check out the full car list.
A reader made the video above of him and his friends racing at the Pro Kart track. [YouTube]
Thanks Pedro
Last year Al Mulla & Behbehani Motor Company announced that they were taking over the Fiat and Alfa Romeo dealership (Both were previously with the National Agencies Group). Their new showroom is opening up sometime this year in Al Rai but today I noticed they already had two Fiat 500’s on display at their Jeep/Dodge showroom (pictured above). The Fiat salesman wasn’t there but according to another salesman they are selling for around KD6,500.
The Pro Kart Racing Club is organizing a Universities & Colleges Karting Cup that will be taking place next month. It’s divided into a “Males Cup” and a “Females Cup” so that way everyone gets to participate. The cost is KD30 if you’re a racer and KD10 if you’re a supporter. This includes an open buffet but not sure if the KD30 fee includes the cost for all the races (practice, qualification etc..).
For more information you can check out their website [Here]
A friend of mine took the picure above a few moments ago on the Gulf Road. Looks like a police car flipped upside down in front of Burj Al Hamam.
Tonight after my gym I passed by fashionably late to the The Gulf Run Dinner. It was an event organized to get all the drivers to meet each other, enjoy some good shawerma and sajj while checking out pictures of previous Gulf Runs. They also had a Ford GT, Mercedes SLS and a Ferrari 599 on display to check out up close.
One of the announcements I had missed with my lateness was that the SLS will be one of the taxi ride cars at the upcoming Gulf Run. Taxi ride cars are for the spectators who come to the track to watch the races. The spectators will be able to take a ride in the SLS (and other taxi cars) around the Bahrain F1 circuit while being driven by professional race car drivers (i.e. lots of fun). Update: The SLS taxi ride will only be for the GR6 drivers. There will be other sport cars available as taxi rides for the spectators. My mistake, sorry about that.
If you want to know more about Gulf Run you can visit their website [Here]