Thats huge.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What were u going in the plane?

Samaj wrote:

Thats huge.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure is.......... guesstimating from google earth, the back straight looks like 70+ meters. More than twice the area 2 straight.

I guess it is meant for 1/5 though so no real surprise.

I think our little mini will get lost on there, but I'm keen for a visit with touring car

May be hard trying to spot a small 1/10th tourer on such a big track, but it could also be a lot of fun

been there yesterday morning and the place looks promising.

Have they got a drivers stand? And whats the surface like? It looks like there is plenty of space for a smaller track

yep! they do have a drivers stand but its small and good for 3 people only.

Yup Dan maybe we can re-arrange one area to shorten the track just enough for the minis.. Andys got contact with the track owner i think.

@Ian we can use Andys truck as a drivers stand if needed

Maybe we should pay a visit on Friday for a closer look?

Test it out and see what the surface is like. If it is nice a grippy, or slippery as hell, then this could help decide if we should look into it much further.

I don't think it'll be very grippy... With all that sand around it, I bet a lot of it blows into the track.

By the way, what were you doing in an plane flying over Meydan?

Thats a very BIG looking track, I think it would be perfect to modified tourers, defo too big for mini's though....you would probably get 8 laps top in a 5 min final, lol.

Looks promising though....I am keen on a Friday look-see, maybe about 5pm?

On another note, I have spoken to Ryan at the Autodrome and he is well keen on a track at the drome...he is going to look into it. He says there is place for an off-road track too, so I will continue to hunt along these lines. I will be aiming to get the same place we used for the automodex, for the Endurance race.....If it does happen, we can be sure that they wont build it for us, we will need to put some work in.....so lets start gathering some ideas for the layout and construction. I am personally very keen to use the same layout we had for the Automodex, I think it was a great design, and using it in the day time will allow us to utilise the full track for tourers, and cut track for mini's..

I passed by the "track" earlier after some work at a nearby site.

And I agree that it's waaaay too big for minis.. Maybe even for 1/10 tourers.
There is an area inside the track that's big enough for a drift track..

About the grip, I think there are people who regularly maintains the area as I found it pretty clean.

The lines are a little confusing though. But a little time spent driving there would definitely solve that problem.

Ian's right, the driver stand can only fit 3 regular sized guy.. And without the stand, it's easy to lose your lines.

But one thing's for sure.. It's definitely worth a visit. And next time I pass by, I'm bringing my Mini..

Good news about the Autodrome, they do absolutely nothing with empty space which we used for Automodex. Do you think they would let us install a permeant track there?

Im also up for checking out this place at Meydan on Friday, but can anyone map out the site on google?

Yep, I'm keen for Friday so

You can find the track at

25° 9'4.82"N
55°17'17.45"E

I went and had a look at the track, and it is promising.

Initially I thought it is too big for mini and touring, but there are 2 cut-out points that could be used to reduce size. One cut-off could be used for touring, and both for mini...The mini track would not be very technical but would make for some fun racing.
The drivers stand is small, but it looks to have been constructed in a modular type setup, and if we can find out who made it, we could quite easily get them to make up a 'middle' section that could be bolted in, and lengthen the stand. This would need FUNDING though, so some donations would be necessary...

There is a tiny shop down there, so we could get refreshments, but I think the only rest room facilities would be at the mosque, and I assume not for Joe Public to use....

For any events there, we could use plates on the inside corners of the track, the same way we do now, and that would force people into following the track. There is no cover there and we would get sun right up until sunset. There are no electrical outlets, but we are used to that. A good sweeping of the track would reduce stones, but dust we can do nothing about. A spraying of coke (traction compound) every week would result in a nice sticky surface over time....

So who is in for 5pm on Friday then?

sounds good to me.

Yeah, I am gonna try get down there too.....I think I will bring a tourer along....but not a hard-ass one....just a normal car :-)

i want to test my FF03 there but not sure about that 5pm... jury duty first hehehe!!!

Ok, do you want the good news or the bad news first??

Ok, bad news first....there is no burger king nearby....and no shop...

The good news.,.......that track is really nice, well at least a darn site better than what we have been using at Area 2.
Why do I say this? Well simply put, there is a lot of space, the drivers stand, although small is great and best of all, the surface is awesome, very grippy, even when it is dusty. Myself, Greg, Dan and Graham had the mini's out, and made a few 'detours' in the track for a really cool mini circuit. It is a lot more open and flowing, and with the addition of a little chicane, made for some really fun racing. With Sport tuned motors in the mini's it will be even better and we could use more of the track. The touring cars can get some really good speeds too using a bit more of the track.

I will get in contact with the 1/5th guys and see how we can work together with getting more facilities at the venue.....

Bottom line, I think we should make every effort to make this the new Dubdrift track....

Get down there and try it, it is really cool.

Yep, I'm impressed with it too.
Has a lot of potential and just to add to Andy's points......

Bad news....... no lights for after dark drifting.
Good news...... it is fenced off from the main car park, so suggests to me the guys who set this up have permission / connections to do what they have done, and I assume we could take the next step and make some improvements. Bigger driver stand, fix some apex on the corners etc.
Best part is the surface is good. I've only been to Al Ain once and it was very slippery, so I'd much rather come here than drive all way to Al Ain.

Maybe this is what we have been looking for all this time, it just needs a bit of work and effort and we could have really good track.

I definitely enjoyed yesterday, great location.

If we can work things out with the 1/5 Guys I would be willing to donate some money to help make the drivers stand a little bigger. If we can get some apex added to the corners it would be great. If not the plates will do for now, but we may need to get a few more.

I think this would make a great new home, or failing that a new place that we can race once of twice a month.

sounds like the track is good for touring... Let's make this happen as winter is right around the corner. It would be great to play our hobbies

Typical, I sell my tourer, then a week later everyone wants to start touring cars !

Its great that everyone has good things to say about this track and as we have -

1- Timing gear
2- A history of at least one successful public event in Automodex
3- lots of members that race every week
4- An active web site

I can't see why anyone would not be excited to work with us.

Duane - (back of the grid with an M03).

Anyone up for a mini/touring meet with the timing gear this weekend? Would be quite good if we could try out one round of the mini series here, find out what everyone else's opinions are