Arnie feathers the accelerator with a flex of his foot. A grin broadens across his face and the engine of his Infiniti roars its approval. Nanoseconds later, I’m enveloped in the car’s pristine leather seating as we explode down the highway. Welcome to the world of customised cars. One hour earlier, I turn up at German Automotive Engineering in Dubai (04 338 8393) and enter an office not knowing what to expect. Sharply dressed and in his early-twenties, Arnie is Pakistani by birth, but has lived in the UAE his whole life. He closes the door with authority, muffling the din of the workshop only slightly, before explaining how he got into customising cars.
His passion for mechanics started when he was a teenager, working on his first motorbike: ‘We had a whole group that used to go to Deira, in Dubai. We’d go early in the morning, make a lot of noise and race – that was until they banned the bikes.’ I ask him what the attraction is. ‘It’s just a rush of adrenaline when you’re faster than a guy whose supposed to be faster than you,’ he grins. ‘That would put a smile on anyone’s face.’
Around Dubai and Al Ain, drag racing on the open roads is dangerous and notorious, with organised groups arranging to block off roads in order to race; but this is something different – it is the everyday machismo of the motorway. ‘You can’t predict who’ll walk in,’ Arnie says. ‘I get a mixture of all ages and nationalities.’ 0-60, you might say.
I’m shown some of the cars they plan to exhibit at Turbo: Custom Nation – taking place this month at ADNEC, and the capital’s first custom car show. Arnie reads off the modifications. One car is a rather cumbersome looking Mercedes SUV, an ML63. He looks at it with almost fatherly affection. A set of turbochargers give it a twin turbo gain of 700 horsepower; technically it’s quicker than a Pagani Zonda, he tells me. But this is a show car; an extreme example of what can be done.
Inside, he shows me the work they do for owners. We pass two Porsches, one of which (when finished) he claims will do 0-140kph in three seconds, and an SSC (Shelby Sports Car), which at 417kph is said to be a match for the famed Bugatti Veyron.
But this isn’t the DIY spirit of customising I’m looking for. The electrics on these types of cars preclude all but the most skilled hands. Still, I expected it to be all DeLorean doors, flaming exhausts and outrageous designs, but it isn’t. For many it is something more insidious – a spit in the eye to the supercars of the more wealthy. So I turn to amateur enthusiast Ghassan Othman for a bit of perspective.
‘They call it a sleeper,’ Ghassan explains. ‘From the car’s looks you can’t tell that it would go that fast, but if you’re in a turbo car you’ve boosted say 10psi, it’s incredible. You’re driving a stick car with turbo and air and it’s got all this horsepower; it’s way better than compared with, say, driving a Ferrari or Lamborghini.’ It isn’t a matter of making the best of what you’ve got, but of making what you’ve got better than anything else.
Like others I talk to, Ghassan started young, aged just 16, fixing up a Toyota Supra with two friends, swapping the engine, drive train, modifying the transmission and so on. He tells me that it isn’t the speed, but the acceleration that is important. From 100kph to 300kph is the test. ‘When you build something, the amount of love you put into it makes it better than something already suped up,’ he believes. A tragic accident involving his brother led to him selling his previous car for the customised Lexus SC300 he now owns, but his passion remains the same. I ask him if he’ll ever finish. ‘You never get bored of this,’ he says. ‘The only time I’m really excited about something is when I’m in the garage, and there’s always new things and parts you need to keep up with rivals and competitors.’
Another amateur enthusiast with a passion is Mubarak Rashed Al Mansouri. He has five cars and used to do the whole ‘weekend warrior thing’ (drag racing and autocross). Now he attends rallies and meetings across the Middle East with his VW club. ‘There is definitely a social aspect,’ he explains. ‘It’s about having fun and meeting up.’
Aged 32, Mubarak is a level-headed guy with a white collar job, but having spent around Dhs63,000 customising his 2001 Golf GTi (turbo, suspension, engine, brake system), he cautions others thinking of doing the same. ‘I suggest to all tuners, you do some research into what kind of qualities you’re looking for. For me, my car looks and performs better.’
But surely there is a certain amount of male peacockery involved? Mubarak agrees. ‘Some people do it because they want to be different. Some really want to show off – change the colour, design, logo, chrome, put diamonds on the wheels so that it looks really flashy – make people pay attention. Others prefer performance: working on the engine, wheels and exhaust. They do it in order to drive something unique. I’m a bit of both. For me it’s not about the speed, but the handling, I do as much as I can without changing the integrity of the car. It looks mean, but the car can do more, I can make it better.’ This is the abiding message of the customisers: ‘We can do more’. This is a hobby through and through, and one that won’t end. Striving for that bit of extra speed, acceleration or control is like chasing a rainbow. Arnie isn’t just in sales mode when he says that it is cheaper to customise an ordinary car than to splash out on a brand new Porsche. But is it all flash and boyish nonsense? Of course it is, no matter what they say, but that isn’t a bad thing.
Yes, the only way to test your car may be when you see the green at the traffic lights, but the ethos of taking something ordinary and making it special is rather appealing. It’s not a very UAE philosophy either, where the fastest and shiniest are normally the swish of a credit card away. But the enthusiasm is infectious, and as the roar of Arnie’s Infiniti drills into my brain, I find that the thought of dragging with some high end supercar does bring a smile to my face. What do you know? He was right after all.
All of the above will be exhibiting at the Turbo: Custom Nation car show at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) from November 13-15. Adults Dhs50, children Dhs25 per day. See www.custom-nation.com
