LEBANON : Speed Test Round 1

[SewerSideUp]

ATTENTION TO ALL CLUB MEMBERS IN LEBANON !

The Automobile and Touring Club Lebanon (ATCL) is holding the 1st round of the Lebanese Speed Test Championship tomorrow morning. The event will start at 9:00AM and will be at the Wardeh parking lot, Ouyoun Es Simane, Kfardebian (3yoon ssimen, Kfardebian. It's a step above the famous ski town of Farayya).

Most of the cars are, as usual Mitsubishi EVO's from all models and a couple of STi's. Theres going to be 8 BMW's, 5 of which are M3's. The rest are 320i (E21) 323i, 325i and last but believe me not least a fast 316. A Honda S2000 and 3 Golf GTi's. Two Pugs and a Clio Williams.

No details about the course, but it's between 800m to 2,000m long.

Weather's great up there with some gorgeous views to match!

Whoever is currently in Lebanon, don't miss this!!


ATCL website :
http://www.atcl.org/AutoSport.aspx

2010 Event Calender :
http://www.atcl.org/AutoSport.aspx?sec=2

Speed Test info :
http://www.atcl.org/AutoSport.aspx?sec=4&t=5

Bulletin #1 (.pdf) :
http://www.atcl.org/files/auto/speed...1Bulletin1.pdf

Entry Form if anyone's interested in the necessities (.pdf) :
http://www.atcl.org/files/auto/speed...1EntryForm.pdf

List of drivers entered in the event (.pdf) :
http://www.atcl.org/files/auto/speed...1EntryList.pdf

General Regulations and Classification (.pdf) :
http://www.atcl.org/files/auto/rules...egulations.pdf

[Haissam]

will be waiting for the youtube vids :D

[Ramzi]

It was a nice day, and i also got to meet a fellow member, a very cool guy and a true BMW Fanatic.......pics below, videos to follow soon!

[Hasan Shaikh]

Nice event!

[SewerSideUp]

It was a great event, lots of fast cars! The venue was literally in between 10 or so hills on a flat open asphalt, skidpan like area. The amazing views were a distraction if you ask me!

Down to business, BMW action was plenty and especially with the E46M3's this year which is re-assuring. But, the problem was that they were trying to see who makes more tire smoke than set a good time. Disappointing to see really when you know what the potential of such a car is.

The EVO's were moving around the track like slingshots as usual, most didn't get to pull the infamous hydraulic handbrake AWD spin properly around the R/As. Most of the BMW's did though :D !

STi's had some presence, with two REDICULOUSLY FAST cars! An old 98-ish Blue WRX which couldn't keep grip in the straight with four sicks because of all the torque that turbo made! And a latest generation hatchback STi which was bloody hell fast except the driver really had no clue what he was doing..complete waste of very nice car.

There was a GOOD number of Dubai registered cars as well, mostly EVO's both on the track and off it the spectator area. A Saudi registered EVO and a Kuwaiti one a swell, if my memory serves me right.

Weather was somewhat painful, 17*C at 8:00AM with the hottest sun I've ever seen!! Most of us got the taxi driver tan as well. Stand in the shade and you'll shiver, stand in the sun and you'll melt!

Organization on behalf of ATCL wasn't as good as I expected. They had idiots for marshals and a circuit clerk that had no problem with an EVO swallowing a cone and continuing it's lap. Most of the spectators ended up pushing the safety net and standing 3 feet away from the cars. In a nut shell, organization and most importantly safety could have been much better.

Photo's and videos, I barely took photos of the race itself but the usual ritual of a short photo shoot for members cars after the race had to be done!

Finally met Ramzi, very cool guy. Drives a gorgeous E36M3 which is in very good condition. Contrary to what an E36 should be in this country! Enjoyed watching the race with him and some nice comments that made sense in the midst of all the cheering whenever someone pulls a drift!

All in all, a day well spent! Nice cars! It was good to hear some BOV's and straight pipes again with cones flying here and there (Ramzy got to know first hand, TWICE! :rofl:)

I will upload the photos shortly.

Cheers!!

Ow, and that big tank up there with SHJ plates and full tint is the tank I drive on a daily basis. 12 MPG :taser:

[Bruno]

raed hassan was there with a white evoVI dubai number plate.

it's known throughout the years that Autocross in lebanon is a drift show.

specially when you have the likes of people who are intrested in drifiting rather than acheiving clean times.


anyways i'm sure it was fun. look at the price 150$ and 300$.... in dubai people cry if you tell them 200 dirhams or 400 dirhams. shame on them!

[SewerSideUp]

Yes, Raed was there. It was a freakin' Dubai fest I tells ya! Felt EMSF all over again!

They have a problem when it comes to Speed Test, Rally and all other forms of MotorSport in Lebanon. They look at the top driver as if he is the one and only! WRONG!
All they do is cheer on Fghaleh. Fghaleh designed the track himself! He can drive it blindfolded !
But, what about other drivers ? No one was born with a trophy in racing. We all learn. That's something the people don't want to understand here...
Drifiting, they have a drift competition in Lebanon and it's organized by RedBull. Very successful event! Speed Test on the other hand is an AutoX style track with the longest straight being 80m max. It's a technical set up not a smooth curved drift set up. Still they refuse to understand...

150$ if you accept sponsorship from ATCL ( I need someone to actually explain that!?) and 300$ if you don't. Believe me, MotorSport is EXPENSIVE in Lebanon! 400AED(?) at Yas Island for a full track day is peanuts compared to here!

[Ramzi]

Nice review Sewersideup .....not much to add as you summarized it all but i wanted to point out that the track was actually tough with over 5 tight roundabouts with barely enough room to exit it if you haven't positioned your car right causing us to see the reverse light on many cars as they get stuck:) you will know what i mean when i post the vidz.
I was truly amazed with the amount of hp those Evos and STIs have even the ones in the so called "Amateur" category which made me think 10 times before thinking of running the speed test as i was planning to do it earlier this year. Those guys were allowed Hydraulic hand brake and slick tires too.
On the drive up to the 2,200 meters high location we had a nice drive with my friends in their E39M5, E34M5, E46M3, the stripped out race prepared E46M3, and my E36M3.

next event is on July 24th so maybe all the members who will be here can join and we all cruise to the event together.

[Bruno]

i might be there on the 24th, most of theose who are with garo as his customers :rofl:


anyways. thanks for the pictures

[Ramzi]

Here We go:

Firas Khaddaj not giving a crap about a good time and just wanted to put on a show and display his sick drifting skills in his E30 M3 (modded S50 engine)

[youtube]Xe8FmowE_MY[/youtube]

More vidz to follow

[Hasan Shaikh]

nice skills

[SewerSideUp]

Fully built E36M3 GT 3.0 S50 engine to be specific, and the NOOIISEEEE :drool: ...

[Bruno]

did he finally revert back to a smalled displacement engine?? lol

[SewerSideUp]

did he finally revert back to a smalled displacement engine?? lol

Bruno!! How can you say something like that !! It's considered an insult!
Smaller displacement, puh!!

[SewerSideUp]

As promised!









Ramzi's gorgeous E36M3 !