2016 Gulf Car Festival

Two years ago, the Gulf Car Festival only took place over one day and was immensely popular with the residents of the UAE and of course the car owners. Fast Forward to 2016, the Gulf Car Festival is back and just couldn’t resist spreading itself over three days due to its popularity to accommodate the 300 plus vehicles on show.

Taking place from the 14th to the 16th of April, each day dedicated to a select group of vehicles that once again took UAE residents by storm. Thursday; Muscle Cars, Friday; Europeans, Classics and Super Cars, and Saturday; JDM, Tuners and Trucks.

First up, Thursday. Massive throbbing petrol powerplants motors made their way from all over the Gulf to the Park Avenue in Business Bay, Dubai. A section of the parking lot cornered off and surrounded by black fencing to keep what was inside tame.

An impressive trio of Camaro’s caught our eyes as we entered. One of which had modified doors in the same style as a Lamborghini and was covered in orange foil, the next one featured a wrap of the Twilight Movie Franchise, with each angle of the vehicle representing one of the four movie plots. And finally, one Camaro owner had covered his pride and joy in matte grey foil which featured unique, yet unfinished pattern. After some time, we realised why the design was incomplete and why there were markers on the windscreen. That’s right, the owner was drawing his own patterns, how awesome is that!

Of course, those weren’t the only Camaro’s on show, plenty more scattered themselves around the parking lot, with one, in particular, standing out. Those who visited the event two years ago will immediately recognise it. Coated in black with pink accents, eyelashes adorned the head lights and Hello Kitty decals were stuck on either side. Dubbed the Camaro Queen ZL1, it attracted a lot of attention for more than one reason.

Camaro’s weren’t the only vehicles on display, Ford Mustangs of all ages were present, Dodge Challengers and Chargers majority of which were modified with incredible paint jobs, loud sound systems and non-standard doors. Hummer vehicles line-up side by side in all shapes and sizes and once again featured unique exterior features.

No car event would be complete without police presence, no less than three of Dubai’s finest were on display including the gorgeous Mercedes-Benz SLS. However, the new Nissan’s weren’t on display.

Moving on to Friday, after all, the muscle cars and Hummers vacated the premise, a fair few vehicles remained to wow onlookers once again. An array of Audi’s lined the fence all sport unique paint jobs. One even featured mirrored tinted windows, while another had racing seats installed and Michelin performance tyres on each corner.

Even more European exotics lined up shortly after including Ferrari’s, Porsche’s and two stunning examples of the Mclaren 570’s dressed in orange. After a quick daydream of how life would be driving around in any of those, a beige coloured Hummer H1 returned for another day. After struggling to find the perfect parking space, the driver found the perfect spot as you can see from the video and picture.

From across the venue came an incredibly loud sound. As curious as we were, we went to investigate along with everyone one else on site. Once making out way through the crowd, we found a beastly Nissan GT-R literally spitting fire out of the exhaust. Hundreds gathered around to snap the flames.

The show continued through the night with even more drivers revving their powerful motors and trying to outdo one another. Participating in the unofficial rev-off were a handful or Chevrolet Corvette’s, two Dodge Vipers, one BMW and the above Nissan GT-R which prevailed over the rest.

It wasn’t just about the cars on show, visitors and participants were treated to the one of the best stunt drivers in the Middle East. Doughnuts, burnouts, drifting around women and tyres. At one point he even got out of the vehicle while it was spinning around, grabbed a guitar and started to play it in the parking lot. An absolutely bonkers idea you should not be trying at home. Quad bikes and motorcycles were used too.

On the topic of stunt driving, the driver, one Mr Naji Bou Hassan is attempting a world record for the most simultaneous car doughnuts by the same driver! We wish him good luck, in the attempt.

Two years ago it was huge; this year was even bigger and better! Roll on the next Gulf Car Festival! We’ve loads of pictures from this year’s festival, be sure to check them all out.