Thousands swarm to the first Middle East custom car meet

The Barbican TURBO festival saw some of the most famous, finest and fastest custom specialists attending from around the world, local customisations were celebrated in the Wheels Top 100 competition, and the Sound-Off competition run by SAFE (the Society of Auto Owners and Filipino Expats) and visitors were treated to insane driving displays, with the Middle East debut of the world champion drifting team from Japan; Team Orange!.

Barbican Turbo offered visitors the chance to see the latest tuning and styling products, as well as the latest project cars as profiled by local companies such as Liberty Motor Sports and Chrome & Carbon. Stealing the show was a matte silver Porsche Cayenne on which all the modifications were designed and built locally by Chrome & Carbon and a kitted out sunset orange Cadillac Escalade, complete with 26 rims, a reworked exhaust system, air suspension and crocodile leather interior from Liberty Motorsports, which went on to win the 'Professional Car of the Festival'.

It was not just the professionals showing off their customised creations; visitors were invited to bring down their own modified rides and enter them into the Wheels Top 100 and the S.A.F.E. Sound Off competitions. A total of 140 cars were entered into the competitions and the 'Car of the Festival' was awarded to Ahmed Zayed for his Ford Mustang.

In the Sound Off the Best Installation title went to Derrick Aranas for his Toyota Fortuner and the Loudest/Sound Pressure trophy (recorded at 135.1) was received by Kamil Hanini for the explosive In-Car Entertainment System packed into his Nissan Patrol

Also adding to the success of the festival was the presence of World Drifting Champions, Team Orange, who put on a series of full throttle displays. Thousands of visitors lined up along the safety barriers to watch the stars of 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' screeching their way around the track. Thanks to festival sponsors, Barbican, one lucky visitor, Kabir Dutt, won the opportunity of a lifetime; to ride along with Nobushige Kumakubo of Team Orange, who literally took him for a spin!

"One of the Wheels Top 100 participants approached me today and said, "this has been the best car event I have ever visited" while another said, "I have been waiting for an event like this all of my life!" This kind of response is truly astounding!,"

Said Bryan Espie, Marketing Manager, Barbican Turbo, CMPi.

"On a second note we would like to thank everyone involved in making the festival an incredible success including the headline sponsor Barbican and exhibitors but especially those individuals and car clubs who loaned their cars to the festival so they could take part in the Wheels Top 100 competition and the S.A.F.E. Sound Off competition. Without them it would not have been possible," added Espie.

Running alongside Barbican TURBO was Adrenaline Sports Live, the Middle East's first action packed adrenaline sports festival which saw similar visitor numbers. Competitions running at Adrenaline Sports Live included the Amateur Arab Skating Championships with winners, Maysam Faraj from the senior group and Mark Gavigan from the junior, winning a place in the next Dubai Xgames and a Woodward Scholarship respectively.