Leaving no stone unturned when planning an event doesn’t necessarily mean Mother Nature won’t turn up and start interfering. Organisers at the recent Red Bull Car Park Drift qualifying heat in Abu Dhabi must have wondered why they’d bothered when a rogue sandstorm during the morning threatened the running of the event altogether.

Protecting their reddened eyes and wiping their now dust-laden Red Bull cans was a small price to pay for the enthusiasts on hand to cheer the competitors. Among them was the crankandpiston team, and the fruits of our collective labour are now on-site.

After some spectacular demonstrations at The Beach, Ahmed Al Ameri was eventually crowned Abu Dhabi’s King of Drift for a second consecutive year. As his rivals whittled away in the opening heats, Ameri remained steadfastly in the top five. One final error-free run and an enormous reaction from the crowd was enough to secure the UAE local the laurels.

Dust clouds aside, it was more than fierce competition that Ameri had to worry about on his way to victory. Last year’s scoring system remained, with 70% of the points total earned with the demonstration itself and the remaining 30% through noise, tyre smoke, vehicle appearance and crowd reaction.

However, the judging panel – which included local drifting legend Abdo Feghali – would deduct points for inadvertent spins and if marker cones were disturbed, with several drivers falling prey to the latter as the contest unfolded. Others failed to make it even that far, with one Nissan Skyline’s engine seizing seconds into its second run, and one BMW 3-series igniting in the paddock before Car Park Drift had even started.

Ameri will face his fellow regional Drift Kings at the grand finale in Beirut, where they will take on reigning Middle East King of Drift Saeed Al Mouri. The tyre smoke may have cleared, but only temporarily >>>

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