After the monumental journey that we have all been through, the crankandpiston Golf GTI made its way out on to the Dubai Autodrome for the second round of the UAE National Touring Car Championship last weekend.

Our initial speed improvement impressions from the test day that we took part in, seemed to be blown out of the water as we lapped the better part of three seconds quicker than we did around the same circuit configuration last year. So happiness was on the agenda after the morning practice.

As you can see from the video though, pace is still a concern as the Golf still can’t compete with the Class 2 cars in a straight line. Hopefully this problem will be addressed very soon, however we have a couple of other problems to deal with first!

All part of the emotional rollercoaster that is developing our own race car I suppose. Thanks to the guys at www.gulf-sport.com for the use of their very cool AIM Camera system that captured my occasional lairyness.