Cool Track Cars at the Dubai Autodrome

The United Arab Emirates may be small in size, but the local passion for performance is strong. On any given Friday, from October to April, you'll find some serious track day addicts down at the Dubai Autodrome, attacking the track in a wide range of fettled and focused 'production' racecars - all doing battle in the name of glory throughout the UAE Touring Car Championship. Here's a round-up of some of the sweet circuit stuff.

At the top of the blog you can see one of the more famous UAE Touring Car campaigners, the gold 'n' delicious Honda Integra DC2. Built for the right reasonable price, but tuned with the right parts in the right places, this car had the corner grip and braking strength before it had wild hikes in horsepower. Engine work to that legendary VTEC followed, but not before there was balance and drivability. And that's why this car always shows strong. More proof, if you needed it, that Japanese cars were born to race. Note the heavily-vented carbon bonnet, homemade carbon front splitter and miss-matched wing mirrors - she's seen some rubbin' during her racing!

Another Jap classic amongst the racers is this Mitsubishi EVO VI, which regularly hassles the rear bumper of the more expensive Porsche, Corvette and Viper entries, thanks mainly to the maximum exploitation of those great EVO traits - namely, get the power strong, reliable and tractable, and let that stonking chassis do its thing. Check the huge intercooler, cold air intakes everywhere and that distinctly appealing widened track under flared arches. Sounds pure EVO-evil on the move, too.
Stepping sweetly into the new school side of things is this SEAT Leon Cupra. It's just a small step away, in terms of spec, from the real-deal European Touring Car machines, and its pedigree shows out on the track where it's consistently near the top of the table. Undeniable proof that light-weight, chassis grip and braking composure maketh the racecar - brute power won't always win. The Loen looks just killer in race trim - surely inspiration for a road car style-up?

It's always a pleasure to see a tidy Beemer out on the track. These Bavarian beauties just exude pure motor racing class, even if, like this E46 M3 CSL, they are simply road cars with a cheeky sprinkling of factory-added circuit bits. But what lovely bits the factory have sprinkled - light-weight BBS alloys with a seductive deep-dish, carbon panels including the entire roof, and a general performance enhancing diet plan that really gets the most from that lusty 360bhp, straight-6 motor under the hood. Not cheap, but too trick; the CSL just rocks right outta the box.

You may already have noticed that there is indeed a few quid (or Dirhams as we call them in these parts) knocking around the racetracks in this region, and as such you will see some true motorsport thoroughbreds smokin' the tarmac - just like this Porsche 911 GT3 RS. If you've got the cash and you don't want to build it and tune it yourself, then the GT3 RS is one of the daddies of out-of-the-box racing. Money can buy you happiness!

Just as pretty but in a more nostalgic style, and right on the other end of the money and maintenance scale, is this Porsche 944 S2, looking too tough in dark grey paint over track-tweaked factory S2 bodywork. This car posts regular mid-table results, right on the tails of some of the much bigger budget cars, thanks again to the cunning allocation of cash. The 2.9-litre, 4-cylinder motor remains untouched; for this driver it's all about stopping and steering, with upgrades to the brakes and suspension. And this Porker definitely goes round the bends. And all the time rolling in serious style on stunning Enkei rims.

RubberDuck Magazine's own Jon Saxon has some big love for these little cars, the Caterham Super 7. This pocket rocket represents British sportscar making at its very best, with years of experience poured into these reasonable-budget-racers to make them almost untouchable on the track. The grip is stunning and the brakes can stretch your neck, again it's not all about brute force - although at 260bhp these CSRs ain't exactly shy. In the right hands Caterhams will go around the outside of pretty much anything... in Jon's hands they usually end up backwards in a hedge! (Sorry mate!). Full cage, exposed aluminum bodywork and dark grey rims keep this Super 7 CSR nicely on the mean side of nasty.

We're hangin' with the big boys now. These are the pure muscle monsters that constantly rattle the scenery and hog the podium positions, down at the Dubai Autodrome. At 8.4-litres, the Dodge Viper V10 is easily the biggest block on the block, dwarfing even the rather immense 7-litre V8 lurking up front in the Corvette Z06. With open exhausts and full GT race-specs these cars really do sound like the end of the world!