Drifting
Drift king Ahmad Daham debuts the "crème de la crème" of drift cars
The Jordanian competitor has partnered with Lexus to create a cutting-edge drifting car he hopes will raise the bar for competition in the Middle East and around the world.
Ahmad Daham has been putting the lack of drifting competition of late to good use to create an all-new Lexus RC F competition machine to take on the world's best. The Middle East drift expert is expected to unleash his latest cutting-edge creation to make a mark in the Drift Masters European Championship and Formula Drift when the season gets under way.
In the build-up to his first competitive outing, he spoke about his 1,200-horsepower carbon Kevlar Lexus, world records and what drifting means to him.
The cutting-edge machine took seven months to build
© Red Bull MEA
You've not had any competitions for a while, so how have you been keeping busy?
I've been stuck in Jordan for six months now and everything's pretty much back to normal, but there's been no events or competitions, so nothing to do in that way. I've been focusing on other projects for now.
You've also had time to work even harder on your own new car. How happy are you with that creation and what makes it so special?
It's the culmination of 11 years of experience and learning about cars since I was a small kid. I've put all my experience and everything I know about cars into it – it's the crème de la crème of drift cars.
It's a full carbon Kevlar Lexus RC F. Our main target was to try to reduce the weight as much as possible, so we've shaved 450kg from the original, as the RC F is quite a heavy car to work on. The main component was to get the weight balance perfect and it's almost 50/50 front and rear balance, which makes it very smooth.
Under the bonnet, the Lexus RC F has been tuned to produce serious power
© Red Bull MEA
Are you a perfectionist when it comes to creating these cars?
For this one I was a super perfectionist and it was a long process. It took us six, seven months to build. Last year, I built my first RC F, which I've a learned a lot from it. This one wasn't easier exactly, but we'd learned the hard parts already. This new car was built with more detail and quality, and every single bolt was taken into consideration, even down to me choosing what colour bolts to use on the diff – it was to that level of detail.
Carbon Kevlar was used extensively as the car was rebuilt from the chassis
© Red Bull MEA
What's possible to achieve result-wise with the new creation?
This car should get me a little bit higher in events. I'm supposed to go to Drift Masters, but I'm still not sure with this year's events. For this car, the aim is for good results in Drift Masters and Formula Drift. It's definitely one of the best cars out there. It might be best car in the Middle East and in the top five or six in the world.
What is it that people love about drifting so much in the Middle East?
People loved drifting here even when there was no drifting. They just love anyone that does doughnuts or simply skids their car by mistake. When I went to Time Attack, you'd see the crowd on their feet when there was a skid. It's fun to watch, because there’s different sounds, high horsepower and smoke plays a big role in drifting being popular. Over here, they also like to tune cars a lot. There's no limit here in drifting, like there is in rallying. Rallying or Time Attack has limits on horsepower.
What does drifting mean to you?
To me it's a little bit different to anyone else. Other drifters don't build the cars, they go to the workshop and say "build it." I build a car up, just like I've got a newborn. This car took six or seven months to finish. It came into workshop and didn't leave for seven months. As for the drifting, I've tried karting, Time Attack and rally, but drifting gives me a different rush of adrenaline that I can't get anywhere else.
The new Lexus RC F Carbon Kevlar in all its glory
© Red Bull MEA
You're a Guinness World Record holder for the longest ever 'twin drift'. How much of an achievement was that?
Yeah, that's quite interesting. When I got it, my brain didn't really register that I'd got a world record. I've got the certificate on the wall at home and that was one of my big milestones. Achieving that and performing at Goodwood Festival of Speed last year as the first Arab drifter to be there was a big milestone to be honest – it was mind blowing for me. You have to be there to see it and feel what it's all about, not just cars, but the atmosphere, the people and the celebrities.
Të ngjashme
