If you follow Dubai’s online group-buying websites, you might know that Groupon, the original company that started it all in the United States, has also set up shop here recently. Groupon alerted us to their first offering for auto enthusiasts, which is a massively-discounted package for the Monaco F1 Grand Prix. Details are listed below.
Nominated new car models have now been announced for the 2011 Middle East Motor Awards. Vice President of the FIA and President of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE Mohammed ben Sulayem has offered his full support to the region’s largest motor awards, which are set to take place on November 3rd later this year at the Sharjah Expo Centre. I am a member of the judging committee, although my influence on this list was limited, considering there are 18 judges this year!
There is an ongoing petrol shortage in Dubai since the beginning of this week. We first got wind of it when the BMW man came to pick up our 535i GT long-termer on Sunday the 17th, which was low on petrol. He headed to our local Emarat petrol station, where he was told they have no petrol, forcing him to look elsewhere.
One man died and 61 people were injured when a multiple-car pile-up happened on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway on the 2nd of April. The huge crash involved 127 cars on the road heading into Dubai, early in the morning.
Yas Marina Circuit today announced the entertainment schedule for this Friday’s Formula Drift Urban Skills event. Not only will spectators be able to experience the excitement of the world’s leading drift series, they will also be able to enjoy a range of off-track activities including dance shows, street art, graffiti T-shirt creation, radio-controlled drifting and more.
The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority, better known as the RTA, has picked two more roads in Dubai to tack on Salik toll gates, in a proposal that has yet to be approved.
From the 1st of January 2011, the Dubai RTA will start writing off the vehicles if their registration has not been renewed for two years. The rules kicks in after a 3-month grace period that expires at the end of 2010.
The Dubai Police is planning to install speed cameras alongside traffic signals in a bid to catch people who zoom through junctions as the light turns yellow.
Say what you want about the Americans, but they are a serious bunch when it comes to safety. The U.S. government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — NHTSA — is the one that mandates airbags and tyre-pressure monitors in all new cars, subdued automakers into making their roof strength higher while inadvertently making outward visibility worse due to thicker pillars, and is set to force rear-view cameras on all new cars by 2014 thereby making car prices higher. And if that weren’t enough, there are not one, but two agencies in the U.S. that conduct crash tests, one being the NHTSA and other being the private Insurance Institute for Highway Safety —
Through their respective UAE dealerships, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Nissan have chosen The International Automobile Show (IAS) 2010 to publically unveil new models for the first time in the Middle East.