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Abu Dhabi Yas Marina Circuit Drag Racing Team To Go Full Throttle At World’s Largest Drag Racing Competition |
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Yas Marina Circuit (YMC) and Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) today launched Abu Dhabi Yas Marina Circuit Drag Racing Team, a Top Fuel dragster team, which will be led by world-renowned driver Rod ‘Hot Rod’ Fuller. Abu Dhabi Yas Marina Circuit Drag Racing Team’s first outing will be in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series 2010, the world’s largest professional drag racing event which has 24 stops in 22 US cities and is organised by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), international motorsport entertainment and drag race promotion leaders. Abu Dhabi Yas Marina Circuit Drag Racing Team will take part in four ‘Top Fuel’ category races: Sonoma, California from 16 – 18 July; Denver, Colorado from 23 – 25 July; Indianapolis, Indiana from 1 – 6 September and Charlotte, North Carolina from 16 – 19 September. Rod Fuller, the 2007 Top Fuel Championship runner-up, manager of Yas Marina Circuit’s drag race driver training and the team captain, said: “It feels great to be back behind the wheel at the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Drag racing is a contest of acceleration and power, making it exciting to watch and even more exciting to participate in.” Among the world’s fastest-accelerating machines, 8,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragsters can cover a quarter mile (402 metres) in less than four seconds at up to 500 km/h, powered by a supercharged and fuel-injected adaptation of the famed Chrysler Hemi engine, running on nitromethane fuel. Constructed of chromoly steel tubing and carbon-fibre composite, Top Fuel cars are 7.5 metres long and weigh 1,100 kilograms in race-ready trim. Faisal Al Shamsi, the first person to be awarded a scholarship from the Yas Drag Racing Academy, will accompany the team to selected races. Faisal’s long-term ambition is to represent the UAE in US professional races. Fuller is his mentor and they will use this racing series to further develop Faisal’s understanding of big race meets. Richard Cregan, Chief Executive Officer of Yas Marina Circuit, said: “It is fantastic that Abu Dhabi now has its very own drag racing team. With so much interest in drag racing in the UAE and the Gulf region and our own state-of-the-art facility at Yas Marina Circuit, it is our hope that we will soon be producing our own world-class drivers here in Abu Dhabi.” ADTA sees drag racing as another key platform to build destination awareness in the emerging US market. “This marquee partnership expands our already significant motorsport credentials and takes us to a high potential market which has easy air access to Abu Dhabi through Etihad’s services from New York and Chicago,” said Ahmed Hussein, Deputy Director General, ADTA. “We look forward to welcoming US motorsports fans to Abu Dhabi as awareness of the destination and its vibrant events calendar spreads throughout America.” The Yas Drag Racing Centre is the first track outside the USA recognised as an NHRA worldwide racing venue. Adjacent to the circuit’s Formula 1TM track, the centre has two grandstands with a seating capacity of 5,000 and houses its own race control, hospitality and paddock area. Investment in sport has been a foundation strategy to help Abu Dhabi meet its targets of attracting 2.3 million hotel guests a year by 2012 and 7.9 million staying in 80,000 hotel rooms by 2030. ADTA’s strategy is to utilise high-visibility sporting events to promote the emirate globally. It has proved effective in internationally highlighting the emirate’s pedigree as a world-class destination of distinction and a major events hub. |
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