Earlier this year, I had the pleasure to visit Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a guest of Ford Middle East to perform in a demo as part of the Action Ha race weekend at of Al Reem Circuit. I didn’t know exactly what to expect heading to the Middle East, but I'm always down for new experiences and adventures. Once I arrived I was completely blown away by the love of motorsports, and even more specifically, the love for drifting by the locals. Everyone I met, from Princes, to other professional drivers, to swarms of fans, treated me with amazing hospitality and kindness. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget and I look forward to coming back to the K.S.A!
After the event I stayed a couple days extra to film ‘Drifting in the K.S.A’. Thanks to the kindness of the entire Al Reem Circuit team, they let me get crazy throughout the entire motorsports complex. Nothing was off-limits and I had a blast linking one track to the next through the parking lots and garages and into storage areas basically doing whatever came to mind that would be fun and challenging. Aside from drifting the entire complex, one of my most memorable parts of the whole trip was after we finished shooting and we were hot, dusty, and dead-tired, we ended up putting on a impromptu drift-day with some of the locals that came to spectate the shoot. I was teaching them how to drift, change tires, different driving techniques, and they were so pumped up. While there were no pro’s to show us the ropes back in the day, it reminded me of when I first started; that smile that stays when you link your first drift and the genuine passion to get better and conquer the challenges. I had a blast hanging out and enjoying what drifting is all about!
- Vaughn Gittin Jr.