"Sorry sir the car doesn't have satellite navigation" ... this was the answer given to me as I propped myself up at the car rental counter at the Dubai International airport. It was the middle of the night and I was trying to muster enough energy to get myself over to my Dubai hotel room. I eventually convinced the car rental company to
The Speedhunters trip to the Dubai 24H will certainly go down as one of our most exotic and inspiring experiences to date. I absolutely loved the laid back and friendly nature of the event, as well as the diversity of machinery. The Speedhunters team had access to all areas of the Dubai Autodrome and ran around with our video and still cameras without
As the sun began to rise over the Dubai Autodrome race the state of the surviving cars became clearer. The nights are always hard in endurance racing. Drivers are pushed to the limit by the concentration required to keep going at maximum pace over their stints. Of the 75 cars that started, over a third had hit trouble (or something more solid) over
The Dubai 24 Hours had a proper 12 hours of darkness. At Le Mans, the mother of all endurance races, it's still light way into the evening – it does happen in June after all. But here in the Middle East it's a pretty even split. The start straight at the Dubai Autodrome is under powerful daylight-strength floodlights, but as soon as the
Before taking up position for the start of the Dubai 24 hours I had a couple of minutes to run round the grid: or half of it at least. The usual parade of national flags awaited the cars as they formed up. With 68 cars taking the 2pm start (five would start from the pitlane) the start straight was packed with people and jostling teams trying to get
Number of minutes to set the grid: 90. Number of cars fighting it out: 72. Chances of finding a clear piece of track to set your lap: 0. Qualifying will be followed by two hours of night practice to round the day off. All drivers must make it out on track for at least a lap so their car can take up its qualifying slot, so the pressure will be on. The
The Dubai 24 Hours is the first major race of 2010 and its fifth running features multi-national teams running near to 80 cars spread over 10 classes, a dozen manufacturers and both petrol and diesel power. More and more professional teams are turning up, bringing top drivers with them, but the depth of the field means no one expects a clear run. Traffic