RedBull Car Park Drift 2012 Finals

RedBull's big day has come, The final stage for the middle east drifting championship of the RedBull Car Park Drift. We've fully covered the preparations day earlier this week, and we were already amazing by all drifters, and their cars.

The drift took place at the Jordan Rally service pit in Dead Sea. The location was great, the weather was nice, and we couldn't wait to see what the competitors had planned for us on the real competition day.

Drivers, and their cars gathered earlier in the morning to set their cars ready, their their decals and artwork on their cars, and also to get their numbering set. Also, get their bodies fueled up with some energy drinks!

While the drifters have their cars, 2 of RedBull's most famous endorsed drifters, Abdo Feghali and MadMike had their Chevrolet Camaros ready to drift. Both cars had the same setup: Manual transmission, KW adjustable coilovers, Bucket seats, Hydraulic handbrakes, and Sparco steering wheels. Although I think that the catalyst might have been cut off, as the cars were louder than usual.

This beautiful BMW M3 with CCWs on all 4 was hot! owned by Muath Al Essa from the Saudi Team, Traction Off. Muath is an enthusiast Saudi driver born in a drifting lover society. Inspired by Abdo Feghali, he believes high in his capabilities.

Also with Mohammad Al Kukhun's red and green E46 M3, the car was heavily modified and was specially built for the RCPD. Mohammad has participated in the last three Red Bull Car Park Drift Finals that were held in 2010, 2011, 2012. His participations in Red Bull Car Park Drift gave him the chance to be the winner in 2012 and qualified him to the final stage.

One of our favorite cars, The Ford Mustang RTR signed by Vaughn Gittin Jr. himself! the car is owned by Saudi drifter, Abdulhadi Al-Qahtani. It was a total drifter, with the low profile, the loud crazy V8 roaring around the track, the car was amazing.
Abdulhadi have actually competed in the King of Europe championship for drifting, in Slovakia back in 2012. Representing Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in general.

A look at what exhaust heat can do on excessive drifting.

An amazing surprise with the Jordanian Falcons aviation team. They have done an amazing show, with spinning stunts, flying upside down, smoke shows and many other mind blowing stunts that we couldn't describe.

The event started with drifters driving around the track representing their countries and raising their flags high.  Sun was starting to go down, but we were able to grab some really cool shots with awesome light.

Our 2nd favorite car, The Toyota Soro 300SC owned by the Emirati drifter Ahmed Al-Ameri. Ahmed has participated in the last three Red Bull Car Park Drift Finals. A talented car drift expert, with his own style in drifting, Ahmed has really taken some corners at really high speeds which made his drifting way much more exciting to watch.

Followed by one of the local Jordanian champions, Ra'fat Haround in his BMW E36 M3. unlike many other drifting beemers that are mostly powered by Toyota engines, Ra'fat has remained loyal with a BMW engine and a huge amount of horsepower and torque. The M3 was rebuilt and redesigned specially for the RCPD all in 40 days.

And our favorite drift car, The Nissan Silvia owned by the Bahrini drifter Salman Abdullah. This 240SX a.k.a Silvia S13 had the nose of the S15 silvia, but who cares, it looked beautiful. We have been covered with burned rubber thanks to its drifting on the preparations day. the car handled beautifully and looked mean with its wide open steerlock.

Again with Saudi drifter Muath al Essa, and his E46 with a very cool camber look... hubba hubba!

A drifting machine Hyundai Genesis Coupe, drifter Hatem Natto From Saudi Arabia is a young and a promising Saudi drifter. He participated twice so far in the last two Red Bull Car Park Drift Finals in Beirut. He was the first qualifier this year from KSA.

Japanese high speed drifting coming your way!

Throughout the big day, 2 of the cars were included in cosmetic body damages, one of them was the E46 M3 which hitting one of the safety barriers and dropping its rear diffuser/rear lip.

This Omani 350Z drifter was on the track going sideways with Mohammed Al-Asmi. Mohammed started his drifting career early back in 2007 in his home town of Mabila. He would practice whenever he had spare time to improve his skills and style. In 2008 he made his way to the podium and has never looked back. Mohammed has won the Red Bull Car Park Drift qualifier in Muscat for two consecutive years.

Going sideways here is Lebanese drifter, Jad Himo. Himo is a 22 years old talented drifter, who started driving at the age of nine. His passion towards cars pushed him to open a shop for aftermarket parts; his whole life is about tuned cars and drifting. He has developed his talents in drifting in a remarkable way in the past few years. This Beemer is powered with a 500 hp Toyota engine. And from what we can see in this picture, can we see NOS intercooler spray bars?

Mohammad Al-Kukhun's E46 drifter.

Omar Al-Kukhun was also in the RCPD drifting along with his brother Mohammad. Omar has started his dream since 2001, when he has attended many car speed championships held in cooperation with Royal Automobile Club. He had his first participation in Local speed competitions since 2003. In 2010, he began to extend his ambitions. Omar participated in Red Bull Car Park Drift Finals 2010, 2011, 2012 whereby he got the 4th, 3rd and 2nd positions respectively.

The Sorer had a rough powerslide into the water barriers and took a direct hit to the rear bumper, but no worries! Scotch tape was there to attach it back to the car, Don't you wish you could do that to your everyday car?

On the intermission between the rounds, MadMike (white camaro) and Abdo Feghali (black camaro) had the time to keep the crowds entertained with twin drifting their Chevy Camaros going side to side.

Some time afterwards, MadMike took the lead ahead of blackie over there. But unfortunately his car ran out of fuel! Forcing him to cut the show and drive back to the pit lane.

The drifting competition was done. Many drivers were unfortunate either by being disqualified, lost by points, or having their cars damaged cosmetically, or mechanically. 3 Winners were on the podium at the end of the night. All cars have worked really hard to get here, either on local RCPD or in Jordan for the finals. We had a really good time and everyone has put a pretty good show.

At 3rd place, was Jad Himo from Lebanon. followed by Rami Serri on 2nd place. And our local champion Mohammad Al Kukhun on 1st place.

It was by far the best automotive event that we've ever been to throughout the lifetime of AmmaniV12

Before we leave you here, You can enjoy this lovely video of Al-Qahtani's RTR Mustang going sideways at Round 1.

UPDATE: A cool onboard video by friends of ours from YallaDrift.com showing Ra'fat Haroun's first round with a GoPro cam on his car:

Photography credits: Abdulla Ja'afari