Kevwood

I thought I'd stat a seperate thread here so leogsx97 can continue along with his R1 and Akebono thread without all the thread-jacking.

Anyways, here was the track pic;



It was taken at the roadcourse track in Dubai, Motorcity, the community next to Arabian Ranches where I live. Everyweekend in the non-summer months I can sit outside in my yard with a beer and listen to the races or just take the 2 minute drive over and watch them. This pic is on the front-stretch after exiting the last turn, it's a long stretch that lets you build up a heck of a lot of speed before heading into a very sharp first turn on a downhill grade. The YAS F1 track in Abu Dhabi is flat, the Motorcity track in Dubai is up and down, both very challenging for different reasons.

You got it mate, everyone from the Mid East knows this place eh?

Thanks Wes! A guy I race with, Mark, took the pic with his Canon, he races a Lumina SS V8 (the Holden version, not like the Lumina's back home). Next time I go I'll bring my camera as it has far superior low light/fast motion capture and I'll of course share the pics.

Thanks Carlos, I really appreciate your comments pal. We all contribute to the community in our own ways, for the three mentioned, Wes and his 32K is just plain awesome and his parts thread has helped me several times, you with your very well documented s/c swap really got me saying "I need to do this" and as for me, I'm just trying to provide actual data on mods as seen in all my dyno-runs, it helps others make decisions and hopefully saves them money along the way.

Right from the start this was going to be a daily that could compete, not just show up at the track - it's getting there now. The suspension is dialed in and has surprised me and several others, brakes are a week away and as it sits, it has enough power for the most part but the s/c will move it into a whole 'nuther class.

As for the lights, I've got the LED tails here waiting on boards, I don't know if I am going to change the fogs to HID's but I certainly will change them and the cities to a whiter bulb. For now, cosmetics are pretty much done - but like with anything to do with mod's, I'm sure it will be temporary...

We're all having fun here

mikata

Nice. Looks so much fun

Kevwood

It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on

That is, if you don't wreck... A few weeks back a GT3 and a Lotus got into it coming out of the last turn onto the straightaway, after they met they both hit the walls and suffered tens of thousands of dollars in damages each. Remember, no insurance coverage on the track

All part of the game.

mikata

Hahah
Ouch, but I guess they we're oil sheiks with alot of money?
Have you gotten any comments from the natives there about your car?

Kevwood

Here is the very strange bit, you very, very, very rarely ever seen any locals and their supercars on the track, they prefer to race on the streets and kill people daily. 95% of the guys you see are ex-pats from all over the place. It's really sad that you have 2 world class tracks an hour apart from each other that run tons of track days/nights and you still have the majority of the idiots doing it on the street. The culture is changing, but at a snails pace. You have to live here for a while to understand it and I'm not about to start explaining.

As for my car, yes, I get a lot of comments on it which surprised me at first given the types of cars that normally prowl the streets but now I know why, it's because it's different and eye catching. It seems like I can't go anywhere anymore without some idiot pulling up beside me and wanting to race. Truth be told, the CLK63 Black is still absolutely hands down one of the most attention grabbing cars at any show/track event I've been to, it's just an awesome little car and Mercedes has a HUGE following in the Middle East.

mikata

Yeah I can imagine the race on the streets where they think it's cool and that everybody can see them.

I bet you get alot of comments, as you say it's different and I catching.
One thing I thought when I saw your car done was, "this is different from all the ferraris, lambos, merc mclarens, he will get alot of comments"

When they are pulling up to you it's just means that they like the car
What kind of cars have tried to race you?

As for the 63 Black, it's my all time favourite along with maserati gran turismo

mikata

And the old school Mercedes SLR

Kevwood

It seems like a R35 GT-R can't be on the same stretch of road as me without getting beside me and trying to get me to go. Other than that, lot's of exotics, the usual locals and their toys. Funny thing that even my wife noticed, when the car was in complete stock form I used to get dozens and dozens of BMW's, Rustangs and 370Z's want to race, now, none. Keep in mind, it still says CLK500 on the back...

Rashman

Great track picture!!

dynomite05

Great stuff as usual, Kev. Do you have any lap times you can share. Did you track it before and after some mods? I would be interested in knowing what they did to the lap times.

2MCHCAR

+100. Is the Yas Marina the same as the Dubai Autodrome?

Clkboi

You are doing it man! The picture is wallpaper material!
Have fun and be safe

Kevwood

I never took the car out before the suspension mods, so I don't have any comparable data. However, I am now using my GTech Pro RR to collect braking distance times with my current setup to give me proper information to post a thread on the BBK swap. I also will be using the RR everytime I go to the track from now on to see my lap data. So, I'll have some solid numbers to post again. No a$$ dyno numbers here

Nope, the Dubai Autodrome/MotorCity is the track in Dubai that hosts lots of Superbike, Supercar V8 and other racing series races. It's the community next to me and it where I have been doing all my test & tunes. The track is also up and down with no banking. YAS Marina Circut is only an hour away in Abu Dhabi, that's the multi-billion dollar track that was built on a man made island to host the F1 race. Ton's of hotels, Ferrari World and a massive amount of other stuff out there. That track is flat, very, very fast and it when timed trackdays and the new Time Attack series are held. It's also the location of the 1/4 mile track here in the UAE. I'm hoping to get there in the next few weeks.

Thanks dude

2MCHCAR

Sweet! I have Shift 2 Unleashed for the PS3 and they have Dubai Autodrome and several of it's configurations on its track list. Do you know what configuration you ran on? I want to be Kevwood for a day and pretend it was me charging down the front straight at night (the closest Mercedes I have is the SLR 722 or 190E 2.5-16 Evolution 2)!

mikata

Lol cool!

AMGY

Looks great in that pic

Moedy

this is just my theory, Im thinking maybe they race for loads of money and this would be frowned upon on the track. This would make alot of sense since they are willing to race on the street with an slr motor swapped into an slk vs. an enzo. The fast and furious may just be a movie but I bet the closest thing to the movie and maybe even more goes down in dubai. The next fast and furious should be in dubai and some arab should be in a sl65 bs since they are die hard mercedes fans there lol

In a land where lambos are the norm this is really awesome to hear that the clk bs is the one catching all the attention. What about a koenigseg or a sl bs? Ive yet to see either in person

Kevwood

That's awesome Carlos!

Sorry for the late reply, I'm in Cairo this week and busy as hell. I raced on the Club Circut that night.

Kevwood

Thanks pal.

Interesting theory but that's not the case here, you'd never see one of these guys swapping a SLR motor into an SLK, everything about this place is to show off how much bloody money they have, they would be embarassed to be seen in a SLK if they have the money for an SLR. I don't want to get into the reasons why they do what they do on an open forum because I am very heavily opinionated on the subject and not PC when I discuss it. You are sopt on though that if they find the need to unfortunately make another horrid F&F movie this would be an interesting back-drop.

As for the SL Black Series, I see tons of them here, it's the best looking beast MB has on the road IMO. In fact, I think I posted a pic of my car next to one when I was getting some exhaust work done, it might be in my goodies thread.

FatTony001

Sweet pic !

Kevwood

Thanks dude, hope to get lots more this summer.

2MCHCAR

Got it! I bought the SL65 (white with black rims) since it looks the closest to the W209!

Kevwood

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I feel like I have my own cyber-stalker! That's really cool Carlos, now you need to send me you lap times so I have a benchmark to race against!

Next time I'm in LA we gotta go for a pint or 3.

2MCHCAR

LoL! You got it brother!

Kevwood

I gotta get me a PS3 and get that game now! I'm sitting in the lounge of the hotel having a drink and burst into laughter when I saw that pic bro, made my day. Flattered that you even chose white w/ black wheels! S/Carlos is da man.

As for Angel City, might be passing through in October.