KUWAIT CITY, March 4: The 3rd exclusively ladies-only auto racing event in the Middle East, RoadRush3, is getting ready for kickoff at the Formula-1tracks of the Bahrain International Circuit March 8-9. The RoadRush, a friendly and safe ladies-only racing competition aiming to promote motorsports among the Middle East region’s women, is an annual event consisting of three types of races that include Autocross, Drag race as well as the GP Circuit or Lapse race. Any car can join the competition as long as it’s not an SUV, preferably coupe, but a sport sedan would be fine as well.

To hold such an event, the cars are shipped from Kuwait to Bahrain and then back to Kuwait safe and sound after the races. Of the twenty drivers competing, twenty participants come from Kuwait, three from Bahrain and two from Qatar competing in the 8-hour races that will kick off 10 am and end 6pm each day. At a well attended press conference held at the Vintage & Classic Cars Museum late Sunday evening to launch the event, the head of the racing team and founder of AlNassar Group that runs the event, Latifa Al Nassar said her team is the first group of ladies to do such an event in the Middle East, adding that for the most part, within the region “it’s considered a taboo for women to drive, so we took the risk and decided to do something new”.

Al-Nassar stated that as it gets better year after year with more racers and sponsors getting onboard, it’s her hope that one day there’d be formula one tracks in Kuwait and if it does materialize, her group will be the first to stage such an event in Kuwait “That will be a great source of pride to us as citizens since our main goal is to inspire women to achieve their goals and reach the “impossible” “, she noted.

For his part, Museum Director Mustafa Al-Makhseed said his organization which has a mission of promoting motorsports among the youth, is always more than proud to be a major sponsor of the RoadRush event, adding that such support will not be possible without the generosity of Sheikh Nasser Mohammed AlAhmad AlJaber AlSabah who is always eager to support young car enthusiasts.

In his contribution, Media Director of the museum, Engineer Zakaria Dashti stated that the RoadRush event is only one of several car-related events being supported by the museum. He added that the museum also offers a variety of other services to lots of other groups according to their activity calendars and needs.

By Iddris Seidu
Arab Times Staff