Eccentric M

These past few days were complete madness for car spotting in Dubai, which is always the case for any major event in the UAE! It all started with me spotting a Rolls-Royce Corniche V parked at a petrol station (there are only 374 of these in the world) on Wednesday October 24 2012.

Then evening came and I decided to head to The Dubai Mall. I hung around for 2 hours and spotted a Mansory Aventador, Ferrari 575M Maranello (with a rare 6 speed manual stick and roll cage) and 599 GTO, Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV and a Hamann 599 GTB.

I went to The Dubai Mall again on Thursday, and I spotted a Mansory Stallone and the same Aventador, the same Ferrari 599 GTO and a Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir. A Rolls-Royce Drophead with a Chrome vinyl wrap also made an appearance. I don't usually take pictures of Rolls-Royces, especially Dropheads as they are very common, but this stood out from the pack! There was a crowd around the cars, especially the Mansory Aventador and the Veyron Sang Noir. The staff were guarding the cars and preventing people from touching the cars, especially the Bugatti Veyron, which drew a crowd.

Friday came and unsurprisingly I decided to head to The Dubai Mall again. The amount of traffic coming towards The Dubai Mall was astronomical, with the traffic amount rivaling the traffic on New Year's Eve. My usual exit from Al Khail Road was full of traffic, and the traffic was even visible even from Al Khail Road, so I went to the mall from Al Wasl Road. Unfortunately for me the police decided to close off one of the exits I usually use to get to my parking spot, which was a huge inconvenience for me. I also managed to take the wrong entrance which made me get stuck in the parking lot for 15 minutes. It took me 1 hour to arrive to the mall and get a parking spot, as opposed to 30 minutes on a regular day.

It was all worth it as I finally managed to see the mythical Bugatti Veyron Pegaso for the first time, which is rumored to have 1200 HP. The Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir also made another appearance and I even managed to get a combo shot of both Bugatti Veyrons! Unfortunately, there was a huge crowd surrounding the Bugatti Veyrons (you can see it in the pictures and videos) and the staff were trying their best to prevent people from getting too close to the cars. They also were fending off those who had to touch the cars while posing besides them for their pictures to be taken and even those who were lingering around the cars for long periods of time.

This really tested what little patience I had for getting the right shot of the cars. It's times like these that made me appreciate getting the EF-S 15-85 IS lens for my 7D, as opposed to the EF-S 17-55 IS. My EF-S 15-85 IS lens had more reach, ie. I could get closer to the subject from a distance. Although the max aperture at the long end (85mm) was a measly f/5.6, I had little problem due to the fact that I always bring my tripod with me (for video and long exposure image shots).

All in all, I had a blast seeing all these nice cars!

Don't forget to click the link below for pictures and videos! 

Please note that the video for the Mansory Stallone was taken a few weeks back, although it is the same one that I spotted on Thursday! I never got around to taking any pictures and videos of it on that day, unfortunately.

I spotted a weird yellow Lamborghini LM002 Replica in a garage shop in Sharjah. It's been a long while since I've seen pictures of this thing. Yes, there are shots of this thing on the internet if you look really hard.

I've seen it once a few days back but I didn't have the chance to grab shots of it.

From the outward and inward appearance, it looks like the base car was a late 90's or early 00's American SUV, like Chevrolet Tahoe or a Cadillac Escalade.

These are the best shots I could come up with. I only had my Sony point and shoot with me. Even with that I stirred up a lot of attention from the employees/visitors of the garage and the truck wash besides it. I didn't bother going inside the garage for better as I was strapped for time and asking for permission takes too much time for me. I won't take more shots either as I don't want more attention.

There was also a SLS AMG in there, what it was there I have no clue. I also see Ferraris from time to time as well, which is strange as it's a random garage in Sharjah.


UPDATE: A few weeks later I spotted it again at the same location and I managed to get a video of it!

After some hard Googling, I have found out that this is called the CAVMI Desert Shadow, with CAVMI being "Canadian All-terrain Vehicle Manufacturing Inc.". The company became defunct in 2004.

Video includes several angles of the car, including some failed startups! Weird thing is that the people who wanted to start it up claimed that they weren't trying to start it up, but I knew better.

Here's a comparison of Dubai car spotting with pictures taken in 2002 and 2012. I've stumbled upon a picture of a Lamborghini Murcielago taken in 2002 on Flickr while doing a search for old Dubai pictures. I've posted a picture of it along with a picture of a Lamborghini Aventador below it.

The picture of the Lamborghini Murcielago was taken at (or near) Jumeirah Beach Hotel in 2002 (according to the EXIF data), while the picture of the Lamborghini Aventador was taken at The Dubai Mall in 2012. Please note that the picture taken in 2002 is not mine, as I was too young to be spotting back then.

I'd love to see some pictures of car spotting in Dubai in the '80's, '90's or even the early 2000's. If you have any and would love to share them, please post the link of the image in the comments section or drop me an e-mail at eccentric_m(aht)yahoo.com (replace the (aht) with the @ symbol, I've done this to prevent spam).

PS: Damn, that Murcielago looks so clean!

I managed to spot two, not one, but two Aston Martin One-77 Q-Series at The Dubai Mall on Thursday October 4 2012!

I was having a break from shooting a Mansory Stallone that was there earlier (blog post coming soon), and that's when I saw a silhouette of a white Aston Martin One-77 from afar. Being the curious person that I am, I went for a closer look. My friend, who was slightly ahead of me, notifies me that there are two One-77's, with the other being a grey one. I didn't notice the grey one at first as it was dark and it was able to blend into its surroundings due to its grey color.

All was fine and well, until a few minutes later my friend tells me that they're not regular One-77's, they're actually One-77 Q-Series! For those that don't know, there are only 77 One-77's, 7 of which are Q-Series. It is in the same vein as the Bugatti Veyron Supersport, where approximately 38 are made and 5 of them were World Record Editions (WRE). I don't know much about the Q-Series, as there is little information about it on the internet. My guess is that it could be Aston Martin's special division.

The unique feature of these One-77's is that there is a hint of red on the front lip and also have red carbon fibre side mirrors. They have a Q logo on the side windows, with the grey one also having a "Q by Aston Martin" slightly above the side rocker panels as well. These features are absent on other images of the One-77's I have seen on the internet.

The grey One-77 was listed for sale at Al Ain Class motors, although I have no whereabouts of the white one's past. I'm guessing that it was ordered directly from the manufacturer via the Aston Martin dealership. There is another One-77 listed on Al Ain Class Motors as well, but that is a regular One-77, and should not be confused with the one in this blog post. The grey One-77 created some buzz when images and videos of it in the dealership surfaced on the internet.

This is the first time that I've seen a One-77 in the flesh, let alone a One-77 Q-Series. These One-77's definitely made my night! Reminds me of October 7 all over again!

The second video was taken by my pal 4WheelsofLux. Click the link below the video for some pics!

As promised in my earlier post, here are the pictures of the Advanced Drivers Track Day that happened at the Dubai Autodrome on the 28th of September 2012. This was the first time that I've ever been at the Dubai Autodrome. I've had a good time and was also able to brush on my photo and video taking skills.

Here are my pics.

While on my way to the Dubai Autodrome for their Morning Track Day event on September 28 2012, I spotted a BMW i3 Prototype on Emirates Road. Initially I had no idea about the model of the prototype, although I had assumptions of it being Japanese or Korean (or even Italian or French) due to the body shape and the words "Hybrid Test Vehicle" stamped on the back.

Soon after I posted one of the images on Flickr, a user by the name of GermanCarScene suggested that the car resembled a BMW i3. I then did a Google image search using the terms "BMW i3 Prototype" and numerous images that resembled the car that I saw popped up. I was quite surprised that it was a BMW, as it doesn't look like one.

This is my fourth prototype car that I've spotted, and the second that I've blogged about (the first being the Hyundai Elantra prototype that I spotted in 2011).

Speaking of the Dubai Autodrome Track Day event, I'll post some pictures of the event up soon. Although it will take a while due to the fact I am busy with other stuff and I also have some other blog articles to post as well. They're up now!

Anyways, here are the pictures.