Dubai: More than 1,000 four-wheelers will be flagged off at the 7he Sevens stadium in Al Ain on Friday for the the 32nd Gulf News Overnighter Fun Drive that will attempt to set a Guinness World Record while tackling Dubai’s dunes on a special 200-kilometre desert drive.
The first Gulf News Fun Drive was launched in 1986 as a Fun Run to give people a chance to experience the desert. It kicked off with 75 four-wheel drive vehicles from Jebel Ali to Hatta. The number of participating vehicles more than doubled to 200 the following year.
In 1992, 550 4x4s turned up for the Fun Drive, starting from the Gulf News office and ending at Hatta Fort Hotel. From then on, there was no stopping the Fun Drive’s popularity among adventure seekers. The biggest recorded number of 4x4s so far was 750 in 2011.
“This year’s Fun Drive is very special as we are attempting a Guinness World Record in the category of ‘largest convoy of off-road vehicles’,” said Duleep George, Executive Director-Strategy and Marketing of Gulf News. “We started with just 75 vehicles in 1986 and this year we have registered more than 1,000.”
The Fun Drive will start at 6.30am at the stadium on Al Ain Road with breakfast before drivers gather route notes and collect essentials for the trip.
The release of 1,001 balloons will signal the start of the event at 7.30am.
Organisers have flown in Jack Brockbank of the Guinness World Record UK to be the adjudicator for the event. He will verify the number of participating vehicles at two checkpoints and check if all set criteria are met.
Pankaj Sharma, Marketing Manager or 3M, said: “Gulf News Fun Drive is one of the most sought-after and much anticipated off-road annual events in the Middle East and we at 3M are proud of our collaboration with this exciting activity that may also soon find mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.”
If successful, the feat will add to the growing list of Dubai’s achievements.
“The Gulf News Fun Drive is going to add to Dubai’s many world firsts and world records to its name,” Irfan Bashir, National Technical Manager of Al Futtaim Motors, who has been a Fun Drive marshal for 20 years, told Gulf News. “But since it’s going to be a convoy of more than 1,000 cars, all the participants need to take special care of the environment and not litter and damage the habitat.”
The route will pass through the Al Marmoom Conservation area, giving drivers the opportunity to witness rare flora and fauna. However, they will also have to brace themselves for an eight-hour dune bashing through the 200-kilometre drive.
“This is the first in the last 27 years that we’re having a route that is 98 per cent sand, which makes it the most exciting route conducted in the emirate of Dubai,” Mitch Perera, route finder and one of the project leaders, told Gulf News.
“Also, we are not touching any other emirate geographically. This year, the desert drive is purely in Dubai.”
Once at the camp, Fun Drivers will get to enjoy activities and evening entertainment including desert drumming, a circus chow, bubble act and an Adventure HQ wall and cycle track, among others.
