Fast and fastidious Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi

Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi is not used to sitting around chatting over coffee (or in this instance, a fruit juice). He is restless, keeps moving around in his seat, and looks around every now and then. It's not that he's uncomfortable speaking to the press.

It's just that he's so used to being alert and concentrating on his chosen task, that he finds it difficult to adjust to the regular life of ordinary denizens. Concentration and alertness are a professional necessity for the Arab world's most successful World Rally Championship (WRC) driver in terms of points scored.

Shaikh Khalid has to routinely negotiate high-speed corners and take huge leaps of faith over crests (in fact he holds the record for the longest jump in a rally in Finland some years ago when he went over a crest at over 150km/h and landed perfectly 55 metres beyond).

But right now he's reminiscing about his career.

Shaikh Khalid is now the motorsports ambassador of the UAE. He has been entrusted with the duty of mentoring young Arab drivers, with the aim of making Team Abu Dhabi.

"We are trying through our programme to establish Abu Dhabi as the hub of motorsports in the near future," he says. "We have circuits like the Yas Marina Island circuit and are also hosting the F1, but it's a big challenge. To get there we need to have a youth programme - one that will develop a new generation of Emiratis to be the future champions. Of course, it will not be easy because five or six years ago there was nothing. There was no world championship for us, no circuit like Yas Marina, nothing. But we were still strong in the sport. Now, we are looking at how to do it globally. That's why we have the youth programme."

As Shaikh Khalid knows only too well, this requires a different level of dedication. "If you see in Europe, for example, there have been generations of drivers, even training academies, because the world championship rallies started 70 to 80 years ago," he says.

"They have the infrastructure; we have to build it. But we need to start somewhere, and now we are on that road. We have a couple of good drivers, some promising talent. We are hopeful that this path will guide a new generation, with the government's support. I think it will progress to the day when some kid in high school who finds he has the talent will be able to knock on some doors and find the support to realise his potential."

Even if an academy for training motorsports talent is established, Shaikh Khalid doesn't think it will take Team Abu Dhabi straight up the charts. "It's not an academic thing where you learn the alphabet and go," he smiles.

"It's a talent, driving is a big talent and if you don't have it no amount of training can produce a champion. We face this every time we try to train drivers and realise they just don't have it. Driving is a skill, while the talent is the gift you are born with. Skill will take you up to the first level and talent will take you further to a certain level, but if you have both skill and talent and also the proper mindset then you can become a champion."

Shaikh Khalid speaks from experience because he's been a part of the selection process. "We started with over 50 drivers, and ended up with three," he says. "From those three we will have to drop two. It's difficult, a real challenge. To find talent is really difficult, and then to hone it to the point where they can start to perform as required is even harder. But I think we are on a good track right now."

He believes that once you find the right person he also needs to be given the time to improve his performance. "They need to build a mileage of driving on all kinds of international terrain to see how they can adapt themselves and how to build on those skills."

According to Shaikh Khalid, there are certain qualities a winner exhibits, the most important being the will to succeed against all odds. "When I decided to participate in rallying in 2002 I decided to enter the United Arab Emirates Rally Championship and Middle East Rally Championship on my own. I had no sponsor, but I believed in myself and wanted to take on the challenge. I knew how to drive, I knew I had a gift, so I wanted to see how I would perform. The very first year I won the UAE championship, and the MERC. I don't like to talk about myself, but I want to show aspiring drivers what they need to put in."

What are the cars in this rally man's garage? "(Cars) come top on my list. I used to collect a lot of cars earlier when I used to participate in rallies as a hobby. Now that it's a profession and I am travelling most of the time, I have given most of the cars away. But yes, I still collect cars, though a lot less than I used to."

His favourite car from the collection is a special edition Bugatti Veyron. "That's my special one, in desert gold," he says with some pride. "I also have a Mercedes SL Black 65 made by AMG, it's a limited edition of only 300 cars, and a Ferrari 458. Those are the special cars. For my regular drives I prefer a Lexus, Mercedes, Audi or BMW."

Shaikh Khalid doesn't believe in false modesty. When you ask him how he feels when he's called the fastest Arab, he smiles with pleasure. "You know, it feels great," he says simply. "If I earned the titles, it's great. Like this video game that features me as a character and has my name on it. Someone will remember what I have done, they will talk about it and be proud because I have done something in the world of motorsport. But when people call me the "The King of the Jumps" or the "Fastest Arab", it is more than just a personal accolade. It will all accrue to our Team Abu Dhabi, and that is what matters."

Team Abu Dhabi is now Shaikh Khalid's dream. "It's never easy to build something from scratch," he agrees. "The good thing is that Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) is so enthusiastic, and understanding. They know what it takes to build the right image for Abu Dhabi as a destination. It was also good that we had a big factory team like Ford to back us. When we start with the youth programme we have to take the best talent, we have to get the best equipment, the best car on which they will learn. So it is difficult, but then we have never been afraid of challenges. We'll just jump better!"

Shaikh Khalid is obviously a very meticulous man. Ask him about his personal goals, and he sits back to enumerate them for you, and will not be deflected till he feels he's done justice to them.

"My goal - it's not just one goal, but several of them which all complement each other," he says. "The first step was to have this team, Team Abu Dhabi, representing us in the WRC. The second step in that goal, I wanted the world to know about Abu Dhabi, which has been happening in the last couple of years.

"The third thing is to see successful talent emerging from the UAE. The biggest goal for me is to see Abu Dhabi host a World Rally Championship like they host the Formula One. Why not?"