Abu Dhabi: Yas Marina Circuit (YMC) and Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) on Saturday launched Abu Dhabi Yas Marina Circuit Drag Racing Team, a Top Fuel dragster team, which will be led by renowned driver Rod ‘Hot Rod' Fuller.
Abu Dhabi Yas Marina Circuit Drag Racing Team's first outing will be in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series 2010, the world's largest professional drag racing event in the US.
Rod Fuller, the 2007 Top Fuel Championship runner-up, manager of Yas Marina Circuit's drag race driver training and the team captain, said: "It feels great to be back behind the wheel at the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Drag racing is a contest of acceleration and power, making it exciting to watch and even more exciting to participate in."
Among the world's fastest-accelerating machines, 8,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragsters can cover a quarter mile (402 metres) in less than four seconds at up to 500km/h, powered by a supercharged and fuel-injected adaptation of the famed Chrysler Hemi engine, running on nitromethane fuel.
Constructed of chromoly steel tubing and carbon-fibre composite, Top Fuel cars are 7.5 metres long and weigh 1,100kg in race-ready trim.
Faisal Al Shamsi, the first person to be awarded a scholarship from the Yas Drag Racing Academy, will accompany the team to selected races. Al Shamsi's long-term ambition is to represent the UAE in US professional races. Fuller will mentor Al Shamsi.
