- Jul 13, 2006
- 4,782
Forget the Lamborghini. He’d Rather Drive a V-8.
By AUSTIN CONSIDINE
Published: May 13, 2007
SHEIK MARWAN AL-MUALLA has a new V-10 Lamborghini Gallardo that he has driven only once. Ditto for his new Ferrari.
It’s not that they aren’t nice, he says, but when it comes to sports cars, he prefers American muscle. I learned of his preference recently at the Emirates Motorplex when Sheik Marwan, son of the ruler of Umm al Qaywayn emirate, rolled up in a sleek blue-and-white Ford GT, a modern recreation of the Fords that conquered Le Mans in the 1960s.
Knowing that Sheik Marwan had financed the track himself - originally as a way to drag race against his friends - I sidled up for an interview. Eventually we retired to his trackside suite. But soon the sheik seemed distracted; another moment, I assumed, and I would be sent back outside.
Suddenly he hopped up and barked a few orders in Arabic to the track’s general manager: I’m to follow the sheik, the manager says, but where we are going is a surprise. Next thing, the sheik and I are squeezed into the space-age cockpit of his GT, barreling through the desert night at cheek-flattening speed while I clutch the armrest for dear life.
Soon we are rolling up the long driveway to one of the garages where the sheik houses his collection - dozens of unashamedly big and beautiful cars, some received as gifts, some custom-designed for him. He cannot tell you the year or model name of each one, but he knows what he likes: a Corvette-powered dune buggy and a motorcycle fitted with a helicopter engine.
One of the problems with the Lamborghini, he said, was that if you go to a city like Dubai you might see four or five in a night. Not so for most of his cars. More to the point, the Lamborghini doesn’t have a big Ame
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/a...tml?ex=1184990400&en=25f1dee5ca21bd2c&ei=5070
By AUSTIN CONSIDINE
Published: May 13, 2007
SHEIK MARWAN AL-MUALLA has a new V-10 Lamborghini Gallardo that he has driven only once. Ditto for his new Ferrari.
It’s not that they aren’t nice, he says, but when it comes to sports cars, he prefers American muscle. I learned of his preference recently at the Emirates Motorplex when Sheik Marwan, son of the ruler of Umm al Qaywayn emirate, rolled up in a sleek blue-and-white Ford GT, a modern recreation of the Fords that conquered Le Mans in the 1960s.
Knowing that Sheik Marwan had financed the track himself - originally as a way to drag race against his friends - I sidled up for an interview. Eventually we retired to his trackside suite. But soon the sheik seemed distracted; another moment, I assumed, and I would be sent back outside.
Suddenly he hopped up and barked a few orders in Arabic to the track’s general manager: I’m to follow the sheik, the manager says, but where we are going is a surprise. Next thing, the sheik and I are squeezed into the space-age cockpit of his GT, barreling through the desert night at cheek-flattening speed while I clutch the armrest for dear life.
Soon we are rolling up the long driveway to one of the garages where the sheik houses his collection - dozens of unashamedly big and beautiful cars, some received as gifts, some custom-designed for him. He cannot tell you the year or model name of each one, but he knows what he likes: a Corvette-powered dune buggy and a motorcycle fitted with a helicopter engine.
One of the problems with the Lamborghini, he said, was that if you go to a city like Dubai you might see four or five in a night. Not so for most of his cars. More to the point, the Lamborghini doesn’t have a big Ame
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/a...tml?ex=1184990400&en=25f1dee5ca21bd2c&ei=5070
