The passion of cars that drive some people to own the world’s most exclusive cars is a connoisseurship of great taste and appreciation. Supercars Club Arabia is a club that recognizes and respects this great passion and provides a clubbing platform of super car owners to unite, club and go on exclusive tours of the world, savouring the thrill of exploring the unique terrains of the world on special routes. BTW’s exclusive interview with HH Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, President and Mr Auf Al Delaimi, Co-Founder and Vice President of Supercars Club Arabia on the eve of signing the media partnership with Bahrain this Week.
Message from: HH Shaikh Salman bin Isa Alkhalifa
Thank you for having us. I am Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa. I am the President of SCA. My involvement started 3 years back. I am myself a collector of supercars. We started in Bahrain with a gathering of about 3 or 4 friends in Bahrain and then a few friends from Saudi joined us. Our aim was to gather the brand names of all supercars under one umbrella. This was mainly for touring and networking with similar collectors and at the end of the day, we are like one family.
The tours: We started the first tour 3 years ago. We chose Dubai as a starting point obviously because it’s a vibrant city and is accessible to Oman. UAE itself is a big country. We called it the Desert round as we had 50 participants. We started in Dubai, had lunch in Sohar, Oman, and came back to Dubai-a 2-day event only. Later on, in summer we thought of planning a trip in Europe as it is very hot in the GCC. So we started and finished in London, making it a round trip of 10 days. We have been to Germany, tried out the Nürburgring which is the most dangerous track in the world. It is a passion. People just drive that and experience it. We even tried the Autobahn, the No speed limit. People had fun with their cars.
Safety is very important to us. So in each tour we have the leading chase car and three or four support cars just in case something happens, along with walkie-talkies in each car and the pre-programmed GPS in order to be safe so that nobody gets lost—small touches that makes a huge difference to our members. We went to Italy for the factories of Lamborghini, Pagani and Ferrari factories. Then we went to Montecarlo to rest and then back through France to London. So this was our first European tour. This year we did Scandiera that started in Sweden and finished in Marco. 3000 kilometers. The same again: 10 days .
For European and international tours, we limit the participation to just 25 cars to have a better control over the troope. For GCC it is 50 cars. Our last event was in Scandiera, we started in Stockholm and ended in Monaco. 3000 kilometres, limited to 25 participants. The beauty of this trip is that we saw new cities. Unlike last year when we chose different roads for our driving experience, this year we chose different cities to have more exposure; like a vacation. We mixed vacation and motoring together. He started in Stockholm, Heilsenburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Anasi and ended up in Monaco. We visited watch factory like Chopard, the watch factory, sponsor for Scandiera. We also visited car factories like Zenvo and Koenigsegg.
In 2017 February is the next tour. We will call it Delmoniya…for the first time it will start in Bahrain and end in Dubai. It is about 1500 kilometres. It will be a track it/focused event. We will start of on14th Feb, on the 15th we have the BIC event and on the 16th we move to Doha, Qatar and on the 17th we will experience the Losail track and after this, a rest day on the way to Abu Dhabi in the middle of the desert called Qasar Al sarab and later on, for the second time, experience the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi and then finish off in Dubai.
The challenges:
To start with we had a small team of about 50 cars. We had to ensure their safety, inform the local police to regulate the traffic as one small mistake could create a chaos.
Message to aspiring supercars owners:
I am sure there are a lot of supercars enthusiasts. They see it as their dream cars. Study well, work hard to achieve these cars. Drive safe and I would like to create a driving school in Bahrain to promote road safety as well as professional driving schools. You can thereby obtain a race license in Bahrain because there is nothing after Karting in Bahrain. I would like to promote the driving skills of youngsters and fellow member and supercars owners. It’s a very fast machine that they own. So they need proper training to know how to handle these cars.
Interview with Mr Auf Al Delaimi, Co-Founder and Vice President of Supercars Club Arabia
Briefly tell us about yourself and your involvement with Supercars Club Arabia (SCA)
My name is Auf Al Delaimi, and am the Co-Founder and Vice President.
Give us a brief history of SCA since its inception.
SCA was created in Bahrain about 3 years ago simply because there was no club that had all the cars under one umbrella. There was a Lamborghini Club, Audi Club, Porche Club but we wanted to create something that is exclusive to all these brands. Since then we have about 200 members all over the GCC and also from different parts of the world. SCA is the world’s most exclusive supercars club in the world because of the exclusive list of cars we accept and the exclusive tours we organise and manage.
How has SCA grown over the years?
We started in 2014 with a short 3 days tour between UAE and Oman and we were overwhelmed with the participation of 50 supercars. Since then we currently organise two tours per year. One takes part in the GCC and another in Europe and America.
This is about to be our 3rd year in doing these tours. It is going really well. Members are increasing, within the GCC and from different parts of the world. Our experience and level of professionalism in doing these tours is also improving by the year as is evident from our social media. Because of our active social media, we have attracted a huge global following which also attracted new members.
What have been the roadblocks and how have they been overcome?
Organizing and managing such exclusive tours will of course be faced with many roadblocks as we have to keep a constant high level of service which we provide to
our members.
We have a great team whom don’t believe in impossible and have overcome every roadblock to make each tour a success story.
What are the ventures/programs in the near future?
Our upcoming tour #Delmonya will start at home and in the home of motorsports in the Middle East (Bahrain International Circuit). The tour will include 3 circuits, driving from Manama to Doha and experience the Losail Circuit before heading to a relaxing night at Qasr Al Sarab resort then to the Yas Marina Circuit before finishing in Downtown Dubai.
The public is welcome to attend and enjoy a thrilling night at the Bahrain International Circuit where we have many entertainment and activities planned along with watching all the participating supercars on the full GP circuit.
How exactly does SCA work?
To become a member you must own one of the cars we accept, each members enjoys a special invitation to all our tours and event plus many offers from our partners.
Who can be a member of SCA?
SCA is the most exclusive club as we have a list of supercars that we accept. We only accept exclusive cars like Lamborghinis, Ferrari, McLaren, Bugatti, and likes of such high-end brands. There are exceptions depending on the cars. This deamarcation is aimed at maintaining the exclusivity of the club and also to ensure that during any tour when the cars are lined up they look similar, belonging to the same category. Some car collectors don’t network much so SCA has given them the opportunity. To become a member one needs to simply own one of these cars. Anyone can become a member by owning one of the cars we accept.
Where do you see SCA in the next five years?
We have already planned the tours for the next few years along with the opening of our café which includes a private members lounge in Bahrain and then Dubai.
What is your message to the motor lovers of Bahrain?
One of the main DNAs of SCA or an integral part of what we do is to promote safe driving regardless of the vehicle, everyone gets excited when driving a new cars or a sports cars but we must remember that we all share the roads with others and we have to drive safely by following the road traffic regulation for everyone’s safety. The misconception is that we the owners of supercars drive at reckless speed. We want to bombard this notion by being seen more on the roads and driving safely with others. We want to show the world that these cars can be driven in a safe and enjoyable environment. Public can view these cars, enjoy them, take photos with them. This is our message within the GCC or in different parts of the world.
Safe driving is something that we take very seriously in organizing and managing our tours and events.