The Dance of Death!
Today, on March 26, 8.30 pm, I was involved in a spectacle I had only ever heard of before. The Qatar-Iraq World Cup qualifying match having concluded at the Al Sadd Stadium, I was walking towards the place where my car was parked. The atmosphere was a bit windy, balmy and thick with excitement…
…and smoke…
…and screeches of raw rubber burning on asphalt, on the huge parking area, where my Don Whito Corleone lay…
I was witnessing for the first time how Arabs truly proclaimed their happiness. Land Cruisers, Hummers, Nissan Patrols and even a flame red LAMBORGHINI danced the mad dance of victory, the mad dance of death...
A huge circle of cars, mostly white, all turned inwards, with their lights on, made up the arena of fun. Cars, in huge numbers, raced into the circle from different directions, at each other. Swerving at the final moment, they skidded sideways, in full circles, burning rubber, throwing up gut wrenching screeches.
The pattern of the mad, deadly dance shifted with the passing time. Starting out with just two cars, the numbers gradually built up and so did the cheer from the watching white-robed congregation.
And then, another strange noise, like that of croaking frogs, overtook those of the screeching tyres. The people, almost on cue, turned and fled. The cars stopped their deadly antics and rushed for various exit points as one. The revolving blue and reds were here, the cops…
They came in packs, flooding the arena in their powerful Land Cruisers. They cut off the exit points, caught a few death dancers, while many fled. The spectacle, which lasted more than ten minutes, was busted in less than one.
Sometimes, I believe in fate…
Had I decided to go back to the stadium to collect my friend, as was the original plan, I would have missed the entire show. I would not have had anything to write in here.
Now, when me pops asks me if I ever saw the dangerous side of living in Qatar, I can smugly say…been there, done that!
Any idea what the score was? Don't forget, Iraq are the reigning Asian Champions.
i live a very quiet life here and doha and rarely do get to experience these aspects of arabic culture (traffic and police blocks are the closest i've come to what you experienced)..thanks for taking me there with your post...i've got to see that in person before i head back home though!
Happens in Tokyo too.
This is our version of the underground, with skidding, chicken ditch, drifting, and shilling (driving on two wheels)
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Click here for LOADS of Qatar info I♥Q <-- (Expat and Local Info)
wel greeker when you call it a sport... i dont refer to it as a sport... more of a show off of talent... i guess its a sport... but its more like acrobats with cars...
see when a car looses traction with the road it becomes unstable... but can be controlled ... if you have ever driven on ice you would know what im talking about.
with drifting its the same thing... the car is unstable... but can be controlled if you practice ... so similar to a person practiceing how to do a back flip or a layout in gymnastics... you have to do the same thing with a car to drift...
it takes lots and lots of hours of practice... and if done properly... can be as safe as any other car related activity...
BUT... i still dont think its right to do it in the streets when there is traffic trying to get by
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just hanging out and watching dvd's with helen keller... kind of a quite night.
This is better than Russian Rolettes.
Thank you for that patient write up.
While i still cannot accept it for the sport it is (it maybe due to my upbringing where i did not have enough money to spend on cars doing things like this) i certainly see what you are trying to say. I take your word for it. But i Havent tried it, and will never ever try it too.
Once again, thanks for explaining!
well greeker... i must agree that it is a dangerous sport...
but...
as a person who enjoyed it my self from the saftey of a track were i can learn it and understand what makes the car to do such things... is not by any means dangerous... and it is not destructive to the car... only to the tires...
i my self have had such an arguement greeker... i used to have the argument with my father that drifting is a better sport that drag racing...
first off... drifting is not a new thing... it has been around since cars have been able to go fast enough to loose control...
nascar drivers have been doing it at the end of every race since the beganing of nascar...
rally drivers basicly drift around the dirt tracks threw out the whole race...
dirt track sprint cars and modifieds and bombers drift around around an oval dirt track the whole race...
it is not dangerous... it is part of racing...
the only differnce is when you do it on an open street is when it becomes dangerous...
the japanese are more dangerous than these qataris could ever be... they do it on mountain roads and its called Touge ...
if you have any more questions about this please ask... i dont want what these guys do out here to give any of you the wrong impression of what drifting really is...
this sport is not a race... its not about how much power your car has... its not about how fast your car can go 0-60... its not about what your car looks like... its all about one thing... The Driver...
the driver is the only thing that matters in the sport... because the driver has to have enough skill to understand what his car can and cannot do... and that requires talent... were as with other sports with cars such as nascar, drag racing and formula racing... its all about how great the car is... or how well the car is built...
i have seen many drift compatitions won by a single guy who does all the work to his car on a small budget...
Greeker... please dont look at this sport as a waste of a car simply because of the trash you see on the streets here... please understand there are many respectable race car drivers around the world (such as the reese family) that par take in this sport because of how sofisticated it is for a driver... and because of how much talent is required...
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just hanging out and watching dvd's with helen keller... kind of a quite night.
getting fewer because of their carelessness and stupidity. Havent i mentioned in the past that only few of them reach maturity because most of them die young in road accidents.
EMS- "Our job is to save lives and we are highly trained to do it"
What is so nice being stuck in traffic with a thousand cars making noise in the middle of the night!?!
"tagalog pala ka bisaya baki..."
comparing of what happened at the cornich
up to 11:30 pm there was more than 1000 car of all kind 80% are 4X4
roming all arround
it was so nice and noiseyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
MABROK QATAR
thatguy they are talking about drifting the dangerous way. Yup its nothing new in Japan and US but here??? I don't think so. And besides people doing it there are professionals and they wear safety gears. But here they only wear their scalp and thobe, and if the ambulance medics are lucky some of them are wearing ball caps to keep their brains from scattering.
"tagalog pala ka bisaya baki..."
and often ostentatiously daring stunts are ok if done on islolated grounds, Japanese will never creat panic on roads .
did you take my pic banging my head with the steering coz i was stuck there in traffic for 90min :?
Cool writting but didnt read all :D
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Yesterday evening, me and my friend almost came to blows debating about this topic. I just cannot understand why people would want to destroy a car the way they do. One reason may be that they have not had to work for the car they drive. Someone else already purchased it for them and their only duty is to try and destroy it…
It may only be me, but I would never do that to my Whito Corleone, coz I had to EARN that car. I still pay for it, NOT my pop. This is a dangerous, mindless, crazy sport. It has no place in Doha, Japan, or anywhere else.
I like to think of myself as level-headed, who would think about a topic from all sides. But in this case, I have no second thoughts. The sport is a frightful waste of time and energy which could have been diverted to so many other healthier purposes in life…
are you guys talking about drifting... If so... this is nothing new...
this is actually getting to be a big sport in the US right now... and has been a big sport in japan...
http://www.d1gp.com/
that is the legalized sactioned event...
the d1 has been around in japan for awhile...
its actually a very talented sport... because its easy to tune a car to handle the road... but its harder to tune then control a car to not handle the road... yet you stay in control...
the scca in the states also allows time trials for drifters... but they dont condone it
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just hanging out and watching dvd's with helen keller... kind of a quite night.
mashallah, you're an amazing writer! I hope you made it out on time.
Very nice write up.... its so easy to visualize your words buddy...You have chosen the right career for you....keep writing..
I once saw this near sea line....they are least bothered about the safety of the vehicles parked near by. And all the small children were looking at them as if they are seeing some real life superheroes....
They are really sick...
many people died in this
really sad
nice post and interesting to read your writing.......
keep more coming.......
cheers
YOU DONT KNOW ME, DONT EVEN TRY !!!
After Qatar won 17th Asian Games... at least one very young boy was killed... he had some illegally zooped up mustang that just exploded on impact....
video should have Saints Saens 'Danse macabre' as the score
It's really usual there not celebrating for football games only but even when they did well in exam they do too, weird huh?
I lost 3 of my friends in this death dance as you called it. for me it normal when I see that coz in back days I was one of these guys- grow up now :)
hope you doing great bro
Greeker, you must have been awake in English class and must have received good grades on your writings. I enjoyed reading your post. This was nice and a relief from the drudge writings and flame wars that have frequented this site recently.
I was stuck on the Cornich for around 90 minutes last year after a game. I taped 13 minutes of celebrations, in 2 separate videos. One shows people’s faces, which I don't feel comfortable airing here.
I will look for another excerpt I shot for air-filled smoke, noisy honking, and people dancing right infront of my car, while police was pointing at dancers to get in their cars and drive away to speed up the halted traffic.
Salaam
even though i was not there in the club area, all around qatar was full of haffouz including me
reading the above, it's like i was there with you greeker watching them...
but my concern is, you mentioned that some were caught by the police, will they be filed a case upon or what? or just a simple questioning will be done to them...and as what oryx mention, if police were aware of this, why they at least let them perform this for 10 minutes... was it just a show to let them see that police can and may arrest them (qataris)?
[img_assist|nid=12867|link=none|align=left|width=|height=0]Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.
Greeker, came to know that there are celebrations like this..
next time. take a video.. so we can a bit of fun too.. lol...
expecting losers like this to grow up won't lead to anything so if they have to act like savages with i'd much rather they do it in a parking lot, and i'd much rather they crach into and kill each other than innocent families on the roads.
although i would still rather they grow up.
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"Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day." Withnail & I
I saw this.....
Huge circle of 4x4s...in Al sadd car park...the police know this happens after matches....
They took ages to arrive...
And the authorities are trying to crack down on bad driving.....
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP leasssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeee!
Who are they kidding.
the police blocked few exits and it just seemed like a token gesture of patroling
If you're looking for a problem, you're probably gonna find one.
Very nice post and congratulations to Qatar - great that they can celebrate in such a hearty way.
Some might argue that it's better they're doing it in the car park rather than causing havoc on the roads. Glad to hear the police stopped it, but if they know this sort of thing goes on why weren't they in the car park to stop it happening in the first place?
Great write-up as always G.
Dance of death sounds like some indian movie lol. (no offence). Thats pretty much the case almost everyday in Qatar, I just came back from city center and on the way i saw cops blocking the roads near corniche and the same thing was happening again. Same old junk, different day. But its safer than dubai, in Dubai someone tried to lit a fire cracker and it turned up into a huge flame, sadly. Atleast that doesnt happen here.
It's always the small things that make big differences.
"Be Like a Flower, Which gives off it's fragrance even to the hand that crushes it"--- Imam Ali (A.S)
The cars burn through tires . Unfortuntaly , the good videos, done with a circle of huge cars on asphult, are blocked by Qtel.
Very Very dangerous.
http://www.truveo.com/Drifting-Accident-In-Ksa-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%AB-%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%B7-%D9%81%D9%8A/id/1077551573
http://www.geevideos.com/watch/639780829/استعراض-Ù?جÙ?Ù?Ù?-Ù?عب-تÙØÙ?Ø·-تÙجÙ?ر-اÙ?رزÙ?Ù?-wwwro111o7com/
Was there anyone there making a Broth of Desire and throwing in QT's short and curlies??
I love the way your writing takes me there! So well done and I wish I could have seen it :D
tra la la
I witnessed this scene near Sanaa roundabout when Egyptian won African Cup
blast, smoke . I didnt understand what they did we just screamed Allah Akbar
I took my sis and niece for medical check up
This is a typical celebration by the young guys in the Gulf., especially in Qatar. Always, always, local TV and radio beg the enthusiasts, before any big games, to keep it moderate without accidents on their way back when the match is over.
Police petrols spread everywhere and step out on foot, all along roads from and to the Stadium right through the end of the Corniche road.
Rubber burn fills the air, car kick downs, locals and other enthusiasts dance with the flags and foam sprays on foot. I love it when it is done moderately, it’s very unique. Salaam
Greeker ... after i read your write up, i felt i can hear the noise now ...
Well done man ...
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i dont understand what kindda celebration is ths
lol
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QatarLiving football group
http://www.qatarliving.com/g
should have taken some pics from your mobile,,,well must have been exiting..thanks
would have been great if u had a video recorder
hey dude how r u will u be coming for the dhow trip
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