LIWA, UAE, 18 April 2004 — A record breaking double by Abu Dhabi’s Hamdan Al Mazrouei was the showstopper when the UAE’s most powerful 4WDs came face to face with Moreb Hill on the second night of the Red Bull Reach the Top challenge. Partnered by co-driver Abdullah Al Hamli in the 8-cylinder category and watched by thousands of spectators gathered in the desert on the edge of the Empty Quarter, Al Mazrouei made light of the pre-event talk of rival Badr Ibrahim Ali by shattering Ali’s record time of 13.5 seconds for the ascent of the 250 m. face of Moreb Hill.
An explosive first record-breaking run of 12.417 seconds — slicing a full second off the previous best — had the crowd on its feet after seeing a number of other drivers fail to conquer the towering sand dune. And as if that wasn’t enough, Al Mazrouei and Al Hamli returned for a second run and stormed to beat their own best time and set another new record of 12.313 seconds.
The pre-event talk of Ali’s new 1,200 bhp, glass fiber Nissan Patrol proved unfounded when the Formula Workshop driver appeared with his regular machinery. And with the rest of the field breathing easy again in the two-night event — staged under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan — it was left to the boys from the Abu Dhabi Team to set off on their record breaking runs. “We were pretty scared after reading about Badr’s new car in the newspapers,” smiled Al Hamli, after setting the new record in front of Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed.
A customized Nissan Patrol with a super-charged 800bhp V8 Chevy engine, Al Mazrouei’s vehicle stormed the punishing 60-degree climb three times on a night when Moreb Hill won as many battles as it lost.
On the third run, however, a lack of nitrous oxide injections meant a loss of power for the new champions and a relatively tame time of 15.243 seconds. But the damage had already been done and they took the 8-cylinder title by more than half a second from Dubai’s Majid Eid ibn Mudia with Mohammed Al Qubaisi in third just four-hundredths of a second adrift On a dramatic night of exhilarating action, the top three finishers in the 8-cylinder category all broke the previous best time of Badr Ibrahim Ali but, unfortunately for the former record holder, he wasn’t one of them finishing in fifth place with a disappointing time of 14.211 seconds.
Organized and sponsored by Red Bull, co-sponsored by Axiom and with the backing of the FIA, the FIM and the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE, the final night of the Red Bull Reach the Top Challenge resulted in mechanical disaster for many competitors.
In the 6-cylinder category it was a whitewash for the team of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Ninety-one cars, bikes and quads gathered under the floodlights for the 2004 Red Bull Reach the Top Challenge.
