The Middle East stepped into the motor racing spotlight last week. The launch of a new circuit, the unveiling of a new racing series, and the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix highlighted the dawn of an new era of motorsports in the Middle East. Atlas F1's Ann Bradshaw gives her personal take on all three events

Motor racing in the Middle East is a bit like waiting for a bus. You go years without anything happening and then in the space of a few days three projects come along.

First, on Monday of last week there was the launch of the Dubai Autodrome. Then, the next night, the launch of the A1 Grand Prix series in Dubai. I was personally involved in the A1 project, of which you will learn more later. And then at the weekend there was the first ever Formula One race in the area, the Bahrain Grand Prix. I have just watched the F1 race on television and it looks very much as though, despite being newcomers to this motor racing game, the Middle East can show the rest of the world a thing or two about how to put on a good event. Not only were the drivers singing the praises of the new Herman Tilke designed track, but everyone was full of admiration for the way the Kingdom of Bahrain welcomed the F1 fraternity with open arms.

Words like 'unbelievable', 'fantastic facility', 'superb', 'very, very nice experience' flowed from the mouths of the winner Michael Schumacher and anyone else who was asked for an opinion. I met the Minister for Sport, Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa when I did some work for the organisers soon after the announcement of the project. He was polite, quietly spoken, but obviously committed to show the world what his home country could do. To be honest, Bahrain has always been considered by us Europeans as the poor cousin of this part of the world. We all knew about Dubai as a great place for holidays and Saudi Arabia, but Bahrain was an unknown quantity.

As motor racing personnel ventured there to see what this place was like, the first stories that came back were not encouraging. With under 18 months to go there was not a piece of tarmac laid. On top of that, the roads to the piece of desert where the track was to be built were inadequate and there were not enough hotel rooms to cope with the sudden influx of people. In most people's minds the whole episode was due to be a disaster. There was no way this Kingdom with no oil could put on such an event despite having £100,000,000 to do it with.

I am delighted the people who were full of doom and gloom were proved wrong and when I saw Sheikh Fawaz interviewed on television this weekend I could see the pride in his face and I was delighted for him. I am sure they had a few surprises along the way, as running a Grand Prix is not really like any other major event. Thankfully this did not deter them and at 14.30 local time on 04.04.04 the first of what I am sure will be many F1 races at this wonderful facility got underway.

The track didn't seem to be boring like the more recent new ones with no overtaking opportunities. Okay, the same red cars sped away and left the rest of the field for dead, but the scraps behind were great. Good for Takuma Sato holding his nerve against firstly Ralf Schumacher and secondly David Coulthard. Good for Christian Klien proving to all those detractors that Jaguar had not made a mistake signing him, pulling off a shrewd move. Even the absence of champagne didn't dampen the usual podium celebrations. They had come up with a non-alcoholic local brew that did the trick and afterwards Michael Schumacher acknowledged the smell of the fizzy rose water was much nicer than the usual sour smell of cold champagne on hot race suits.

I think the only long faces after last weekend would have been in the WilliamsF1 and McLaren garages. The former looked strong after qualifying but the race turned into a disaster with Technical Director Patrick Head being his usual forthright self at the end when describing Ralf's race as a 'bloody mess'. However, his feelings must have been nothing on those of Ron Dennis, Norbert Haug and Mario Illien. The humiliation of coming away from the first three races with just four points and none of them for their star driver, Kimi Raikkonen, must be immense. It must have been distressing for Norbert to see smoke and flames coming from the engine section of the Finn's car after the team had already changed the unit once over the weekend. I don't think anyone would blame him for answering the question whether it was engine related problem with the words 'we won't know until we get it back'.

As I said above, I was personally involved in another Middle East project. Mine was the A1 Grand Prix Series that is the brainchild of a member of the Dubai Ruling family, His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum. I was working with a financial PR agency called Buchanan Communications and I was their motorsport PR 'expert'. When I first got the call it was to see if I could help out with getting the motorsport press to the launch. They asked me if I could work for them for three days. Bobby Morse, the nice man who made me this offer, even said that if they only needed me for one day they would pay for all three. Little did I know that this was to turn into a major project that took me to Dubai for the first time where I would work again with a lovely lady called Liz Fox - who was one of the Orange girls I knew from Arrows days - and expose me to some amazing new experiences.

When I first met Sheikh Maktoum all I knew was his uncle was the Crown Prince of Dubai and the UAE Defence Minister. He was 27 and had two South African business partners. My first shock was that he looked like Juan Pablo Montoya's twin brother. Then as I got to know him I found he was an enthusiastic financial wizard who loved motor sport and was one of the most fun clients I have ever had the pleasure to work with. His enthusiasm for the project was infectious. After he explained the philosophy of running a one make series and selling franchises worldwide that would then produce national racing teams with drivers indigenous to that country, I realised this was not just another project from someone with more money than sense, but a sound business plan.

Sheikh Maktoum also managed to wear those of us on his team out. Whenever we were up, so was he. He never refused to do an interview of any sort whether it was morning, noon or night and he was the perfect host. He had made sure we were all staying at the luxurious Jumeirah Beach Hotel, which his family has an interest in. It was only when I threw my curtains open the first morning I was there, after a late arrival the night before, I realised my view was of one of the architectural icons of that part of the world, its sister hotel, the Burj Al Arab. I must digress here a little to explain a few facts to those of you who know nothing about this hotel, which is the only seven star one in the world. It took 3,500 workmen to build it, the interior has 3,000 square metres of gold leaf, 43,000 square metres of glass panelling, 30 different types of marble spread over 24,000 square metres, uses silver Rolls Royces to transport its guests around and the worth of the 'goodies' in each bathroom is about £400.

Needless to say in Dubai the Ruling family has great influence, but it was not until the day after our event that I realised just how much. The car had been launched in front of VIPs, hundreds of locals and special foreign guests such as Juan Pablo Montoya, Rubens Barrichello and Niki Lauda. Sheikh Maktoum had told JPM I had said they looked alike and they both agreed I was right. In fact JPM admitted if he put local dress on no one would doubt he was an Arab. Niki Lauda had gone on stage to be photographed with the car, after all one of his sponsors is A1 - no not the series but an Austrian mobile phone company. The photographs had been taken and wired round the world, and a satellite had beamed the moving images to TV stations who were intrigued with this story of motor sport and business joining forces. With this all over we needed to see how the car, a Lola chassis with a Langford engine, would perform.

I was told to get ready the next afternoon as we were going to take it out to give it an airing. Anyone would have been forgiven for thinking we might use the brand new Dubai Autodrome, after all it was built by an uncle of Sheikh Maktoum. However, this was not to be so. We were going to run it on a public road. Such an event in the UK would have taken five years of discussion and an act of parliament to make happen. However, in Dubai it took one phone call from Sheikh Maktoum. In the company of several police cars and police bike riders we headed for the busiest part of Dubai and at 3.30pm on the Wednesday afternoon came to a halt by the side of the Sheikh Zayed Road.

For those of you who have been to Dubai you may know this is the road that runs by the impressive Emirates Towers. For those of you who don't, I should explain it is a dual carriageway that gets about as much traffic on it as the M25. Once we were all assembled and the car was taken off its trailer, the Lola test driver Ben Devlin fired it up, and as a policeman stepped in front of three lanes of solid traffic disappeared into the distance. It was wonderful. We then all rushed after him as the motorists, who seemed totally unfazed by such actions, were eventually allowed to go on their way.

I thought this might be the end of it, but no, we were then off again. This time it was a much quieter road but still a dual carriageway about a 30-minute drive out of town. It was the turn of Sheikh Maktoum to take the wheel and he drove up and down this road for quite a while, much to the bewilderment of a couple of bedouins who were obviously going to collect their camels to put them to bed for the evening and a coach full of workers on their way home. When it was all over it was back on its trailer and we all headed to our hotels.

These events are now behind us, but I am sure now the Middle East has its toe in the water of motor racing there will be lots more to come and I for one can't wait to get back there.

About the author:
Ann Bradshaw - Annie - began her motor racing career as a teenager, helping out her brother in local rally races in England, where she grew up. In the 1970s she organised motor racing events in England, and was later the press officer for the RAC MSA - the motorsport governing body in Britain. In mid 1980s, she became press officer to team Lotus, where she worked with Ayrton Senna. Shortly after, she moved to the Williams team and was working there for several years, when once again she found herself working with Senna. She worked with Damon Hill after the Brazilian's death, and moved with the British Champion to Arrows. She also worked with the Panoz team in the United States, before becoming a freelance press officer, now working with Compaq and BAR among others. Annie joined Atlas F1 as a regular columnist in April 2002.

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