Auto Madness 2023

Car events are the best way to not only photograph interesting cars, but also hang out with fellow enthusiasts. It is for this reason that I try and attend as many of these car events as possible when the chance comes. 

That is why I ended up going to Auto Madness Dubai, a car event taking place on November 4th and 5th in Dubai hosted by well known Dutch organizer 402automotive. 402automotive have hosted car events in the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria for more than 20 years. I have been to car events before but nothing of this scale. I had a couple of doubts going into it at first but eventually I decided I was going to do it.

It turned out to be a great decision. I got to photograph my first hypercars, as well as several supercars, classic and modified cars. It was also the first time I ever went to a race track as it was hosted in the Dubai Autodrome.

The event had two themes for each of the days. The first day for modified and custom cars, the second day for supercars and classic cars. I of course went on the 5th which is the second day, since I love supercars the most.

As I arrived to the track, I noticed some drifting taking place and briefly watched it. However I wanted to get to the supercars as soon as possible so I continued walking towards the pit wall. I came across a small group of supercars and it included two Huracan STOs, a McLaren 765LT and a brand new 2023 Porsche 911 Dakar edition in the front of the group. 

There were multiple garages and each one contained different kinds of cars in it. In the first garage was an exclusive limited edition Lagonda sedan while the second garage was probably the best one as it is where I came across my first two hypercars. Also present in the second garage was an Alfa Romeo 4C and another McLaren 765 LT. Meanwhile another garage contained multiple American muscle cars which was also quite nice.

As I moved on to the actual outside area where cars were coming, A Ferrari 812 GTS had just arrived and I was fortunate enough to be able to record the revving of the engine. Then I would come across an even bigger crowd of supercars which included a Ferrari 599 and a beautiful Porsche 911 GT3 RS. 

I even got a chance to sit inside a Lamborghini Huracan STO, I happened to be there at the right time where the guy who owned the car rental company was offering people to sit inside one of the two Lamborghinis he had. I got the chance to get into the Huracan STO which was the better one anyway so I was very happy about it. I was extremely fortunate as only a few people went after me before the owner locked the cars and moved on.

There were plenty of modified and custom cars as well even on the 2nd day, I did photograph some of them but not as much as the supercars. My favorite of these was probably the Avatar Way Of Water themed modified car.

There weren’t too many classic cars unlike what I originally thought. Only 3 classic cars showed up including an old Porsche 911 Targa S from 1970. 

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see any track action, but I did get to photograph the track itself. The experience viewing a race track up close is something as well even if I didn’t see any cars racing on it.

The Auto Madness car event was one of the biggest highlights of my Dubai trip. The whole experience of being at a car event as well as seeing a race track and a great number of supercars was amazing.