CM Mahmood hands over the prize. PHOTO: Ahtasham Bashir

Participant at the race. PHOTO: Ahtasham Bashir

Motorcyclists at the race. PHOTO: Ahtasham Bashir

Local boy Jamaluddin and Rida Naveed from Lahore won their respective categories in the province’s first, official drag-racing competition on Sunday.The drag race, held at a specially prepared 400-metre-long track in Regi Lalma area of Model Town on Sunday, saw over 70 vehicles from across the country participate in different categories.The race had been organised by the Tourism Corporation Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) following directives from Senior Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Minister Atif Khan, along with Frontier 4x4 Club, Peshawar Development Authority (PDA), Peshawar City District Government and Pak Wheels. The racers had brought various speeding and sports vehicles divided into eight categories.Category A comprised all-wheel drive (AWD) vehicles. Category ‘B’ comprised only rear-wheel drive vehicles (RWD). Category ‘C’ comprised two-wheel drive (2WD) turbos with four-cylinder engines. Category ‘D’ was for AWD’s with turbo – or stock turbo in a four-cylinder combination. Category ‘E’ was for cars with engines larger than 1,601cc with a maximum of six cylinders-naturally aspirated. Category ‘F’ was for engines smaller than 1,600cc which were naturally aspirated. Category ‘G’ was for four-wheel drives (4WD) or sports utility vehicle (SUV) or trucks class.Category ‘H’ was open for women drivers using any vehicle. The racers were barred from using nitrous oxide in any category to gain an explosive advantage.Local driver Jamaluddin was declared as the overall winner in the men’s competitions after he covered the 400-metre long drag track in a blinding 9.713 seconds. Mohsin was second by covering the track in 10.43 seconds.Similarly, Rida Naveed proved her mettle behind the wheel by topping the women’s contest by completing the track in 12.22 seconds,Asma Siddiqui was second with a slower 14.62 seconds.Peshawar bagged another podium finish as Aneela from the provincial capital covered the track in 16.58 seconds to secure the third position amongst the women. In category ‘B’, Sardar Hassan Sadiq clinched first position by covering the track in 11.45 seconds, Saad was second with a time of 12.98 seconds. Shahab was third after he completed the drag in 14.91 seconds.In category ‘C’, Waqas, Junaid Qureshi and Bilal Jillani clinched the top three positions respectively.Amir Khan Durrani, Sher Khan and Sardar Hassan got first, second and third position respectively in category ‘D’, while Chaudhry Shah Zeb and Maaz Tariq respectively stood first and second in category ‘E’.In category ‘F’, Hamza Sarwar was first and Ghazanfar Agha secured the second position in the drag race.The officials added that this event will open the door for a series of other drag racing events in the future.Officials from TCKP, Frontier 4x4 Club President Babar Khan and representatives of the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA), Peshawar City District Government, Pak Wheels and a large number of spectators were present on the occasion.Published in The Express Tribune, November 19, 2018.