Al Futtaim Lexus partner with Ahmad Daham to reveal most powerful drift car on the planet

Al-Futtaim Lexus announced that they have once again teamed up with UAE drift star, Ahmad Daham, to develop the most powerful and most advanced Lexus drift car on the planet. The thoughtful build set out to not only develop on the success of his previous RC F Drift effort, but also to showcase UAE’s top-flight performance-craft to the global Drift community. The new FIA Drift-spec machine is a 1,200hp RC F-based weapon weighing 1250kg and is covered in a bespoke featherweight Carbon Kevlar body shell.

Moreover, there was a purpose and a focus to this build beyond just raw power and speed. Daham’s RC F Carbon Kevlar, which he hopes to be campaigning in drift championships around the world, involves an obsessive attention to detail in the chassis, powertrain, and presentation that elevates the craft of its execution to mirror Lexus levels of Takumi car-building. The result is a unique, world-class drift car that, even in a region renowned for high-power ultimate-level builds, is truly exceptional.

“I am honored to be partnering with a brand like Lexus. I am really thankful for the support the team has provided me as I built the new RC F Carbon Kevlar for the upcoming season. This car is so much fun to drive and I cannot wait to push it to its limit. We have learned a lot in 2019 as we kept a ‘Kaizen’ philosophy in our research and development.  I look forward to another successful season and am confident with this partnership we will be able to achieve all our objectives,” said Ahmad.

The weight loss over the standard RCF was achieved by thoroughly rethinking the stripped platform and then fabricating this race vehicle using materials focused on weight reduction. In addition, mass was also more optimally positioned in the chassis to support it to slide better.

The power part of the equation has been provided by inserting a heavily tuned – 1,200hp is four times the standard output – version of the tuner-favorite 2JZ straight-six single turbo motor in place of the standard car’s naturally aspirated V8. The iron-blocked 2JZ motor, which drives through a four-speed Samsonas sequential gearbox and twin-plate Competition Clutch, was chosen due to the wide variety of readily available tuning parts.