Doha, Qatar, February 13th-17th, 2024

This will be my 34th Qatar Rally. The first was in 1988 during a three-year stint at Motoring News.

Doha had around five hotels then and the Sheraton was the iconic one. We always stayed at the Ramada – now the Radisson Blu.

Over the years the city has grown and expanded and many stage locations have become home to suburban development. The country has hosted the Asian Games, MotoGP, F1 and the World Cup and numerous international sporting events.

I was also fortunate to work here many times in marine sports with the Qatar federation between 2003 and 2015 and we made television programmes about the building of the Lusail circuit during its construction phase.

Many, many fond memories…here’s to the next 34…

In no particular order, here are 10 memories of the rally.

1. A well known Irish photographer wrecking the Ramada hotel manager’s Mitsubishi Galant when he’d borrowed it for a desert recce.
2. The famed ‘library’ at the Ramada with the light on outside.
3. A one-time former winner trying to buy the entire bar to continue his celebrations when the manager called last orders. He put the tab on the team manager’s room.
4. The famous rock incident in 1989.
5. The first worldwide win for the Mini S2000 in 2012.
6. The floods in 1993. A first MERC win for the former President of the QMMF.
7. The first ever MERC win for a Group N car and an Omani in 1999.
8. Falling foul of the dreaded PCR test and working on the 2021 event from a quarantine facility.
9. The press office above the bar at the Admiral’s club at the Ritz Carlton in 2003. It marked Nasser’s first of 16 home wins so far.
10. Last year’s terrific battle between Mads, Kris and Nasser.