Saudi Arabia plans 20-year motorsports high tech growth program

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s motorsport authority is planning a 20-year high tech development program that will see the country eventually build its own race vehicles and teams.

This was revealed at the weekend by Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Faisal Al-Saud, president of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, who was speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the Diriyah E-Prix double-header.

“We have in the federation a 20-year program that we are going to launch hopefully soon because we want mechanics, we want engineers, we want to bring the know-how to Saudi,” he said.

“We want to build cars and hopefully we can have engineers, team managers and race drivers. So hopefully in 15 years, 20 years from now we can have all of that.

“Our ambition is not to just host events, we want to inspire, and we want to have a bigger role and engagement with the events,” Prince Khalid added.

“We want to see a Saudi racing team, we want to see a car that is being produced, and now we (want to) see partnerships,” he said. 

“This is our ambition, we want to be more involved and inspire and allow people and youth to showcase themselves in such events,” Prince Khalid said. 

“It’s a complete ecosystem (with a) car manufacturer that is coming and opening in King Abdullah Economic City. We are attracting the racing teams that are building rally cars.” 

“We want to start building the infrastructure so hopefully when Qiddiya is completed we can have at least drivers that are 12, 13, 14 years old that we can put in single-seaters or motorbikes. And at school, they will give special courses and we will send them to the Formula E management (programs),” Prince Khalid said. 

“We want to speak to them about aerodynamics and