Of course, with no disrespect to the human cast, the real stars of the Fast and the Furious films are the ones with the wheels – the supercars. When Salah Almoudi, an Emirati and the owner of PP-Performance, was asked if his company could provide the calibre of cars required for the film, he simply smiled, took the crew to the Yas Marina Circuit racetrack and showed them a fleet of super-charged, modified luxury cars. They included a Mercedes CC 63, modified with a 900bhp SLS engine that can go from 0-100mph in 2.8 seconds. Mercedes recently broke a world record for drag racing, completing the quarter mile in 9.7 seconds.
Salah says his involvement with Furious 7 "would show the world that an Emirati company such as PP-Performance could support any project, even at a global level".
The company also supplied a 1200bhp Dodge Viper and a 1001bhp Bugatti Veyron – the world’s fastest super car, according Guinness World Records. “I felt very lucky to be able to drive the PP-Performance-modified vehicles,” says the professional stunt driver Ben Menzies, who drove the Veyron, the Viper and a Lamborghini Aventador.
“These are magnificent road machines that have been tuned to perfection.”
“We all love cars in our family,” says Saif Almoudi, Salah’s older brother. “Our father loved cars and passed that down to us. But Salah, he dreams about cars. One day, when Salah was in his teens I came home from work and I found my car with no engine in it.
“When I walked into the house, Salah had taken it out and was ‘trying to fix it’. We always knew he would do something special when it came to cars – and he has. I am proud of him and I support him in all that he does.”
artslife@thenational.ae