��������

ISLAMABAD: Mohammad Wasif stood on the track as the roar of turbocharged engines echoed across Shakarparian Parade Ground, with clouds of tire smoke billowing into the evening sky at a venue better known for military drills than motorsports.

The ground is playing host to Race Wars 2025, a three-day motorsports festival being held from Oct. 17-19 by the Islamabad administration. The event drew more than 300 participants from across Pakistan to compete in circuit, drag and drift races — a rare spectacle in a country with no dedicated racetracks.

For 24-year-old Wasif, who traveled from Faisalabad to compete, the festival represented years of automotive passion culminating in serious competition. His BMW E63, equipped with a W212R engine producing around 700 wheel horsepower, reflected the level of investment enthusiasts are making in their craft.

“Back in the day, I used to have my family car, I modified it and then I became a car enthusiast and switched multiple cars and ended up on this,” he told Arab News after being eliminated in the second round of head-to-head racing.

Pakistan lacks organized competitions for motorsport lovers, though young drivers are often seen drifting on empty roads late at night, a practice that raises safety concerns.

Syed Hamza Hamid, one of the event’s organizers, said such festivals provide a legitimate outlet for this passion.

“A lot of people are passionate, but they need a place where they can show their skills and grow,” he said.

The event featured three main disciplines: head-to-head circuit racing, drag racing and drift competitions, each testing different aspects of driving skill and machine performance.

In head-to-head circuit racing, two cars race simultaneously in a tournament-style elimination format that tests handling, braking, acceleration and a driver’s ability to perform under pressure. With nine different categories, the competition produced nine winners as racers battled wheel-to-wheel, with the car ahead claiming victory and the one behind heading home.

Drag racing offers a simplified version of head-to-head competition, stripping away the complexity to focus purely on acceleration along a straight line. Two cars launch simultaneously, and the faster machine wins the race.

However, drift competition brings an entirely different challenge. Beginners drift solo, while experts perform in tandem or trio runs, sliding in synchronized movements inches apart.

Judges award points based on how precisely drivers place their tires in designated zones on the track and how closely they maneuver near walls. Unlike circuit racing, being in front doesn’t guarantee victory in drifting: control, precision and style matter more than speed.

The cars on display at the festival ranged from modified Civics and Corollas to BMW, Mercedes, Ford and specialized builds like the TRA Kyoto Pandem.

Participants said modifications vary depending on competition type: drift cars require suspension geometry adjustments and limited-slip differentials for controlled slides, drag cars depend on engine upgrades and lightweight components for faster acceleration and circuit racers need balanced setups emphasizing both power and handling.

Businessman Rehan Saleem brought his extensively modified 2006 BMW E90 to the event, equipped with a Japanese 1JZ-GTE engine typically found in a Toyota Supra, a heavy-duty gearbox and a reinforced engine block capable of handling extreme power.

“The future is bright, the new generation has a lot of interest and boys have even more,” he said as he prepared for the drag race.

The festival attracted a predominantly young crowd, mostly in their twenties and thirties, who watched from tiered stands as safety barriers kept spectators at a distance from the action.

Large screens displayed close-up views, while food stalls and music created a festive atmosphere extending from morning practice sessions through evening competitions.

For first-time motorsports spectator Iman Malik, a student, the experience exceeded expectations.

“I had no idea that this was happening here, but a friend told me and then we made a plan recently,” she said. “If there is a next show, I would like to participate.”

Behind the scenes, organizing an event of this scale required massive coordination. Hamid explained that four different teams, each comprising more than a hundred members, handled everything from race control and pit management to security and spectator services.

Participants paid Rs20,000 ($70) entry fees for head-to-head and drag racing, while drift competitors paid Rs10,000 ($35).

Despite the substantial investment and planning, organizers acknowledged motorsports events in Pakistan remain financially challenging ventures.

“One day maybe they are profitable, but now it’s too soon because sponsors don’t join,” Hamid said. “But if the drivers are happy, we are happy.”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have vaccinated over 43.3 million children of up to five years of age in the first five days of its nationwide anti-polio campaign, state media reported this week amid Islamabad’s attempts to rid the country of the crippling disease. 

Pakistan launched the week-long campaign this Monday, with officials aiming to reach over 45 million children across Pakistan amid its efforts to eradicate the paralytic disease. Pakistan is one of only two countries alongside Afghanistan where wild poliovirus still remains endemic.

State broadcaster Radio Pakistan said that as per statistics, over 22.9 million children have received the oral polio vaccine in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province while approximately 10.2 million children have been immunized in southern Sindh. It said in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), over 6.1 million children have been vaccinated while in Balochistan, over 2.5 million have received the vaccine.

 In Islamabad, around 443,000 children while in Gilgit-Baltistan nearly 294,000 and in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, over 733,000 have received the anti-polio vaccine.

“The ongoing national campaign aims to vaccinate over 45 million children and will continue uninterrupted until tomorrow [Sunday],” Radio Pakistan reported on Saturday. 

It said that in southern KP, the campaign is scheduled to begin from Monday.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.

Pakistan has made remarkable progress since the 1990s, when annual polio cases exceeded 20,000, bringing them down to just eight by 2018. However, the country recorded 74 cases in 2024 — a sharp increase from six in 2023 and only one in 2021.

Vaccine hesitancy fueled by misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners still hinder eradication efforts. In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted and killed in attacks by militant groups.