Noor only Arab woman to have ‘drift’ driving skills

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt: Noor Daoud was the only woman to take to the track in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the Palestinian racer impressed the crowds with her “drift” driving skills.

Daoud has mastered the art of drift — deliberately oversteering to make the rear wheels skid — and travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh for a regional competition. “Since I was little I’ve become used to meeting up with the guys to play football or tennis,” said the 27-year-old on the sidelines of the competition.

Racing now dominates her life, evident from Instagram where she often poses with her thick wavy hair falling over driving leathers. “When I was little, I loved cars and I had a collection of them to play with,” said Daoud, a polyglot who was born in the US state of Texas and went to a French school in Jerusalem.

In Sharm el-Sheikh, she zigzagged around the tarmac track and dodged obstacles as thick white smoke and sparks came off her car. “There’s only one girl!” said a young enthusiast of drift, which emerged in Japan in the 1970s. Competitors were judged by a professional panel on their style and their driving skills, which count as much as their speed. Daoud had to abandon the second round of the competition due to engine failure, but nonetheless picked up a trophy for her participation as the sole woman.

She wishes other Arab women would take part in professional competitions. “Let Arab girls show the world that we also follow our dreams,” she said. There are however more women racing cars in the region, including four other Palestinians who featured alongside Daoud in a “Speed Sisters” documentary.