UAE News: MSW race team announces new driver, sponsors and opening of luxury facilities in Dubai

Sep 23rd, Dubai – MSW ‘Motor Sports Wheels’ opened its new premises to the public, amid a large gathering of motorsports friend’s, fans and media. With its funky, bright showroom and refreshing approach to business, the new facility will be an essential element in the growth of regional motorsports.

MSW is expertly owned and managed by Jon Simmonds, a British ex-pat who has lived and worked in Dubai for the past five years. The company has evolved from a small family run business into one of the UAE’s most respected teams and race car component supplier centers in Dubai.

During the afternoon Jon announced the all important core sponsors for the season, Lavazza, the fine Italian coffee house, who were on hand to provide us all with a continuous supply.

The well designed showroom and workshop is state of the art, with enough resource to prepare multiple vehicles simultaneously. Customers can also retreat to the luxurious mezzanine lounge complete with on suite ‘pool table’, plush sofas, wide screen plasma TV and the mandatory high tech coffee machine, situated adjacent to the all important managers office, where the walls are adorned with the many trophies and awards that have been bestowed on Jon’s team.

Over the years, with the valuable support from wife Liz and his adoring family, Jon has maintained a professional balance of work, rest and play in the UAE, allowing him to pursue his dream of becoming a top class International racing driver, with hopes of entering 24hr of Le Mans one day.  Jon has achieved great success locally by scooping the overall UAE Touring Car Championship and the Class win this past year, last season his team were SP2 class winners in the Dubai 24hr race with the Aston Martin 007 car.

Jon aims to provide race teams, drivers and everyday motorists with a one-stop-shop for motorsport grade components, bespoke fabrication as well as mainstream tyres and alignment services for sports and exotic cars.  As approved dealers for AP Racing, OZ Racing wheels, Lifeline Fire Extinguishers & Race Technology data logging systems to name but a few, drivers can be assured of the finest quality products and expert service.

MSW has also announced its partnership with internationally acclaimed race wear manufacturer Stand 21, where teams and drivers can source tailor-made and designed race wear through its distributor AUH Motorsports.

Whilst Jon takes a short break from the UAE Touring Car Championship, fans will still be able to see him campaigning in select rounds of the UAE GT series, in a new race car ‘yet to be announced’.

The new rookie driver in the squad this coming year is Andre Ramdhanny, having worked for MSW as GM over the past few years, he has a few drives under his belt already, recently competing in the US. Hailing from Grenada, in the Carribean, Andre has big shoes to fill when he finally takes the wheel of the Championship winning Seat Supercopa for his first race on Oct 8^th at the Dubai Autodrome National race weekend.

When we asked Andre about his thoughts for this coming year he said “I want to learn as much as possible in my first season, take it easy, keep out of trouble and understand the dynamics of the car”

With Jon in the command seat come race time, Andre will be in very experienced hands, “We wanted to give some new drivers the opportunity to grow with our team and we are delighted to have Andre on board as a driver, we are looking forward to sharing all the knowledge we have gained over the previous year’s” commented Jon.

CircuitProdigital.com would like to wish all the best of luck to the MSW team and we will be following their progress with news, videos and updates throughout the coming season.

In partnership with CAR Middle East, we have added the Video interview below. Enjoy..