Ruffing it, Bahrain style

A recent trip to Bahrain, what should have been a fairlyrun-of-the-mill interview with a CEO to discuss the launchof the Middle East’s first sports car plant turned intosomething rather different from the usual chat over coffeein a hotel lobby. I was informed just an hour before the interview by theassistant to Alois Ruf, the owner of Germany’s highperformance sports car company Ruf, that I was to meet himout at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), home of theFormula 1 racetrack and the location for Ruf’s $20 millionfactory. When I arrived at the VIP section of the Formula 1 track,my eardrums were subjected to the magnificent roar of adozen Lamborghinis straining at the leash. I hadunexpectedly gate-crashed the Speed Trip, one of the BIC’s200 annual events, at which owners of super cars and Ducatimotorbikes use their machines for what they were meant for:pushing the pedal to the metal and not worrying about