He is one of the most famous drifters in Lebanon and a fierce 350z driver. He has been active in several car groups and now turned tuning as a profession. He has started racing in speed test and marking his name. Ahead of Sunday’s speed test we met Xavier Massad and had this interview.
Xavier you are a well-known drifter. Tell us about it and how did you start in this domain?
Well it was a hobby that started when I was a kid. I was around 14 years old when I started to get attached to it and then with time I started developing it and starting going into competitions. At the beginning the people didn’t know but after some competitions and especially the Car Par Drift that is organized by Red Bull I started to be known much more. The CPD really opened the door for us and it was a very good opportunity. So from drifting we went into speed test and then in the future we hope to go into Hill Climbs and Rallies.
This year we see that there are 7 qualifiers ahead of the CPD finals in July. Tells us more about the competition and your preparation?
First of all as you know I am already qualified because the previous years and events. The CPD is a marvelous organized by Abdo and his team. The drivers are very good and there is big competition between them all. It is not easy at all so it’s nice. We are preparing my Nissan 350z and we are going to install a super charger.
Are doing some design changes?
We are preparing some nice designs but we will leave it as a surprise. We hope that we have the time to prepare what we want.[singlepic id=2515 w=320 h=240 float=right]
What made you go into speed test, especially that it’s somehow different than drifting?
They are 2 different things. Speed tests have a lot of technique. Anyway time attack is very challenging, and the driving needs a lot of technique. We have different preparation for the car compared to the drift. In the drift we use the 350z while in the speed test we use EVO 7.
The second round of the speed test championship is this Sunday, how do you see the competition and who are your direct competitors?
In our category which is the L4 amateur, we have good drivers like Elie Jean Hage on the M3 and Elie Khoury on the EVO. These are our main competitors and we hope that everybody does the best.
Two years ago you started a tuning garage called Hydra Performance. Tell us more about it.
We started two years ago with tuning EVOs and Nissan 350zs, and now we work mostly with everything in this field including Infiniti and other brands. Sometimes we work on muscle cars such as Ford Mustang.
Who are the members of the Hydra team?
There is me and my partner Omar Khairallah and our expert technician Rudy Eid.
You were active with several car groups in the past. What can you tell us about this experience?
We started an online community long time ago, called Lebanonracing.com. It was the first online racing community in Lebanon. We used to organize events and cruises, and it was amazing. We also started some similar car groups, like “Group 350z” and “Evo” and others. We used to do it for fun.
Any final message?
Well I hope we have a good result in the speed test. I would also like to congratulate as biser3a.com for the good job you are doing.
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