The Emirates are different, and Dubai even more so. In this megacity, residents celebrate the cool November nights and their children are almost always along for the ride. Who would have guessed that the Icons of Porsche brand event is about far more than cars?
Icons of Porsche is a car meet unlike the usual fan gatherings. Over two days, 30,000 fun-seekers from the United Arab Emirates turn the Design District into a vast entertainment mile. It is colourful, hot and very loud. Like a music festival, beats thump from stages and speaker stacks with little harmony, while surprising numbers of families press their noses against hundreds of Porsches from every model line and era. Nobody comes alone; friends pile in, or better still the whole family. A different sort of fan meet? Absolutely. It is about more than the 911, Panamera or the new Cayenne Electric, which makes its public debut here in the Dubai desert.
When evening falls and the light warms, it is not only the food stalls that are heaving. Pizza, burgers, lobster rolls and rice dishes are as popular as cold drinks. Emiratis love November because it finally brings bearable cool to the Gulf, with around 26°C after dark. Now in its fifth year, Icons of Porsche has become a cult fixture of the autumn and winter season. Fans from across the Emirates arrive in the Design District with their vividly coloured cars to show off themselves and their machines. It is a gathering without aggressive posing, even if many roll in from the access road with valves open. No surprise that you see more 911 Turbos, GT3s and GT2 RSs here than at almost any other meet. The number of modified Cayennes, lifted on knobbly tyres and prepped for desert sand, is striking, and the first generation is absolute cult here in a way you rarely see in Europe or the United States.
It is little wonder Porsche’s Sonderwunsch personalisation team chose this stage to hand over a very special first-generation Cayenne after two years of work. Philip Sarofim, an entrepreneur and passionate collector with a penchant for baseball caps, had his 16-year-old Cayenne GTS with around 80,000 km not only extravagantly reimagined but restored to as-new condition. Finished in deep green, it is the event’s secret star. “The look of the 911 Spirit 70 left a lasting impression on me. I wanted those 1970s vibes for my Cayenne,” he says, beaming into the setting sun. The bill was more than 500,000 US dollars. Many cars on display cost a similar amount, and most are not museum pieces but customer cars that are driven daily or at least at weekends.
As if 918 Spyders, GT-model 911s and a striking number of Carrera GTs were not pricey enough, some cars have multiplied in value simply through ultra-short number plates. In the UAE, those digits signal true status and bank balance. Whatever the badge, Icons has grown impressively, evolving from an exclusive brand event into a family festival. For 75 dirhams, just under 20 euros, there is far more than cars: themed zones to explore, children’s activities from drawing to crafts to road-safety sessions in a Porsche Cayenne. All of it unfolds with a dramatic view of Dubai’s night skyline, crowned by the Burj Khalifa, which pierces the sky in glittering light.
