Jeremy Clarkson's forgotten TV show proves Dubai has been a supercar hub for longer than we think
Published on Oct 03, 2025 at 6:25 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Oct 03, 2025 at 7:47 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
An old and half-forgotten TV show that Jeremy Clarkson presented is proof that Dubai has been a supercar hub for longer than we think.
Clarkson is mostly known for his work on Top Gear and The Grand Tour, but he also starred in several other shows.
In the 1990s, he co-produced and presented a show called Motorworld, in which he explored car cultures across different countries.
There’s one episode in particular that stands out precisely because things are more or less the same 30 years later.
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The idea behind Motorworld
In the mid-1990s, almost exactly 30 years ago, Jeremy Clarkson traveled to 12 different countries to explore different motoring cultures across the globe.
One of the episodes was filmed in the UAE, mostly in Dubai and in the surrounding desert.
Dubai, as a city, has changed significantly over the last three decades.
And yet, even 30 years ago, it was clear that this would become one of the supercar capitals of the world.
Back then, Dubai didn’t have seven-star hotels or the world’s tallest skyscraper, but it already had supercars to spare, alongside billionaire collectors.
Jeremy Clarkson had a very special guest on the show
As part of the show, Clarkson interviewed the Abu Dhabi royal and billionaire most people know as the Rainbow Sheikh.
Possibly one of the most famous car collectors in the world, the Rainbow Sheikh is a member of the Al Nahyan family, and he owes his nickname to his car collection.
This is because over 30 years ago, he bought several identical Mercedes sedans in one go, one for each color of the rainbow, hence the nickname ‘Rainbow Sheikh’.
The sheikh, whose cars are on display in different museums in the UAE, owns a variety of weird vehicles.
Among other things, he’s apparently obsessed with oversized vehicles, for example, his massive Dodge truck, pictured above, and featured in one of the episodes, and his 21-foot-tall Hummer.
Obviously, he also still owns his rainbow-colored Mercedes sedans.
