My UK Life: the Omani doctor who races Minis in his spare time

In a new series, The National speaks to Arabs living in the UK about their jobs, hopes and dreams. Ahmed Shahrabani considers car racing a form of escape from his busy life as a doctor

Ahmed Shahrabani racing a classic Mini. Photo: Ahmed Shahrabani

Race car driving might seem like an unusual hobby for a doctor of emergency medicine, but Ahmed Shahrabani does not see it that way. In fact, he considers it quite safe.

“There are crashes, but the health and safety standards now compared to 20 or 30 years ago are very different,” the Omani medic told The National.

“Your neck is locked in. Your helmet is locked. You can’t turn your head too much. There are pretty robust roll cages.”

He now spends many of his weekends racing classic Minis, which he considers an escape from his busy life juggling his business and his work as a doctor.

Mr Shahrabani, the son of a medic, was born and grew up in Oman, which he still considers home. However, he has lived in England since moving there to study medicine.

Ahmed Shahrabani with his father in Wadi Abyadh, Oman. Photo: Ahmed Shahrabani

He qualified as a doctor in 2014 but moved away from the profession for a time after co-founding Locum’s Nest, a platform that matches doctors with NHS trusts for temporary shifts. He returned to medical practice during the Covid-19 pandemic, where he met the man who introduced him to Mini racing.

“The other thing I did in Covid was start my master's in global health and epidemiology at King’s College. Through that I met Ahmed Al Harthy, who is an Omani GT3 race car driver, a Le Mans 24 Hours podium finisher.

“We worked on a proposal to try and do a public health campaign to reduce childhood obesity and the prevalence of diabetes in Oman,” he said.

Covid then became all-encompassing, so they put the idea on hold but stayed in touch. Mr Al Harthy invited him to a few GT3 races and Mr Shahrabani realised how much he enjoyed the sport.

“I thought I really like this. And I like physics and I think I’m a good driver. So following that I did my racing licence here in the UK, passed, and then started racing historic Minis,” he said. He is now the only Omani-flagged historic Mini racer in the championship and races to raise money for his NHS trust.

“I have been racing under the Omani flag and this whole season we finished on the podium every race,” he said. “The racing is my form of escapism and it’s actually becoming more of a medium to raise awareness about a few things.”

The driving is “very pure”, he said, with next to no electronics and very little difference in horsepower between the cars. It is something he would like to develop, perhaps converting his national licence to an international one, and racing on some of the European circuits.

Dr Ahmed Shahrabani near his home in Islington.

“Beyond the Minis, it would be being a test driver for other mediums of racing and see where we go from there. But yes, step by step,” he said.

For now, most of his time is spent on Locum’s Nest. And when he is not racing at the weekends, he does shifts at the hospital.

“Doctoring is very pure. I can only see one patient at a time. And it’s almost like meditating in a really messed up way. Someone has a problem and needs my help. I may have a solution and I want to help, so it’s a good fit,” he said.

He cannot see himself moving away from it entirely, but could perhaps one day find a way to merge both interests, he said.

“I know a couple of people I used to train with who are now trauma surgeons but racing doctors, so they’re at the circuits at the weekend. That also keeps up your licence. So that could be a natural progression of both to be a trackside doctor.”

Ahmed Shahrabani races classic Minis. Photo: Ahmed Shahrabani