A precarious stunt to land a Dh1.1 million sports car on the Burj Al Arab heli-pad went ahead without a hitch, despite high winds of up to 25 mph.
The event, to celebrate the first centenary of Aston Martin, was postponed from the original anniversary date of Tuesday because of severe weather.
"The forecast was so windy we had to cancel," said Ulrich Bez, chief executive of the British car company. "Today was not much better. We were lucky we could do it."
A special charter from Abu Dhabi Aviation airlifted the Aston Martin Vanquish from Skydive Dubai to the seven star hotel.
Mr Bez said he was considering riding in the car from the air, but was put off after learning that the helicopter would drop the car into the sea at the first sign of difficulty.
"I didn't want to be dropped if there were any problems," he said.
A delegation of VIPs watched the car being lowered to the heli-pad.
Among them was the British Ambassador, Dominic Jermey, who got to take a closer look at the vehicle.
"If you were a world-class super spy, secret agent, it's the car you'd have," he said. "It's every ambassador's dream.
"We spent a lot of time just walking around it and stroking it. I tried hard to start it, but wiser heads than mine convinced me that was the wrong idea."
MCroucher@thenational.ae
