BAGHDAD (AFP) — US attack helicopters clatter overhead but Baghdad motor enthusiasts are focused on the souped up engines and flame paint work on display at a gathering unthinkable only a few months ago.
"They call me Special Hunter," says Essam Khamtan, proudly pointing to his nickname displayed prominently on the rear of his set of wheels.
All around him, at this meeting organised by a revived Iraqi motorsports association, dozens of cars are lined up: everything from black Bimmers to red Honda Civics with stickers portraying the famed Ferrari prancing black horse.
Despite a fresh spate of car bombings in Baghdad, a reminder of the violence that followed the US-led invasion of Iraq six years ago, the meet is a welcome sign of the improved security many residents say they have seen over recent months.
Hundreds of young men mill about at the meeting, their hair fashionably slicked back under baseball caps.
It took Khamtan two years of work to prepare his "Lion of Baghdad." He souped up the BMW himself in a Baghdad garage as violence raged across the city. His pride and joy now boasts sports seats imported from Jordan.
Since doing up the vehicle he has joined other locals to display their creations in a car park on the banks of the Tigris river.
"I was a refugee in Jordan from 2005 to 2007," Khamtan said of a time when his home district of Dora in southwest Baghdad was squeezed on all sides by sectarian violence, militias, the US military, Al-Qaeda in Iraq and insurgents.
"I'm a Sunni and my wife is Shiite," says the 33-year-old. "We were threatened, so we left."
On their return to Baghdad as the sectarian violence began to decline, Essam began working on his BMW.
"I forked out 1,000 dollars just last week on fine tuning the car, and this is the result," he says. His rear window displays an Iraqi flag in the shape of a lion.
Members of the association now meet on the first Friday of each month for timed runs and 400-metre (-yard) "duels."
"We stopped in 2004 because it was too dangerous. And the militias were against it," says Messar, one of the event's organisers.
He came in his purple Porsche Carrera, although not to take part in any of the races.
Under the regime of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, who was ousted in 2003's US-led invasion, there were around 20 Porsche Carreras in Iraq, he says.
"Ten of those belonged to Uday" Hussein, the feared eldest son of the deposed president, he adds.
The sight of such cars on Baghdad's clogged streets is rare, but the war and its aftermath saw a proliferation of huge high-powered 4x4s used by security firms clearing the way with their horns and a heavy foot on the accelerator.
The people of Baghdad drive quickly and change lanes suddenly, but they know to steer clear of US military convoys and are still wary of attacks.
The worst of the latest slew of roadside incidents came when six car bombs, said to have been orchestrated by the same attackers, killed at least 34 people and wounded nearly 140 others during the morning rush hour on April 6.
However, such problems are far from the mind of Ali Mohammed, a 41-year-old Kurd, who has just turned in the top time in his 1991 Nissan ZX on the marked course on the tarmac. The clouds of dust raised by his controlled skids have yet to settle when he removes his helmet.
"We went to the sports ministry and the tourism ministry, and they gave their permission for us to gather here, said the coachbuilder, also one of the organisers," he says.
"Now we need money -- sponsors -- so we can take this further."
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