GUYANA has often been the crème de la crème when it comes to Motor Racing in the Caribbean and plans to put it back there have begun – baby steps but steps nonetheless. On Wednesday, a group of interested persons along with Diana D’Ornellas, an executive of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) met with officials of the Caribbean Engineering and Management Consultants (CEMCO) to assist in the upgrading of the once great South Dakota Circuit.
The discussions, though not being the first of its kind, were focused on getting the 2.6 kilometre track up to the standard of its regional counterparts’ facilities.
The upgrade is not entirely a ‘Guyanese thing’, with a plan being drafted and designed by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, (FIA), as their ‘boon’ to assist the development of motor sport in Guyana – something that we accept with open arms, because if the father of motor racing designs a track right down to the curbs, then once constructed to said plans, there should be no qualms about having it certified.
When it comes to facilities, Guyana sadly lags at the bottom of the table with Jamaica introducing the Jamwest Raceway (its second racetrack in addition to the original Dover Raceway) to the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) this year and the newly repaved and renamed Franklyn Boodram International Raceway (formerly Wallerfield) in Trinidad and Tobago being utilised as well.
Barbados’ Bushy Park is in a league of its own!
With an almost perfect facility rating-wise, (their downfall being the obvious small number of cars that can enter the pit area), Bushy Park is the benchmark of ‘the next level’.
These ‘baby steps’ are to return Guyana as the premier racing destination across the Caribbean and they are more than welcome by pundits.
Of course, the cost of the facility will be no short order and obviously if you want to bring a track in line with the International Racing body, you’re going to have to have deep pockets and a strong plan to ensure the long-term recovering of funds.
But the GMR&SC has hopes of the development of the venue as sport tourism hub and plans to bank on this as one the main recovery options.
Whether that will or won’t work is an entirely other story that remains to be seen, but the real issue here is the track. If completed, ot will become a key host to several racing series not only across the Caribbean but possibly North America.
One would ask if Barbados can host a Global Rally Cross (GRC) round, why a level three South Dakota Circuit can’t do the same.
Already, the idea of a completed and optimal FIA-designed track has sparked brainstorms and top of the list is the introduction of the Digicel Suzuki Radical (SR3) series which is currently only being run in Barbados.
But why stop there? There’s no problem in dreaming, and based on our geographical location, (right next door to Brazil), it can be argued that having a level three facility in Guyana may open the doors for Formula series testing and even a series itself (Formula 4 or 3); both of which the FIA deems as part of the training ground for F1.
Imagine, Guyana could theoretically, be privy to a part of the training for the next Max Verstappen (Torro Rosso F1) or Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull F1) and go on to build F1 champions like Sebastian Vettel (2010-2013) or Lewis Hamilton (2008, 2014).
It all comes back to these itsy, bitsy, baby steps, as the saying by Vance Havner goes, “the Vision must be followed by the Venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps- we must step up the stairs.”