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The magic of the 70s

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ggonsalves
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The magic of the 70s

Postby ggonsalves » July 19th, 2006, 5:50 pm

Something magical happened with T&T motor sport in the early seventies. A number of disparate circumstances came together which resulted in the best circuit racing Wallerfield has ever seen.

First of all, there was an influx of talented and enthusiastic participants, both on and off the track. There already were drivers like Brian Ibrahim, Silbourne Clarke, Tom Miller, Simon Kelshall, Steve and Ken Chee, Eme Kong, Tim Meyer, Ralph Thom and Sidney Manhin, to name just a few, who had proven to be very good drivers. But as we entered the seventies, a large group of new drivers started out their racing careers. These included people like Andrew Cheekes, Merryl See Tai, Chris Correia, Geoffrey Meyer, Gary Huggins, Righard Knox, Jimi Fifi, Clive Sugden, Desmond Wing Quan, Simon Gillmore, Frankie Boodram, Gregory Solis, Chris Charlett, the Ramsingh brothers, Brian Bowen, Robert Amar, Steve Castagne, Peter Easton, Keith Singh, Sylvan Singh, Davey Maraj, Riad Shakeer and many others (I can't remember them all, but there were a lot). Even girls like Erica See Tai and Old Man Pantin's daughter (her name slips my mind) got behind the wheel to take on the best T&T had to offer.

At the same time, there were basically two "motoring" organisations (besides the TAA): TASC, the Trinidad Automobile Sports Club (now TTASA) and CCC, the Courtesy Car Club. Although CCC put on at least one major rally that I can recall (I navigated for Simon Gillmore in the car that eventually became "ZMMA"), TASC was the place to be if you wanted to be involved in motor sport. It oversaw and organised all forms of motor sport - circuit racing (long and short circuit), dexterity (now called solodex), rallys, treasure hunts and drags. TASC was run by a dedicated committee with full support of all its members and just about every single person involved in motor sport was a member of TASC. Everyone had a common goal: the growth of motor sport in Trinidad (& Tobago). There were no private agendas, no separate organisations fighting with one another. Club meetings we held monthly and people couldn't wait for them to come around because there was always exciting new stuff discussed and announced. From time to time a film would be shown after the meeting and this was a big thing. Remember, in those days there was just one TV channel, TTT, and there were precious few motor sport shows aired.

Which brings me to another catalyst for racing's rise in popularity during that period: unless there was either a major political problem (like the 1970 "revolution") or very popular event (like Carnival and, sometimes, another large sporting event), there really was nothing else entertaining for people to do on a Sunday. There was no MovieTowne, no cable TV, no video games, no this and no that. When TASC advertised a race meeting (and there was an organised plan in place for doing so), crowds converged on Wallerfield. In its heyday, TASC had a full time professional administrative assistant/PR employee who worked at promoting its events, amongst other things. Yet even with the resources it had, they never planned more than two international events annually. These were true internationals with the bulk of guest competitors usually coming in from England and they took a lot of careful planning. Besides the internationals, there were a number of local events open to the public to attend (as spectators, of course), but there were also unpublicised "club days", usually taking the form of dexteritys or "short curcuit" race meetings.

Finally, because of the large numbers of active drivers, TASC was able to set up five separate groups, each split into two or more classes. There was Group 1 (unmodified), Group 1 Special (lightly-modified), Group 2 (highly-modified), Group 3 (highly-modified, lightened) and Group 4 (single-seaters). Within each group, class was determined by cubic capacity. The end result was that at a large international, with around fifteen classes and three races per class, there could theoretically be forty-five races run off in a single day. Because classes were often combined by group, however, the days' card usually had twelve to fifteen races, plus a final handicap which all but the Group 4 cars could participate in. In these circumstances you didn't aim to reach the track at midday as appears to be the case these days. As a competitor, if you were not in the pits by 7:00-7:30AM, you'd be stuck in spectator traffic somewhere on the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and would probably miss your first race. In fact, several teams used to camp overnight after Saturday's qualifying which itself was an all day affair. And don't try to rush off after the last race because the traffic was probably worse leaving the track. Races started at 10:00AM sharp because it was difficult to fit them all in before dark. This despite having a pre-grid with the next set of cars waiting to roll round to the start even while the current race was in progress.

So yes, there was a bit of magic back in the seventies that would be hard to repeat today.

(PS: Its really nice to see the younger folk so interested in our motor sport past. I also appreciate those positive comments regarding my driving... it really was my passion in life and I always did put my best effort into it. - Gordon)

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Postby smokey1275 » July 19th, 2006, 6:09 pm

so mr. gonsalves , what will bring it all back you think ?

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Postby ggonsalves » July 19th, 2006, 6:31 pm

smokey1275 wrote:so mr. gonsalves , what will bring it all back you think ?
That's a hard question to answer. Certainly the forming of TTUMRA (T&T Unified Motor Racing Association) which brings representatives of all the various motor sport disciplines together is a step in the right direction. On the other hand, losing Wallerfield is not good. I think that its going to take a lot of work and co-operation of all the interested parties as well as some help from the government (not likely) and/or the business sector (more likely). Those with an interest need to take an active part to realise any results. Sitting back and "letting others do it" will yield nothing.

Its not going to be easy.

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Postby SR » July 19th, 2006, 6:58 pm

i stickying this
let the young uns learn the history

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Postby dragaholic » July 19th, 2006, 7:06 pm

It was great watching you guys battle it out in the late 70s early 80s. Lets hope we can see those days make a return sometime in the near future.

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Postby SR » July 19th, 2006, 7:52 pm

yuh shoulda be there last night boy
d man have some nice footage from the 70's as screensavers

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Postby NarendZORCE » July 19th, 2006, 7:57 pm

Hmmmm.... how can we re-capture this magic in the face of today's many available activities?

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Postby wagonrunner » July 19th, 2006, 9:14 pm

thanks for the input and the history lesson Gordon 8).

Karl.

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Postby Dragist » July 20th, 2006, 7:34 am

Good stuff Gordon

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Postby wagon r » July 20th, 2006, 7:35 am

......why they couldn't teach this in history class.... :|

...*scrolls back up to read again....*

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Re: The magic of the 70s

Postby wagon r » July 20th, 2006, 7:38 am

ggonsalves wrote: ......but there were also unpublicised "club days", usually taking the form of dexteritys or "short curcuit" race meetings.......



.....something i wish we had more of.

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Postby solo » July 20th, 2006, 8:07 am

ggonsalves, joined since the 19th August 2004, and allyuh now realise what was needed to bring out such a historian; such an icon in local racing.
Believe me, I have never enjoyed this site more than I have in the last month.
Thank you for that excellent write up Mr. Gonsalves, and thank you to all the others who provided pics and info from the real race days.

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Postby SR » July 20th, 2006, 8:15 am

i think he got back the inspiration after tuesday night's training session

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Postby wagon r » July 20th, 2006, 8:22 am

^....something i regret not being able to attend... :(

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Postby MANIAC » July 20th, 2006, 8:22 am

Believe me, I have never enjoyed this site more than I have in the last month.

^DITTO

Thank you for that excellent write up Mr. Gonsalves, and thank you to all the others who provided pics and info from the real race days.

^ DITTO as well, Nice history lesson Mr Gonzalves ..... Only hoping that racing could return to Wallerfield with the same comradeship soon

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Postby AutoSport » July 22nd, 2006, 4:01 pm

Maniac wrote "Only hoping that racing could return to Wallerfield with the same comradeship soon"

TTUMRA will be working on this in its efforts to change all the negatives that have brought us to where we are. But I repeat --- Plenty Prayers needed.

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Postby Monk BANzai » July 22nd, 2006, 9:06 pm

^^why though?.....have'nt we learned from our past mistakes?...must we be doomed to repeat them?.....i shudder to think..that 30 yrs later we are worse off than when we started (or were)...we have so much more knowledge now..and yet...we have heavy infighting among car bodies and among mmebers of carbodies....

We have a host of new drviers and talent out there but i get a strong feeling that its begin wasted in garages that harness old relics and egos that "refuse to be a part" of simply because their opinion was "trumped" by someone who may not have known more than they know now.

I am not spreading gloom and doom...cuz what was wrtten above brought back so many memories of me on my daddy's shoulders watching this stuff in the late sventies early eighties....but i'm fed up of hearing "so what can we do now?"..


we know fully well what we have to do..its just ot buckle in and do it.

time to water my plants....i gone

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Postby demented » July 22nd, 2006, 10:05 pm

*copy - paste - print* i've learnt something today

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Postby Greypatch » July 24th, 2006, 12:40 pm

nice write up man

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Postby RoadWarrior » July 30th, 2006, 12:55 am

All I can say is thank you !

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Postby zaxxon1 » August 3rd, 2006, 10:24 am

I hear Desmond Wing Quan is in town now so maybe some of the younger folks can chat with him or maybe Trinituner can interview him for this forum. I hope he makes it to wallerfield for circuit. Open request to the reporters here on the forum. Unfortunately I am not of that stock. Maybe Narend can do a series of articles for Zorce.

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Postby Greypatch » September 30th, 2006, 9:12 am

when is the next write up ?

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Postby wagonrunner » September 30th, 2006, 9:15 am

^^^
fuh real, and wagon R, SR. allyuh upping d pics, or can i do it?

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Postby Dragist » September 30th, 2006, 9:47 am

I know it's a bit off topic but as we all know Guyana has a rich history in auto racing so in keeping the intrest alive in where we came from here are some pics from back in the day in Guyana.

http://www.gmrscgy.com/60sgallery.htm

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Eric Vieira in the Beast. This tube frame chassis was fitted with a V8 engine.

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Postby Greypatch » October 3rd, 2006, 12:37 pm

the man in the last pic had real belly hoss...V8

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Postby MANIAC » October 3rd, 2006, 1:14 pm

Since we talking bout Guyana ... and for those who missed it .....

http://www.gmrscgy.com/october29.php

lowlife

Postby lowlife » March 12th, 2007, 11:34 am

Mr. Gonsalves, as one of your biggest fans who used to watch you race on my uncle's shoulders, I can really understand and appreciate that trip back in time.....

*sighs*

I remember gangsta drags on a Sunday. jus tune and race, now that the facility has been taken away, you have alot of street racing, which I don't condemn because every other sport in this country has a facility, but auto enthusists are being treated as if we're not important.

Bring back the ole time days when you can take your car to the race track on a sunday and enjoy yourself, whether as a racer or a spectator

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Postby wagonrunner » March 12th, 2007, 9:39 pm

Posting these photos from a CD Gordon compiled a while ago. Hope you guys enjoy, and i will try to up the entire CD

Amar 1
Image

Action in Clubhouse Bend, Guyana.jpg
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_Eggy_ spins in Guyana#C28E.jpg
Image
Last edited by wagonrunner on February 27th, 2018, 7:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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wagonrunner
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Postby wagonrunner » March 12th, 2007, 9:43 pm

Angoy at Wallerfield 1.jpg
Image
Last edited by wagonrunner on February 27th, 2018, 7:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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wagonrunner
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Postby wagonrunner » March 13th, 2007, 1:21 am

Becks' Terrapin 1.jpg
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Becks' Terrapin 2.jpg
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Boodram & Gonsalves (1).jpg
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Last edited by wagonrunner on February 27th, 2018, 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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