Motorsport a multi-million dollar industry
Published:
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Vinode Mamchan
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T&T’s Rishi Kanick with Brazil’s world champion Sidnei Frigo who has his own motorsport park.
Just as this country sits on a number of potentially lucrative oil and gas wells, so too is the case with sports in the form of motor racing. The sport which has been grinding to a halt in T&T is a multi-million dollar industry that needs to be tapped into for the betterment of many in our lovely twin Island Republic. Only this week, the ministers of Tourism Dr. Rupert Griffith and the minister of Sport, Anil Roberts made a move in the right direction, into opening up this very lucrative industry. They held a symposium at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which brought together many stakeholders in different arms of the sport and tourism to map a way forward to boost the tourism market in this country. The Trinidad and Tobago Automobile Association (TTASA) was invited to this symposium and they in turn sent out at invitation to Henry Crowse the vice-president of the world motor-sport body FIA, as well as the president of the regional body NACAM. And one of the main issues coming out as a deterrent to the development of the sport,is the lack of a proper racing park to call ‘home’. The motor sport enthusiasts in this country have been afforded use of Campden in Wallerfield to race their vehicles.
However, this is not adequate for best practices and as such our drivers have had to go outside to make a name for themselves. T&T has been very fortunate, as although we don’t possess a top class facility, we have been able to somehow produce a number of world class drivers. Sheldon Bissessar and Rishi Kanick comes to mind as they have grabbed headlines recently with their exploits. Kanick in particular recorded the best time by a T&T national in quarter-mile drag racing but in order to do that he had to forge a relation with champion Brazilian driver Sidnei Frigo to achieve that mark. It is refreshing to know that the government is now willing to look at a permanent place for motor sport in this country and TTASA plans to make it into a motorsport park. Having a motorsport park in T&T will do wonders for the young drivers and it will also take them away from the nation’s roads, where they go sometimes and illegally put down drag-racing events.
At the park TTASA can also have available activities for the entire family, so it becomes a family event and we know how badly family life has broken down in our country. There are many causes that lead to a breakdown in family like and just as one would blame alcohol use, as one, it is just as bad as the family having nothing meaningful to do. I now make a call to all the major stakeholders in this country who are affiliated to motorsport to come together for the benefit of the sport and country and work together to bring to fruition this mind-boggling project. It is time that we put self out of the equation and ask not what motorsport can do for you but what can you do for motorsport. There are a number of successful businessmen involved in the sport and if they put there heads together I am confident motorsport will grow by leaps and bounds in this country. There has been a call for a public/private investment set-up to help build the motorsport park and I must say I totally agree with this. There their is a call for a Motor racing authority in this country and I am also confident this would work well, because it would serve as a watchdog for the development of the sport. Whatever happens in the near future would determine whether we stick on neutral or put motor sport in the driving position.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2012-05 ... r-industryI good anyways... I will never support any drag racing event/facility as long as TTASA are in charge.
at the attitude of promoter....very unprofessional.
