By Akeem Greene
Clinical, deafening sounds, lightning fast and of course stylish, summed up the output of Team Mohamed’s Enterprise and their outrageously fast Nissan GT-R, which dusted all who raised a whisker of a challenge when the third installment of the King of the Strip Drag Racing meet was held on Sunday (August 26) at the South Dakota Circuit.
The ‘beastly’ machine which is nicknamed Goliath, first came out to the starting line with its Nismo version (essentially the stock) and the appreciable amount of fans who stood in patience after the early morning and midday downpours, began oozing with cheers.
Lights turned green and the Nismo, which is driven by Azruddin Mohamed, the owner of both vehicles, got the first jump and blazed to the finish line. Goliath, driven by American Terrence Cox, surprisingly just cruised behind and fans were calling for a re-run; they wanted more speed.
The calls were answered later in the day when it returned in an exhibition clash with Trans Pacific’s Toyota Altezza and blistered to a time of 7.81 seconds, still some time off its record of 7.5 seconds.
Shawn Persaud’s high performance Toyota Caldina was the only other car running in the unlimited category (7 seconds), but due to unexplained reasons, he was unable to take the starting line against the GT-R for their face-off.
In the nine-second class, Randel Daby’s Toyota Supra made a return after a lengthy time away from the strip and destroyed the competition. In the final against Peter Daby’s white RX-7, the Supra surged to a time of 9.6 seconds in a well-controlled race.
The 10-second title remained with Damion Persaud, son of Shawn, despite Anand Ramchand’s Turbo charged Toyota Celica crossing the line first. Ramchand’s speed meant he broke out the bracket into nine-second, giving Damion the title who had a time of 10.58 seconds. The two were neck-and-neck for most of the race until the final few meters, which Ramchand got a slight edge.
Additionally, the 11-second group looked to be an exciting group with Surinamese Raymond John and his Toyota Chaser being the threat in the early stages but controlled driving by Chet Singh in his Mitsubishi Evo gave him the title.
Pierre Singh’s Toyota Starlet out ran Nala Persaud’s Toyota Levin for the 12-second crown; Narindradutt Mangar and his Levin timed 13.357 seconds to own the 13-second class, while Balram Ramdeo (Levin) and Akram Subhan (Starlet) won the 14-second and 15-second class respectively.
According to President of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club, Rameez Mohamed, they are planning to host another drag racing event in October where they will be using the launch pad, which is currently under construction.
Sunday’s event was sponsored by Mohamed’s Enterprise, Ansa McAl Trading, B.M. Soat, ExxonMobil, Tropical Shipping, Del Ice Company, Japarts, Palm Court and Trans-Pacific Auto Sales and Spares.