By Akeem Greene
“Absolutely stunning”, “wow”, “that was fast”, “amazing” were some of the initial reactions of spectators after Team Mohamed’s Magnus white Nissan GT-R shattered the track record at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) Drag Racing Championship at South Dakota Sunday.
The explosion of speed was recorded 8.099s on the clock in an unchallenged race to wipe out the 8.584s set by the black GT-R (Goliath) in March on the new quarter mile strip.
When the results were announced, the cheers that emanated from the sizable audience could safely infer they got full value for money, since there was no disappoint, as was the case the previous meet where mechanical issues kept the car under cover.
Just before the rain curtailed the action, the old king of the track, Goliath, got a slight scare from Trans Pacific’s Toyota Altezza, driven by Rameez Mohamed in an exhibition race.
Technically, the GT-R won the race even before it crossed the line due to the Altezza jumping the start line, but it still went to work and reeled in the opposition in the latter half of the race.
Though the officials and some fans close in proximity were mindful of the false start by the Altezza, the majority were unaware.
It morphed into cheers of “go go”, with some hoping the biblical story of David slaying Goliath would occur, but Terence Cox showed his skills and the power of the All-wheel Drive to pull ahead with good distance, and Goliath was still standing.
Close but yet so far for the Altezza. Both drivers reflected to News Room Sport, it was a duly thrilling race and they are eager to go head-to-head again August 25, a meet which is also expected to attract international competition. Cox touted the car can go low seven-seconds.
A slight Debbie Downer for the day was the Hellcat powered Mitsubishi Starion not running to true potential, but was still able to cop the 11-second class via the driving of owner Krishna Jettoo.
Based on the V8 Engine capacity, the car has the ability to run in the eight-second class and possibly seven. Peter Daby took a move from behind the scene and back onto the track to claim the 10-second title with his Mazda RX-7. Nine-second went to the Alteeza.
The other winners were Marlon Wilson (16-second), Ramesh Persaud (15-second), Romeo Singh (14-second) and Shan Seejatan (13-second).
Seejatan in his Special Auto sponsored Toyota Levin won USD$100 compliments of GT Tuners, West Coast Customs Wash Bay and Imran Auto Works for having the fastest reaction time of 0.00426s.
Daby ($200,000), Jetto ($150,000) were rewarded, compliments of Del Ice Co for winning their class. The 12-second group did not get to finish their runs and it is understood a vote will determine the way forward. The bikers were also unable to complete their runs due to the weather.
GMR&SC President Rameez Mohamed thanked all competitors for coming to the line and reminded the fans that come August 25, they can count on seeing faster cars on the track.
