LUCIANRIDERS

“DRAG WARS” WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!!

Vieux Fort, December 7, 2009

Well the curtain has gone down on the inaugural “Drag Wars” racing event held here in St. Lucia, the first time that this prestigious event has made an appearance in the Helen of the West.

St. Lucian’s are not total neophytes when it comes to drag racing but this is the first time that a promoter has taken over the organization of such an event; previously local clubs have banded together and raised funds and accepted donations of time and money to stage small racing events. These have been under funded and decidedly lacking in safety and creature comforts for the participants and the attendees.

So enter Absolute Promotions Inc., headed by Neil Beepat, an avid amateur racer and fast car enthusiasts. Having been introduced to the sport of Drag Racing soon after purchasing a BMW M5 three years ago, Neil started to dominate local races with consistent low 12 second passes that few local cars could match. Admittedly the fully computerized BMW makes such a feat ridiculously easy so Neil started looking at having a car built specifically for Drag Racing. A MKIV Supra was soon purchased and immediate plans were put into place to upgrade the standard non boosted engine to a fire breathing single turbo 2JZ, Toyota’s premier straight six monster.

However a decisive meeting between Mervin Bonnet a Trinidadian master car builder from Trinidad and Neil created a working relationship that would eventually lead to the hosting of “Drag Wars” in St. Lucia. Mervin was asked to take over the build of the Supra and with him came 25 years of race car building experience, his familiarization with small and big block American V8 engines lead him to convince Neil to rip out the Japanese in-line six and replace it with a naturally aspirated small block V8 that would be fully built to handle as much as an extra 300 HP of Nitrous Oxide whilst still putting out over 600 HP in naturally aspirated form!

The car finally came together the week before the event and made its maiden sprint down the track on the Sunday morning of the event. Mervin, in addition to bringing his expertise in hosting and organizing events of this magnitude, also happened to bring along his 8 second Drag Rail car that was totally built by him! This amazing vehicle thrilled the crowd with noisy burn outs and thrilling blasts down the track, the likes of which has never been seen in St. Lucia before!!

So with Mervin on board, Neil got busy with putting together the first of hopefully many Drag racing events to be held in St. Lucia. The deserted drag strip/ex airstrip, known locally as “The Base” had to be prepared so that both local and foreign cars could do battle on a track surface worthy of the “Drag Wars” name. In addition the fringes and shoulders had to be trimmed back along with the erection of fencing to keep the crowd back at a safe distance. Timing equipment and officials had to be brought up from Trinidad and security had to be arranged to keep the crowd under control. And let’s not forget the thousands of other details that must be attended to, to put on an event of this magnitude.

Finally on Saturday the 5th of December it pretty much all fell together and the event got underway with cars registering, getting scrutinized by the safety officials and then testing got underway to determine in what bracket the cars would run. “Drag Wars” is mainly a “Bracket” event where cars are sorted by how many seconds it takes for the car to run down the ¼ mile track. The fastest run would determine the bracket which started at 16 seconds and ended at 10. Anything faster than this would be in the open class like Mervin’s Rail car.

It was also possible for a car that qualified for a faster bracket could drop back into a slower bracket but if the car ran faster than the allotted bracket during the race would “Breakout” and so loose the race. All in all this allows cars of all types and sizes to compete against cars of similar performance.

Most cars were registered on the Saturday and the track was coming into its own due to rubber being laid down on the launch pad as a result of tire warming “Burn Outs” that in combination with a sticky adhesive called “Trackbite” that is sprayed onto the starting or launch pad for the first 75 feet. The accumulation of rubber and “Trackbite” is what allows the more powerful cars get the grip they need to launch off the start, the first 60′ being the most important. Low 60′ times are key to low quarter mile times.

The crowd that showed up on the Saturday was entertained with a number of fast runs from the visiting Grenada and Trinidad teams and particularly impressive was a rider from Trinidad with the nickname of “Horsie” that was riding a 2009 Suzuki Hyabusa that was modified with an extended swing arm and was breathing Nitrous Oxide or Nos for an extra boost of power. “Horsies” best time for the day was an 8.9 second pass that smashed his previous record which was in the low 9’s. With the track proving to be both safe and fast, things were looking good for the real racing to take place the following afternoon.

Sunday dawned bright with a few rain clouds that kept the sun in check and but also drenched the track just before the event got underway which delayed the start until the track could dry out again. Fortunately the rain stayed away for the rest of the afternoon and once a few stragglers had registered and been “Bracketed”, the racing got underway.

When I say racing, being the maiden event, meant that things did not quite go to plan. The racing started a bit late and without lights to illuminate the track the racing would have to stop by 5:30 pm regardless of how things were going and this is exactly what happened. Several of the “Brackets” did not get a chance to finish all of the races necessary to declare a winner and there was some confusion caused when the wrong cars came to the line to race and had to be sent back. However considering the steep learning curve for both the promoter and most of the participants, everything went quite well and was taken in stride. No-one really cared who was declared the winner of the various brackets as most were out to either test their cars against the lights or the car that was in the opposite lane. Plus the crowd that had arrived in their thousands only cared about the display before them as car after car zoomed down the track, some more impressive than the last! The timing system was working well and this was connected to a pair of large red LED display boards about half way down the track that allowed the crowd to see the times and trap speeds for both cars. There was also a large TV monitor that allowed everyone to see the action and to see instant replay’s, of the better runs.

Although not specifically invited, a large Antiguan contingent showed up to work on and tune a couple of local cars. Two of them were also professional drivers that expertly handled several of the cars and a number of the motorcycles present. The sister islands of Antigua, Grenada and Trinidad have certainly produced a fine and dedicated number of professional racers that hopefully St. Lucia will be able to emulate as racing becomes more popular here. The camaraderie between racers is something that has to be seen to be appreciated! Cars were being worked on by all and sundry and if someone was short tools, the right tool would be immediately offered for use by competing drivers and crew.

The racing produced some very impressive times but none as incredible as “Horsies” last run of the day that netted an amazing 8.89 second quarter!!! The crowd went wild and “Horsie” rode up and down the fence high fiving the crowd!

All in all the racing was top notch and the promotion of the event was very good considering the short time available to put it on and the lack of hands on experience. Absolute Promotions should be very happy with their performance and are to be congratulated by everyone to have put St. Lucia on the map when it comes to hosting this type of event.

Apparently Neil Beepat is committed to hosting another event for St. Lucia’s independence which will be around the 22nd of February 2010. Several government ministers were on hand to witness the event as specially invited guests and they have given their assurance that their government was very impressed with the turnout and the implications racing could have for “Sports Tourism” and that they will be putting their ministries behind future events. Hopefully this is not just political pandering but the real deal as the benefits of these types of events towards the economy of the island is real and not imagined.

As a vote of confidence, the Grenada and Trinidad teams are committed to keeping their vehicles here in St. Lucia until February as they can’t wait to take part in another race hosted here. Already the accolades have been pouring in and promises to compete are coming from competitors from the other islands. The Independence day Drags promises to be everything this event was, just “Bigger”, “Better” and certainly “Faster”!

I can hardly wait!!!