FIA conducts preliminary inspection for South Dakota upgrade
Officials from the International Automobile Foundation (FIA) conducted a preliminary inspection at the South Dakota Circuit on Tuesday to assess the further development needed to accommodate high-level action such as Formula 4 cars for the North and Central American Championship (NACAM).
Engineer Julian Abed, who is a member of the FIA Circuit Commission; Fernando Gutierrez-Benjumea, General Secretary of the FIA Americas and FIA and NACAM Ambassador Selwyn “Buddy” Persaud made the brief visit.
They were accompanied by officials of the Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club (GMR&SC) such as Vice President Hansraj “Richie” Singh; Cheryl Gonsalves and local engineer on the project, Joel Oudkerk.
FIA Americas General Secretary Fernando Gutierrez-Benjumea; GMR&SC official Cheryl Gonsalves; GMR&SC Vice President Hansraj “Richie” Singh; Engineer Julian Abed of the FIA Circuit Commission; FIA Ambassador Selwyn “Buddy” Persaud and local engineer Joel Oudkerk on Tuesday at South Dakota
For the most part, they discussed the current drafts the club has proposed for the expansion and made recommendations on projects that should be implemented for the safety of drivers and spectators; some of those pointers should be a reality for the mega November race meet.
Gutierrez-Benjumea, speaking on behalf of Abed, noted they were impressed with the level of improvement done on the track after a previous visit in 2014.
He also expressed enthusiasm that Guyana, being the lone English-speaking country in South America, could become a major attraction during the off season, given the pristine weather experienced for most of the year.
Progress
Additionally, Singh conveyed that the officials were duly impressed with the groundwork they have implemented to date.
“The FIA is pleased with what we have been doing so far in terms of the groundwork for the setting for the FIA-approved track. This inspection and the meetings… have been productive.”
He added, “We are supposed to do some modifications and based on the progress, they will further advise us on the way forward.”
The GMR&SC executive expressed that substantial progress could soon be seen, but it would depend on how quickly they could acquire just over US$2 million to compete the circuit enhancement.
“We had several meetings with both Private Sector and Government to come off the ground pretty soon. Anytime between the 2018-19 period, we should see some progress. We started phase one, but I won’t say it is full-blown,’ he explained.
South Dakota, which is considered the mecca of motor racing in the Caribbean, is known to have massive crowds at the annual November race meet which concludes the Caribbean Motor Racing Championships.
