Launching…

…Formula Oil
There was a time when our national obsession with horsepower was restricted to overloaded minibuses overtaking each other on our potholed two-lane “highways” – your Eyewitness is being kind here! – while passengers silently drafted their wills!! Today, however, we’ve graduated – if not to the F1 big leagues, at least knocking at the paddock!! Last weekend, the South Dakota Circuit reverberated to the sound of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, Porsches, Audis and Mercedes-AMGs as the GT Challenge de las Américas graced our shores. It was the first FIA-sanctioned international circuit racing event held here in decades—a milestone that would’ve sounded like a nancy story not so long ago!!
Oil money changes a country, doesn’t it?? Some nations build opera houses. Others launch sovereign wealth funds. Guyana looked around and thought, “You know what this rainforest really needs? GT3 cars once again screaming around Timehri!!” And why not? For generations, motor racing was an elite enthusiast’s pastime – sustained by volunteers, mechanics and drivers who somehow kept racing despite tracks that often required as much optimism as engineering!! Now we’re hosting machines worth more than most people’s lifetime earnings!!
There is something deliciously surreal about it, innit?? One moment we’re obsessing about sea defences, drainage canals and whether the new roads are ever gonna finish. Next, we’re reading about aerodynamic downforce, FIA regulations and whether a Lamborghini has enough straight-line speed to hold off a Porsche into Turn One!!
The transformation – spearheaded by Pressie – says something profound about Guyana’s ambitions. We’re no longer content merely to participate in local events. We want to host spectacles attracting international television cameras and foreign teams shipping multimillion-US dollar machinery to Timehri!! This is confidence bordering on audacity. Of course, we Guyanese gonna remain Guyanese!! Somewhere in the paddock there had to be folks wondering whether the Ferrari’s suspension could survive Sheriff Street – while calculating how much plantain chips they could buy for the price of a single set of racing tyres!!
That grounded perspective is healthy. Hosting a glamorous racing weekend doesn’t magically solve overcrowded hospitals, patchy infrastructure or the everyday frustrations that still confront citizens. A GT3 car cannot fill a pothole, however quickly it can disappear into one. Yet there’s value in symbolism. Nations announce themselves to the world in different ways. Some through diplomacy, some through culture, others through sport. We’ve already done so with our Amazon Warriors in cricket – and now with the howl of racing engines!! Perhaps that’s the most remarkable thing. Only a few years ago, the notion of Guyana appearing on an international motorsport calendar alongside established venues would’ve seemed laughable. Today it’s happened!! Formula One may still be a distant dream. But Formula Oil? That race appears to have started already, baby!!
Look out, Verstappen!!

…a counterattack?
Can you believe the chutzpah of former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman?? Imagine this (demented?) woman saying that the Caribbean should compensate the UK for slavery – rather than seek reparations!! Now we know politicians seeking office will say the most outrageous things to get votes – especially one who’s a member of what the Brits call BAME – Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic!! Braverman’s descended from Indian-origin parents from Mauritius and Kenya. As usual, cowardly BAMEs try to fit in with those who got real power – in Britain, Whites!!
But it also means they’re tapping into a sentiment that’s already there to be whipped up! We’ve seen the wave sweeping from the Ukraine and across the pond to the USA: slapping down BAME’s the in-thing!! But Braverman – ironic name for one so cowardly, eh??!! – is off the charts to suggest WE should pay the Brits for “civilising” us!!
When Britain was the most uncivilised for exploiting our enslaved and indentured labour to create the wealth they enjoyed for centuries!!

…new breeds
The tempest in the teapot over transporting pregnant cows from Brazil to improve our cattle stock signals that it’s a brave new world being unfurled on our animal farms!! They’re joining black-belly sheep, large-litter sows and black giant chickens!!