Dear Editor,
In response to a letter carried in your Wednesday November 24th edition captioned `GMR&SC should return the $40M’ I wish to say a few words.
On the magical days when the South Dakota Circuit comes alive, Guyana is as good as any other country in the world. Motor racing shows that a country has people who are mechanically minded, it shows that we are capable of taking on other countries in the Caribbean and beyond and can compete with them on an equal basis. Guyana won the 2010 Seaboard Marine Caribbean Motor Racing Championship by the way. Congrats to Team Guyana on a job well done, you made us all proud as Guyanese.
Do you know that every major and most of the not so big hotels were totally booked up for the Nov 7th race meeting? Visitors came from Canada, the USA, Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica, Suriname and from a host of other countries. Over five hundred Barbadians came over for the race meeting. We had media operatives from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, the USA, Grenada, St Lucia, Suriname, all taking video footage and snapshots of our beautiful Guyana to showcase to the world. Members of the foreign media who visited Kaieteur Falls courtesy of the Ministry of Tourism were blown away by its impressive beauty and they took home video footage which will be played for years to come on their television stations and on the internet. You simply cannot afford to buy this kind of exposure, it is priceless.
The economy was super charged for that weekend, people changed their engine oils for the trip up to SD, they bought new tires and they checked and replaced batteries just to make sure that nothing could stop them from getting to the track. Food was bought, clothes, caps, hats, drinks, beers, souvenirs. The bar-b-que people did well, the cool-down carts did well. Ansa Mcal, DDL, Banks DIH all made money. Every beverage wholesaler in Georgetown did additional business. The gas stations did well, so many businesses benefited from Nov 7th. Add up all the money that was spent over that Nov 7th weekend and you will see that it was a huge boost to the economy. I wanted to ask all of our overseas guests to come in front of the clubhouse at South Dakota for a photo opportunity to show just how many visitors motor racing attracts to Guyana but time was against us as we had 24 exciting and mind blowing races to run. I am sorry our unnamed letter writer was not there to see his Guyana in its absolute glory.
Sport tourism is on the rise in the Caribbean. Barbados is about to re-model their race track. The Barbados government will be playing a huge role in this revamp. Tiny motor racing clubs in the region cannot find the kind of money needed to do the infrastructural work required to move the sport to the next level, governments must help.
So on behalf of the members and racers of the GMR&SC and I’m sure thousands of motor racing fans in Guyana, I wish to say a huge thank you to the government and especially to the president of Guyana for this kind gesture which will certainly catapult motor racing in Guyana to new heights.
Yours faithfully,
Bryan Mackintosh
Motor Racing Enthusiast
