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The first event for the racing season is the Mahagastota Hill Climb on April 13 followed by the Radella Hill Climb on April 15 and the Nuwara- Eliya Road Race on April 20. The Fox Hill Race Meet will also be held on April 19 at Bandarawela.

A record crowd of around 250,000 is expected to be in Nuwara-Eliya for the April season and therefore large crowds are also expected at all these Motor Events.

McFOIL racing news round-up will bring you regular updates and information on the above events.

At Mahagastota, after many years, there will be no official practice which is usually held on the day before the Hill Climb. This will be a disadvantage for the drivers and riders since practice is an important aspect for preparation in any sport. a driver and rider will require to use maximum driving skills and precise pre-preparation of vehicles to enable achieve best timings.

This meet is organised by the Ceylon Motor Sports Club (CMSC). The length of the Mahagastota track is 675 yards. The surface of the track has been repaired by the organisers due to some damage been caused by a minor earth slip in some areas. The meet is expected to commence at 9.00 a.m. and conclude around 2.00 p.m.

Around 50 motor cars and 27 motor cycles have entered. The meet is conducted by CMSC according to previous rules on power to weight basis with a special inclusion of a minimum weight for all standard and modified cars in accordance with FIA. This is a step closer to internationally accepted norms in motor racing.

In the recent past there has been some controversy in the rules used to govern race meets in Sri Lanka. However, with the dynamic organising committee of CMSC, competitors are confident that the meet will be conducted in a fair and efficient manner.

The present record holder of Mahagastota is Suranjith Premadasa with a timing of 35.84 seconds in his Modified Formula, Rohan de Silva also in a Modified Formula is hotly challenging this record which he has broken twice on official practice day at previous Mahagastota Hill Climbs but missed repeating same on Race Day.

Rohan will also try to better his own record of 36.94 held in the Standard Formula Ford event which is unbroken since 1995. Other drivers who are expected to return good timings are Romani de Silva, Dinesh Jayawardane, Nalin Perera, Aravinda Premadasa, Nishan Weerasuriya, Rizvi Farook, Bri Ponnambalam and also young Rajitha Cooke, in his Westfield.

McFOIL is entering a team for the first time at Mahagastota challenging the already existing Mobil, Caltex and Morris Teams. The team members of McFoil include Rohan Wijeratne, Ishraq Wahab, Lakmal de Silva, Mahen Thambiah and Nihal Premasiri.

Other McFoil team members - Formula Car Drivers Simon Lawrence and Dejan de Soyza will not be seen in the Hills but will return in action at the next Pannala Meet, and Nihal Weerasinghe and Tarindu Lokuge and Sajad Zuhair will join up at Radella and Fox Hill. The Mahagastota Hill Climb is sponsored by Exide.

Look out for the Mahagastota Hill Climb line-up of Events and Class records held in the McFOIL Racing News on Race day April 13.

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