Colombo Night Races ready to reverberate streets

Chinthana WASALA

The Carlton Motor Sports Club (CMSC), Asian Motor Racing Club (AMRC) and Sri Lanka Motor Cycle Club (SLMCC), the joint organizers of the second annual Colombo Night Races are confident that the best racing experience will be on offer on December 15, turning a new page in Sri Lanka's history.

With the intention of taking Sri Lanka's racing to the next level, organizers held the first edition of the Colombo Night Races last year. To make it even more unique, the race was held during the night. With approximately 300,000 spectators present, the Colombo Night Race 2011 was undoubtedly the biggest event held that year.

According to the organizers seven Car events and four Motor Cycle events are scheduled to be run on this day. The seven Car events are conducted by AMRC while the Motor Cycle events are conducted by SLMCC. The organizers had to cut down few events in different classes to bring Colombo Night Races to international standards as well to minimize the time factor. With the intention of giving an opportunity for our local drivers and riders reach international standard the organizers have increased the number of laps to minimum of 12 laps for Bikes and 15 laps for Cars.

The GT-3 and the GT-4 category will be an international event which has attracted drivers from Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan. This particular race will have two races which will be of vital importance for the foreign drivers who make a big sacrifice to make this tour to our country. Both categories will be run concurrently.

This year McLarens 1300 event is an addition to the Colombo Night Races with ten cars arriving on to the track. These will be driven by local experts as well as up and coming young drivers. VW Polo Cup Race will see seven Indian drivers in action along with three local drivers Upulwan Serasinghe, Sumanapala Mannapperuma and Romani de Silva.. It was also noted that the SL-GT Super Cars up to 3500cc race attracted the 24 drivers which is the highest recorded for a race of this nature.

The organizers expect few riders from Maldives to arrive in the island to compete along with our local riders which to is expected to add glamour to Motor Cycle events.

There were many teething problems last year, in areas including crowd control, seating facilities and food and beverages. The organizing committee has taken up the challenges head on and has taken measures and plans to conduct a meet as perfect as possible. Fulfilling a basic need for an international racing event, the track will be extended this year, allowing spectators to watch safely rather than standing by the track, making it a 4.2 kilometer track. This will allow areas with seats to be controlled better to ensure those who have bought tickets to sit there and get the seat they paid for and they will be placed in safe places.

The organizers also have reduced the number of events from 22 to eight to ensure that the race will conclude at least by 1.00 am and not inconvenience spectators and establishments in the area.

The qualifying rounds will take place tomorrow and the races will start at 7.00 p.m. the following day. The organizers will, in conjunction with hotels, open public roads in the vicinity after every thre events for half and hour for movement of hotel guests.

The organizers said their target is to make this an event recognized by international bodies similar to Singapore F1, Macau GP, Monte Carlo etc. which will ultimately create a complete festival during December benefiting the national economy.