- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 29/Jun 08:47

Tales of a Trini Racing Driver

F1 or Formula One car racing is one of the world’s top sports and the very pinnacle of motorsports. The annual cycle of 24 grand prix races in 21 countries attracts a massive fan base. Man, woman and teenager trail across five continents behind the coterie of young superstar daredevils who pilot those amazing four-wheeled machines that top 375 kms per hour. The rewards for competing and winning make the tremendous risks worthwhile. It is not easy to become an F1 driver and few make it in and up. In the 75-year history of F1, which includes over 750 competing drivers, only one person has had Caribbean roots – Sir Lewis Hamilton whose father, Anthony Hamilton, is of Grenadian origin. He famously worked several jobs simultaneously to develop the go-karting talent Lewis displayed while still very young. Unbelievably, a non-white man came to dominate F1. In terms of career wins and total career points, Lewis is the world’s best F1 driver, ever. Happily, at 40 he is still racing at the highest level – for fabled Ferrari, the F1 team with the highest record of wins – and is the richest driver in the sport. Gordon Gonsalves, an older generation to Lewis Hamilton and born and bred in Trinidad, did not have Lewis’s precarious chances, though he did not lack the passion and determination to excel in motor racing. In his well-written and timely memoir, Tales of A Trini Racing Driver, Gonsalves takes us on an exhilarating ride through the lived history of Trini motor racing, starting when he was aged 15, having decided to become a “Grand Prix driver” and fashioning himself on one of the greatest drivers in F1 history, Graham Hill. The young Gonsalves did not necessarily know then that to fulfil his ambition would be impossible since it required being spotted by a scout, performing well through Formulas 4, 3 and 2, then being signed by one of the big 10 competing teams. He did come to realise, though, that his parents could not possibly afford the US$5million required (today’s cost) to become an F1 driver, but it did not deter him. With thrilling wins under his unique helmet, he eventually became a champion, receiving a 2024 Trinidad and Tobago Racing Legends award, in recognition of his contribution to developing TT’s various racing disciplines. The TT Automobile Sports Association (TTASA) is the governing body for TT motor racing. In 1969 when Gonsalves joined it, aged just 16 and still not authorised to drive, it was a club which held monthly meetings in Port of Spain, although all the action took place at Wallerfield, the abandoned WWII US air base. Its two-mile circuit racing competitions were contested by five or six iconic souped up saloon cars of the era. As soon as he was old enough Gonsalves took his parents’ and friends’ cars onto the track. Many of them he damaged, even crashed while racing. He relives the scenes of his developing skills with verve and excitement. He eventually travelled abroad to be an F1 looker-on and even got a private tour of the McLaren Technology Centre to view close up the cars raced by Lewis Hamilton, the great Brazilian Ayrton Senna, and Austrian Nikki Lauda, which he recalls with photos and palpable pleasure. [caption id="attachment_1163534" align="alignnone" width="683"] -[/caption] It is hard to explain one’s enthusiasm for car racing as a driver or spectator but for those of us who are fascinated by motor car engineering and/or the adrenaline rush of getting the very best experience of your vehicle’s capacity it is breathtaking to feel and see the engine performing at optimum and the ability of the driver to make split second decisions that can mean life or death. It’s like pitting oneself against the elements or a ferocious animal. This weekend, car racing popularity moved up several notches with the international release of the box office film F1, made by the same creative team as Top Gun: Maverick and starring Brad Pitt with rising British-Nigerian star Damson Idris. F1 racing was always a glamour sport – champagne, bad boys, beautiful girls, hot cars and lots of money, plus the danger element of possible deadly accidents, but it was ageing and needed younger fans. Enter Liberty Media in 2017. They bought the Formula One group for US$4.4 billion and built a huge young fan base by enhancing F1 social media presence and offering behind-the-scenes content. The media treatment shows how a sport’s fortunes can be turned around. Although it may have its ra-ra girls and dedicated aficionados, every sport needs strategic investment. The release of Tales of a Trini Racing Driver, Gonsalves’s enjoyable personal romp through TT racing from the 1960s, and of F1 the movie should present TT investors with the impetus to elevate all TT car racing, which remains niche. The memoir is available at Paper Based bookshop and Amazon. \ The post Tales of a Trini Racing Driver appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.