Drag racing in Barbados is moving to the next level.
It comes with the introduction of a digital scoreboard at Bushy Park for today’s Barbados Association of Dragsters and Drifters (BADD) Launch Control 4, the final event of the season.
It will mark the first time that a digital screen will be used in motorsport in Barbados.
A record 54 drivers are entered, including points leader Dan Johnson, Graeme Finlayson, Barry Gilkes, Rick Dowridge, Tahir Kara, Shorn Joseph, who gained free entry after winning their respective groups at Launch Control 3.
Suleiman “Sol” Esuf, Duane “Shabba” White, Steve Bruce, Robert Bishop, Mathew “DMZ” Forde, Dwayne Browne and Chris Brathwaite are also down to face the starter for the day/night event which will start at 4 p.m.
At a press conference last Friday in the boardroom of title sponsors Courtesy Garage, BADD chairman Jason Downey told the media that drivers, fans and, above all, statisticians will welcome the presence of the boards.
“Information on the screens will cover everything the driver does from his reaction time to the final run time, and the information on the screens will be visible up to 100 feet,” he said.
Downey added that the club would be using today’s event to test and fine tune the new equipment, and would be meeting with officials of Bushy Park Circuit Inc. (BPCI) in the coming weeks to decide on the location for the digital screens.
“The access arrangement with Bushy Park and BADD has been working well and we are happy with the development of drag racing, as the numbers have been rising when compared with last year.
“. . . The securing of our new equipment is due in great measure to the support from our title sponsors, Courtesy Garage, GoodYear Tyres and Courtesy Car Rentals, the drivers, the marshals, the scrutineers, the volunteers and the support from the public. I want to thank them all for the support they have given over the years to the new club”, the chairman observed.
After testing, Downey said, the new scoreboards will be used from the beginning of the 2018 season, which is scheduled to start in March, during which five events will be contested.
Westfield Megawatt driver Dan Johnson, with 354 points, who returned the fastest time of 6.594 seconds and won the Six Seconds category at BADD’s Launch Control 3, will go to the startline today at the top of the leaderboard, but knowing that eight other drivers are in with a chance of wining the title.
Anthony Mayers, who won the 8-9 seconds category in a Honda Civic last time out, has 337 points and is in second place in the overall standings. Dwayne Browne, who drove the Cable Com/Inkom/Regal Imagery/DRG Motorsport/KP Properties/Express It/BRD Enterprises Nissan Pulsar, is third with 309 points. (TT)
