Barbados Festival of Speed 2016

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION 1

FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 2

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 3

THREE-TIME Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton will lead a cast of motor sport names from around the world to the Caribbean next week for the inaugural Barbados Festival of Speed.

On two and four wheels, on the ground and in the air, joined by local artistes and schoolchildren from St Philip, they will make a unique contribution to the 50th anniversary celebrations of the island’s Independence.

This will be Hamilton’s second appearance at the venue in front of island fans, falling almost two years to the day since the Top Gear Festival Barbados launched the redeveloped facility to a worldwide audience.

Among those joining him will be former British Superbike Champion Tommy Hill and multiple British Supersport Champion Stuart Easton, multiple champions from the world of banger racing in Britain and monster truck and stunt bike stars from the United States.

The family-friendly ninehour programme will also include local and regional content, including the Suzuki Challenge Series Swift Cup and SR3 Cup, a drag racing demonstration and a Handicap Race.

Island culture will feature strongly throughout the day, with a half-time show featuring Edwin Yearwood

and Leadpipe and Saddis marking the 50th anniversary of Independence, music from the Barbados Defence Force Zouave Band, a parade of classic cars, and a host of other activities that will give this new event on the annual motoring calendar a very specific Caribbean twist.

IT’LL BE FUN AND EXCITEMENT from start to finish for the fans at the Barbados Festival of Speed. (GP)

Programme – Sunday, May 8

• 8 a.m. Gates open • 9 a.m. Opening show, featuring Classic Car and Bike Parade Barbados Defence Force Zouave Band • 10 a.m. Lewis Hamilton arrives in his Petronas AMG Mercedes F1 W04 – Trackside Interview • 10:30 a.m. Bikes Challenge, Race 1 • 11 a.m. Superbike racer Tommy Hill joins Hamilton on track with his Yamaha YZF-R1 • 11:20 a.m. Suzuki Challenge Series Swift Cup, Race 1 • 11:35 a.m. Suzuki Challenge Series SR3 Cup, Race 1 • 11:55 a.m. Banger Cars Race • 12:10 p.m. FMX Bikes display • 12:35 p.m. Monster Trucks display • 1 p.m. Half-time show, featuring Edwin Yearwood, Leadpipe and Saddis, plus the children of St Philip • 1:50 p.m. Barbados Karting Association exhibition • 2 p.m. Bikes Challenge, Race 2 • 2:30 p.m. Suzuki Challenge Series Swift Cup, Race 2 • 2:45 p.m. Suzuki Challenge Series SR3 Cup, Race 2 • 3 p.m. Banger Cars Roof Roll Competition • 3:15 p.m. Monster Trucks display • 3:35 p.m. Hamilton joins the Monster Trucks • 3:50 p.m. Banger Cars Demolition Derby • 4:15 p.m. FMX Bikes display • 4:50 p.m. BADD Drag Racing BPMSI Handicap Race • 5:20 p.m. Festival of Speed Finale with Hamilton, joined by rallying legend Roger Skeete in his Subaru Impreza WRC S12B

THE ONE AND ONLY Lewis Hamilton is geared up to take on all comers. (GP)

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 4 “I AM EXCITED to be heading to Barbados and Bushy Park Circuit so thank you for inviting me back. There is a very special atmosphere at Bushy Park so the Barbados Festival of Speed will certainly be a brilliant day out, I can’t wait to be a part of it. It is great to see such enthusiasm for motorsports in the region” – Lewis Hamilton

LEWIS HAMILTON (GP) LEWIS HAMILTON will be a busy man at the Barbados Festival of Speed, as he takes on challenges from former British Superbike Champion Tommy Hill, island rallying legend Roger Skeete . . . and the 2.01-kilometre Bushy Park circuit itself, all at the wheel of a Petronas AMG Mercedes F1 W04.

Even before he gets to the “office” in his Formula 1 car on Sunday morning, Hamilton will have enjoyed an evening of island culture and cuisine at Dinner with Lewis in the circuit’s VIP Suite.

The earlier part of Saturday will be spent reacquainting himself with the venue he first visited two years ago at the Top Gear Festival Barbados, which launched the facility to a global audience . . . and the infrastructure has evolved significantly.

Hamilton’s fondness for Barbados has been reflected in his social media output since then and, last year, in a more concrete way when he returned to the island during Crop Over.

Fiercely proud of being the only current grand prix driver with Caribbean roots, he quickly accepted the invitation from Bushy Park to join the island’s motor sport family in a high-speed celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Independence.

At the Barbados Festival of Speed, his roster of activities will include: • Dinner with Lewis on Saturday evening • an on-track challenge with former British Superbike Champion Tommy Hill, riding his BSB team’s Yamaha YZF-R1 • an on-track challenge with island rallying legend Roger Skeete, driving his Subaru Impreza WRC S12B • autograph signing sessions for general admission spectators and VIPs • trackside interviews • setting a new unofficial Bushy Park fastest lap Hamilton is making an almost 10 000-mile round trip to the Caribbean between rounds four and five of the 2016 World Championship. Next Sunday (May 1), he will be aiming for a hat-trick of wins in the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi – he is the event’s only winner since it joined the calendar in 2014 – while the following weekend (May 15), he will be hoping to repeat his 2014 win in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, which was achieved just one week before his first visit to Bushy Park.

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 5

AROUND 200 CHILDREN from schools across St Philip will perform alongside multiple Party Monarchwinner Edwin Yearwood and former Tune Of The Crop kings Leadpipe and Saddis, who have joined the line-up for the keynote tribute to the island’s 50th anniversary of Independence during the Barbados Festival of Speed.

With dancers and stiltwalkers adding a distinctly Caribbean flavour, the Clubhouse Straight will be transformed into a huge stage during the lunch break to host a colourful and vibrant celebration of island culture, choreographed specially for the occasion.

Earlier in the day, the opening ceremony will include the Barbados Defence Force Zouave Band and a parade of classic cars and cruiser bikes, escorted by flag girls and Kadooment girls. They will use the entire circuit to launch the event and warm-up island fans and their families in readiness for the arrival of three-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton and his Petronas AMG Mercedes

EDWIN will be on hand to heat up the action. (GP) Formula 1 car to kick-start the on-track action.

Bushy Park Circuit Inc.’s business development and marketing manager Zoe Manning said: “Ever since the idea of the Festival of Speed was first conceptualised, in this important anniversary year, we planned to make it a familyfriendly celebration of what

CAESAR’S ARMY will be keeping the party spirit alive and kicking. (GP)

the island and the region has to offer, not just in terms of motoring and motor sport.

“Elements of Barbadian culture will be all around throughout the day, with a tuk band and folk characters like Mother Sally, Shaggy Bear, and the Green Monkey moving through the spectator areas.

“But culture is about food too, so the Festival Village will offer an array of Caribbean cuisine and specialties which will be on sale, including doubles, rotis, salt fish and bakes, fish cakes, jerk rabbit, pickled sea cat, roast breadfruit, wraps, curries, good old hamburgers and hot dogs and much, much more.

“Finally, during the entire day, for those who want to watch the speed on the track but in a traditional island-style fete atmosphere, the Caesar’s Army Party Zone overlooking the quarry will have non-stop DJ music and a non-stop bar.”

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 6&7

FORMER BRITISH SUPERBIKE CHAMPION TOMMY HILL and multiple British Supersport Champion Stuart Easton are heading across the Atlantic Ocean next week, leading a group of 12 British racers to take on the cream of island and regional biking talent in a pair of match races at the Barbados Festival of Speed.

Immediately after the second round of the British Superbike Championship (BSB) at Oulton Park in the north of England next Monday (May 2), a programme of well-planned logistics will fall into place to fly riders, machines and their support crews to Barbados in time for the Festival of Speed.

The former champion is now a team owner, having built Tommy Hill Motorsport from scratch since the end of last season to run the ePayMe Yamaha squad. Easton, from Hawick in Scotland, and American John Hopkins – Hill’s former arch-rival – are riding last season’s BSB-winning Yamaha YZF-R1s.

Hill won the world’s most competitive domestic superbike championship in 2011 – by just six-thousandths of a second – in what remains the most talked about showdown in BSB history; in the last of the season’s 26 races. It was a straight fight between Hill and Hopkins.

While they were beaten to

Terry Merritt and Tony Walsh both now regularly race 1000cc bikes, both leapt at the chance to ride in Barbados, Walsh even securing and building a 600 especially for the event.

The other riders bring a broad cross-section of experience: although Byron Kirk has not yet proved himself a winner, he always shows strong pace; James Skelding was very quick in his first season of racing and looks set to move

NICOLE FORD (GP)

the flag by Shane Byrne, Hill crossed the line in second place, his front wheel just millimetres ahead of thirdplaced Hopkins’.

Hill retired from the sport after the 2012 MCE BSB season. He had won 19 races and achieved a further 32 podium finishes in a total of 181 race starts, the vast majority of them riding a Yamaha, by whom he had been given his first BSB chance, after winning the 2003 Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup. While he has not ridden competitively for more than three years, Hill is looking forward to demonstrating the ePayMe Yamaha YZF-R1 – particularly, racing Lewis Hamilton around Bushy Park – and joining Easton and the other visiting British bikers

in two match races against a regional field.

Easton won the British Supersport Championship in 2002 and 2013; his superbike record also includes a hattrick of wins in the off-season Macau GP in 2008-2010, and four wins in MCE BSB, finishing third overall in 2009.

The group, all bringing 600cc machines to match those raced in the region, includes some of Britain’s leading 600 riders: brothers Matt and Harry Truelove are contesting the fiercely competitive British Supersport and British Superstock 600 championships, respectively, while Jack Bleakley is a regular podium finisher in the Pirelli Super Series.

While former National Endurance 600 Cup winner

himself up through the National 600 ranks, while Mason Williams is already attracting the attention of more senior team managers.

Finally, there are the experienced Elliot Holt – although somewhat older than the rest, he still has the edge and the track craft to match – and Nicole Ford, one of Britain’s fastest racing women, often putting the men to shame on her Yamaha R6.

STUART EASTON (GP)

FROM MICRO BANGERS TO MONSTER TRUCKS, with FMX stunt bikes in between, Bushy Park fans will enjoy a taste of something they have not seen before, all within one action-packed day of entertainment at the Barbados Festival of Speed.

Sixteen purpose-built micro banger race cars, shipped across the Atlantic on a Geest Line freighter, will be raced by some of the most successful – and most entertaining – stars of British banger racing . . . and the cars will stay in the island once the drivers head home to become a new ingredient of local race meetings.

Formed in 2003, the Dreamers Banger Racing Team’s captain is Steve Anscombe, a 30-year veteran of the sport whose nickname is “Cecil”.

Second in the 1997 National Banger

Racing World Championship – one crown that continues to elude him – he has won 13 national and regional titles. Using the skills learned in racing, he has developed a business as a stunt coordinator and driver in film and television, also a supplier of cars and equipment.

The Dreamers were the subject of Banger Boys, an eight-part series on the History Channel in 2013, which followed them to venues up and down Britain, following their team battle with the Dreambusters.

More recently, British network ITV launched a new reality programme titled Drive, in which eight broadcast celebrities compete in various motor sport disciplines, until there is a Drive champion.

The first programme concentrated

FANS ARE IN for a monster experience. (GP) on banger racing, with the vehicles and competition coordination provided

by Anscombe and his team. Based on

Nissan Micras, the cars used in the ITV programme are similar to those now in Barbados.

Alongside Anscombe, the Dreamers team also includes Darren “The Cheat” Terry-Brand, winner of six titles, most recently the National Micro Banger Scottish Open last October, and Edward “Turbo” Kennett, who won last year’s National Micro World Cup and was the 2013 Rookie Banger World Champion.

Among others making the trip are Reece “Hobbit” Priestley, the 2015-2016 Wimbledon Track Champion; former kart racer Craig “Nippy” Hook, the 2015 Ipswich Track Champion; Pete “Bodja” Osborne, twice winner of the Entertainer Of The Year Award; and Jen “Loopy” Garrett, runner-up in the 2014 Ladies Banger Championship.

The micro bangers will be seen in action three times during the day, starting with a conventional race; the second outing will be a Roof Roll Competition – they have brought their own equipment with them to make the ramp rolls authentic – while their day will end in the traditional way, with a Demolition Derby.

From micro bangers to monster trucks . . . there could hardly be a more remarkable contrast, as these incredible 10 000-pound, car-crushing giants compete in wheelie contests and rock the house with amazing freestyle action during the Monster X Tour. And they’re bringing with them top Freestyle Moto X riders from across North America, who will be performing incredible FMX stunts morning and afternoon . . . and there will even be the opportunity to ride in a real monster truck. Listen out for details.

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 6&7

FORMER BRITISH SUPERBIKE CHAMPION TOMMY HILL and multiple British Supersport Champion Stuart Easton are heading across the Atlantic Ocean next week, leading a group of 12 British racers to take on the cream of island and regional biking talent in a pair of match races at the Barbados Festival of Speed.

Immediately after the second round of the British Superbike Championship (BSB) at Oulton Park in the north of England next Monday (May 2), a programme of well-planned logistics will fall into place to fly riders, machines and their support crews to Barbados in time for the Festival of Speed.

The former champion is now a team owner, having built Tommy Hill Motorsport from scratch since the end of last season to run the ePayMe Yamaha squad. Easton, from Hawick in Scotland, and American John Hopkins – Hill’s former arch-rival – are riding last season’s BSB-winning Yamaha YZF-R1s.

Hill won the world’s most competitive domestic superbike championship in 2011 – by just six-thousandths of a second – in what remains the most talked about showdown in BSB history; in the last of the season’s 26 races. It was a straight fight between Hill and Hopkins.

While they were beaten to

Terry Merritt and Tony Walsh both now regularly race 1000cc bikes, both leapt at the chance to ride in Barbados, Walsh even securing and building a 600 especially for the event.

The other riders bring a broad cross-section of experience: although Byron Kirk has not yet proved himself a winner, he always shows strong pace; James Skelding was very quick in his first season of racing and looks set to move

NICOLE FORD (GP)

the flag by Shane Byrne, Hill crossed the line in second place, his front wheel just millimetres ahead of thirdplaced Hopkins’.

Hill retired from the sport after the 2012 MCE BSB season. He had won 19 races and achieved a further 32 podium finishes in a total of 181 race starts, the vast majority of them riding a Yamaha, by whom he had been given his first BSB chance, after winning the 2003 Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup. While he has not ridden competitively for more than three years, Hill is looking forward to demonstrating the ePayMe Yamaha YZF-R1 – particularly, racing Lewis Hamilton around Bushy Park – and joining Easton and the other visiting British bikers

in two match races against a regional field.

Easton won the British Supersport Championship in 2002 and 2013; his superbike record also includes a hattrick of wins in the off-season Macau GP in 2008-2010, and four wins in MCE BSB, finishing third overall in 2009.

The group, all bringing 600cc machines to match those raced in the region, includes some of Britain’s leading 600 riders: brothers Matt and Harry Truelove are contesting the fiercely competitive British Supersport and British Superstock 600 championships, respectively, while Jack Bleakley is a regular podium finisher in the Pirelli Super Series.

While former National Endurance 600 Cup winner

himself up through the National 600 ranks, while Mason Williams is already attracting the attention of more senior team managers.

Finally, there are the experienced Elliot Holt – although somewhat older than the rest, he still has the edge and the track craft to match – and Nicole Ford, one of Britain’s fastest racing women, often putting the men to shame on her Yamaha R6.

STUART EASTON (GP)

FROM MICRO BANGERS TO MONSTER TRUCKS, with FMX stunt bikes in between, Bushy Park fans will enjoy a taste of something they have not seen before, all within one action-packed day of entertainment at the Barbados Festival of Speed.

Sixteen purpose-built micro banger race cars, shipped across the Atlantic on a Geest Line freighter, will be raced by some of the most successful – and most entertaining – stars of British banger racing . . . and the cars will stay in the island once the drivers head home to become a new ingredient of local race meetings.

Formed in 2003, the Dreamers Banger Racing Team’s captain is Steve Anscombe, a 30-year veteran of the sport whose nickname is “Cecil”.

Second in the 1997 National Banger

Racing World Championship – one crown that continues to elude him – he has won 13 national and regional titles. Using the skills learned in racing, he has developed a business as a stunt coordinator and driver in film and television, also a supplier of cars and equipment.

The Dreamers were the subject of Banger Boys, an eight-part series on the History Channel in 2013, which followed them to venues up and down Britain, following their team battle with the Dreambusters.

More recently, British network ITV launched a new reality programme titled Drive, in which eight broadcast celebrities compete in various motor sport disciplines, until there is a Drive champion.

The first programme concentrated

FANS ARE IN for a monster experience. (GP) on banger racing, with the vehicles and competition coordination provided

by Anscombe and his team. Based on

Nissan Micras, the cars used in the ITV programme are similar to those now in Barbados.

Alongside Anscombe, the Dreamers team also includes Darren “The Cheat” Terry-Brand, winner of six titles, most recently the National Micro Banger Scottish Open last October, and Edward “Turbo” Kennett, who won last year’s National Micro World Cup and was the 2013 Rookie Banger World Champion.

Among others making the trip are Reece “Hobbit” Priestley, the 2015-2016 Wimbledon Track Champion; former kart racer Craig “Nippy” Hook, the 2015 Ipswich Track Champion; Pete “Bodja” Osborne, twice winner of the Entertainer Of The Year Award; and Jen “Loopy” Garrett, runner-up in the 2014 Ladies Banger Championship.

The micro bangers will be seen in action three times during the day, starting with a conventional race; the second outing will be a Roof Roll Competition – they have brought their own equipment with them to make the ramp rolls authentic – while their day will end in the traditional way, with a Demolition Derby.

From micro bangers to monster trucks . . . there could hardly be a more remarkable contrast, as these incredible 10 000-pound, car-crushing giants compete in wheelie contests and rock the house with amazing freestyle action during the Monster X Tour. And they’re bringing with them top Freestyle Moto X riders from across North America, who will be performing incredible FMX stunts morning and afternoon . . . and there will even be the opportunity to ride in a real monster truck. Listen out for details.

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 8

BOTH LOCAL and talent from abroad will be showcasing their skills. (GP)

WHILE THE BARBADOS FESTIVAL OF SPEED is far from a conventional race meeting, it will still provide the opportunity for local and regional drivers to showcase their racing talents. The action-packed programme will include two races each for the Suzuki Challenge Series Swift Cup and SR3 Cup, plus an end-of-day Handicap Race for members of the organising club, Bushy Park Motor Sports Inc. (BPMSI).

Launched last year, the Suzuki Challenge Series focuses on driver talent through the medium of “one-make” racing, with all the cars in each series identical. In the Swift Cup, the nearstandard Suzuki Swift Sports retain their 150 horsepower 1.6-litre engines and six-speed gearboxes, but are treated to a number of safety and minor performance enhancements. The SR3 Cup, for 250 horsepower Suzuki-powered open-topped Radical sports racers, offers the fastest racing in the region.

The Swift Cup has not only delivered incredibly close racing – too close, sometimes – but has also provided unrivalled exposure for corporate sponsors through proactive social media campaigns and regional television coverage of every slice of the action.

The first season, divided into Summer Series and Winter Cup, was won by Ryan Peyrau of Trinidad and Tobago, who returned to open his title defence over the Easter weekend – while his closest challenger of last year, Jamaica’s David Summerbell, was absent that weekend, he still met some strong opposition as Bajan drivers Ryan Wood (three wins), Jason Parkinson (two) and Swift Cup newcomer Arron Parris (one) shared the victories.

In the SR3 Cup, the wheel-to-wheel battles are fought out at a far higher speed, the Radicals lapping the 2.01-kilometre circuit in under 60 seconds. Reigning champion Sean Maloney did not fare so well in the opening round at Easter, brother Stuart claiming only the second hat-trick of race wins in SR3 Cup history, but do not expect the same to happen at the Festival of Speed.

Along with their third sibling Mark, race winners aplenty will return to Bushy Park, including teenage Guyanese sensation Calvin Ming and Bajan drag racing hero Suleman Esuf, who has made a huge impression since kicking off his circuit racing career in February.

This coming Sunday (May 1), during BPMSI’s second championship race meet of the season, members will fight for the honour of competing at the Festival of Speed. The Handicap Race is a traditional end-of-day climax, particularly here in the Caribbean, as drivers from across all the classes are pitched against each another: based on their best lap times, the slowest start first, the fastest last . . . and the racing is fast and furious, as the big fish hunt down the tiddlers. But, will they catch them?

Bike racing, which has a well-documented history in the region, has taken longer to bite in Barbados, but it is finally taking off. The Easter race meet saw the biggest ever field of local racers, now raring to take on visitors from Britain, along with some of the region’s finest.

Brook Miller was on fire at Easter and can be expected to be the leader of the pack again, with Kris Brathwaite and Terrance Ollivierre providing Bajan back-up.

Finally, there will be a brief chance to see why the Barbados Association of Dragsters and Drifters is attracting a steadily growing following. Three pairs of the quickest drag racers in the island will face off along the one-eighth-mile drag racing straight, which heads east along the Clubhouse Straight, Matthew ‘DMZ’ Forde and Roger Mayers among them.

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 9

AIDEN FORTIER (right) leading Christian Hinds, Javani Smith and Tremaine Forde-Catwell in the X30 Class. Sean Maloney (partially hidden) was the lone shifter kart in the race. (GP)

BARBADIAN ZANE MALONEY holding the Barbados flag on the starting grid at the start of the final race of the World Karting Association’s Daytona KartWeek.

(GP)

AS LEWIS HAMILTON would tell you, karting is a vital training ground for future motor sport stars.

His early championship wins came in karts – British Cadet Class Champion 1995, Champions of the Future Series 1996 and 1997, World and European Champion 1998, also World No. 1 1998 . . . at the age of 15, he was the youngest ever.

In 1998, he was signed to the McLaren and Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme, the start of his steady climb to winning three Formula 1 titles. Fellow World Champions Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher and the late Ayrton Senna all followed the same path as did Hamilton’s current teammate Nico Rosberg, frequently racing against one another in their formative years.

And youngsters in Barbados are being given the same chance to step on to that hugely important first rung of the ladder.

Looking forward to its 30th anniversary in 2017, the Barbados Karting Association (BKA) has nurtured young talent for many years . . . current stars of rallying, such as brothers Roger and Barry Mayers and Dane Skeete, cut their racing teeth with the BKA at the old Bushy Park.

But everything has moved up a notch since the introduction to Barbados last year of the Easykart

franchise, identical karts, tightly controlled regulations and categories to suit all, from first-timers right up to experienced racers. The BKA has seen exponential growth in competitor numbers, with approaching 50 regular competitors of all ages engaged in close and competitive racing.

While you will not see actual racing at the Festival of Speed, members of the BKA will be staging an exhibition in front of what will undoubtedly be the club’s biggest ever audience. Island kart racers such as Christian Hinds and Zane Maloney have already raced with success abroad – Maloney recently won the WKA Manufacturers Cup Series in the United States – and the 10 race meets per season at Bushy Park are providing ample opportunity for other local and regional racers to polish their racecraft.

And the Barbados Festival of Speed will make a direct contribution to that. During Dinner with Lewis on Saturday, there will be an auction: lots include the Radical SR3 RS, originally built for last year’s Race Of Champions in London, which will be driven by Lewis Hamilton at Bushy Park on the Sunday and autographed by him.

Proceeds from this auction will go towards establishing a karting scholarship for the development of island youth in motor sport.

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 10

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Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 11

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING about Mother’s Day is being with family and what better way to involve the whole family than an excursion to Bushy Park on Mother’s Day for the Barbados Festival of Speed. Sure, not every mother is a gear head but the excitement isn’t just over the need for speed. The Festival of Speed is the place to be for Mother’s Day to get the entire family excited about a day together and new experiences to share.

There’s a broad cross-section of motoring and motor sport action on two and four wheels to pique all types of interests. From motorbikes to monster trucks, there’s even a Suzuki Swift Cup. And topping it all off will be Lewis Hamilton manoeuvring the track in his Formula 1 auto ensuring pure surges of adrenalin and intrigue.

For those not all too into the auto zone, the Festival Village promises jumping tents, merrygo-rounds, face painting, and much more. For those of you invariably tasked with taking the kids to jump and run about until they’re exhausted, there will be loads of food tents with tons of delectable Bajan bites and beverage stalls there to keep you energised. The festival day will also have lots of booths and displays scattered about to keep you entertained. It’s a completely wholesome day out for the whole family to enjoy.

There are many hospitality areas to choose from, including the Clubhouse (no coolers

THE BARBADOS FESTIVAL OF SPEED promises a fun day for the entire family. (GP)

allowed, though), the Biker Zone (overlooking the circuit from the West above the Quarry – cooler and motorbike friendly), the Hilti 4 x 4 Hammer Zone (bring your

coolers, 4 x 4s filled with all your friends, tents, barbecues and park up) and, of course, the VIP (donned the “best view in the house”, allinclusive so no need for coolers).

And for those of you looking to party when the day is winding down, Caesar’s Army has stepped up to the plate and promised to deliver the Caesar’s Army Party

Zone, a drinks and vibes inclusive area. Make this Mother’s Day more than memorable with a fired up festival you won’t want to miss.

Friday, April 29, 2016/WEEKEND NATION SPECIAL 12