FROM Top Gear to Bondurant.
That’s the next step for motor sport in Barbados as the Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL) has signed an agreement with the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving to conduct a three-day course annually for racing drivers from Barbados and the Caribbean to earn a Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) racing licence. invitations have already been sent to the Trinidad and Tobago Auto Sport Association (TTASA) and the Jamaica Race Drivers Club.
Speaking during a Press conference at the Barbados Golf Club Tuesday, chairman of BARL, Stefan Hinds said it was the first time in the history of SCCA that a course would be conducted outside of North American and which will allowed drivers to earn an SCCA licence.
“The agreement states that Barbados will be the centre for the region; the region being the countries ranging from the Cayman Islands in the north to Guyana and Suriname in the south,” Hinds said.
He said the initiative will lead to BARL’s international race meet slated for July13, and is expected to attract drivers not only from the Caribbean but from North America as well.
According to the BARL chairman, a motoring talent scout will be on hand to observe drivers during the international meet at Bushy Park.
Hinds said that the Minister of Sport, Stephen Lashley, had been invited to open the racing course on June 13 as well as the international race meet a month later.
The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving is an American performance driving school, specialising in racing, karting, teen driving, and law enforcement driving education. It is located in Phoenix, Arizona.
It was founded by former Formula One driver Bob Bondurant in 1968 and was originally located at Orange County International Raceway in California, before moving to Ontario Motor Speedway in 1970, and to Sears Point International Raceway in 1973.
In 1990, a purpose-built training facility was opened in Phoenix, Arizona and is the largest purpose-built driving school in the world.
It features a 15-turn, 1.6-mile road course, an eight-acre asphalt pad for advanced training, and more than 200 race-prepared vehicles, sedans, and open-wheel cars. It teaches competition driving, police pursuit driving, evasive driving for chauffeurs and bodyguards, stunt driving, and other courses.
The Bondurant School has seen over 300 000 drivers since its opening.
Many NASCAR drivers have used the school for road course training, and many film actors and actresses have used it for driving scenes. Paul Newman was one of his first students.
