Rains and a lack of grip were the determining factors on Sunday as Trinidad and Tobago invaded Guyana for the “King of the Strip 2” drag race event. Early morning showers had thrown the meet into doubt especially considering the intensity but the sun came out after lunch, but that presented a new problem- traction.

While in Trinidad, the cars enjoy a launchpad and strip, Guyana did not feature that. Instead, it would be a true test of driver’s ability to get off the line with as little wheel skid as possible.

While this would be easy for the Guyanese who had low torque machines, the big engined stylings of Jeremy and Gordon Rooks and their Nissan Laurel named ‘Tweety Too’ and Andy Bissessar’s rail car found life difficult.

None the less, they still went out for the fun of the competitors who were genuinely enthused by the big block engine that they featured. The Guyanese were especially interested in the rail car, considering that it is only the second time that machines like that have appeared here. They were also even more engaged when during qualifying, the rail car posted a blistering 7.8 second qualifying time.

All eyes turned to the local Nissan GTR code named Goliath, who posted 8 second times in practice the earlier day. In the first run, the driver, Terrance Cox posted a 7.8 but jumped the light which spiced up the occasion even more leading to a betting war… and when it came down to the final drag- fans were not disappointed.

The GTR won the strip but only just, with a 7.52 second time for a new strip record while the Rail car posted a time of 7.6 seconds. Jeremy Rooks and Tweety, Jadgeo Seecharan and the Nissan Skyline as well as the other members of the team were also plagued with traction issues. On the bike end of things, Ian Atherly and Shawn Briggs both secured trophies for the unlimited and 600cc classes.