Gridkhana is a new form of motorsport introduced in Trinidad in 2021. Two competitors line up next to each other in a typical drag race format, they then
navigate the course staying in separate lanes through slaloms, corners and chicanes. Memories of the Drag and Winding competition at ARC will surface as there is a clear similarity but with one major difference: There is a crossover that allows each competitor to switch lanes and finish on the opposite lane to which they started.

Sunday 27th March saw the start of the first GridKhana competition for 2022. With 26 entries across 5 classes ranging from GT1 (1600cc) all the way up to GT5, the competition looked to be very stiff. Competitors were allowed to race in a best-out-of-three scenario. Drivers were knocked out of the advancing round after losing two of their three races.

The first run-group, GT1 saw a wide range of brands from a Toyota Aqua, Nissan Nizmo Note S to the usual Trini motorsport favourite the Honda Civic. At the finish line, Chris Kahadar simply lacked the power in his Integra to beat Runul’s EG Civic Hatch.

Venus Miller and Anjanie “Ash” Ramroop were the only females competing at this year’s first GridKhana event. They both ended up in the same GT2 class and faced off in Round 1. Venus emerged victorious making it to Round 2. Anil Mack couldn’t shake off the rust and was beaten by newcomer Ameer Kerry as it went down to the best of three in the final.

The GT3 class is normally where we see the homegrown “turbo-down” conversions. Both Daniel Persad in his “stock” Lancer and Farris Mohammed in another turbo-ed Lancer battled Neil Gopeesingh in his Civic 1.5L Turbo and Steve Ghany Jr. in his Porsche Cayman 2.7L non-turbo. In the end, it was very close between Daniel Persad and Steve Ghany Jr. This time Naturally Aspirated won out!

The GT4 class was the biggest group on the day with 7 contenders. A combination of the usual Subaru Imprezas mixed with one Evolution and a C33 Medalist. There were some familiar names such as Vyshall Nandlal and Jody Ali. In the final for this run-group, it was Shevon Sinanan and his Evo 4 were no match for Jody Ali and his Impreza Spec-C Type RA-R protected by Yacco Galaxie Competition, Jody winning by quite a margin.

GT5 was the fastest class for the days competition featuring the likes of Sean Shairsingh Porsche GT3 RS , Darren Mohammed BMw M4, Kirk Ho Hing with the Terrapin and Riyad Rampersad with a very modified Evo 4. The competition was extremely tight with first-round winners Sean Shairsingh and Riyad Rampersad having to go the distance to get past Kirk and Darren. The final once again proved that in racing consistency wins; Sean did not make any mistakes ensuring he won the GT5 Class and the fastest group of the day.