Scott Barnes has welcomed the inclusion of six international drivers for the upcoming Lindo’s Grand Prix next weekend

American drivers Robert Bujdoso, Christian Oldhafer, Cadence Presley, Paul Rice and Jeff Dolian, as well as Canadian Rob Howden, will join 36 local competitors across six different race classes in the island’s first street race for six years.

Barnes, the Bermuda Karting Club president, believes the addition of the largest overseas contingent to race on island, only adds to the excitement of the event which will see exhilarating racing on a brand new circuit around Court Street, Dundonald Street and Princess Street.

“It’s fantastic for us to be able to include so many international drivers in the event,” Barnes said. “We had one international driver compete in the Dockyard Grand Prix and one in the Front Street Grand Prix back in the day, but we’ve never had this many, which is just huge for the event.

“It adds massively to the event because it allows us to showcase not only the club, but also karting in Bermuda to an international audience.

“Rob [Howden] runs the eKartingNews website, which is one of the biggest karting sites, so he will not only be racing but covering the event as well which gives us more exposure.

“For us, this is like our Super Bowl, so it’s a huge deal and a big race to put on. We want to show the international audience just how great street racing is in Bermuda and hopefully showcase what we can do.”

The event will mark the return of street racing to Hamilton for the first time since 2018, when an estimated 1,500 people turned out to witness the last such race of its kind in scenes reminiscent of more regular staging of street races in Dockyard and along Front Street throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

Relishing the opportunity to fulfil a longstanding ambition after discussions to reintroduce a street race were held before the Covid-19 pandemic, Barnes is hopeful the event will again become an annual fixture, with ambitions to grow the race further.

“It is definitely our goal to have this race as part of our calendar on an annual basis and hopefully in the future have Bermuda as part of a bigger international calendar,” he said.

“We want to have an expanded circuit as well to really show everyone what we can do with a street race and how big an event it can be.

“First of all we need to show the right people and organisations that we can stage this race in the right way and then hopefully we will able to push for a bigger event and more international drivers in the future.”