Autar, Nath make strong return to tracks November 16, 2008
Seasoned car race enthusiasts Ravin Nath and Arvind Autar were back doing what they love best on the tracks today which saw the pair walk away winners in their respective categories.
Autar walked away with the top honors and retained his title in the Class A category; the 1300 CC race at the Taunovo Bay Airstrip in Pacific Harbour this afternoon.
The Suva based driver stopped the watch at 17.86sec in the quarter mile race (400m) on a wet ,slippery and loose track to reclaim the title for the 13th time in the competition.
Nath on the other hand won the open category V8 engine race when his Holden Tarone sprinted past the finish line at 12.17sec.
The competition has been revived again this month after a two -year lapse and was witnessed by a little over 600 fans who flocked the airstrip to witness the likes of Fijian car racing legends in Nath, Autar and new kids on the block in Aben Dean, Dhilshad Ali and Razil Hanif take to the tracks.
But while the turnout and support was overwhelming for organisers, both Nath and Autar agree that the unfavourable wet weather conditions and loose gravel midway through the race on the airstrip forced drivers to be more cautious when taking on the challenge.
"It is great to be back on the tracks racing after a two-year break," Autar said
"But the weather did not hold up for us, this made the track somewhat slippery and the loose gravel in the middle of the track forced drivers to be more cautious when taking on the race," Nath said
"The track will need to get a lot of getting used too for a lot of drivers and with us too the old ones before we can start making good times." the veteran racer said.
While the turnout in race enthusiasts and fans have encouraged organisers, officials says they are also looking at cutting an off road track to cater for four wheel drive vehicles that turned up in great numbers at the rac.
The next Fiji Car Race event will continue in January at the same venue.
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