Robinson eyes main circuit races revival

near future as they embark on revamping the sport.
“Over the past 10 or 15 years the main circuit has been very quiet since we had major fuel problems in Zimbabwe. It was felt that it wasn’t good to having motorsport when the whole country was having fuel problems. We had meetings but it wasn’t for the public, it was just to keep the sport going.
“Now that the situation has improved, what we are trying to do is to bring motorsport back into the forefront where it used to be and Zimbabwe has a very strong heritage in motorspot, we have had world champions and many international records.
“Most recently we have had African champions, the likes of Jamie Whyte and Conrad Rautenbach. These are all people based in Africa,” said Robinson.
Robinson said they are in the process of renovating Donnybrook race track and the facilities in preparation for national events.
“What we are trying to do is to bring motorsport to the public again and to do that we are busy renovating Donnybrook race track and the facilities there.
“To do that cost money obviously but we need to renovate before we can have big race meetings there. The facilities have to be up and running.
“We have had people helping us like Toyota Zimbabwe and Clover Leaf Motors. They have been helping us with sponsorship to try and get things going again and we are in that process of getting the sport back to the public. At the moment this year we are going to have 45 competitors at the main circuit race which is up from 20 last year. We are going to have 20 motorcycles and 25 cars. With 45 competitors we can have a proper race meeting where we can advertise and advice the public to come,” Robinson said. The veteran motor rallying driver said they are also going to have development programmes.
“Obviously to get the game going again one of the aim is development drivers, getting new people into the sport. And this year we are going to have five school-going guys — one girl and a couple of boys.
“That’s really encouraging that we have school-going children coming in. It’s interesting and we are happy to have the youngsters joining the sport because it’s not only the old people with money that are coming.
“We are trying to get development drivers and Toyota Zimbabwe have entered for the mechanics drivers who have never been into racing but have been involved in repairing the cars. So that is developing new people who have never been into motorsport,” said Robinson.
Robinson said they are also going to have people who have been rallying to take part in the main circuit.
“We have got quite a few people coming from rallying such as Big Chitima, Lorraine Marufu, Conrad Rautenbach and Jamie Whyte.
“These are people who have been into rallying but not doing main circuit. We have got a lot of new faces and it is very exciting at the moment having schoolchildren and people moving from other disciplines this means we are going to have good races.
“On the equipment side we are going to have 11 Toyota MR2 and those are exactly the same. The cars are the same so when they are in the race it is about who is a better driver because the cars are all the same,” said Robinson. The Sables Motor Club chairman said they are looking forward to staging six national events this year. “We are going to have six national events and the winner of all the races will be the national champion. The first national event will be in Bulawayo in March and Harare will have an event on May 6 but on March 3 we are going to have a club meeting in Harare to make sure all those drivers know what they are doing.
“We are also going to have rally cars because we have the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally happening from March 16 to 18 so we want to invite people who can sponsor a car for the main race is there on March 18,” said Robinson.