Young race car driver Sebastian Rae, is hoping to put up a serious challenge against his more experienced rivals at the Heroes of Speed Race Day fixture on Heroes’ Day at the Dover Raceway in St. Ann.
Rae, who will be driving the Jamaica Automobile Association (JAA)-sponsored 1600 cc turbo-charged 1997 Mitsubishi Mirage, will compete in the Modified Production Class two (MP 2); Improved Production 33 (IP 33) and; Thundersport Open Class categories.
“This is new territory for us. The Mirage has a brand new engine that we just built. It is a racing engine with racing computer, and so on. And, I am hoping that I will be competitive,” the confident 28 year-old Mitsubishi specialist said, as he worked diligently on the car with fellow mechanic, Robert Sams.
Rae will be up against seasoned race drivers, such as Andre Anderson, Peter Jaggon and Tedroy “Teddy” Burton, who set a new MP 2 lap record at last year’s meet; and, Heath Causwell and Kyle Gregg in the IP 33 class. Alan Chen will also compete in both classes, while Rae will also face champion drivers such as David Summerbell Jr. and Doug Gore in the Thundersport open class.
“I want the car to be reliable all day, so that I can finish the race; and then we take it from there,” the two–time single-seater champion, said.
Rae, who is the nephew of champion driver, Peter “Zoom Zoom” Rae, has been competing since age four on dirt bikes before graduating to go-karts. He joined Dover in 2003.
Duane Ellis, General Manager at the JAA, says that he expects young Rae to perform creditably at Monday’s meet. “He has been gradually improving each time he goes on the track, therefore we expect him to continue to perform well,” Ellis maintained.
