Two of Jamaica’s most promising race car drivers, Sara Misir and Senna Summerbell, have given their stamp of approval, while expressing an interest in representing Team Jamaica in the upcoming D3eSports Cup Championship, a global eSport racing competition.

The two were among those introduced to the first Team Jamaica racing simulator during a familiarisation event at the Spanish Court Hotel recently. The rig has since been moved to the S Hotel in Montego Bay and similar set-ups are expected to be installed at other locations across the island shortly.

Summerbell, who only recently secured a simulator for himself, is excited about the prospects and is looking to put his recent experience in a regional competition to good use.

“It’s great. I mean, I just got that sim three weeks ago, maybe one week before Dover and it helped me prepare. I mean, it helps you mentally, it helps you stay in the game, not being at the track all the time. Racing is a very expensive sport so just to be able to load up on your computer and drive is awesome. It gives a lot of people opportunities that they never had and for me, it allows me to drive when I’m not actually physically at the track and keeps me mentally focused,” Summerbell said.

“Representing Team Jamaica would be a great opportunity for me and my team. Actually, I have been racing in a Caribbean sim organisation, which features drivers from around the Caribbean who have sims, racing against each other. I did a Caribbean sim race and came third in it, so it shows that there’s top talent across the region and these events are building the sport in the Caribbean as well as Jamaica,” added Summerbell.

Misir, the first Formula Woman driver from the Caribbean, also endorsed the initiative and is hoping to secure one of the Team Jamaica seats.

“I think it’s amazing because I’ve always believed that Jamaica is endless with talent, but scarce with opportunity. So, I think this whole opportunity of showing the younger generation, you know, the sims the different tracks and just opening their eyes to the rest of the world of racing that is not Dover or Jamwest, granted that those are amazing tracks and I love racing in Jamaica, but the bigger opportunities to race with the big guys abroad, it’s there and it is possible,” said Misir.

“I love the sim; I think it gives great feedback; it feels as realistic as can be. Of course, with a sim you’re always going to miss the G-forces and different aspects of being in an actual car. But you’re able to train yourself and learn the track and memorise the tracks and when I’m training in the United Kingdom, you know, we’re on it when we go to the Sims at least three or four times a week. We’re on it for six hours a day, learning, training, different practices during different qualifying sessions, different types of tyres, so it’s very good to practise on one.

“Mostly with simulators I’m on it for training, I’ve never raced with sims. I do want to give it a go though, because it does look like a lot of fun,” said Misir. “Of course I would love to represent Team Jamaica in this competition.”

Simon Dawson, chief executive officer and president of StemGen, the company behind the D3eSports Cup Championship, underscored the potential sustainable impact of the initiative, beyond the virtual race tracks and the competition itself, to include real-world applications and effect.

“I couldn’t be happier to see all this functioning and I was really blown away. It’s just the talent, the raw talent that’s already here in the country. From the outside looking in, passion for the culture and cuisine is something that always attracts me,” said Dawson.

“I’m big into sustainability as well. So there’s a lot of things like that, but just again, just seeing the raw talent and the passion that’s here and now being able to sort of support, starting to do a little piece to put a structure in place that can be in communities, enable everybody to not only learn to drive better, but also tell the world what it does, and how they do it and give opportunities for the youth here and around the world as well, is really important to me, ” Dawson noted.