In October of 1978 three local circuit racers, James Fifi, Gregory Solis and Gordon Gonsalves, attended the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, New York state, then drove down to Florida to finish their vacation. While in Miami they ended up at a karting event one night and an idea sparked in their minds. At the time, circuit racing was very popular in Trinidad with dozens of competitors taking part in race meets at the Wallerfield circuit. The problem was that, because of the large number of drivers, the quickest were often separated by the classes in which they competed so some of the best drivers never actually drove against one another in evenly-matched cars.

After returning to Trinidad, the three met with a group totaling thirteen local drivers and friends to discuss the idea of introducing the sport of karting as an avenue for pitting driver against driver on an otherwise even footing. To this end, an initial set of rules were devised based on their limited knowledge of karting at the time. One of the prime objectives was that the sport would focus on driver ability rather than equipment so the first karts were to be purchased from a single manufacturer (Bug Karts of California) and engines were to all be McCulloch 100cc units. To ensure fairness, a minimum weight would be established and this was calculated by weighing the heaviest of the thirteen-member group then adding the weight of a race-ready kart to this. Thus was born the strange 312 lb. minimum weight for the first year of competition. From the onset the focus was to be on a championship series rather than simply running unrelated races. A point system mirroring the then Formula 1 system of 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 for the first six places would be used and points would be accumulated through a series of races based on a pre-determined calendar.

In preparation for the arrival of the karts (expected around the end of the first quarter of 1979), the newly formed Trinidad Karting Club created a constitution, elected a President and Management Committee, published its first set of competition regulations and set out in search of a place to race. The obvious choice was Wallerfield, the local home of motor sport, so the initial kart track was set up on common ground with the back straight of the car circuit, just after the Da Costa Jones corner. Everyone enthusiastically turned up on weekends to clean and paint the track markings and the result was a fairly twisty little track which shared its main straight with the car circuit's back straight.

During 1979 all the planned events were run off to crown the TKC's first champion, but by the end of the season the problem of using a shared area with the car circuit resulted in the relocation to another unused area of Wallerfield. Thus was born the TKC's second karting track with a new layout based on both the geography of the area as well as the experience of the first season's races. Over the next few years this track was extended to include a "long circuit" and race meets alternated between the short and long configurations.

Also during this period, the club experimented with a very different form of kart racing when drivers visited the Arima (Cycling) Velodrome to experience high-speed oval racing. At the first test session some drivers opted out on safety grounds, but two non-championship events were run there nonetheless. Drivers learnt to set up their karts for this very different form of racing, radically altering the karts' gear ratio whereby it would take a whole lap to get up to speed and introducing tyre stagger where the outside rear tyre was inflated to a larger circumference than the inside tyre, making it steer into the two right-hand turns with little resistance. A similar event was run off at Skinner Park in San Fernando but after some accidents at Arima with lucky escapes, it was decided to avoid these types of events in the future.

The TKC's first involvement with international competition came in 1981 when two drivers attended an event in Surinam at the invitation of the local club. This was held on public roads in the capital Paramaribo and literally thousands turned out to witness the races, lining the streets in an alarmingly dangerous manner. The TKC karts were so much faster than the locals (through gear ratio tricks learned at the Arima Velodrome) that it would have been a whitewash for the Trinidadians had the event not been stopped prematurely for safety reasons (and quite rightly so). But the event was not a total waste since contacts were made with members of the Curacao karting fraternity. This blossomed in 1982 when the TKC were invited to compete in the Curacao Grand Prix, an international karting event held at their purpose-built karting facility. This turned out to be an eye-opener for the TKC drivers who attended, the highest qualifier only managing third place on the grid, but lessons were learned and when they returned for the 1983 event, TKC drivers qualified on the front row and finished 1-2 in the lightweight 100cc class. Before this however, the TKC hosted its first ever international some months after the Curacao meeting in 1982, with drivers from the USA, Curacao, Aruba, the Dominican Republic and Surinam vying for honours at the Wallerfield kart circuit.

By the end of 1983, the TKC was looking for a new venue to add variety to the competition and to reduce the ongoing tyre expense that resulted from the abrasive Wallerfield track surface. One of the committee members suggested that the club look at a location in Chaguaramas which was once used to store imported lumber. After a bit of politics permission was granted for the use of Pier 2, but it first required a massive clean-up. With an aim to host an even better international event for 1984, sponsors were obtained and resources invested in preparation of the area. This all resulted in the TKC's third track, a venue that would last for many years.

During these and the following years, TKC drivers kept their competitive edge by participating with varying success in events in Barbados, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and at the International Karting Association's Grandnationals in the USA. The last of the founding members to compete locally on a regular basis finally hung up their helmets in the late eighties.

 

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