Two local journalists have collated over 60 years of karting history in Macau for a new book, which was launched yesterday at the Grand Prix Museum Multifunction Room in Zape as the first of its kind to tell Macau’s karting history.
The book, has four chapters in three languages – Chinese, Portuguese and English is “Macau’s Karting History”, jointly written by Pedro Dá Mesquita and Carlos Barreto, published by the PraiaGrande Edições (“PraiaGrande Publishing House”) and sponsored by Galaxy Entertainment Group (“GEG”), chronicles the start of karting in Macau from its humble beginnings in the 1960s to its move to a permanent track considered a world-class motor sporting facility, when in the early 1990s young local drivers began their racing careers.
Speaking to the Post yesterday evening the two authors highlighted the long history of karting in Macau and the book’s role in realising that Macau has the capacity and quality to do something other than teach motorsports and other sports stories here, and Barreto, who was born in Mozambique and has been living in Macau since October 1985, said: “There was no material to have been written about the karting in Macau, except a few articles in the newspaper…… People know because there were international [karting] events at least until last year and there’s some coverage by the media but just for the event afterwards there’s a gap then another event comes so this book tries to cover that gap and tells the people that there’s something nice about it”.
Mesquita, who was born in Lisbon and started his career as a media practitioner in 1987, spoke to the Post about the insights from the book he wanted to tell his readers about: “For many years, about 20 or 30 years, Macau karting was homeless. So, in that period it had six different urban circuits. Finally at the end of 1996, they finally found a home in Coloane. So, this is a history of someone who is stubborn, who loves the sport, who loves karting. Not only the drivers, but also the organisers,” adding he believed that when people know karting, they will understand exactly “why we reached this stage”.
From researching documents, obtaining information, recording the stories of many racers, and then writing those stories for a book, according to the authors, took them about 16 years to complete, and Barreto said: “It took us a bit of time, but most important is we managed to collect the history of the karting from stories of many people”.
Delivering a speech during yesterday’s book launch, the publishing house’s director Ricardo Pinto said he strongly believed that “history can help us explain how to shape the future”, indicating the book on the history of karting will help motorsports to continue to develop in Macau and that more international competitions will be held here.
In addition to speaking about the evolution of the motor-racing sport over the decades, the book also highlights some of the local drivers who have made Macau a name in the world of motorsports, including Macau Grand Prix F3 winner in 2000, André Couto as well as Rodolfo Ávila.
PraiaGrande Edições Director Ricardo Pinto delivers a speech during yesterday’s “Macau’s Karting History” book launch at the Grand Prix Museum Multifunction Room. – Photos: Yuki Lei
The two “Macau’s Karting History” authors, Pedro Dá Mesquita (second from right) and Carlos Barreto (second from left), address yesterday’s session after the book launch.
This photo taken yesterday shows the “Macau’s Karting History” coverage.
