85th Mobitel - Mahagastotte Festival of Speed 2019 on 6 -7 April

Mobitel is partnering with Ceylon Motor Sports Club to sponsor the eagerly-anticipated Mahagastotte Hill Climb Race at Mahagastotte Hill, which has become a regular feature in the motor sports calendar in Sri Lanka. By supporting this legendary race which dates back to 1934, Mobitel is forging strong ties with the realm of motor sports. The ‘National Mobile Service Provider’ has been maintaining a high profile by partnering with various sporting events which reflects its brand values of caring. Motor sports especially mirror the high-speed Mobitel broadband enjoyed by customers across the country. 

Mobitel is focused on supporting legendary sporting events that are awaited for by loyal fans. By lending its name to the event, Mobitel is able to highlight these sports that have become a part of the sporting fabric of the country. The races will be held on the 7 and 8 April in Mahagastotte, Nuwara Eliya.

Eighty-five years have seen an immense advancement in equipment and technique, but nothing can excel the spirit which inspired the pioneering efforts that provided the early blueprint upon which the Ceylon Motor Sports Club has been built. 

Many tyres have worn thin since those distant days. Since then, several stalwarts have established themselves in the art of motor sport, namely, Phil Fowke, T.S. Jinasena, Alan Clerk, Rodney Mason, Nihal Jinasena, Bri Ponnambalam, Mike Rauff, Ananda de Alwis, Kingsley Smith, Ajith Chanmugam, Mana Jayawardana, Cassim Wahab, Shanaka Ambrose, Bandula Weerasinghe, Suren Cooke, Suranjith Premadasa, Shafraz Junaid, Nishan Weerasooriya and Rohan de Silva to name just a few.

Current course record holder for bikes is Ananda Sampath Weerasinghe, riding an RM 250 in 2017, while the course record holder for cars, Ashan Silva, achieved in 2018 driving a Mitsubishi Evo, set very high benchmarks to beat in 2019. This is one of the most interesting years to witness the Mahagastotte races, as the CMSC celebrates “85 years of Mahagastotte” which is also 85 years of motor sport in Sri Lanka. 

The club, over a period of time, has invested a lot of time and effort into upgrading the track. The resurfaced Mahagastotte will also see track side-curbing, and more safety fences being established to ensure the competitors’ safety is enhanced, while the TAG Hauer Timing equipment too has been upgraded for greater efficiency. Marshals trained by CAMS of Australia will be at hand to conduct the meet, ensuring that its ruins to clockwork precision. 

This meet will be the season opener, and will see the bikes competing on 6 April, while the modern race cars will race on 7 April.  

Partnering with the CMSC is another name synonymous with motoring – MOTORMAG, who will co-ordinate an array of historic cars to come to Mahagastotte to join in the celebrations. 

The parade of historic cars will commence run from Colombo on Friday morning and arrive in Nuwara Eliya, where an exhibition is set to take place. Their Saturday morning run will begin from the Golf Club in Nuwara Eliya and drive down to Mahagastotte on 6 April. 

The Meet for the timed sessions for positions will commence at 8.30 a.m. on both days. 

The CMSC President said: “I personally think that 2019 is going to be a historic year. Eighty-five years past its inaugural year so many changes have taken place at Mahagastotte. We are proud to announce that CMSC has partnered with Mobitel, the premier telecommunication provider in Sri Lanka, and MOTORMAG, to forge an alliance that will be ground-breaking. I expect the records to tumble and I am sure competitors are eager to break their own class records as well as try and go for the course record as well.”