The Curacao GP

The event poster

At a point in time, our little Island of Curacao was ahead of the likes of Malaysia, Singapore, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi with regards to motor racing. This little rock in the southern Caribbean sea with a land area of just 444 square km and some 140.000 inhabitants had its very own Formula 3000 race through the streets of Willemstad.

In 1985, FIA introduced the Formula 3000 as the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter the F1 championship, and in its first year, through the efforts of local race promoter, the late Paul Wederfoort, Curacao got on the race calendar, even-though it was not a points paying race.

A local TV station made a report on the F 3000 race, which can be seen in the video below. Papiamento and Spanish are spoken throughout, and amongst others, Paul Wederfoort can be seen addressing the crowd wearing a blue sport coat.



During the last decade, developing countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi invested heavily into attracting Formula 1 races to their shores, so that they could not only show-case their country to the world, but also increase its allure as well as grow their tourism industry. It is in this context that I identify Paul Wederfoort as a true visionary, some 25 years ahead of the rest off the world.

To watch the actual race footage, please click here. Even though at first the footage is dark, it improves considerably after a while.

For numerous reasons, including heavy criticism due to narrow-mindedness, Curacao only had one Formula 3000 event. It's podium consisted of: 1. John Nielsen (Denmark), 2. Ivan Capelli (Italy), 3. Claudio Langes (Italy)

Oh, what could have been.

Source: Wikipedia, FIA
Video credit: Alex Alberto/YouTube.