By RON FANFAIR
Mayer Deonarine is not eligible to drive on Canadian roads until his 16th birthday next March. However, he can whip around a track in open-wheel racing at speeds reaching 236 kilometres an hour.
Earlier this year, Deonarine launched his car racing career with the RySpec team in the Radical Cup North America season opener at Sebring International Raceway in Florida.
At age 14, he made history as the youngest driver in the 18-race series that ends on September 28 at Sonoma Raceway in northern California.
In the second to last of the six-round series before the World Finals in November, Deonarine registered his first win in the 21-lap Pro 1340 category at this year’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto event on July 19.
Winning three races in the city during Indy’s weekend is the highlight of his young career.
Deonarine’s Trinidad & Tobago-born paternal grandparents, who celebrated their 50th anniversary that weekend, were among family and friends in attendance.
Clive Deonarine Sr., served in the Merchant Navy before migrating in 1975 to Canada where he was a General Motors employee for 32 years while Sepelene Deonarine was a Maternal Child Clinical Education Lactation Consultant at Lakeridge Health Oshawa.
This year, Scottish team Graham Brunton added Deonarine to its BB4 line-up. He raced at Oulton Park in Cheshire, Donnington and Silverstone which is the home of the British Grand Prix.
“Those are cool and iconic tracks to drive on,” said the teenager who karted in Italy three years ago. “They helped me get used to the car and the tracks. The way they represent their team and how they want it to be seen and known as the best stood out for me. I enjoyed the experience.”
Driving a Tatuus F4-T014 open cockpit car for the first time at the start of the series was a major adjustment for the teenager.
“It has a different chassis, so I took some time to get used to it,” said Deonarine who previously raced in a Miguel Formula Four car. “It is also open wheel with no fenders around the tires. The team has an amazing engineer and that allowed me to progress quickly through practice. I was really quick in the races.”
In the first weekend, he was seventh, ninth and 11th in three 18-minute events. At Donnington on the third race weekend, Deonarine secured a fourth-place finish.
“That was a really good result for me,” he said. “It just took a little while for me to get used to the car.”
Deonarine said the tracks at Oulton Park and Donnington are comparable with the surfaces he races on in Canada.
“They are bumpy, rough and aggressive on tires,” the Grade 10 student said.
It was drastically different racing at Silverstone which was a dream come true for Deonarine.
“Just to be at that track is an amazing experience, let alone to race on it,” he said. “Through every corner, I was just taking in the experience and embracing it.”
Silverstone, which hosted the first Formula One World Series championship in 1950, is the circuit where Lewis Hamilton – Deonarine’s racing role model – has won nine events, including his record-extending 104 last July at the British Grand Prix which was his first victory in almost 30 months.
At the start of 2019, Deonarine was introduced to the sport by a friend who recommended he enroll in the Goodwood Kartways Arrive & Drive program.
“Kids get into this around three or four years old,” he said. “I was a little bit old at age nine, but I progressed fast and was driving quickly for the standard I was at. So I moved up to the junior class and did well for two seasons.”
In his rookie season, he was runner-up in the Mini Rok Vortex Trophy race in Italy.
Deonarine made his Radical Series debut six months ago.
“It was a bit tricky at first because I was just 14,” the Archbishop Denis O’Connor Catholic High School student said. “Normally, you do that when you are 15 or 16. “Rod Reid, who is the Force Indy Team Principal, allowed me to do some testing at Skip Barber Racing School. I also did some testing in the Formula 1600 at this track (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) before moving on to the Radical Series.”
With over 400,000 graduates, Skip Barber School ranks among the world’s largest automotive education and entertainment company offering driving, off-road and racing schools at the best tracks in America.
Deonarine does simulator training to prepare for races.
“I get to train in the car and on the track before I get to the track,” he said. “By the time race day comes around, I know the track and the car. All I have to do is focus on what I have to do for the first practice. I am also in the gym about six days a week. I have to train my neck a lot because of G-Force (refers to the forces of gravity that drivers experience as they navigate their high-speed vehicles around the track) and my upper body. Race car drivers train muscle density instead of muscle volume because we have to fit into the car and be fit. Putting on too much muscle in the upper body affects weight transfer in the car.”
While enjoying racing, Deonarine is cognizant of the fact that the sport lacks diversity.
“I was hoping that I would see more people of colour in racing when I went to England,” he said. “I was the only coloured driver and the only coloured person in the paddock. I am the only coloured driver in the Radical Cup series even though the team is diverse.”
As a guest at the Indianapolis 500 last May, Deonarine met Willie T. Ribbs who was the first Black man to compete in the event and drive a Formula One car.
“I didn’t know who he was,” the young man admitted. “But as soon as I learned about him and what he represents, I fell in love with his story. He is very accessible and always ready to sign an autograph and speak with people. The guy is absolutely loved by people in the sport. He told me to make sure that I drive in the Indy 500.”
Family support is essential for Deonarine to compete in the costly sport.
“My parents (Clive Jr. and Tanya Deonarine) have done a lot for me to be able to be where I am right now,” said the Durham District School Board Academy for Student Athlete Development program participant. “They are writing emails to people almost daily looking for financial support and always travelling with me to practices and meets.”
Deonarine was awarded a Road to Racing Canada diversity & inclusion scholarship that allowed him to take part in the GB4 events in Europe this season.
A first-generation Canadian, his father has taken on the responsibility of raising additional funding for his son to compete.
“The sport is very expensive and it gets to a point where we depend a lot on sponsors to get to the European races,” said the Ajax firefighter who pursued the profession after losing a cousin who was cleaning an office building in the World Trade Centre South Tower when terrorists struck on September 11, 2001.
“The budget for the race series in Europe was 180,000 pounds (about Can$320,000). With karts, it was sustainable for us, but once we made the jump to cars, the expenses ballooned. Mayer has done a lot to attract sponsors’ attention. He is performing and he is articulate. Getting money depends mainly on how you present yourself which Mayer does well.”
In October, Deonarine will attend the USF Pro Fall Combine at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It is an annual test for drivers aspiring to advance in category.
Through his rearview, he has a clear sight of younger brother Decklan Deonarine who has been karting the last four years.
“I still have a few more years left before I move up to the cars,” the 12-year-old said. “I enjoy the sport because of the adrenalin rush when you are driving and competing. You feel it the most when you are going through a tight corner.”
The Grade Seven student’s favourite driver is 43-year-old Fernando Alonso who is the only Spanish racer to win the World Championship.
“He has been on good and bad teams and has retired two times,” said the St. Francis de Sales student who aspires to drive in Formula One or the World Endurance Championship. “He just keeps coming back and putting up a good fight when he is on the grid. I look up to him because I know I will tackle any challenge I come up against and be the best.”
