The power to surprise! - Gore warns rivals not to underestimate new Kia

Veteran race car driver Douglas 'Hollywood' Gore has warned his local rivals not to underestimate his new modified Kia Rio race car, which he has named 'The Beast'.

Gore unveiled the car at Kia Motors on Oxford Road in Kingston on Saturday night. However, some motorsports fans have said that they are skeptical about whether a Kia car can match up to the Radical race cars driven by rivals Kyle Gregg and David Summerbell Jr. But Gore said that the car's performance would surprise many.

"After this, everybody (other local racers) is going to see what they're up against, and we're really glad that everybody came out and social media is going to be very hot for the next few days," he said.

"Like Kia's slogan says, never underestimate the power to surprise."

He said that although the car is a Kia, it was made with parts from all of ATL's other brands.

"It was done in Europe, and when you think of Formula One, for argument's sake, every single marquee that they have racing there, even Ferrari, which is Italian, is still done in Europe," he said. "Even Honda (Japanese) is done in Europe, so we went to the place where they know the most about motorsports and asked them to build this car for us. Obviously, we are going to have a very, very exciting Dover come April 2."

Gore described his car as "detuned" at the moment and said that its manufacturers would be sending a team to the island shortly to make adjustments to its suspension and engine in final tuning because of the difference in conditions between Europe and Jamaica.

COMPETITION IS REAL

Jamaica Race Drivers' Club president Monique Gibbs said that new car would force other drivers to do more to keep up.

"Every time someone gets a car, you always see another person doing the same because the competition is real," she said. "It keeps the sport active. It keeps it fresh. It keeps it alive. The technology is changing and people want to go much faster and also in a safe environment. This can only mean good stuff for the sport as a whole."

After the crash at the Jamwest Speedway in May last year, which destroyed Gore's Audi TT DTM car, he began searching for a new vehicle, and speculation grew regarding what model it would have been. Gore said that he and ATL Automotive Chief Executive Officer Adam Stewart decided to play on the public's curiosity by keeping the new car a secret until its unveiling as a promotion strategy.

"After the Audi crashed and we went looking, we really and truly didn't know what we were going to find," Gore said. "We got a phone call from Adam Stewart, saying he was coming out with a new brand and that was Kia. If we could find a car like this, he would definitely want to be a part of it. It was a big surprise to everyone to find out it was a Kia, and it has done its job."

The car will make its competitive debut at the Carnival of Speed event at the Dover Raceway in St Ann in testing on April 1 then the race proper on April 2.