Jamaica's motorsport fraternity is feeling the crippling effects of the global recession, especially in the area of sponsorship.

"This has been a difficult period for us," says Errol Anderson, president of the Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club (JMMC). Anderson explains that due to lack of sponsorship, his club had no option but to scale down on a number of activities.

Anderson, who is general manager of Xsomo International, pointed out that even his company had cut back on sposorships. He stressed that sponsors had to see returns.

"We now have to ensure that the sponsors we have now are getting value for money or else we are going to lose them," he said.

He said that individual drivers are also having difficulty.

Lack of sponsorship prevented Christopher Campbell from participating in the second leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship in Barbados, while Alan Chen missed the last Dover race meet.

"When you lose three or four drivers because of financial constraints, that is a message," said Hilary Jardine, president of the Jamaica Race Drivers Club, the entity responsible for promoting racing at Dover.

According to Jardine, just as how the Government ocassionally provides financial assistance to football, cricket and track and field, he believes they should do the same for motorsport.

"Motorsport is a tourist attraction, and like the Formula One events in the United Kingdom, our Government should use it to their benefit. We need the help," said Jardine.

In the meantime, president of Jamaica Karting Association, Dave Wong, stressed that the recession is having a severe impact on go-karting. He suspects that, come next year, there could be a significant reduction in the number of participants in the sport.

"We are feeling the impact, our recent international race meet confirmed this," said Wong.