Former president of the Jamaica Race Drivers Club (JRDC), Hilary Jardine, died on Sunday (October 17) at the age of 91.

The JRDC confirmed his passing on Instagram. “Motorsports in Jamaica and the Caribbean lost another icon today. RIP Hilary Jardine. Sincere condolences to his family and friends in this one of their darkest hours,” it said of the Guyana-born Jardine, who migrated to Jamaica in the 1960s and became one of the founding fathers of motorsports in his adopted homeland.

Passionate about motor racing, Jardine was one of the founding members of the British Guiana Motorcycle Club in 1955 and, in the 1960s, he revived the motorcycle club in Trinidad and Tobago. He was also an active motorcyclist.

His entry into Jamaican motorsports began more than half a century ago when he formed the Jamaica Motor Racing Association (JMRA) and held the first meet – for motorcycles and go-karts – at the National Stadium in July 1970.

He was also instrumental in the development of drag racing in Jamaica, organizing the first meet at Vernamfield, Clarendon in April 1971.

He would eventually work to improve the facility for circuit racing and it was soon outfitted with a control tower, paddock, grand and bleacher stands, toilets, public address system, and telephone. Racing at Vernamfield would later attract drivers from the United Kingdom, United States, Puerto Rico, Santa Domingo, Guyana, Trinidad and Barbados.

Years later, he along with businessman Alfred Chen organised circuit racing at the Dover Raceway in St Ann that helped create household names like David Summerbell, Doug Gore and more recently Kyle Gregg.

Jardine was elected president of the JRDC in 2006 and served until December 1, 2011, when he stepped down having served motorsports for 56 years and handed the reins of the JRDC to Captain Mark Carey.

In recognition of his contribution to sport, Hilary Jardine was conferred with the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican government in 2009.