Sol Rally Barbados 2015...

[Graham]

SOL RALLY BARBADOS 2015 DATES ANNOUNCED
Plans taking shape for "memorable" 25th Anniversary

The Barbados Rally Club (BRC) is planning to make Sol Rally Barbados 2015 "a real classic", worthy of the 25th Anniversary of the first running of its International All-Stage Rally in 1990. Sol RB15 will run on Saturday and Sunday, May 30/31, with Scrutineering and Scotiabank King of the Hill the previous weekend, May 23/24.

Neil Barnard, PRO of the organising club, said: "As usual, we are focussed on the core values of our premier event - a seriously competitive rally, fought out in a relaxed, clubman-style atmosphere - but are determined to make next year especially memorable. As well as social events to mark the Anniversary, plans are in hand for Sol RB15 to be a real classic, worthy of this important milestone in the Club's history.

"We are getting enquiries about the dates pretty much every day, particularly from our core markets overseas, now that the school holidays are coming to an end and families start planning for next year. Our thanks go to the island’s governing body, the Barbados Motoring Federation, for allowing us to confirm our dates before publication of the ratified BMF calendar so we can give our many long-term supporters time to prepare."

On-line entries will open on the official web site - www.rallybarbados.net – on October 1, with the closing date in mid-May 2015. In recent years, entry numbers have risen significantly, particularly from overseas crews keen to tackle what is described by many as a "must-do event", and organisers are urging early on-line entry.

Since 2011, 85 first-time visitors have pushed the number of regional and international participants hosted by the event up to more than 380, a total which looks set to burst through the 400 mark next year. The biggest competitor base remains the UK and Ireland, but the event has attracted competitors from as far afield as Australia, Canada, Japan, Kenya, South Africa and the United States, as well as mainland Europe.

Barnard added: “We have welcomed at least 20 new competitors each year since 2011, and the enquiries about our 25th Anniversary event suggest that trend will continue. We are confident of a further influx of newcomers from the UK and Ireland, while one long-established family of competitors from New Zealand even timed their holiday to coincide with Sol RB14, so they could have a close-up look at the event . . . and they got it, helping one of the British teams out as service crew!

"I would encourage international crews to enter early, as the first 30 will again benefit from subsidies, especially those who have competed in previous years. It is fantastic that Sol Rally Barbados is on the ‘must-do’ list for so many overseas competitors, and a well-deserved tribute to those volunteer marshals and officials who help the Barbados Rally Club stage an event which measures up to world-class standards.”

From small beginnings as the International All-Stage Rally in 1990, the BRC’s premier event has grown into the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international and a key player in the country’s sports-tourism product; it contributes nearly Bds $4 million to the island's economy each year, much of it in vital foreign exchange, and accounts for approaching 4,000 visitor nights at a traditionally quiet time in the tourism calendar.

Barbados rallying legend Roger Skeete has won 13 of the 25 events, including the first International All-Stage Rally in 1990 and Sol RB14 in June. Northern Ireland’s Kenny McKinstry was the first international winner in 1993; he won again in 1996, before fellow countryman Kris Meeke (2008 & ’09) and then England’s Paul Bird (2012 & '13) upped the total of international victories to six. Only two regional drivers have won, Jamaica's Jeff Panton (1998) and Gary Gregg (2006), with the remaining victories shared by local drivers Paul Bourne (twice), Trevor Manning and Roger Mayers.

Sol Rally Barbados is a two-day tarmac rally, with around 22 special stages run on the island’s intricate network of public roads, under road closure orders granted by the Ministry of Transport & Works; the Scotiabank King of the Hill ‘shakedown’, run under a similar arrangement, features four timed runs on a roughly three-kilometre stage, the results of which are used to seed the running order for the main event.

Sol Rally Barbados and Scotiabank King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.


PREVIOUS WINNERS
1990 to 2014

Rally Barbados
2014 Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia, Subaru Impreza WRC S12, 1h 12m 24.12s
2013 Paul Bird - ENG/Aled Davies - WAL, Ford Focus WRC08, 1h 00m 31.75s
2012 Paul Bird - ENG/Kirsty Riddick – SCO, Ford Focus WRC08, 1h 02m 50.60s
2011 Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia, Subaru Impreza WRC S12, 1h 05m 51.95s
2010 Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia, Subaru Impreza WRC S12, 1h 01m 07.57s
2009 Kris Meeke - NIR/Paul Nagle - NIR, Subaru Impreza WRC S9, 55m 11.84s
2008 Kris Meeke - NIR/Paul Nagle - NIR, Toyota Corolla WRC, 1h 00m 00.06s
2007 Paul Bourne/Stuart Maloney, Subaru Impreza WRC S9, 57m 34.36s
2006 Gary Gregg - JAM/Hugh Hutchinson - JAM, Ford Focus WRC02, 51m 57.89s
2005 Roger Mayers/Max Ferri, Ford Focus WRC, 58m 46.99s
2004 Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Ford Escort WRC, 1h 03m 04.48s
2003 Paul Bourne/Louis Venezia, Subaru Impreza WRC, 1h 21m 05.43s

International All-Stage Rally
2002 Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Ford Escort WRC, 1h 16m 49.80s
2001 Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Ford Escort Cosworth, 37m 53.21s
2000 Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Ford Escort Cosworth, 43m 57s
1999 Trevor Manning/Michael Ward, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V, 1h 03m 14s
1998 Jeffrey Panton - JAM/John de Mercado - JAM, Toyota Celica GT4, 51m 15s
1997 Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Peugeot 306 S16, 55m 55s
1996 Kenny McKinstry - NIR/Sean Gill, Ford Escort RS2000, 37m 02s
1995 Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Peugeot 205GTi, 37m 04s
1994 Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Peugeot 205GTi, 38m 55s
1993 Kenny McKinstry - NIR/Robbie Philpott - NIR, Subaru Legacy RS, 43m 24s
1992 Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Peugeot 205GTi, 24m 26s
1991 Roger Skeete/Roger Fields, Peugeot 205GTi, 15m 46s
1990 Roger Skeete/Charmaine Skeete, Peugeot 205GTi, 16m 08s

King of the Hill
2014 Paul Bird - ENG/Aled Davies - WAL, Ford Focus WRC08, 1m 57.68s
2013 Neil Armstrong/Barry Ward, Suzuki SX4 WRC, 1m 16.73s
2012 Paul Bird - ENG/Kirsty Riddick – SCO, Ford Focus WRC08, 1m 49.18s
2011 Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia, Subaru Impreza WRC S12, 1m 56.44s
2010 Paul Bourne/Stuart Maloney, Ford Focus WRC 07, 2m 00.16s
2009 Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia, Subaru Impreza WRC S12, 1m 50.95s
2008 Paul Bourne/Stuart Maloney, Subaru Impreza WRC S9, 1m 13.02s

Key to nationalities (unless shown, competitor is from Barbados):
ENG - England; JAM - Jamaica; NIR - Northern Ireland; SCO - Scotland; WAL - Wales

 

[Graham]

HAWKINS IN FIRST FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS 2015
BRC Driver’s and Class Championships go down to the wire

Britain’s Andy Hawkins was first in line when entries for Sol Rally Barbados 2015 opened this morning (October 1) – at 5.00am UK time, midnight in Barbados, he hit ‘send’ to confirm his return for the 25th Anniversary running of Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event. Sol RB15 will run on Saturday and Sunday, May 30/31, with Scrutineering and Scotiabank King of the Hill the previous weekend, May 23/24.

His third visit to the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International promises a nostalgic trip down memory lane, as he has recently tracked down and re-purchased the British Leyland Mini in which he first competed on the island in 2003. On that occasion, with co-driver Chris Prabucki, Hawkins earned a host of fans with his enthusiastic driving, which carried the Mini to 32nd overall and fifth in the Historic class.

Having largely retired from rallying after RB03, Hawkins concentrated on his love of motorcycling, enjoying major adventures in Turkey, the Sahara Desert and Morocco, before returning for Sol RB13, this time in a Volkswagen Golf GTI MkIV, built to mark the 10th anniversary of his first visit. With fellow Englishman Del Johnson as co-driver, he finished 50th overall and fifth in Modified 7.

Fresh from posting his on-line entry, Hawkins said: “Waiting for entries to open for Sol RB15 was far more exciting than queuing for a new iPhone 6! After leaving Barbados in 2013, I decided there is no way I would leave it another 10 years before heading back, so pinned on the idea of the 25th Anniversary event in 2015.”

This season, Hawkins, an IT consultant from Newark in the British Midlands, has been contesting the REIS MSA Asphalt Rally Championship in the Golf. He leads Class B11 ahead of the final round, the Cheviot Keith Knox Stages, to be run on military land on the Otterburn Ranges in Northumberland on Sunday, November 9.

Finding his former Mini was not as difficult as he might have expected: “Back in March, I was working on the Ashadi Rallysport web site and started wondering what happened to the Mini, as everyone in Barbados loved her back in ‘03! I found a copy of the receipt that I had given the new owner when I sold her in 2006, so I contacted him. He said ‘she is still here with me, and in rude health’.

“He had done nothing with the car, as his plans had changed, and she had been dry-stored since leaving me, with MoT tests and services every so often. We struck a deal and she is now back in my hands, after being away for almost eight years, pretty much exactly as I sold her . . . still sporting the event numbers from the last rally I did in the UK, and still with the RB03 tax disc in the window.”

Unlike two years ago, when the Golf was a ground-up new rally car build, life will be easier for Hawkins with the Mini: “It will not be a complete rebuild, but a lot still needs doing to bring the car up to current regulations, mostly simple things like seats, harnesses, extinguishers and so on. She needs some TLC to be up to my standard, but the one thing that will remain is the roof flag that everyone fell in love with in RB03.”

Fans can track the team’s preparations on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ashadirs) and the Ashadi Rally Sport web site (www.ashadi.co.uk). Sponsors will be Plastics 4 Performance, JAZ Computer Services and NAMIK Ltd, with the co-driver to be confirmed.

On-line entries on the official web site - www.rallybarbados.net – will remain open until mid-May 2015, although organisers are urging early on-line entry, as numbers have risen significantly in recent years.

Neil Barnard, PRO of the organising club, said: "Planning is well under way, in fact the route is already pretty much confirmed. We’re keen to mark the 25th Anniversary with a classic event, worthy of this important milestone in the Club's history, but without losing sight of the core values of our premier event - a seriously competitive rally, fought out in a relaxed, clubman-style atmosphere.

"I would encourage international crews to enter early, as the first 30 will again benefit from subsidies, especially those who have competed in previous years. It is fantastic that Sol Rally Barbados is on the ‘must-do’ list for so many overseas competitors, and a well-deserved tribute to those volunteer marshals and officials who help the Barbados Rally Club stage an event which measures up to world-class standards.”

Barbados Rally Club Driver’s and Class Championships go down to the wire

Entries also opened today (October 1) for the final event in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) 2014 Driver’s and Class Championships, the double-header Winter Tarmac Sprint on Sunday, October 12. Entries will close at 1.00pm next Wednesday (October 8), with a Briefing Meeting scheduled for the following day. After Scrutineering at Welchtown, St Peter at 9.00am, the event is slated for a 10.00am start. Round seven of the BRC Championship will run from Josey Hill to Lamberts, with the direction reversed for round eight. The finish is expected to be at approximately 3.00pm.

Sol Rally Barbados and Scotiabank King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

SWANN IN TRAINING FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS 2015
Worldwide TV exposure driving International entries

Britain’s Rob Swann, who finished second in Sol Rally Barbados 2014, is already well advanced in his preparations for next year’s 25th Anniversary running of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event. Sol RB15, for which on-line entries are open on the official web site – www.rallybarbados.net - will run on Saturday and Sunday, May 30/31, with Scrutineering and Scotiabank King of the Hill the previous weekend, May 23/24.

With regular Welsh co-driver, Darren Garrod, Swann drove his Waves Hotel and Spa Barbados/Terra Caribbean/Cygnet Plant Ltd Subaru Impreza WRC S11 to his best overall finish since his 2008 debut, 25 seconds adrift of 13-time winner Roger Skeete (Impreza S12) and roughly the same margin ahead of third-placed John Powell of Trinidad, competing for the first time is his recently-acquired Ford Focus WRC08.

Swann’s best previous finish had been fifth, in a rented Impreza S12 in 2011, his first appearance in Barbados in a World Rally Car, having won Group N and finished ninth overall the previous year in an Impreza N14; the same year, he won Group N in Rally Jamaica, the first – and so far only – driver to do the double in the same year.

Looking back on this year’s result, Swann says: “RB14 was just fantastic. I had my sights on a podium, so to be pushing for a win on day two and finally taking second was a great result. It was a credit to Darren on the notes, to everyone involved in the team, and of course to the family for their terrific support.”

Since the car was shipped home to the UK, Swann has returned to the Rally of Flanders in Belgium, where he had enjoyed his first outing in his ex-Petter Solberg Impreza last year, although this time he recorded a non-finish, retiring part-way through day one with a damaged steering rack.

Swann added: “I am still finding things to adapt on the car, and had certainly learnt a lot over the two days in Barbados, so it is always good to get out again and give things a try. We were right on the pace in the early stages, consistently in the top six . . . and we had a stage win against the likes of Freddy Loix, Pieter Tjsojen and Kris Princen, all former Belgian or European Champions, so we know we are on the right track.”

Swann will now switch to gravel events, the JLT Tempest Rally on Saturday, November 8, which he won for the first time last year, followed by the SA Gas Premier Rally two weeks later, at which he become the first driver in its 30-year history to claim a hat-trick of wins in 2013. Swann says: “We will then have a big winter prep and convert the car back to Tarmac spec ready for 2015. My main focus for the early part of the year will be Tarmac leading up to RB15 . . . and then looking to improve on this year’s result!”

When he’s not driving the rally car, Swann has other ways to work on his fitness: “I’m keeping up to speed in any way I can. I’ve just achieved my best result of eighth in the Solo Quad class at the Weston Beach Race, a three-hour enduro, and I then have the Weymouth Beach Race to help with fitness levels between the two gravel rallies”.

Worldwide TV exposure driving International entries

GreenlightTV’s annual broadcast coverage of Sol Rally Barbados 2014 has already been proving a powerful driver for International entries in advance next year’s 25th Anniversary running of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event. Through its regular programmes such as Max Power, the Isle of Man-based production company’s coverage reaches more than 650 million households worldwide, through more than 30 major networks, including ESPN, Speed and Star Sports.

While the coverage is spread over many months, dependent on schedules, Sky Sports aired this year’s programme in the UK and Ireland, two of the events key markets, in the first few days of October, coinciding with entries for Sol RB15 opening on-line on the official web site – www.rallybarbados.net . . . and that has helped create a unexpected surge in early entries.

Neil Barnard, PRO of the BRC, said: "While the timing was not planned, it would appear that the coincidence has certainly borne fruit: we already have nearly 40 entries for next year, all but one from overseas . . . and 10 of those are new, some having already told us that the TV coverage was just the extra incentive needed to place an entry.”

Sol Rally Barbados and Scotiabank King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

UK WOMEN’S CREW HEAD FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS
Return visitors line up in bumper overseas entry

Former British Ladies Rally Champion Shelly Taunt, who won Saturday’s Driver of the Day Award at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed, aims to tick one of the boxes on her rallying bucket list when she and co-driver Julie Murphy compete in next year’s 25th Anniversary running of Sol Rally Barbados in their Group N Subaru Impreza.

They will be the first International all-female crew to contest the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event, although former FIA Ladies Champion, Finland’s Minna Sillankorva competed in another All-Stage Rally in the island in 1992 in a Mazda 323 4wd turbo, co-driven by Italy’s Michela Marangoni.

Sol RB15 will run on Saturday and Sunday, May 30/31, with Scrutineering and Scotiabank King of the Hill the previous weekend, May 23/24. More than 50 entries have already been received on-line via the event’s official web site, www.rallybarbados.net, with almost six months to go before the closing date.

Rally Director Neil Barnard said: “I have to say that the response this year has been quite astonishing. We have more than 40 overseas entries, around half of them are new to the event, and I am really pleased to say many of the newcomers from Europe have been encouraged to enter by teams who have become regular visitors in recent years.”

Taunt has won more than 20 titles since she started rallying in 1995 after winning a ‘Find a Lady Rally Driver’ competition, half of them with co-driver and near-neighbour Murphy – they live just a few minutes apart in the villages of Highworth and Inglesham, just north of the Wiltshire town of Swindon. While a number of those titles are Ladies Champion – from her first in the Association of Central Southern Motor Clubs Championship in 1998 up to her Association of North East Midland Motor Clubs title in 2012 – she has also won the British F1400 Championship, the BRC RallyMasters Production Cup twice and three Class Championships.

Although their existing sponsors Guest & Fiore Bricklayers, ASF Sign Factory, Combined Scaffolding, Jim Griffith Car Body Repairs and Julie Murphy’s Driving School are already on board, Shelly is looking for more through her web site, www.shellytauntrallying.co.uk. She said: “We are all so excited, and can't wait to be there. My ambitions include driving a World Rally Car and competing in Rally Finland and Sol Rally Barbados . . . given a bit more support, I’ll at least tick one box next year.”

Return visitors line up in bumper overseas entry

The total of on-line entries for Sol Rally Barbados 2015 registered through the official web site – www.rallybarbados.net – has passed 50, with all but a handful of them being crews from the wider Caribbean or further afield, as the 25th Anniversary event looks set to host a record International field.

Return visitors from the UK already feature strongly in the list, with Andrew Costin-Hurley planning his 12th visit, once again driving the Group B ARP/Earl’s Performance Hoses/Zeta Engineering Ford Puma, which he designed and built himself; his co-driver is yet to be confirmed. He was delighted with his result in 2014 – a personal best 21st overall, plus his third Group B win – but has still been working on the car: “I'm making some detail rear suspension geometry revisions. I felt considerably more confident in the car this year and have diagnosed some areas of the suspension that could be improved, which may make the car a little easier to drive and perhaps more competitive.”

Rob Weir will return for the third time as a driver, in what will be one of his first events following a major rallying accident in the second half of 2013. His co-driver in the Weir Engineering/Weir Laundry Equipment/Ocean Two Resort/RSR Historic Engineering Triumph TR7 V8 will be Paul Willetts; although it will be his first time as a competitor in Barbados, he has been a regular visitor as a member of the Weir team’s support crew.

Weir said: “My recovery is continuing, but at a slower pace than I had hoped for. I receive physio twice a week and swim two or three times a week. The level of discomfort is all muscular, within the neck. A number of people at home think I must be mad, but I have explained to them that I just want to take the TR7 back to Barbados and have some fun in it, as it was so well received in 2013.”

Welshman Paul Rees returns for his fifth outing as a competitor with a Modified 7 Vauxhall Astra Mk2, with English co-driver Paul Briggs making his second trip. Rees has his own reason to celebrate this year, alongside the Barbados Rally Club, as early June marks his 10th wedding anniversary. Having first competed in 2003, Rees, who is a respected rally official in the UK and Marshal Liaison for Wales Rally GB, returned to work on the event as a Safety Officer alongside the local organisers, during which trips he met and married island motor sport stalwart Biddy Barber’s daughter Ali.

Sol Rally Barbados and Scotiabank King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

ROC CARIBBEAN WINNERS FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS
Regional returnees confirmed for 2015

Team Barbados duo Dane Skeete and Rhett Watson, fresh from their defeat of Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago in last weekend’s (December 13/14) inaugural ROC Caribbean at the annual Race Of Champions, have confirmed their entries for next year’s 25th Anniversary running of Sol Rally Barbados.

Before their triumph in Saturday’s ROC Caribbean at Bushy Park Barbados, Skeete and Watson had faced motor sport champions from around the world in the Nations Cup, in which they progressed to the semi-finals; in the group stage, Skeete beat Australian motor-cycling legend Mick Doohan and 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay of the United States, while Watson saw off his USA team-mate, the former NASCAR Champion Kurt Busch.

In the semi-finals, while Skeete earned another feather in his cap by defeating Martini Williams Formula 1 reserve driver Susie Wolff, a strong performance by her Scottish team-mate, multiple Grand Prix winner David Coulthard, carried them to the final. Although they were beaten by Team Nordic, comprising nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen and 2014 FIA World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg, Coulthard went on to win the Champion of Champions title in Sunday’s individual competition.

Looking back on the day, Skeete, whose father Roger has won the island’s premier event 13 times, said: “The best experience was doing the first race with Dad in the car, as I had no idea he was coming. Beating Susie Wolff in the Audi R8 she is more familiar with was another highlight for sure.” Watson added: “One word to describe it all is incredible. The highlight was beating Kurt Busch in the first race, then securing ROC Caribbean for Barbados with Dane.”

Sol RB15 will run on Saturday and Sunday, May 30/31, with Scrutineering and the King of the Hill shakedown event the previous weekend, May 23/24. More than 50 entries have already been received via the event’s official web site, www.rallybarbados.net, where the on-line entry list is shortly to go ‘live’.

Skeete, who will campaign his Peugeot 306 Maxi in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) SuperModified 11 class with co-driver Tyler Mayhew, and Watson (SM12 BMW M3) are certain to be among the front-runners in the battle for two-wheel-drive honours in Sol RB15, along with other local favourites, such as Roger Mayers and Josh Read in their Toyota Starlets.

In 2014, the promised battle hardly materialised, after Read missed Saturday’s fourth stage to resolve a brake problem, dropping out of the running for overall position, while Skeete (suspension) and Mayers (gearbox) also went missing, in all three cases when they had been running inside the overall top 10. This left Watson in charge of two-wheel-drive . . . and he remained so to the end, eighth overall his best Sol RB result as a driver, top two-wheel-drive, and with class wins on both days.

Watson went on to claim a hat-trick of BRC titles for the season, adding the coveted Champion Driver accolade to his SM12 class win and victory in the BRC Two-Wheel-Drive Championship, along with his new-for-2014 co-driver James Hutchinson. Skeete saw little action in the second half of the domestic season, apart from the two Suzuki Rocks events, which decided Team Barbados for ROC Caribbean, as he returned to continue his education abroad.

Regional returnees confirmed for 2015

Another driver who competed in ROC Caribbean, Trinidad & Tobago’s David Coelho, is one of two regional drivers confirmed for Sol Rally Barbados 2015, along with Paul Horton, who rallies under the flag of the Turks & Caicos Islands. They are among a growing number of regional competitors – these include Jamaica’s Jeff Panton and T&T’s John Powell – who are basing cars in Barbados, and island-hopping to compete.

All are now being seen on a regular basis in qualifying rounds of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Championship outside Sol RB and the previous weekend’s shakedown event, King of the Hill. Indeed, Panton won the final two rounds of the BRC Championship, the double-header Winter Tarmac Sprint, in October in his Ford Focus WRC06.

Coelho will campaign his Total / Lubetech / Zanzibar / Kaizan Sushi / www.machinerysalestrinidad.com / Quipsol Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in WRC-1 – although not a recognised World Rally Car, it has features which place it in the overall class – while Horton has again entered his Sky Motorsports / Real / Java Island Ford Escort MkI in Modified 7. While Coelho’s co-driver is confirmed as T&T-based Englishman James Harris, Horton is yet to nominate his.

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

PROCTER AT TEN-TENTHS FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS
Local Champions in line for 25th Anniversary event

Britain’s Kevin Procter will mark his 10th appearance in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event in five months’ time, when he lines up for Sol Rally Barbados 2015 at the wheel of his Subaru Impreza WRC S7. His entry is confirmed just days after he won last Sunday’s (December 28) Swift Signs Christmas Stages Rally in the North of England for the sixth time in seven years.

Sol RB15 will run on Saturday and Sunday, May 30/31, with Scrutineering and the King of the Hill shakedown event the previous weekend, May 23/24. Nearly 60 entries have already been received for the 25th Anniversary running of the event via the official web site, www.rallybarbados.net, where the on-line entry list is now ‘live’.

Hugely popular with fans on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean for his flamboyant and attacking driving style, Procter did not start the day well on Sunday: a hard overnight frost had covered most of the Croft Circuit, a few miles from his home in North Yorkshire, in black ice, a disadvantage for last year’s winner, running first on the road.

With fellow rallycross ace Dave Bellerby in the co-driver’s seat, Procter was equal fourth on the first 6.4-mile test (with the Citroen Saxo of Martin Peters!) and one of only two of the top 10 seeded drivers in the first 30 runners. Fastest was Mike Herrington in a Ford Escort – seeded number 82, he took advantage of the rapidly thawing conditions – ahead of David White (Impreza) and the Peugeot 106 of Liam Walling.

Fastest on SS2, White took the lead, with former Le Mans 24 Hours race-winner Guy Smith (MG Metro 6R4) now second and Procter third, despite losing a further 20secs with a spin and stall shortly after the start. He gained control on the next stage, however, going into the lunchtime turn-around 26secs ahead of White, with Smith’s father Peter now third in another 6R4, his son having retired with a broken gearbox.

In front of a record crowd, Procter continued where he’d left off after lunch, with three more fastest times – he was beaten by Chris Wise/Tracey Taylor West in the ex-Roger Mayers 6R4 on SS6, by just 1sec – to end the day with a winning margin of 1min 41 secs after eight stages and 44.4miles. White was second and Peter Smith third.

For his return to Barbados, Procter’s co-driver will be Philip Hopkins, who co-drove in the island for the first time last year, when Procter finished seventh overall for the second consecutive year, also his sixth top 10 finish: his best is fourth in 2009, the second visit with the Impreza, added to fifth (RB07, Hyundai Accent WRC), ninth and highest-placed European crew (RB05, Ford Puma Evo 4 x 4), fifth and highest-placed overseas crew (RB04, Ford Escort Cosworth).

Since the WRC-2 class, catering for World Cars built before the end of 2003, was introduced in 2013, Procter has finished third to Britain’s Roger Duckworth (Impreza WRC S6) and local Toyota dealer Roger Hill (Corolla WRC) two years ago, then second to Duckworth last year.

Local Champions in line for 25th Anniversary event

Current and former Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Champions are among the early local entries for Sol Rally Barbados 2015, this year’s 25th Anniversary running of the Club’s premier event. In addition to the BRC’s Champion Driver for 2014, Rhett Watson (BMW M3) and fellow ROC Caribbean winner Dane Skeete, whose participation was confirmed last month, the growing list includes front-runners from a number of the Club’s 13 classifications.

In SuperModified 12, Watson’s opposition will include the BMW M3 of David St Hill, while there are currently no further local entries in SM11, where Skeete campaigns his Peugeot 306 Maxi. Multiple circuit-racing Champion Mark Thompson is the first local four-wheel-drive entry, in his Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.

Former BRC Champion Driver Neil Corbin – he won the Overall title in 2012 – is listed in Modified 6 in the Toyota Starlet in which he won the Class Championship in 2012 & ’13; the opposition will include Paul Inniss in his Honda Civic.

The M6 Champion for the previous two years, Jamal Brathwaite, appears for the third year in his M7 Honda Civic Type-R, while reigning Clubman Champion Eric Allamby (Toyota Corolla) remains in Clubman, where he will face Brathwaite’s father Trevor Mapp, among others, in the Mitsubishi Colt Mivec RS, which his son used to campaign.

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

SOL RALLY BARBADOS ‘ADVENTURE’ FOR PHILLISKIRK
Former Rally Club Rookie of the Year brings on-line entries to 70

Former BTRDA Champion from the UK, Warren Philliskirk, will make his Sol Rally Barbados debut in May, when the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) marks the 25th Anniversary of its premier event. His historic-spec Ford Escort MkII is currently nearing the end of a bare-shell rebuild, specifically for its forthcoming trip to the Caribbean.

Sol RB15 will run on Saturday and Sunday, May 30/31, with Scrutineering and the King of the Hill shakedown event the previous weekend. Philliskirk told the official web site, www.rallybarbados.net: “It’s cold over here, Christmas is over and we’re back to work. We are all good to go and looking forward very much to our Barbados adventure.”

A land and sports field drainage specialist, Philliskirk is based in Green Hammerton in North Yorkshire, mid-way between York and Harrogate, where his co-driver Garry Green runs a business specialising in motor sport wiring looms. They live right in the middle of classic rallying country, boasting some of the UK’s most popular stages and with famous forest events such as the Trackrod Rally based nearby.

Philliskirk has been rallying for more than 40 years, claiming his first title in the late 1970s (the Yorkshire Championship) in a MkI Escort, built from a shell using components from a Ford Cortina in which he had spent a year grass track racing. After switching to a MkII Escort, then a rear-wheel-drive MkIII – all these cars built by himself and friends - he made what he refers to as “a life-changing decision” and bought an MG Metro 6R4, in which he won the BTRDA Championship in 1997, his first full season in the car.

He campaigned the 2.5-litre 6R4 in more than 60 rallies over the next few years, winning a number of National Championship rounds, and with seventh overall chalked up in the Iceland International Rally in 2000. The BTRDA Championship’s Gold and Silver Star titles are British club rallying’s most prestigious, with Andy Burton in his self-built Peugeot-Cosworth and Barbados regular Steve Perez, who won the title in 2010 and last year in a Ford Focus WRC, among the few to have done so more than once.

The Escort which Philliskirk is taking to Barbados, with backing from Philliskirk Drainage and Autosparks, is enjoying a bare-shell rebuild after 25 rallies in the Yorkshireman’s hands, including the demanding Roger Albert Clark Rally in 2010. He adds: “We have taken advantage of the holidays to put the car together after its bare-shell paint.”

Philliskirk spent two days in Barbados before joining a Caribbean cruise with his wife Hilary last March, during which they contacted members of the Sol RB organising committee to learn more about the event. He said: “I had heard about Sol Rally Barbados from friends who had competed in the past, but being able to learn so much more first hand helped us make up our minds.”

Former Rally Club Rookie of the Year brings on-line entries to 70

When former Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Rookie of the Year Clifford Cox posted his entry for Sol Rally Barbados 2015 on-line yesterday afternoon (Thursday), it brought to 70 the total received since entries opened on October 1. Cox, who won the RotY title in 2012, is entered in SuperModified 9 in his Toyota Starlet with co-driver Scott Bentham.

With 19 weeks to go before Scrutineering for Sol RB15, entries are currently almost 50 per cent higher than this time last year, when 47 had been logged. There is a broad cross-section of competitors, with crews registered in all but two of the BRC’s classifications, and competitors from 11 countries outside the island.

Other local entries posted this week include Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (WRC-2 Toyota Corolla WRC), Andrew Mallalieu/Geoff Goddard (Group N Subaru Impreza N10), Justin Campbell/Juan Watts (SM12 BMW M3), Sean Field/Shannon Kirton (M7 Peugeot 306 GTi6) and Pierre Clarke/Ezra Gibbs (Clubman Honda Civic).

BRC PRO Neil Barnard commented: “We are very encouraged by the depth of the entry, as the Rally Club is determined to mark the event’s 25th Anniversary in style . . . and our International competitors seem eager to help us. Almost half of the entries from the UK and Ireland are newcomers, fantastic news for the sustainability of the event.”

The entry list can be found in the draw-down under the Competitors tab on the home page of the official web site, www.rallybarbados.net. As in previous years, some overseas entries, in particular crews new to the event, are held back for promotional purposes, with a schedule of announcements planned for the coming weeks.

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

TINSLEY JOINS SOL RALLY BARBADOS CELEBRATIONS
Upgrades under way for popular Ford Anglia WRC

Members of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) will not be the only ones celebrating when Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 30/31) marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s premier event. Having followed it for more than 10 years, British driver Marcus Tinsley will finally get to compete this year, a 30th birthday present to himself.

This is not telecommunications specialist Tinsley first time competing in Barbados, however, although he has changed sports: “I visited Barbados in 2000 on a cricket tour and loved the place, I just can’t wait to return!” Since that first visit to the island as a teenager, Tinsley has followed his father Kevin into special stage rallying.

Competing in Sol RB is a long-held ambition: “I’ve seen it advertised for years and first had dreams to do the event in 2003! I follow it every year on the internet and via social media, but I needed a proper excuse to come over and do it . . . and justify the expense. My 30th birthday seemed like the ideal excuse. And what a fantastic birthday present!”

Tinsley, who was born in England but currently lives and works in Scotland, will campaign a Peugeot 205 Rallye, backed by Tinsley Joiners, Rodgers Plant Hire and Taylor Signs in the BRC’s Modified 5 class; his co-driver will be James Crosland, another rallying in Barbados for the first time.

Having first navigated for his father in a Ford Sierra Cosworth a couple of years after his cricketing foray to the Caribbean, Tinsley’s first event as a driver was on his 18th birthday, at the wheel of a Sierra XR4x4. He has competed in nearly 40 events, as time has allowed, initially in two different Peugeot 106 Rallyes, before acquiring the 205, in which he has had two class wins and four other class podiums in 10 events, along with a year-end class win in the Association of Northern Car Club’s Tarmac Challenge in 2011.

Co-driver Crosland, a mechanical engineer from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, is a former marshal, who turned his hand to navigating in 2012, with considerable success: in 2013, he won the Association of North East Midlands Motor Club’s Navigators Championship, collecting the Tarmac, Gravel and Under-25s titles as well, winning three of the four again last year, along with the East Midland Association of Motor Club’s Navigators Championship. The crew will have a ‘shakedown’ at the end of February in the Jack Neal Memorial Stages, a single-venue event at Blyton in Lincolnshire.

Barbados Rally Club PRO Neil Barnard said: “Marcus and James are just the sort of club competitors that we are keen to attract. They have learned about Sol Rally Barbados by seeing it on television and also through the internet coverage and social media, and have added it to their ‘bucket list’ of events they want to do. The fact that they are both still in their 20s is particularly encouraging, bearing in mind how many of our first-timers are so blown away by the event and the island that they come back again and again.”

Upgrades under way for popular Ford Anglia WRC

When Scotland’s Allan Mackay returns to Sol Rally Barbados for his sixth visit in 2015, along with Irish co-driver ‘Mad Mo’ Downey, the now-legendary Ford Anglia WRC – the acronym stands for Well-Run Car - will have had some upgrades. Never one to take his rallying too seriously, however, Mackay explains: “The car is getting a new launch/traction system and Mo will have the luxury of a wiper blade on his side!”

The Anglia’s flamboyant antics have won the hearts and minds of island fans, the fun delivered in double measure in 2013, when Mackay’s son Euan entered in the Anglia JWRC; having been forced to withdraw last year, Euan again posted an on-line entry for Sol RB15, this time in his Peugeot 106, but has once more been disappointed as work commitments will prevent his participation.

Mackay is entered in SuperModified 10, the class he and Downey won last year, also clocking their best overall finish, 26th. The Anglia will again run in the colours of Tunnocks Tea Cakes, which also sponsors Scotland’s iconic Tour of Mull, at which Mackay regularly appears as Zero Car . . . although all did not go well last year.

As Mackay recalls: “We had a rather senior moment, which resulted in the Anglia lying on its roof. But us older models are tough and, after straightening some steering bits, we were soon on the go again. At least Zero reads the same both ways up!”

As Mackay and Downey have not rallied together since Sol RB14, they are planning a couple of ‘shakedown’ events in Ireland, as Downey explains: “We’ll do the Bishopscourt Stages then, if all goes well, the Circuit Of Ireland at Easter, but that is only a few weeks before shipping, so we’ll have to behave! Although it is based out of Belfast, a few of the stages are on my back door, and we need to get back into the swing of things.”

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

ANNIVERSARY SHAKE-UP FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS
Motor sport winners at National Sports Council Awards

The Barbados Rally Club (BRC) is determined to make Sol Rally Barbados 2015 an occasion worthy of the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s first International All-Stage Rally. Changes to the structure of the event, enhancements to the social programme and the return of the Sunday Cup all look set to help fulfil that goal.

Rally Chairman Mark Hamilton said: “We have been hard at work to ensure the planning, structure and running of the event maintains the high standards we have set ourselves in recent years. At the same time, we have made some changes based not only on our own involvement, but also thanks to the invaluable feedback from local, regional and international competitors.

An updated version of the event’s FAQ document will shortly be posted to the official web site – www.rallybarbados.net. Available as a PDF download, it details travel arrangements, accommodation and car rental for competitors, shipping and safe storage of their vehicles, fuel regulations and includes an outline of the scheduled activities.

For the second year in a row, Sol RB will kick off on Friday night (May 29) and, again, at Bushy Park Barbados – action is scheduled to start at 6.30pm. While the route-setters are currently fine-tuning details of the format, competitors and spectators can all look forward to a unique experience at the St Philip facility.

Saturday will start later than in recent years – currently, the target is 10.00am – with 11 stages at three venues; one will be used three times during daylight, while the fourth and final run of the other two will be after nightfall. Nine further stages at three different venues will run on Sunday, bringing the total stage distance to around 115 kilometres.

Hamilton continued: “History shows that the best rally finishes have been those that bring competitors, service crews, supporters and spectators together. The most recent example of this was the post-event lime by the Rally Club’s bar in the spectator area of the final stage in St Philip in 2013.

“So, we will be going back to this format, also returning to the scene of some epic Rally Barbados finishes of the past – the event’s final stage will end inside the Vaucluse Raceway in St Thomas, having already passed through the facility earlier in the day.”

Also on the social front, the ‘Rally Central’ Fish Fry & Pig Roast, one of the most popular events with overseas visitors, is to be combined with the Welcome Party, which has previously followed the Briefing Meeting. It will become the keynote 25th Anniversary event, on Monday, May 25. Hamilton explained: “We have been looking at how to mark this milestone in a way that suits the spirit of the event and of the Club, so this will remain a casual affair. It will also start earlier – we are fortunate that it is the Whit Monday Bank Holiday, so we can encourage larger participation from local crews.”

The Briefing Meeting will now become a purely business function, for drivers and co-drivers only, and has been moved one day earlier in the week, to the Tuesday, at the Accra Beach Hotel & Spa. Hamilton added: “Moving these two functions leaves Wednesday and Thursday completely free for crews to enjoy some island life with their families, or go out and recce the stages, in readiness for the Friday night start.”

Service arrangements have also been modified, following competitor feedback after new restrictions were introduced last year. There will still be one Central Service Park for the whole weekend, in the Andrews Factory Yard in St Joseph, but servicing elsewhere will be free, with the exception of a number of restricted zones.

It is hoped that this, along with the return of the Sunday Cup, which was phased out after Sol RB10, will increase the chance of crews making it to the end of the event. Hamilton concluded: “We have made these changes in view of the overriding spirit of the event to provide as much encouragement and opportunity as we can for competitors to remain in the rally.”

Motor sport recognised at National Sports Council Awards

Title sponsor of Rally Barbados, Sol, was among more than 40 organisations and individuals recognised for their contribution to sport at the 32nd Annual National Sports Council Awards staged in the island’s capital Bridgetown last Saturday (January 17).
The Caribbean’s largest independent oil company was recognised with the Sports-Tourism Award for its sponsorship of the Barbados Rally Club’s premier event, which accounts for more than 4,000 visitor nights annually. General Manager of Sol (Barbados), Ezra Prescod, accepted the award from Board Member of the National Sports Council Sylvesta Forde.

Andrew Mallalieu, President of the island’s governing body of motor sport, the Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF), and broadcaster and journalist Trevor Thorpe were also recognised. Mallalieu, who became the first FIA Formula 1 Steward from the English-speaking Caribbean last November, was honoured as an Official Receiving International Recognition, while Thorpe was presented with a Special Award, with the citation “in recognition of your outstanding performance for motorsport in 2014”.

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

HONOUR AT STAKE IN SOL RALLY BARBADOS 2015
Philliskirk joins Barbados regulars on Red Kite Stages

Scotland’s Brian Watson and Caroline Will, who made their Caribbean rallying debut in 2014, enjoyed their first visit so much that they will be back for more when the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) celebrates the 25th Anniversary of its first International All-Stage Rally at Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 29-31).

More than that, honour is at stake this year, as a bet was struck over a few bottles of event sponsor Banks beer between Watson, nicknamed ‘Sheriff’ in Scottish rallying circles, and Ireland’s Joe McQuillan, as to which would beat the other in Sol RB15. Co-driver ‘Deputy’ Will told rallybarbados.net: “Sol Rally Barbados is well and truly engraved on our calendar for every year now - we had an absolute ball last year. The atmosphere was unbelievable and we made some great new friends that we have stayed in contact with.”

Last year, Watson entered his Audi quattro S1, which attracted a lot of attention, but caused the team endless problems. Will adds: “One of the highlights was the first stage at Bushy Park, with our good friends Allan Mackay and Mo Downey having big issues with the Anglia WRC and ourselves breaking the wishbone off the start line. The Audi and Anglia completed the stage side by side, going as fast as they could - about 10mph - but the sound from the crowds was amazing, we could hear through our helmets.”

The wager was set in Barbados last year, and preparations are well in hand: Watson has commissioned a new car specifically for the task, a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo WRC, which is currently in build, as Will explained: “We sent the shell off a good few months ago, so it should be on the way home this week, then Wayne Sisson at AMS is putting the engine, gearbox and so on in. We hope the car will be built in time for a test run before it heads to Portsmouth, but we know we are running tight for time.”

County Antrim farmer McQuillan, aka ‘The Big Man’, is back for the fourth consecutive year, hoping to enjoy similar success to his first visit in 2012, when he finished 40th overall and third in Modified 8-A. A variety of mechanical issues have blighted his efforts since, but he is hoping that the current major rebuild will improve things.

His co-driver for the past two years, partner Annette Daly, is stepping aside for this year’s high-pressure event, in favour of Scottish co-driver Sean Donnelly, a good friend of Watson’s, who has competed against him in the Scottish Rally Championship. Daly said: “I'm handing over my seat to Sean this year, as he never got to go racing last year. There may be a fight for the top three overall in Rally Barbados, but Joe and Brian are travelling 5000 miles just to race each other - watch this space, this is a year in the making!”

Both camps are taking this wager seriously although, as Daly added: “They couldn't care less about the money, it’s all about the winning.” McQuillan’s Masserene Park Farms Lancer has been off the road since last year, undergoing another major reconstruction, which will transform it from an Evo VII into an Evo IX.

Philliskirk joins Barbados regulars on Red Kite Stages

Warren Philliskirk, whose entry for Sol Rally Barbados 2015 was confirmed three weeks ago, is among a number of drivers with island connections in action on Sunday (February 1), when the Red Kite Stages kick-starts the Historic season in the UK.

Based in Llandovery, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales, the Red Kite is the opening round of both the Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship and the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Championship; with an entry of more than 100 crews, it promises a spectacular start to the 2015 calendar.

Former BTRDA Champion Philliskirk’s co-driver in his Ford Escort RS1800 will be Nigel Hutchinson, who sat with ‘Grum’ Willcock in the island in 2004, while Escorts will also be campaigned by Rupert Lomax and Phil Squires. Lomax is still talked about for his remarkable ‘save’ on the Canefield stage of Sol RB14, when he powered his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI out of a ditch, while Squires will be partnered by his brother Mick, who has co-driven in Barbados for Andrew Jones, Graham Manning and Geoff Ullyett over the past three years.

Former British Historic Rally Champion and Barbados regular Steve Perez will also launch his 2015 campaign on the Red Kite, with regular co-driver Paul Spooner; driving his iconic Lancia Stratos, this will be his first full season of historic rallying since he won the title in 2003 in a Porsche 911.

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

BRITISH BROTHERS FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS
Bird chasing hat-trick on North West Stages live on-line

Second-generation British motor sport competitors, brothers Oliver and Philip Hopkins, will both compete in Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 29-31), when the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) celebrates the 25th Anniversary of its first International All-Stage Rally . . . but they will not be sitting in the same car.

Philip is already confirmed as co-driver in Kevin Procter’s Subaru Impreza WRC S7, in which the pair finished seventh overall and second in WRC-2 last year; younger brother Oliver will campaign his Hopkins Motorsport/Dan Cuff Motor Engineering Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI in Group A, with co-driver Ashley Trimble.

The family’s involvement in motor sport – and the basis of the family business, too - goes back more than 30 years, when father Reg competed in The European Truck Racing Championship. While he raced across Europe, often away from home for weeks at a time, he realised how much of a team’s budget could be saved by replacing expensive hotels and the cost of feeding personnel at race circuits with a purpose-built vehicle.

From their first transporter, designed to move the racing truck and ancillary equipment and to provide accommodation and catering for 10 people, the family business Hopkins Motorsport has developed into one of the leading suppliers of bespoke transporters and hospitality units in British and European motor sport.

While elder brother Philip raced from 1993 in Formula Ford, then in Formula 3 and GTs, with the Bristol-based family creating the transporter necessary to suit each racing programme, Oliver has only recently started to compete: “I always played younger brother to Philip, before I started competing in 2013. I started rallying with Philip as my navigator, and we won our third-ever rally, a single venue event.”

Shortly after, the brothers competed in a tarmac event on the notorious high-speed Epynt Ranges in Wales, where things did not go so well. Oliver explains: “On stage two, we developed a misfire and, as a result of losing concentration and, with limited experience, we rolled four times. We bought a second Evo, with a large spares package to help re-build our original car. During the rebuild I drove the new Evo on the Regency Stages and finished third overall.”

Oliver went back to the venue last year to lay the ghost of his huge accident: “With the old car rebuilt, I returned for the Tour of Epynt, just to conquer my fear. I wanted to go and finish and, with co-driver David Tortoishell, we did - 49th overall.”

In 2014, Ashley Trimble joined Oliver as co-driver, since when top 10 finishes have become the norm. Trimble’s background includes victory in the 2009 Yokohama 205 Challenge as co-driver to Russ Thompson, the runner-up spot in the 2009 MSA REIS Asphalt Rally Championship sitting with Graham Hollis, and a string of overall wins with drivers including Ford Escort aces Simon Mauger and Mark Solloway.

With both Evos now running, the Hopkins brothers competed on the recent Brean Stages (January 24/25), a single-venue tarmac event in Somerset, Philip finishing seventh and Oliver 10th. All was not plain sailing, though, as Oliver explains: “Day one was very challenging, with fierce competition and a very damp slippy course. On stage five we clipped a concrete barrel, which bent a rear wishbone. This slowed us down, as the car was now fantastic on right-hand bends, but sketchy on left-handers. With a new wishbone, day two was better, until we snapped a front drive-shaft on stage 11, when we were eighth. Despite the time lost on the final stage, we finished 10th overall.”

Bird chasinag hat-trick on North West Stages live on-line

Double Sol Rally Barbados winner Paul Bird is chasing a hat-trick of wins on the Legend Fires North West Stages Rally, being contested in and around the famous British seaside resort of Blackpool tonight (Friday) and tomorrow. Co-driver in his Ford Focus WRC08 this weekend will be Andrew Roughhead.

As the winner for the last two years, when his co-driver was Barbados regular Aled Davies, ‘Birdy’ is seeded at one, with another long-term supporter of Sol RB, Kevin Procter, at two in his Subaru Impreza S7, co-driven this year by Ian Jackson. Procter won the event in 2011, with Dave Bellerby in the co-driver’s seat.

Rally fans will be able to watch live stage action on-line from Blackpool in what is said to be the first initiative of its kind in British club rallying; motor sport specialists AMGTV will broadcast a live stream on both days, available by a view on demand option through the AMGTV web site (www.amgtv.co.uk).

When the Red Kite Stages launched the UK Historic rallying season last Sunday (February 1), Sol RB competitors Rupert Lomax (Ford Escort MkII) and Steve Perez (Lancia Stratos) each finished second in class, Lomax also an impressive ninth overall. Perez finished 27th, the icy conditions less than ideal for his iconic rear-engined machine. Warren Philliskirk, who will tackle Sol RB for the first time this year, was 15th in his Ford Escort RS1800, finishing fifth in class, while brothers Phil and Mick Squires (Escort MkII) finished 32nd and third in class.

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

SOL RALLY BARBADOS ENTRY LIST FILLING UP FAST
Barbados regulars help the Wyedean Rally celebrate 40 years

Entries for Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 29-31) have surged past 80, with support for the four-wheel-drive classes now representing more than a quarter of the entries received on-line through the official web site, rallybarbados.net. As the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) celebrates the 25th Anniversary of its first International All-Stage Rally, the overseas interest is at record levels.

Trinidad-based Briton Peter Morris is the latest regional entry to be confirmed, at the wheel of his Valvoline Oils and DMack Tyres-backed Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. Having taken a break from rallying in recent years, Morris returned to action towards the end of 2013, after converting his company car into a rally car. Initially, his daughter Hannah was co-driver, before he was reunited with his former partner Lyndon Mohammed, with whom he had enjoyed success in the past.

Morris started rallying in 1963 in a Triumph Herald and progressed to the European Rally Championship, contesting events in Europe in a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus in the 1980s, in the years immediately after Talbot had become Manufacturer Champions in the World Rally Championship in 1981. He also competed in the Monte Carlo Rally, the opening round of the WRC, in 1984.

Since moving to the Caribbean, Morris has enjoyed success both on land and at sea, as he is also an avid sailor. A regular competitor in the Trinidad & Tobago Rally Club (TTRC) Championship, he has won many awards and also competed in Barbados on a number of occasions, once making the front page of the Barbados Advocate with a big jump in his then Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III.

Trinidadian co-driver Mohammed has recently returned to the sport in which he first competed as a 14-year-old in a Ford Escort in the late 1970s. His accolades include winning the TTRC Championship in 1992, finishing ninth in Rally Jamaica in the same year and winning Group 2 in the Caribbean Rally Championship. In addition to his partnership with Morris, he has also sat with Frankie Boodram, Paul Chung, Ian Gibson and John Powell.

Nine years ago, when Mohammed withdrew from rallying to pursue further studies, he also started mountain biking although, last year, it went wrong, as he explains: “In March 2014, I broke my arms going downhill. I possibly didn’t realise I had no roll cage. By October, I was back in a rally car with Peter, winning Group A on our first outing, followed up with another class win in November. I’m looking forward to competing on the twisty curves of Rally Barbados.”

Barbados regulars help the Wyedean Rally celebrate 40 years

Regular Sol Rally Barbados competitors will be playing a key role in helping the Forest of Dean Motor Club in the UK celebrate the 40th running of the Wyedean Forest Rally on Valentine’s Day (Saturday February 14) . . . not least Rob Weir, who will be returning to the island this year with his historic Triumph TR7 V8, and who is sponsoring the event through his business Weir Engineering.

Based at Chepstow Racecourse in South Wales, the event has attracted a full-house entry of 175 crews, headed by double Sol RB winner Paul Bird in his Ford Focus WRC08, with Welsh co-driver Aled Davies; after achieving a hat-trick of wins at last weekend’s North West Stages, ‘Birdy’ is on a high coming in to the opening round of REIS Ravenol BTRDA Rally Championship.

Bird finished second in last year’s Wyedean to another Barbados regular, Steve Perez, who has elected not to defend the title in his Focus WRC, but is entered with Paul Spooner in his iconic Lancia Stratos. The Scottish crew of David Weston and Kirsty Riddick – she won Sol RB12 as co-driver to Bird – start at number two in a Subaru Impreza WRC.

In what promises to be a spectacular weekend of celebration, the entry also includes Warren Philliskirk (Ford Escort MkI), who will make his Sol RB debut this year, and three-time Wyedean winner from the 1970s Graham Elsmore, driving Rob Weir’s Escort RS1800, rebuilt after a major accident by Rob Smith. After a test day at Walter’s Arena, the former Ford and British Leyland factory driver Elsmore said: "The car is just fantastic. I just wanted to blow the rust and cobwebs off me, before the Wyedean. The car is as good as any factory car I drove, that's the best compliment I can give Rob Smith and his boys, and I can't thank Rob Weir enough for giving me this opportunity".

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

BIRD SEEKS THIRD WIN ON SOL RALLY BARBADOS

Fresh from back-to-back victories on tarmac and gravel over consecutive weekends in the UK, double Sol Rally Barbados winner Paul Bird has confirmed his entry for this year’s 25th Anniversary event. With Welsh co-driver Aled Davies, he will again campaign the Frank Bird Poultry/Fuchs Titan Race/Hager/Mac Tools Ford Focus WRC08, in which he has won five of seven domestic events contested since Sol RB14.

Last Saturday (February 14), Cumbrian driver Bird got his 2015 BTRDA Rally Championship year off to the best possible start with a comprehensive victory in the 40th Wyedean Forest Rally in South Wales, which was sponsored by another Barbados regular, Rob Weir, through his Weir Engineering business, based just a few miles down the road from Rally HQ at Chepstow Racecourse.

It was only ‘Birdy’s third visit to the Forest of Dean, where he finished second last year and in 2011, so he was determined to be on the pace, particularly as he was facing a quality entry. He was beaten on the day’s opening stage by Yorkshire’s Charlie Payne (Ford Fiesta ST), but a string of three stage wins gave Bird a 21-second lead at lunch.

With two more stage wins, Bird was 34secs to the good at the finish over Scottish rival David Weston Jnr (Subaru Impreza WRC S12), whose co-driver Kirsty Riddick sat with Bird on his first Sol RB win in 2012; Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank (Impreza S11) finished third, a further 9secs adrift.

Bird said: “That's the perfect way to get our championship bid going and I'm especially pleased with how I drove today. There was such a strong entry, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but it's good to keep the winning run going and, after finishing second twice on this event, it's great to get the win.”

A week earlier, Bird had claimed his third consecutive win on the Legend Fires North West Stages Rally, based in the seaside resort of Blackpool, where his co-driver was Andrew Roughead. With cool but dry conditions for Friday night’s opening loop, Bird made a wrong tyre choice, finishing second to Simon Bowen (Impreza S11) on the first two stages, before taking the lead on the Blackpool Promenade.

Bird’s nine-second overnight advantage was increased to 35secs on Saturday morning, until a poor run through the Fleetwood Docks, including a stage maximum, saw his lead slashed to six seconds; he fought back with five stage wins, however, then continued to build his lead, arriving back at the finish ramp more than two minutes ahead of Tony Bardy (Nissan Pulsar GTiR), a two-time winner of the tarmac event.

Bird said: “To come away with a third win on the trot is fantastic. It was forecast below freezing on Friday night, so we went with ice tyres, which proved to be a wrong choice as I should have been on inters. On Saturday, I made it hard work for myself when I wrong-slotted on SS10 and lost a big chunk of my lead, but I hold my hands up to that."

Having finished runner-up in the 2013 MSA Asphalt Rally Championship and then the forest-based 2014 REIS BTRDA series, Bird plans to go one better this year: “It's about time I won one of these championships, I'm fed up of being the bridesmaid!"

Bird’s Wyedean victory last week was his fifth in seven events in the Dom Buckley Motorsport-prepared Focus, following wins last year on his return from Barbados on the Quinton, Woodpecker and Grizedale Stages; he finished on the podium in his other two outings, second on the Trackrod Stages and third on the Cambrian Rally.

Bird’s Barbados record is unrivalled among overseas visitors: his consecutive wins in 2012 and ’13 followed four podium finishes, second in 2008 (Impreza S9) and ’09 (Focus WRC07), then third for the next two years (Focus WRC08); last year, he was leading by 25secs when he ran wide on stage 13, damaged a wheel and retired.


Mackay, Tinsley and Watson kick off 2015 rally campaigns

Scotland’s Allan Mackay and Brian Watson, both already confirmed for Sol Rally Barbados 2015, will kick off their domestic rallying season this Saturday (February 21) on the 60th Anniversary Arnold Clark Thistle Hotels Snowman Rally. Based in Inverness in the Highlands, it is the opening round of the ARR Craib Scottish Rally Championship.

Watson and co-driver Caroline Will are entered in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, while Mackay will drive his familiar Ford Anglia WRC, co-driven for this event by Charlie Donaldson, another regular visitor to Sol RB.

On the same day, Sol RB first-timers Marcus Tinsley and James Crosland are entered in their Peugeot 205 GTi for the Jack Neal Memorial Rally, a single-venue event run at Blyton, a former RAF airfield in the eastern English county of Lincolnshire.

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

For media information only. No regulatory value.

 

[Graham]

RETURN TO SOL RALLY BARBADOS “AN EASY DECISION”

Former British Historic Rally Championship Class Champions Chris Shooter and Bev LeGood took some years to give in to pressure from friends before they made their Caribbean debut on Sol Rally Barbados 2014, but returning for the 25th Anniversary of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event “was an easy decision to make.”

The BRC’s blue riband event has grown from small beginnings as the International All-Stage Rally in 1990 into the region’s biggest annual motor sport International; it is scheduled for May 29-31, with Simpson Motors Scrutineering and the King of the Hill shakedown event the previous weekend (May 23/24).

Co-driver LeGood said: “Since coming home, we’ve been caught up in work, so rallying has taken a back seat (with regret), but if we only competed once this year there was just one event in all our minds! We had such a fabulous time both on the event and with the hospitality from everyone involved, it was a very easy decision to make.”

More than that, one of last year’s group of supporters, former circuit racer and car enthusiast Antony Pownall, enjoyed the event and the island so much that he went home determined to return as a competitor. He acquired a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX and, after a successful shakedown at a single-venue event at the Oulton Park race circuit close to his home, posted his entry on the official web site – www.rallybarbados.net.

Motor trader Shooter built his Sparrow Hill Cars Ford Escort MkII in 2005, to MSA Historic specification and powered by a 2-litre 195bhp Pinto engine; from Loughborough in Leicestershire, he and LeGood were regular competitors in the British Historic Rally Championship (BHRC) from 2006 to 2011, winning their class in 2008.

They finished 28th overall and won the International Historic class in Sol RB14, but the class was not well-supported, so Shooter’s task may be more difficult in 2015, with six entries already received. That doesn’t phase the British team, however, as LeGood says: “Knowing that the others may have a lot more ‘grunt’ than us, it will be foot to the floor, as he already has a competitor he wishes to beat.”

Their good friend Pownall, who had already visited Barbados on holiday before last year’s rally, travelled back with them for Sol RB14. Formerly a hill-climb and circuit racer – he was a regular in the manufacturer-supported Renault 5 Turbo Championship – he is also a collector of Veteran cars, including a 1901 De-Dion Bouton, in which he and Shooter have regularly finished the world-famous London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.

For Sol RB15, Pownall’s co-driver will be another very experienced British enthusiast, Malcolm Clark, who has been involved in a wide range of motor sport since his early teens, as a competitor - on both sides of a rally car - mechanic, team manager, event organiser and display driver.

In National Autotests (the equivalent of Autocross in Barbados), he won his class in the BTRDA Championship in 1993 and 1999 and represented England on 10 occasions in International competitions. In service and management, he worked with many leading British teams, including David Sutton Cars and works teams such as Lada and Skoda, also won the Ford Faberge Fiesta Championship in 1979 with Guenda Eadie and the 1988 MG Maestro Challenge with Jenny Birrell.


Barbados Rally Club true to core values in 2014

The core values of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) served the island’s oldest motor sport organisation well during 2014, which Chairman Mark Hamilton described as “an interesting year” in his annual report at Thursday’s (February 26) AGM at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association (BCTSA) Clubhouse at Searles, Christ Church.

After a year in which the motor sport landscape changed significantly, Hamilton said: “I am pleased to say that the Club has stayed true to its core values of doing what we do best: running our motor sport professionally, maintaining good relationships with all BMF member Clubs, including the provision of revenue-generating support services to other Clubs and facilities, and maintaining our partnerships with the business community by providing an environment in which they see a return on their investment.”

On the sponsorship front, he reported that the Club had recently renewed multi-year deals with Banks Holdings and Chefette, had received commitments from Automotive Art and LIME for the 2015 season and were in the final stages of contract renewal for Sol Rally Barbados for a five-year period from 2016 to 2020. With support for Sol RB15 also confirmed from Barbados Tourism Management Inc and the Tourism Development Corporation, Hamilton added: “Our commercial partners remain committed, which speaks volumes when you consider the economic challenges that we face today.”

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

For media information only. No regulatory value.

 

[Graham]

LIME IS THE NEW KING OF THE HILL TITLE SPONSOR

LIME, the leading telecoms provider in Barbados, has significantly stepped up its commitment to the Barbados Rally Club (BRC). A marketing partner since 2010, LIME is the new title sponsor of King of the Hill, the final shakedown before Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 29-31), which mark’s the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s premier event.

Running the previous Sunday (May 24), at the popular Hangman’s Hill stage in St Thomas, LIME King of the Hill plays a vital role in the build-up to Sol RB15. The results provide the basis for seeding the entry, as well as the event itself offering overseas competitors, a record number of them first-timers, an opportunity to drive at competition speed on island tarmac.

And, alongside the day’s on-stage action, the LIME KotH Party Stage – Powered by LIME / Banks / AA at the Vaucluse Raceway promises spectators an experience unrivalled in island motor sport. Collaborating with two other long-term sponsors of the BRC, Automotive Art and Banks Holdings, LIME is planning a day full of family competitions, product promotions and activities for the children, with an unbeatable DJ line-up to keep things lively. Food and drink will be on sale and there will also be a VIP area.

The BRC’s blue riband event has grown from small beginnings in 1990 into the region’s biggest annual motor sport International; a key player in sports-tourism, the event annually contributes in excess of Bds $4m to the island’s economy, much of it in valuable foreign exchange, and accounts for more than 4,000 visitor nights at a quieter time in the tourism year.

Head of Marketing for LIME, Rachel Pilgrim, said: “We are really looking forward to giving the island’s thousands of rally fans an unforgettable day out. Year on year, the Barbados Rally Club delivers a product that we are proud to be associated with – once again, the international interest in Sol Rally Barbados is huge, and we intend to keep our overseas visitors and local customers connected via our LIME Live Facebook page and 4G coverage over the two weekends, while enjoying an all-day Caribbean party.”

BRC Chairman Mark Hamilton added: “Our relationship with LIME has developed steadily over the past five years, so I welcome this increased partnership. They are not simply sponsors, but assist with infrastructure and promotion, coming up with new ideas and strategies to help keep the island’s many rally fans informed and engaged.”

Since first run in 2008, KotHill has been won by only four drivers: local aces Paul Bourne and Roger Skeete swapped back and forth, Bourne in 2008 & ‘10, Skeete in ’09 & ’11, Skeete doubling up to win Sol RB11. England’s Paul Bird repeated the double in 2012, winning again last year, with Neil Armstrong the KotH winner in 2013.


Prize trip incentive for Circuit of Ireland marshals

In association with the Tourism Development Corporation (TDC), the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) is again offering two marshals at the Circuit of Ireland (April 2-4) a once-in-a-lifetime chance to enjoy Sol Rally Barbados. The prize includes return flights from London Gatwick on Virgin Atlantic Airways, accommodation and a shared rental car.

Winner Steve Reeves, who bought a second ticket last year so wife Pauline could share the prize, has really caught the Caribbean bug: “The trip was excellent, the atmosphere is superb. It was so good that, shortly after we arrived home, we booked a return trip, another two weeks and staying at the same hotel. We're really looking forward to it!"

The prizes paid off for Irish marshalling, too. Reeves added: “Before last year's Circuit, the last time that I had marshalled was in the '70s. But, since then, I've marshalled at a lot of events and am now a certified fire marshal. I'm doing all three days at the Circuit this year, and Pauline is going to marshal for the first time." Fellow-winner Jason Jackson echoed his thoughts: "Last year’s Circuit was my first time marshalling, but I've marshalled at other events as a result and I'm back at the Circuit again this year."

With a traditional Easter date, ‘The Circuit’ is one of the world’s oldest rallies – it first ran in 1931; last year, it attracted nearly 74,000 spectators and is a round of the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) and the FIA ERC Junior Championship.

Eurosport will broadcast the event, expecting viewership of more than 14 million globally, while British actor Idris Elba (star of the 2013 film Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom), will attract further coverage, competing in Ireland for a new documentary series, to be broadcast on the Discovery Channel across more than 220 countries.

BRC Chairman Mark Hamilton said: “Our six-year association with the TDC has helped us promote our event, and Barbados as a destination, to Ireland with huge success. We are two islands with rallying at the heart of our culture, so there is a natural fit, and motor sport is the same - without our unpaid volunteers, our sport would be lost.”

Circuit of Ireland Event Director Bobby Willis added: “Marshals are the unsung heroes of our sport and it’s fantastic that our friends in the beautiful island of Barbados have offered this superb prize to our rally.”

Sol Rally Barbados and LIME King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

For media information only. No regulatory value.

 

[Graham]

WORKSOP WARRIORS HEAD FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS

The largest-ever group to visit Sol Rally Barbados from one motor club in the UK is making a celebratory trip this year. Led by legendary BMW driver Martin Stockdale, the ‘Worksop Warriors’ will field four cars in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) 25th Anniversary event (May 29-31), with 30 family, friends and supporters making the trip.

President of the Worksop & District Motor Club, ‘Mad-dale’ makes his 15th consecutive appearance, a record among overseas competitors; he is joined by Hugh Peat, with Club Chairman Mike Sendall as co-driver, Stuart Tomlinson, whose co-driver Nick Taylor is on the committee, and Ray Clough, with co-driver yet to be confirmed. Taylor is marking his 50th birthday, while Clough and Stockdale chalk up the Big 6-0 this year.

BRC Chairman Mark Hamilton said: “This is a huge endorsement of the sports-tourism impetus behind our event and we are all looking forward to welcoming the Worksop Warriors and sharing in their celebrations.”

Stockdale, whose co-driver will be newcomer Stephen Ritchie, is building a new BMW 1M Coupe, sponsored by Drive-a-Matic, Divi Southwinds and Quarry Motors, having collected the shell from Custom Cages last weekend: “There are many hours of midnight oil to burn, but I keep telling myself failure is not an option! This is a fantastic turnout from Worksop and regulars and newbies are all looking forward to a great trip.”

Peat rallied in Barbados in 2003 and ‘04 in a Ford Escort MkII, 29th overall and fifth in Open Modified in his first year the better result, before upgrading to an Escort Cosworth, finishing second (to Stockdale) in Group B in 2005. In the following years, he rallied a Nissan Sunny GTi, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI and, finally, a Subaru Impreza, in which he won two regional titles – the ANEMMC and EMAMC Championships – in the UK in 2008.

After a break from rallying, while he started a new business, WeMix Concrete, he returned to the sport last year. Peat says: “We came back with an ex-prodrive Subaru Impreza N11 and entered the same championships as in 2008 – we finished second and third overall, but it was a hard battle competing against the same guys six years later!

“So we have decided to compete in the rallies we want to do without the pressure of a championship . . . and Rally Barbados was top of that list! What better time to return than the 25th Anniversary - we can’t wait to be back to enjoy some fun in the sun!”

For Peat and wife Shirley, the event is also a family reunion with sons Mark and Stephen - they were 15 and 12 when they first visited the island in 2003, but both now live in Australia. “Barbados is a special place for us all,” added Peat, “with someone in the family visiting each year between 2003 and 2009, then 2012.”

Although he has never rallied in Barbados, Clough is also familiar with the island and the event, to which this will be his eighth visit. He is now returning to rallying, having first competed in the late 1970s, and says: “I’m 60 this year, so I thought I would treat myself, get the car out of the garage and use it for what it’s built for.”

The car is an International Historic Group 4 Escort MkI, with a 250bhp engine, backed by Saint-Gobain Weber, DBP Bradford, The Builders Center Sheffield, Yorkshire Fixings Otley, Encon Leeds and Minster Sheffield. Found in a fish and chip shop queue by Worksop member and regular Barbados visitor Julian Lockwood, it was built into a rally car by Clough, finished in 2007, since when: “it has sat in my garage looking pretty.”

The Worksop ‘newbies’ are Tomlinson and Taylor, who will campaign their Tomlinsons and Atlas Copco UK-supported Group 4 Escort MkII in Historics. The car is undergoing a bare shell rebuild, the blue livery familiar to British fans in recent years now replaced by Ford Racing Red, with an engine and gearbox overhaul all part of the package.

Originally built for Magard – famed for their sump guards – the Escort was acquired in 1993, since when Tomlinson and Taylor have contested more than 100 events. Now with a 240bhp 2.1-litre Cosworth engine, it has carried them to numerous class wins on local events, also the East Midlands Rally Championship title. Taylor also has a World Rally Championship class win to his credit, having finished 50th overall on the 2001 Network Q RAC Rally and A5 winners in a Ford Ka with Rob Gill, the motoring editor of The Sun, at the time the UK’s highest-circulation daily paper.


‘Jaws of Life’ donated to island motor sport

A collaboration between the Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF), two British safety experts and the organisers of Race Of Champions 2014 at Bushy Park has resulted in a valuable legacy for island motor sport – the gift of specialist ‘Jaws of Life’ equipment, which will be available to all BMF Member Clubs. Donated by the Emergency Mobile Medical Unit (EMMU), based in the English north-west county of Lancashire, the equipment was handed over in December by EMMU’s founder Stuart Westbrook, who also undertook training sessions on the island.

ROC’s Safety Officer Sue Sanders, a familiar face in island motor sport in the last two years, having advised on safety procedures for Sol RB, started the ball rolling on the project on a ROC site visit last September. The new equipment will be maintained and operated by members of the privately-funded Roving Response Team (RRT). After the two half-day training sessions, Westbrook said: “The training went well and the RRT fellows were very enthusiastic. They had a lot of sound vehicle knowledge and related to the application of the hydraulic equipment and what could be achieved with it.”

Sol Rally Barbados and LIME King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

ROGER, ROGER: THUMBS UP FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS

Local hero Roger ‘The Sheriff’ Skeete, 13-time overall winner of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event, and former UK National Rally Champion Roger Duckworth – fifth overall and winner of WRC-2 for the past two years – have confirmed participation in Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 29-31), bringing the four-wheel-drive entry to 18.

Skeete’s record-breaking roster of victories book-end the BRC’s 25th Anniversary celebrations: he won in 1990 in a Peugeot 205GTi, then claimed his 13th win last year in his Subaru Impreza WRC S12, sponsored, among others, by Sol and LIME, which has this year become title sponsor of the previous weekend’s King of the Hill (May 24).

Skeete is as keen to contest the island’s premier event this year as he was 25 years ago, when his membership of the BRC’s Committee of Management was instrumental in the start of special stage rallying in the island: “The rally means a lot to me: in one of our monthly meetings back in the day, Andrew Phillips said words to the effect that if I wanted a special stage rally, a concept far removed from the Club's idea of a rally at the time, I would need to go out and find the sponsorship to cover the expenses. So I did!”

Skeete will again be partnered by co-driver Louis Venezia, with whom he shared wins in 2010, 2011 and last year, when he re-asserted the home team’s authority, after Britain’s Paul Bird (Ford Focus WRC08) had claimed back-to-back wins in 2012 & ’13.

On the sidelines at last Sunday’s (March 15) first island event, the Motoring Club of Barbados Inc’s Spring Blaze, Skeete said: “A number of items are still in the UK being rebuilt, and we are ensuring all avenues are explored in trying to make the launch control reliable. I am really looking forward to Sol RB15 and completing the 25th Anniversary celebrations by keeping the trophy at home.”

Bird and co-driver Aled Davies are confirmed, as are Britain’s Rob Swann and Darren Garrod, who claimed their first Barbados podium last year, second in Swann’s recently-acquired Impreza WRC S11. Announcements in the coming weeks are expected to further strengthen the four-wheel-drive entry.

Duckworth’s fifth visit not only boosts the competition at the sharp end of the field, but is also a triumph for the event’s sports-tourism promotions. Since his win on the UK’s Rallye Sunseeker National gifted him a Sol RB11 prize drive, he has not missed a year, turning the trip into a family holiday . . . and other prize-winners have come back, too.

Sol RB Chairman Mark Hamilton says: “Through our partnerships with the Barbados Tourism Authority, as it was then, and the Tourism Development Corporation, we have offered Sol Rally Barbados trips as prizes. Roger has been coming back ever since he won, and winning marshals and spectators have also returned in subsequent years, just bowled over by the welcome and the rally vibe in the island.”

The former UK Champion’s co-driver in the Intrinsys Subaru Impreza WRC S6 will be Mark Broomfield, who first rallied with Duckworth in 1991. They finished fifth overall last year, winning WRC-2, Duckworth’s second victory in the class catering for pre-2004 World Cars, improving on seventh and sixth overall in his first two visits.

Since Sol RB14, Duckworth has seen little action, having retired from Wales Rally GB National last November when a severe landing after a jump on the third stage resulted in Broomfield being airlifted to hospital, suffering from whiplash, although he was soon discharged. They will shake down the car on March 29 in the Alan Healy Memorial Cadwell Park Stages, which Duckworth won in 2012, with Aled Davies as co-driver.


ASRs confirm Sunday Cup and revised service arrangements

Revised service arrangements for Sol Rally Barbados 2015 and the re-introduction of the Sunday Cup – absent from the event since Sol RB10 – are the key changes revealed in the Additional Supplementary Regulations (ASRs), which will be posted to the official web site (www.rallybarbados.net) this weekend; found under the Competitor draw-down heading Regulations, the ASRs will be available as a PDF download.

Rally Chairman Mark Hamilton said: “I’m pleased to say that there are very few amendments for 2015. For this year, we have removed the mandatory service areas and replaced them with non-service zones. By doing this, we can continue to eliminate areas that we see as potential problems, while at the same time ensuring that we give all competitors the best chance of completing the event as an overall finisher.

“The Sunday Cup recognises competitors who re-enter the rally for the Sunday restart, having not completed the previous day’s competition and serves to reward their efforts with what is, in effect, a separate event within Sol Rally Barbados.”

Sol Rally Barbados and LIME King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS

Regional Champions Jeffrey Panton, who has won his home event Rally Jamaica a record eight times, John Powell, the four-time winner of Rally Trinidad, and Kyle Gregg, who won Rally Jamaica last year, have confirmed their entries for Sol Rally Barbados 2015, boosting the four-wheel-drive entry to 21, with others still in the pipeline.

The Barbados Rally Club (BRC) is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of its premier event this year - Sol RB15 is scheduled for May 29-31, with Scrutineering and LIME King of the Hill the previous weekend (May 23/24). With five weeks to go before closing date, more than 100 entries have been received on the official web site, www.rallybarbados.net.

Twice the Caribbean Rally Champion (1996 & ’98), Panton is among the region’s most accomplished drivers and was the first winner in Barbados from the wider Caribbean, in 1998, having twice finished second (1994 & ‘96), all at the wheel of a Toyota Celica GT4. He is unique in having won regional rallying’s ‘Big Three’, on tarmac in Barbados, and on the loose in Trinidad (2011 & ‘13) and Jamaica (eight times from 1994 to 2013), then set a new record with podium finishes in all three for two straight seasons (2012 & ‘13).

This year, Panton has added sponsorship from Sandals Barbados to last year’s Rubis and Total livery on his ex-Marcus Gronholm Ford Focus WRC06, which he will share with regular co-driver, fellow-Jamaican Mike Fennell Jnr. They finished sixth last year, after a spirited fight back including 10 stage wins, following an ‘off’ on Friday night at Bushy Park, which dropped them to 76th position.

Former Trinidad & Tobago Champion John Powell joined the Ford camp last year, returning to action with an ex-works Focus WRC08, in which Francois Duval, Gronholm and Mikko Hirvonen achieved WRC podiums. With last-minute replacement co-driver, Jamaican Hugh Hutchinson, ‘Penti’ finished third, his best result for nine years. Nick Telfer will sit with him in Sol RB15.

He had missed Sol RB13 and retired on Saturday the previous year, after damaging his Subaru Impreza WRC S14. He has twice finished second in Barbados (2005 & ’07 in Toyota Corolla WRCs) and has a further five top 10 finishes to his credit since 1997. He also won on the loose in Trinidad in 2005-‘06 (Corolla WRC), 2010 (Impreza WRC S12) and 2012 (Impreza WRC S14), and in Jamaica in 2011 (Impreza WRC S14).

Hutchinson will also be back for Sol RB15, as co-driver for Kyle Gregg, with whom he won Rally Jamaica last year in the B D Gregg/Sunitrac Tires Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, the ex-Powell NACAM Championship car. With three further podium finishes to his name in Barbados – victory in 2006, plus two third places (2005 & ’08) with Kyle’s father Gary - ‘Hutch’ is the perfect co-driver for the younger Gregg’s Sol RB debut.

It is not Gregg’s first drive in Barbados, as he raced in last July’s Digicel Williams International at Bushy Park. He won two of the three Caribbean Motor Racing Championship Group 2 races, finishing second in the opening race, fighting from near the back of a record 16-car grid, having failed to set a qualifying time; the only driver he failed to pass was fellow Honda Civic racer Mark Thompson, whom he will again compete in identical machinery in Sol RB15, both driving Group N Evo IXs.

Gregg’s circuit racing cv is impressive, Overall Champion Driver at the Dover Raceway in 2011 & ’14, plus four consecutive years as MP2 Champion and two (2011 & '12) as TS2 Champion in the Civic. He launches his 2015 racing campaign over Easter weekend.

Panton, Powell and Gregg have also confirmed their intentions of competing in the Valvoline Rally on April 19; the two Focus WRCs are already in Barbados, with Gregg currently sourcing tarmac suspension for the Evo.


International entry lines up for Rally Trinidad 2015

Competitors from Barbados, Ireland, Jamaica and Suriname will face the host country’s finest, when the Trinidad & Tobago Rally Club stages Rally Trinidad 2015 this weekend (March 27-29). The event starts Friday evening, with two stages in the Hasely Crawford Stadium in the capital Port of Spain, with a further 22 tests over the weekend.

With no World Rally Cars, winners for the past five years, a close battle is forecast among leading Group A and GpN runners: James Betts of Barbados (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V) heads the former, facing a challenge from last year’s GpA winner Cristian Bourne (Evo VIII) and David Coelho (Evo IX), while four-time RT winner John Powell (Evo IX) should enjoy a spirited GpN battle with 2014 winner Stuart Johnson (Subaru Impreza N12), Andrew Mallalieu from Barbados (N10), Joel Jackson from Jamaica (N14) and Barbados-based expat Harold Morley, with his new R4 Impreza.

Ireland’s flamboyant Frank Kelly (Ford Escort MkII) thrilled the crowds last year on his way to top 2wd and sixth overall, but has competition this year from fellow-countrymen Shane McGirr (Toyota Starlet) and Paul Fitzgerald (Escort MkII), with Barbados represented by Wayne Archer (Peugeot 206) and Stuart McChlery (Escort MkI).

Sol Rally Barbados and LIME King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

RECORD TRIP FOR KIWI CARS TO SOL RALLY BARBADOS

Two immaculate Peugeot rally cars are already seven days into a voyage that will establish a new distance record for the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international. They left New Zealand on Friday, March 27, heading for the Bridgetown Port, where they will be off-loaded in time to compete in Sol Rally Barbados 2015.

While drivers have flown from Australia and Kenya to compete, no cars have ever made such a lengthy journey in the 25-year history of the Barbados Rally Club’s premier event. Aboard the container ship Spirit of Sydney, the cars sail from the Port of Auckland via the Panama Canal to Cartagena in Colombia, where they will be trans-shipped for the final leg of the journey to Barbados . . . a total voyage of a little under 8,900 miles.

The car’s owners face an even longer journey . . . at least in miles: New Zealand rallying legend Mike Marshall, son Nick and their family and friends will fly more than 10,000 miles via Los Angeles, Houston and Miami in the United States before arriving in Barbados around 32 hours later, nearly 24 hours of which will be spent in the air.

Marshall was New Zealand’s top driver in the early 1970s, when Ford was opening up the country’s automotive market with some active promotion of the Escort MkI and, later, MkII; regularly winning more stages than anyone else – even against international competition – he also travelled to the UK, where his results included eighth in the Dukeries Rally in 1972, then third in the Snowman Rally the following year.

He was part of the Woolmark Ford Team in Rally New Zealand in 1973, finishing second to team-mate Hannu Mikkola, then went on to win the event two years later – the global fuel crisis cancelled the 1974 event – in what was the first International success for the MkII Escort, after his team transferred the mechanicals from his MkI to a brand new MkII body shell, specially imported by Ford as an example for the new production line.

Marshall read about rallying in Barbados in the British Cars & Car Conversions magazine around 15 years ago, and never forgot. When Emma Gilmour became the first female driver in the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship last year, competing alongside fellow Kiwi Rhys Millen and there was a round at Bushy Park Barbados, Marshall needed no more encouragement to make the trip.

As Marshall explains: “The plan was for Heather and I to catch Emma and Rhys in action, then participate in the official rally reconnaissance, to see if it was the type of event that might appeal to my son Nick.” But that’s where the plan changed: “We met **** Mauger. His son Simon has arguably the fastest alloy block Escort in the UK, and **** was out to do an exploratory recce with his wife, Kathy.”

Mauger competed last year in a Nissan Micra from the Major Motorsport stable, finishing 33rd overall and winning M6 with co-driver Steve McNulty, all of this with Marshall and Heather acting as service crew. This year, Mauger will drive an historic-spec Ford Escort MkII, which has done very few events before this year . . . and there’s a wager on the table between the two rallying veterans.

With co-driver Marc Keen, Marshall will drive a 200-horsepower Peugeot 106 S16 Maxi in Modified 6, while son Nick, aka ‘Jedi’, will compete in M7 in a 2-litre Peugeot 206 GTI 180, which develops around 260bhp. Designed for gravel and endurance events and built by the family’s Marshall Motorsport concern, Nick’s car has now been converted to tarmac spec, while the 106 Maxi has been recreated from a car Nick used to drive in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship in Australia and New Caledonia.

Nick’s co-driver is Australian Ray Baker, who lives in Charnwood in the Australian Capital Territory on the outskirts of Canberra. ‘Raybak’ has been competing since 2001, on both sides of a rally car. In 2004, he finished in the top 10 in the Rally Canberra National event as a driver, also won Class P3 in the 2007 Australian Rally Championship. As a co-driver, he won the 2011 Australian Rally Championship Privateers Cup and Premier League Co-driver, 2012 NSW Rally Champion 2wd Co-driver and 2014 Australian Tarmac Rally Champion Late Classic Co-driver.


Competitors reminded of on-line entry closing date

Entries for Sol RB15 close on Friday, May 1. While 106 on-line entries have so far been received on the official web site www.rallybarbados.net, more than 20 local competitors who participated either last year or the year before are yet to enter. Sol RB15 Rally Office Manager Jeanne Crawford urged competitors to move quickly: “It is important that we have a clear idea of our potential total entry, so I would encourage anyone who intends to enter to do so as quickly as possible, particularly as the final BMF rally safety training sessions are to be held next week, which are mandatory for all competitors.”

Sol Rally Barbados and LIME King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

UK CREWS NEAR SOL RALLY BARBADOS SAILING DATE

With less than two weeks to go before their cars are due to sail from Portsmouth on the English south coast for the 11-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Geest Line freighter Klipper Stream, competitors the length and breadth of the UK are making final preparations for Sol Rally Barbados 2015.

As the closing date approaches, repeat visitors from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales carry to 33 the number of overseas crews confirmed, including those from around the region, with further announcements due in the coming weeks. Sol RB15 (May 29-31) marks the 25th Anniversary of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event, which follows Simpson Motors Scrutineering and LIME King of the Hill the previous weekend.

Between them, Ireland’s Peter Gallagher, Scotland’s Kenny Hall, Rupert Lomax from Wales and England’s Nigel Worswick have made more than 25 trips to compete in the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international.

Gallagher is making his ninth trip, bringing the Dublin Crystal-backed Peugeot 206 in which he finished 45th overall and third in Modified 6 two years ago, with regular local co-driver Rene Forde; since he first competed in Barbados – as co-driver to Martin Taylor for the first two years – he has never failed to achieve an overall finish. He was second in Clubman last year, in the same Peugeot 306 in which he had won Production 3 in Sol RB08, and has also finished second in M5 (Sol RB12, Talbot Samba).

For Kenny Hall, whose 13th year competing is second only to Martin Stockdale’s record 15th visit among the International regulars, an overall finish and class result would make the trip worthwhile. After the Halltune Garage Opel Corsa retired with mechanical problems caused on his first visit in 2002, he finished first or second in class for five of the next seven years, losing a M6 certain victory in 2010, after a wrong slot in the SuperSpecial at Simpson Motors. The Puma was damaged in subsequent accidents, but returns this year, with Holland’s Fenny Wesselink again the co-driver, on her 10th trip.

Welsh crew Rupert Lomax and co-driver-cum-preparation wizard Dave ‘Squeek’ Alcock will be back for their fourth visit, having finished 13th overall, winning Group A, last year, thrilling fans at the Vaucluse ‘Ninety’ on the way. When the DigIt Plant Hire/SMS Motorsport/Almax Racing Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI slipped into the ditch on the right of the stage heading north, few believed the car would emerge unscathed . . . but it did, and the collective cheer from the crowd could be heard islandwide.

Last year, Alcock ticked another of his rallying boxes when he finished 15th overall and third in class, co-driving with Rikki Proffitt in a Toyota Corolla in New Zealand’s eight-day Silver Fern Historic Rally, while Lomax is currently lying fifth overall and second in class in the Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship in his Ford Escort MkI RS1600.

Nigel Worswick returns for a fifth consecutive visit. He finished 15th overall last year, third in SuperModified 11 in his Worswick Engineering/Rallytech Composites/Rockwell Automation Escort MkII; he was delighted with his best result so far, particularly as it was the first major rally for co-driver Rebecca Kirsch. He had been hoping to bring his Ford Escort WRC – he is entered in the Manx National and the shipping dates clash – but is still is looking forward to this year, with a faster engine now in the Escort.


Armstrong and Clarke return to heat up two-wheel-drive

All bets are off in the two-wheel-drive battle for Sol Rally Barbados 2015, as Neil Armstrong and Brett Clarke post entries on the official web site, www.rallybarbados.net. Their names are added to an already impressive list of potential front-runners, including Stuart Maloney, Josh Read, Dane Skeete and last year’s top 2wd finisher Rhett Watson, with Roger and Barry Mayers and Cliff Roett committed to enter in the next few days.

Driving his Toyota Starlet, Armstrong claimed a hat-trick of class wins in Sol RB (2010-’12) and was highest-placed 2wd in 2011 (sixth) and 2012 (fifth), before he moved to WRC-1 in the Simpson Motors Suzuki SX4 WRC. Clarke’s Citroen C2 is a former works S1600 car campaigned in the past by reigning World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier, although now with a 2-litre engine; he was a front-runner in 2wd in King of the Hill in both 2012 & ’13, but could not carry the same success through to the main event.

With the Starlet of Josh Read, the Peugeot 306 Maxis of Maloney and Skeete, Watson’s BMW M3, along with others in his class, such as Justin Campbell and Owen and Sammy Cumberbatch, not to mention the potential of the overseas entry, there is again a strong chance the battle for 2wd could eclipse that for overall supremacy in the 25th Anniversary of the Barbados Rally Club’s premier event.

Sol Rally Barbados and LIME King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

SUPERSPECIAL FINALE FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS

Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 29-31), which marks the 25th Anniversary of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event, will finish with a spectacular side-by-side SuperSpecial on the unique Race Of Champions parallel track at Bushy Park. This, along with a change of Service Park location, was confirmed by organisers today (Thursday).

Crews will be required to start the SuperSpecial in order to be classified as overall finishers, but the times will not be included in the results of Sol RB15, allowing competitors to “let their hair down” after two hard days of focussed rallying. Cars will be seeded in reverse order, from slowest to fastest, building tension during the evening, as drivers vie for special awards for fastest in class and fastest overall.

Rally Chairman Mark Hamilton said: “During the planning stages of our two events which run on consecutive weekends, the organising team looks at the best options available, taking into consideration cost, location, route implications, transits, infrastructure requirements, historical experiences and so forth. This is an on-going process, which results in changes from time to time that serve the best interest of the events. We are confident that will also be the case for 2015.

“The chance to use the ROC Parallel Track for its designed purpose of side-by-side racing is really too good to miss, and offers something we would not be able to do at Vaucluse Raceway within the time frame, as it will be configured for stage use earlier in the day; the infrastructure costs are already incurred for the Friday night start, when we cannot use the ROC track side-by-side within the timing structure of the event.

“We’re still planning for a rally finish that will bring competitors, rally cars, service crews, supporters and spectators together, over-looking the SuperSpecial from up on The Hill, details of which will be released in the coming weeks. I’m sure many will remember the 2008 SuperSpecial at Bushy Park with the bridge, when some drivers thought they were astronauts . . . once they relax and let their hair down, I think we may well see the same sort of thing again!”

Hamilton added: “Fans will still see a lot of action up in St Thomas over the two weekends. It is the focal point for the LIME King of the Hill Party Stage – Powered by LIME/Banks/AA, and the Prize-giving, and will be used extensively over rally weekend.”

Saturday’s route includes 11 stages, four of which will run through the centre of the Vaucluse Raceway (VRW), including some new purpose-built link roads, which will add 1.5 kilometres to the traditional Hangmans Hill stage. Saturday’s final stage will run after nightfall, then Sol RB15 will pass through the facility twice again on Sunday.

The Service Park for Sol RB15 will now be at Simpson Motors, a change out of the Club’s hands. Hamilton explains: “After we announced returning to the Andrews Factory Yard, we learned that the re-development by the Barbados Agricultural Management Corporation (BAMC) would start earlier than planned. Our team have had to re-think the route, particularly in terms of transits between stages, another factor in our decision about the finish, as two of Sunday’s three stage venues are in the east of the island.”


Mauger’s Mighty Mark II heads to the Caribbean

Simon Mauger, one of UK rallying’s most decorated rear-wheel-drive exponents, has made a last-minute decision to contest Sol Rally Barbados 2015, joining father ****, who returns after a class-winning debut last year. With cars due at Portsmouth on Friday (April 17), yesterday’s decision threw the family’s Major Motorsport business into turmoil, with plans to be made and paperwork completed.

Mauger won motocross and karting titles before he started rallying in 1998, winning Ford KA then European Ford Puma championships in the next two years, which won him a works drive in a Puma S1600. Since focussing on Ford Escort MkIIs in 2007, he is a 10-time Champion and remains unbeaten by any other MkII. Victory on the 2010 Tyneside Stages was the first for a MkII on a National rally in more than 20 years - his co-driver then was Ashley Trimble, who also makes his Barbados debut this year, co-driving for Oliver Hopkins (Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI).

Built by Major Motorsport and JEMS Engineering during 2013, Mauger’s current MkII has a 2.5-litre, 320-horsepower Smith & Jones engine, with six-speed Sadev sequential gearbox. Mauger won his first two rallies in the car last year, then placed well in the rest of 2014 MSA National Tarmac Championship - rwd Champion for the second year in a row - and also won the Jersey Rally for the fifth time in eight years. The Escort is backed by Smith & Jones Engines and Ravenol Oils, with the Sol RB15 trip also supported by Virgin Atlantic Airways, Redline Fuels, Accra Beach Hotel and Stoutes Car Rentals.

Co-driver Melanie Holmes has been driving, co-driving and organising since 2007, titles to her credit including 2013 & ’14 UK National Female Co-Driver Champion; outside motor sport, she was in the British Champion Cheerleading team in 2009 to 2013.

Sol Rally Barbados and LIME King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

Prov entry list has a lot of Irish / UK interest http://www.rallybarbados.bb/general-content/2015-rally-barbados-entry-list

 

[Graham]

GEEST FREIGHTER SETS SAIL FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS

The Geest Line freighter Klipper Stream set sail from Portsmouth in the UK on Tuesday (April 22), carrying more than 30 rally cars heading or Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 29-31), which marks the 25th Anniversary of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event; it is due to dock at Bridgetown Port in just over a week.

The cars were loaded with help from a crew of repeat visitors and newcomers, to whom Rally Manager Jeanne Crawford said: “On behalf of the Club and competitors, thanks to Andrew and Melissa Costin-Hurley, his co-driver Stuart Andrews and partner Janice Smithson, Tim Marsh, **** and Kathy Mauger, Paul Rees, Rob Swann and Worksop Car Club members Paul Leyhe, Hugh Peat, Nick Taylor and Stuart Tomlinson. They help give competitors, particularly newcomers, confidence that every care is taken of their car.”

The inventory includes four first-time crews from Scotland, whose cars travelled the 565 miles from just south of Aberdeen to Portsmouth with Allan Mackay’s Ford Anglia WRC aboard a 5 Star Deliveries transporter, which looked somewhat like an overgrown Subaru works rally car. Images were captured by truck enthusiasts and posted on Facebook pages including that of Scottish Hauliers.

Barry ‘Handsome Baz’ Groundwater, Fraser Louden, Donnie ‘The Ditch’ MacDonald and Peter Shaun Sinclair are the newcomers, encouraged to make the trip by Brian ‘The Sheriff’ Watson and co-driver Caroline Will, who enjoyed their debut on Sol RB14 so much that they went straight home to make plans.

All have been regulars in the Scottish Rally Championship (SRC), with Stonehaven’s Groundwater a former class and Group N Champion and regular year-end top five finisher in his Groundwater Lift Trucks/Steve Reid Autobody/AMS Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX; his co-driver will be Martin Forrest from Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, who has twice won SRC co-driver titles and finished second in 2013, with Quintin Milne.

Having finished fifth and second in class two years ago, Inverness resident MacDonald is currently fourth in the 2015 SRC, one place ahead of Groundwater, in his Culloden Car Sales/Topcar Inverness/ROMMS/DMC Performance Ltd Evo IX; his co-driver for the Caribbean trip is Ashleigh Will, younger sister of Caroline.

Fraser and Abi Louden will compete in their ALS Oil & Gas/MGS Logistics/Retro Restorations Evo IX, the first time he will have rallied it on tarmac; the father and daughter have enjoyed less frequent outings together, as former SRC class-winner (2006, Ford Puma 1600) Fraser spends much of his time living and working in Texas, in the United States, while Abi is a fourth-year law student at Aberdeen University.

Sinclair usually drives an Evo IX but will campaign a Ford Escort MkII, alongside Watson, who was unable to ready his new Mitsubishi Evo WRC in time. The Escorts have been re-liveried in positive and negative facsimiles of the Scottish Saltire and drew many admiring glances on their way south. Sinclair’s co-driver will be Ruaridh Allan.


Anniversary trip for Spencer helps put women in the limelight

Cheryl Spencer, with husband Barry as co-driver, is making her fourth trip to Barbados. On holiday in 2007, she had never driven a rally car but, a year later, they competed in Sol RB08, got married at The Boatyard, and embarked on a remarkable adventure . . . one which this year coincides with the island taking a closer look at female participation.

Cheryl says: “We are coming to Barbados all fresh, ready to go and very excited. On our first visit, I asked Mikey Hassell if I could park his Zero car, the Subaru, and he said ‘No, if you’re going to drive it, you’re driving it up the stage.’ My mouth dropped in shock . . . but I did it! That's when Barry Gale said I should come out in 2008 to drive; we have never looked back, it has been just the best experience ever.”

Spencer’s entry means there are two women driving in Sol RB15, along with Shelly Taunt, who has rallied with considerable success in the UK for the past 20 years; Taunt’s regular co-driver Julie Murphy is one of a record 15 women co-drivers this year, including Shannon Kirton, who was the driving half (with Lisa Roett) of the first local all-female crew to contest the event, finishing three times.

Kirton, who is working with the Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF) to promote the Women in Motorsport initiative launched five years ago by world governing body, the FIA, says: “My vision is to have women involved from karting all the way to the top. The WiM committee's aim is to provide an avenue of information and assistance to ladies who have always wanted to compete, or be involved in motor sport in another capacity, but didn’t know where to start.”

Spencer says: “We are lucky to have Dover Beach Hotel sponsor us this year, along with Waterfront Accident Repair, Mission Bodyshop, Central Park Bodyshop, Euro Car Parts, AB Autos, Airport Bodyshop, ABS Embroidery, Capricorn Canvas, Katz Auto Services and SRG Engineering.”

Sol Rally Barbados and LIME King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

FINAL COUNTDOWN STARTS FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS

The final countdown to Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 29-31), which marks the 25th Anniversary of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event, is finally under way. With three weeks to go before Simpson Motors Scrutineering (May 23) and LIME King of the Hill (May 24), activity is stepping up across all aspects of the event’s organisation.

On-line entries closed yesterday (Friday), so final checks are being made before the provisional entry list is published at Wednesday morning’s (May 6) Sol RB15 Press Conference at the Accra Beach Hotel & Spa. The route will also be confirmed, while a number of other announcements will be made surrounding the BRC’s milestone event.

The Bridgetown Port is also a hive of activity this weekend, as a group of volunteers headed by Rally Office Manager Jeanne Crawford assist in the safe unloading of a record number of overseas entries. The Geest Line freighter Klipper Stream, which set sail from Portsmouth in the UK on April 22, docked this morning (Saturday) with its cargo of more than 30 rally cars heading for the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International.

The two Peugeots of Kiwi drivers Mike Marshall and son Nick arrived in a container earlier this week after the 12,000-kilometre voyage from New Zealand, while an inter-island freighter is scheduled to have delivered a new regional entry, the Conseil General de la Guadeloupe-supported Ford Escort Cosworth of Pierre Negre and Gilles Gaussan.

Along with confirmation of Turks & Caicos-based Canadian Stan Hartling’s Bambarra Rum BMW M3, Negre’s arrival brings to eight the number of regional entries, the highest for five years. Hartling, who has been competing in the BRC’s Championship events this year, is co-driven by Heath Hazell, former co-driver to local BMW ace Jonathan Still.

Negre has been rallying for 20 years, initially in an Alfa Romeo GTV6, before switching to a Ford Sierra and then the Escort Cosworth. Guadeloupe Champion in 1994 and ’96, he has won the island’s Rallye des Grand Fonds more than 10 times, most recently with a hat-trick in 2011 to ’13, and has also competed on the French mainland.

The last two UK entries to be confirmed are the Ford Escort Mk IIs of Peter Rayner and Steve Firth, from Braintree and Chelmsford in Essex respectively, and both island newbies. Rayner heard about Sol Rally Barbados from friends **** Mauger and Rob Swann, whose Escort and Subaru Impreza WRC S11 are also on the Klipper Stream.

An Escort campaigner for more than 25 years, Rayner’s car is prepared by Perry Road Autos and has support from his long-time sponsor, Tamdown Group; his co-driver will be Richard Bonner. Firth, who will have Rayner’s son Aaron as his co-driver, said: “I haven't actually rallied for six years, and it was always for fun. I’m looking forward to this, enough though I generally prefer the loose or forests to tarmac.”


Circuit of Ireland marshals confirmed for prize trip

Two volunteers who marshalled at last month’s Discover Northern Ireland Circuit of Ireland Rally will shortly be jetting off to Sol Rally Barbados 2015 for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, courtesy of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) and the island's private sector Tourism Development Corporation; the prize includes return flights from London Gatwick on Virgin Atlantic Airways, accommodation and shared rental car for the duration.

'Circuit' Manpower Manager Raymond Linton made the draw during a debrief in Lisburn last week, when the lucky winners were confirmed as Ian Connolly from County Londonderry and Kevin Flanagan from County Monaghan; neither could quite believe it.

Connolly said: "I was gobsmacked. I was doing some work on the computer for another rally, when I received the call from Raymond. He told me I'd won a prize in the marshals' draw. I immediately thought I'd won a hat or something like that but when he told me I'd won the trip to Barbados, I couldn't believe it!"

A volunteer for more than 15 years, Connolly’s experience ranges from Event Secretary to Clerk of the Course, and he will be Chief Marshal at the Ulster Rally for the fifth time later this year. At the ‘Circuit’, he worked with the timekeeping team on the Gregorlough stage: “I was at the 'stop car' on the final stage and it was lovely to be there and see Craig Breen's reaction when he realised he had won the rally. That's what I love about marshalling. You can get close to the action. It's the best way to see the sport. Thanks to all those that have put up such a prize. Manpower is very difficult to get, so it's fantastic that there is an opportunity like that out there to encourage people to join in”.

Fellow prize-winner, Kevin Flanagan, who is originally from County Monaghan but now lives in County Wicklow, was also part of the timekeeping team, at the finish of the Buck's Head and McGaffin's Corner stages. A veteran of more than 30 years as a volunteer, he said: "I've been Clerk of the Course at a few night navigation rallies and, many years ago, I was on the committee of Monaghan Motor Club. I've also been a class winning co-driver with Lloyd Hutchinson as well as a class-winning driver in my own Mini! I’d actually been looking at going to Barbados, having met some guys who are involved . . . so winning the prize is a dream come true!”

Sol Rally Barbados and LIME King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

 

[Graham]

SOL RALLY BARBADOS 2015: “A PARTY TO REMEMBER”

Six-time WRC podium finisher Gardemeister to drive Suzuki SX4

The Barbados Rally Club (BRC) promises “a party to remember” when it celebrates the 25th Anniversary of its premier event with two spectacular weekends of motor sport at the end of this month. LIME King of the Hill (May 24) and Sol Rally Barbados (May 29-31) will not only offer competitors a challenge worthy of such a milestone, but will also give the island’s thousands of rally fans an unforgettable spectator experience.

The provisional entry list of 95 crews was confirmed today (Wednesday) during a press conference at the Accra Beach Hotel & Spa in Rockley, on the island’s south coast. The Club’s Anniversary event has broken a number of records: overseas entries (44), participating nationalities (17), total of overseas participants (88), first-time overseas participants (40) and female competitors (15).

Sol RB15 will start and finish on the unique Race Of Champions Parallel Track at Bushy Park Barbados; on Friday night, the facility will play host to the first two of 22 special stages, competitors tackling the 1.8-kilometre course at one-minute intervals, while Sunday’s SuperSpecial will give drivers the chance to let their hair down head-to-head, safe in the knowledge that the times are not included in the results.

On the other side of the island, the Vaucluse Raceway (VRW) will be the focal point of LIME KotH and the Saturday of Sol RB15, as LIME partners with two other long-term sponsors of the BRC to present the LIME/Banks/Automotive Art Party Stage; following the creation of new link roads within VRW, roughly one mile has been added to the traditional Hangmans Hill stage . . . and fans will be up close to the action, with a top line-up of the island’s best DJs, live commentary, food and drink vendors, activities for kids and a ‘cool down zone’ for adults adding to an unrivalled spectator experience.

The introduction of the ROC track and new sections of VRW will combine with the reconfiguration of other familiar stages to present a refreshed challenge for competitors, while seeding arrangements change, too: in addition to the traditional Sunday morning re-seed based on overnight classification, the same will happen on Saturday morning.

The best-ever overseas entry of 44 crews includes former World Rally Championship contender, Finland’s Toni Gardemeister, who will campaign the Red Bull Global Rally Cross/Simpson Motors/Bushy Park Barbados Suzuki SX4 WRC with countryman Timo Alanne. Gardemeister, who has six WRC podium finishes and 16 stage wins to his credit, was fourth in the Championship in 2005 in a works Ford Focus WRC04.

The SX4 is one of a record 26 cars entered in the four-wheel-drive classes, headed by island legend and 13-time winner Roger ‘The Sheriff’ Skeete (Subaru Impreza WRC S12). He will also face strong opposition from the UK, including Paul Bird (Focus WRC08), who won in 2012 & ’13, and last year’s runner-up Rob Swann (Impreza S11), while the region challenge is spearheaded by Jamaica’s Jeff Panton (Focus WRC06) and John Powell from Trinidad & Tobago (Focus WRC08).

And the battle for two-wheel-drive honours promises to be just as captivating, with the Toyota Starlets of Roger Mayers, Josh Read and the returning Neil Armstrong facing last year’s winner Rhett Watson (BMW M3), the Peugeot 306 Maxis of Stuart Maloney and Dave Skeete, plus Simon Mauger from the UK in his spectacular Ford Escort MkII.

The first chance for fans to mix with competitors will be at Simpson Motors Scrutineering on Saturday, May 23, where they will also be able to purchase items from an extensive range of 25th Anniversary memorabilia, including caps, polo shirts and T-shirts, plus bottle coolers, bottle openers, glasses, key fobs, pens and umbrellas. The fan apparel will also be available available at Surf Shack in the Sheraton Mall.

Sol RB15 Chairman Mark Hamilton said: “The selfless passion and interest through the years of the Club’s committees, volunteers and competitors, as well as corporate, government and tourism based entities has built what is now a world-recognised motor sport event. The 25th Anniversary has been planned with both competitor and spectator in mind . . . and we’ll be organising a party to remember, with a rally finish that will bring competitors, rally cars, service crews, supporters and spectators together.”

Title sponsor since 2008, Sol was represented today by Barbados Country Manager, Ezra Prescod: “We are truly proud to be the Title Sponsor of Sol Rally Barbados for the eighth year. As one of the leading fuel providers in the Caribbean Basin, motor sport connects with the core of our business. Through this international rally, the Club is consistently delivering a world-class experience to motor sport fans on the island and to our visitors from across the globe.”



Sol Rally Barbados (May 29-31) and LIME King of the Hill (May 24) are organised and promoted by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 55th Anniversary in 2012; title sponsors are the Sol Group and LIME. Marketing partners are Simpson Motors, Automotive Art and Banks; official partners are Accra Beach Hotel & Spa, the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc, Geest Line, the Tourism Development Corporation and Virgin Atlantic Airways; associate sponsors are Chefette, Glacial Pure, 104 The Beat, Little Switzerland, Redline Fuels, Stoute’s Car Rental, Up Beat Wholesale and West Indies Rum Distillery.