GOING RALLYING BARBADOS STYLE
With more Brits heading to Rally Barbados, Jack Benyon went to check it out
OFF-ROAD FUN IN THE CARIBBEAN SUN
Both with a rum and coke in hand, there’s two gents in front of me. It’s clear they’re waiting for something. It’s pitch black and we’re halfway through the 30-second gap between cars on Rally Barbados, a closed road asphalt event in the Caribbean.
“He’s the next car, I tell you,” says one to the other. I’m intrigued. Who are they waiting for? And then it becomes clear. A blue Ford Anglia comes sideways into a square right and the local fans – of whom there are hundreds at this junction – go ballistic. It’s clear the two island gents in front of me aren’t the only ones waiting for Allan Mackay and his blue Ford Anglia, with saltire flag hanging out the back of the window.
In the UK, spectators watch the first 12 cars or so and then move on. The two gents in front of me waited 70 cars for Mackay to arrive, and that sums up the event perfectly. They’re waiting for the ‘beef and potatoes’, a term I’m instantly informed means ‘scandinavian flick’ in the local slang.
The event is built on its fans. They don’t come just for Jeffrey Panton and Roger Skeete, they wait for the most entertaining drivers with the biggest portion of beef and potatoes.
So why is MN here? In recent years, European – and in particular British and Irish crews – have made up almost half the entry on this event, despite starting 4000 miles away in the UK.
The rally appears pretty Marmite back home. To the naysayers, it’s an event of short, mickey mouse stages and an excuse for a party. To those who go, it’s a challenging test of car and machine, but what everyone agrees on is the atmosphere of the event is incredible.
On arriving on the island MN is rushed to Bushy Park Raceway, Barbados’ only proper racing circuit, where the European crews are based for this year’s event.
But it’s not only the European crews, locals like Ford Escort Mk2 driver Andrew ‘Jonesy’ Jones is around and socialising in his usual manner.
“You know Ryan, right,” he says, referring to Ryan Champion, international rally winner and Barbados regular. He’s attended around 15 times.
“There’s a full social programme,” Champion warned me before the event. “It’s very sociable, that’s really important to them. Yes, the competition is important, more so than people give it credit, but they want people to enjoy it. As competitive as everybody is, they do it because they enjoy it.”
Back in the now, it’s a hog roast, with a chance to mix and take in each other’s company.
But it’s not the only chance as Champion’s description of ‘programme’ is perfect.
The week before the event is King of the Hill, a three-kilometre hill climb used to seed the main event, this year run in the north on the alarminglynamed ‘Hangman’s Hill’. Between that and the rally the following weekend, there’s a social event of some description each night, and it forces crews together into the same place to talk about rallying, politics and anything else inbetween. Often the politics of rallying. That’s enough to drive anyone to drink.
That’s one of the key reasons Barbados is so enjoyable. Back home the questions are related to the future of the sport, which is usually doom and gloom. Entries, cost, political movement. In Barbados, it’s all about the positives. The glass of rum is forever half full (not in MN’S case, of course there’s no drinking on the job).
The event itself is an interesting affair. The stages are around six or seven kilometres on average, and that sounds poor for a major event like this. Sitting down with rally director Neil Barnard after the event, it’s clear he’s heard that before and it comes up every single year.
“That’s a bit of a question mark for
us,” he says. “Do we continue having 20-odd stages at a six kilometres average length or do we move towards 14 or 16 stages at an eight kilometre average length? How does that impact our volunteers? We need to sit down and work it out.”
Joining stages could prove a problem for the organisers. Any sort of delay on a 20km stage and you’ve got serious issues. This leads quite nicely back to that dark junction on Friday evening.
The two gents had waited for Allan Mackay, but they’d waited a while. The stage hadn’t exactly run to schedule, and after around 40 cars, the stage was stopped and buses started to pass through. It was quickly explained to me that the buses can’t be delayed for more than a set period and must be let through the stage. Trivial, but another charm of the island and a massive barrier for the organisers who can do nothing about it.
It seems outrageous to a UK fan, but in the context of the event it’s a small price to pay. The government backs the event to the hilt and are fairly flexible with the road closing orders giving the organisers options.
Going back to the stages, the fact is, yes, the stages are shorter. It’s no Tholt-y-will on the Isle of Man of well over 10 miles. Ari Vatanen hasn’t slid through a cattle grid sideways here. But, in its own way, there’s still a test. “The stages are not easy,” adds Champion; if there’s an international rally, he’s done it. “Because they are short, you have to get every corner right so they’re more like a series of sprints. You’ve got some bits which are technical, but there’s a lot of quick corners too and like any stage that’s the key to a good time, being brave.”
All that brings competition together. Panton, a Jamaican who has rallied on Wales Rally GB among other World Championship events, and is a regular on the island, explains.
“The stages are a little short, but it makes it closer, the times on the stages are much closer together which keeps it exciting,” he says. “The top four cars are separated by four or five seconds after three hard days of rallying.”
And hard it is. Look at the picture of his Ford Focus sans rear end after he’d thrown it into a wall in what he describes as a “brain fart” ( pic above).
Welshman Darren Garrod, who co-drove Rob Swann to second place on the event in a Subaru Impreza S12B WRC, is a huge fan of the event. He’s Mark Higgins’ go-to co-driver in China, so he has some kudos when it comes to rating a rally.
“It’s genuinely my favourite rally of the season,” he says. “Mainly because of the whole fun-factor of the thing. It’s a party atmosphere. I’m not talking about drinking, we don’t do that while the rally is on for obvious reasons. Everyone is mad for the rally. The crowd loves it and it’s tough.
“The only way you’re going to beat the locals is to go there and practice. The competition genuinely is high. The last two years Roger Skeete [12time winner] has really struggled. I don’t know if that’s his age or because the pace is lifting…”
It’s clear Garrod thinks it’s the second option, with age mentioned in jest. Skeete is a hero on the island and adorns everything from T-shirts to fast food giveaway cups.
That’s another reason for the rally’s increase in stature, the local businesses are benefitting. Sponsoring the event is a drop in the ocean to companies like fast food chain Chefette, which has 280,000 islanders with rally fever to target. The residents understand the importance of making the crews welcome and the gain it has for the island’s economy.
There’s a few reasons European competitors keep coming back. The atmosphere [which is close to becoming a swear word it’s mentioned that many times in connection with the rally] and the deceptively testing stages are just a couple.
Perhaps Garrod’s story of the Isle of Man, the final round of the British Championship, is most poignant in relation to Barbados, given the Manx’s stature in the world of rallying.
“Freddy [Ahlin], Keith [Cronin], Matt [Edwards] and the co-drivers were talking about how bad the Isle of Man was at the weekend, and to pass the time before the first stage we created a dream championship. Freddy said Barbados. He’s clearly watched it.”
While shivering on a Douglas cliff face, three of the most talented young drivers in any national championship anywhere in the world were discussing Barbados.
And, it’s really not as far away as you think. The entry fee including shipping is £2700. Sounds like a lot, and you’ve got hotels and running the car on top of that. But it’s a bucket list event, and many of the crews from the UK elect to do this one event a year over competing on a championship back home, and any current competitor would tell you that £2700 doesn’t go far in the UK. Much under £10,000 doesn’t. It’s also a two-week holiday with a rally thrown in. And a very good rally at that. After attending once, whatever your thoughts before the event, it’s certain you’ll want to go back. Once you go Bajan, you’ll always want to go back. ■