THE BARBADOS EVENT THAT CAN DRAW THE BRITISH TALENT
The Brits head for the heat in June for a rally festival and Luke Barry finds out why
Walking around Bushy Park race circuit on the south-west of Barbados last weekend, you’d have been quite forgiven for mistaking it for a round of the BTRDA Rally Series.
OK, neither Ludlow, Builth Wells or Jedburgh can boast palm trees and 30 degrees Celsius, but the list of entrants was remarkably similar.
The question is: why do so many Brits travel 4000 miles to Rally Barbados each and every year? “It’s a holiday in a rally, you don’t normally get that,” explained Tom Preston who flew his family and shipped his Ford Fiesta Rally2 over for the occasion.” A lot of the family don’t usually go to Wales or somewhere where it’s pissing it down but here it’s lovely.
“And at the same time one of the big things is the spectators are all absolutely mad for it. You can tell in the week before the rally and everything they’re massively into it, so that’s a lot of it as well. It’s good, and you can see by the times it’s very close. You can find seven seconds and be four or five places up. They’re very short stages but you’ve got to be on it to try and get a good result. With the kids, family commitments and holidays you’re just looking for a bit of fun more than anything so it’s good to do it somewhere competitive where it’s also fun.”
It certainly is a very different experience to what UK competitors find back home. As Preston mentioned, the stages are all quite short and sharp due to the nature of the
106 square-mile island, but that means the competition is super intense. You can’t afford to give up a single tenth, let alone any seconds. Servicing is far more relaxed too. There’s no parc ferme and management service is allowed too, so it’s a nice throwback to years gone by.
“This is my fifth time here. I told myself I wouldn’t come back next year but if I can afford it I’ll be back,” laughed Stuart Deeley, explaining the druglike appeal of the rally. His car is awesome too by the way, an ex-Toyota Team Europe
Celica GT4 in full Marc Duez Fina colours.
“You’re made to feel part of the island, not just a tourist. It’s a two-week experience with King of the Hill the weekend before, so if there’s a problem with the car you can fix it and everyone wants to help you. We had someone practically beg to help us fix something and I kept trying to offer him money for it but he keeps evading me! And the crowds here... every driver’s a show-off in one form or another. Plus that old cliche is true: if you think you’re a good driver in the UK, come over here and prove it.”
Frank Bird is one such driver, having shown impressive speed on his UK outings over the last few years. The son of two-time Barbados winner Paul, this year’s rally may have been the first he drove himself, but he certainly wasn’t unaccustomed to the challenge.
“I’ve been coming for many years with my dad and he’s always spoken about it being such a special event,” said Bird. “We’ve got loads of family friends over here and I’ve been coming here for 10 years, watching it all as a kid. The last time I came here I was 12, I haven’t been for about nine years so it’s sort of been like a newcomer again. The roads are definitely very good to drive on. I never really thought I’d be doing it when I’m older but I’m lucky enough to have the chance and the event’s lived up to its expectations.”
The insane heat is of course the one negative aspect that can certainly take its toll. Just ask Bird’s co-driver Jack Morton who suffered badly with heat exhaustion on the first day and “blacked out for a bit”, reporting onboard temperatures of a literally sickening 67 degrees.
But some did at least have a solution – a heat-cooling vest: “It’s better than having sex, I’m telling you,” said Kevin Procter, on his 17th visit to the island. “Neil Buckley lent me a vest
[last time I was here] and I would never be without them now, makes a massive difference.”
Let’s just hope Mrs Procter doesn’t read MN…