Barbados Historic Rally Carnival - 23-24 Jul 11

MOON/DAVIES BEAT THE BEST IN BARBADOS

Posted: August 7, 2011 6:37 PM

Darren Moon and Eurig Davies powered their Ford Escort RS to victory on the Barbados Historic Rally. Held on 23 July, it was the second motor sport event in the 2011 Barbados Historic Rally Carnival, the first round being the warm-up International RallySprint on 14 July.

Moon and Davies' aggregate performance over the two events also netted them the prestigious 'King of the Carnival' prize, a free entry to the 2012 Historic Rally Carnival and a chance to defend their win.

Between the two motorsport events, all crews had five days of unlimited recce for the rally; befitting the Rally Carnival ethic, however, much of this time was taken up by the event's considerable 'social calendar'.

Last year's rally winners and top-seeded local team was Greg Cozier and Jamie Marsh in their Mk2 Ford Escort RS, with last year's runner-up, five-times British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae seeded at number two. This year, McRae had seasoned co-driver Ian Grindrod sitting next to him in a Tuthill Porsche 911. Seeded at number three, due to an excellent RallySprint result, were Francis Tuthill and Llinos Davies, from the UK in another Tuthill 911, followed by Darren Moon and Eurig Davies, also from the UK in a Ford Escort RS1800. Austrians Josef and Gertrude Pointinger rounded out the top five in their Mk1 Escort RS2000.

The rally was run over three asphalt stages, starting at noon on Saturday; three times over each stage heading north was followed by a dinner stop at 6.30pm and then twice over each stage heading south in the dark, finishing at midnight. Total competitive distance for the rally was planned at 90km, shortened marginally due to heavy tropical rain and flooding at one stage venue.

From stage one, the pace was hot, with all contenders holding nothing back. On stage three, Cozier and Marsh's Escort RS was forced out of overall contention through clutch failure, but still in the event under local 'SuperRally' regs. Heavy downpours created all kinds of excitement for crews, with the notoriously slippery Bajan roads keeping everyone alert; almost everyone reported 'near-misses' trying to keep ahead.

Moon brought his Escort home first, 24 seconds ahead of McRae, who placed second for the second year in a row. Three seconds behind was the local father and son team of Nigel and David Reece in their Mk1 Escort, followed 20 seconds later by locals Stuart McChlery and Julian Goddard in their Mk1 Escort Twink (which started its rallying life in 1972, but is now powered by a 2-litre Vauxhall twin-cam). Rounding out the top-five were Tuthill/Davies; 19 seconds behind the Escort in their 911.

The rally finished at midnight in the usual Bajan fashion, with a barbeque and cooler party in the service area for crews, marshals and officials. The prizegiving on Sunday was held on the Jolly Roger pirate ship at noon, but finished somewhat closer to midnight than some might remember.

A Barbados Historic Rally Carnival contingent will be out on the Manx Historic Rally this year, the winner of which will receive a free entry to the 2012 Carnival.

Results

Posted: August 7, 2011 6:36 PM

Full Results at:

results.shannonsportsit.ie (Angus Sealy)

LEGENDARY PAIRING FOR BARBADOS HISTORIC RALLY CARNIVAL

Posted: June 15, 2011 12:32 PM

To win the British Rally Championship in the days when the series represented serious, world-level motor sport was no mean achievement. Winning it no fewer than five times during that period makes Scot Jimmy McRae the most successful rally driver in the British Isles. On three of those championship wins (in 1981, 1982 and 1987), Jim was co-driven by slim, straight-talking, northern Englishman Ian Grindrod.

Now in his late 50s, McRae's enthusiasm for competing in rallies is undiminished. He is determined to improve on his second place in last year's inaugural Barbados Historic Rally Carnival - to the extent that he's convinced Grindrod to accompany him on this year's Caribbean motorsport spectacular. Convincing Grindrod was, McRae reports, not a difficult task...

A wealth of anecdotes surround the talented McRae/Grindrod partnership: things like the big shunt on an Epynt military range stage during the 1982 Welsh Rally. They tackled a lefthand bend in their Opel Ascona 400 too fast and the right rear wheel found the grass on the outside of the corner. The car was launched into the scenery, rolled into the ditch, then went end-over-end twice, finishing up sliding along the ditch on its roof.

In the process, Grindrod's full-face crash helmet: "Seemed to scoop up half of south Wales in its aperture."

He adds:
"When we finally came to a stop, still upside down, I managed to scramble out of my door and was crawling around on the grass. I could hear Jim shouting to the quickly gathering spectators; 'I've blinded him, I've blinded him!' and to all those gathered around, that's just what it must have seemed, with me scrabbling about on the grass with the front of my helmet full of bits of scenery: 'It's OK,' I shouted back. 'I'm looking for my fags; they must be out here somewhere!' He never forgave me for that."

McRae will again be driving a Tuthill Porsche 911 in this year's Historic Rally Carnival, as will company founder Francis Tuthill. Other competitors joining them from the UK, Ireland and Europe will be driving a variety of historic rally machinery.

Barbados Rally Carnival

Garage owner Andy Allen first visited Barbados in 2006, with Laurence Gibson and his rallycross MG Metro 6R4 for the Vaucluse Raceway RallyCross; he's been back six times since. This time, he's bringing his 1984 Group B Audi quattro, to run at the front of the field as Zero Car.

Pip Coulson brings his 1980 Talbot Sunbeam 1600Ti. Put into dry storage 23 years ago (as was Pip's rallying!), with just 14,000 miles then on the clock, the car has done 14 rallies in the past two years. Pip was a class winner in the Northern Ireland Historic Championship in 2009, and again in 2010.

For the first time this year, the Rally Carnival will have a category for pre-1968 cars. Neil Revington from Somerset runs a TR specialist operation [www.revingtontr.com] and is bringing a top-notch TR5. It's done various rallies around Europe and some racing.
"My wife Sue is navigating. Many of the regularity rallies I have done over the years have been with Sue navigating. Sue does not, as she puts it, 'do crash hats', but I was not going to be allowed to go to Barbados without her, so now she apparently 'does do crash hats'!" The Category One class will also include John Everad in an Alfa Romeo GTA and David Rayner in a V8 Sunbeam Tiger. All three drivers are on their first visit to Barbados.

At the sharp end of the field will be Darren Moon in his Ford Escort RS1800 and Alan Courtney in his Tuthill-prepared V8 Porsche 928. Darren has competed at the front of the British Historic Rally Championship for many years, with numerous successes and the Irish Porsche crew bring valuable asphalt experience from the Emerald Isle.

Also from UK is Dr Raj Jutley in a Category 3 Ford Escort RS2000. The Jutley/Roubos team is a truly international pairing: Raj is an Indian from Kenya and Nick is a Greek Australian. Their Mk1 Escort RS2000 is fitted with a modern 2-litre Zetec engine (allowed under Barbados Historic regulations, as long as it runs carburettors and no engine management). Raj has competed on the Safari Rally and the Middle Eastern Rally Championship and works as a consultant for the Porsche Human Performance Centre at Silverstone, particularly involving cooling and hydration (no better place than Barbados to practice, then!) and other aspects of driver fitness.

For overseas competitors and spectators, the 2011 Barbados Historic Rally Carnival runs from 14 to 26 July - see the website for full details.

McRAE BACK TO CONTEST BARBADOS HISTORIC RALLY CARNIVAL

Posted: May 31, 2011 10:22 AM

"We had a great time last year; the atmosphere they have there is like rallying used to be in the UK 30 years ago." Telling words from five-times British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae, speaking about the Barbados Historic Rally Carnival.

The most successful British Rally Championship competitor of all time is hooked, for more reasons than just competitive historic rallying and scoring a better finish than his 2010 second place overall: "They make you so welcome; everybody there - you're part of the family. It was very nice."

A substantially extended Historic Rally route for 2011 increases the asphalt tests and the mileage contested at night on the second weekend of the 12-day Barbados Rally Carnival.

The historic motor sport adventure begins with a RallySprint on the first weekend, followed by the rally on the next. Between motor sport events, there's lots of recce-time, beach-time, party-time and good relaxation. McRae wholeheartedly embraced the concept last year, looks forward to this year's Carnival, describes the motorsport as "bloody competitive," and considers the event to be "a good craic."

Similar to last year, Jim is entered in an historic Porsche 911, prepared by the renowned competition Porsche specialists Tuthill Porsche. As in 2010, company founder Francis Tuthill will also compete in his own 911.

Co-driven by a Bajan local last year, Francis' own 911 was hastily-prepared, with a 2-litre engine which proved very reliable but somewhat short of performance, compared with what turned out to be a very quick field. This year he's driving his London-Sydney Marathon-winning car again: "Except now that I know what to expect by way of competition, I'll put a proper engine in it - it'll be 2.7-litre at best; or a 2.5 - I've got a couple of options. I shall get my car going properly," he promises.

Tuthill Porsche owns an impressive 'pool' of competition 911s, many allocated to its impressive arrive-and-drive Rally Challenge. McRae's car has yet to be selected, but may be from that pool. Francis insists, however: "The Challenge engines are very good [in Barbados] - it would go perfectly well with a Challenge engine, but if we have a more powerful engine handy at the time, then I'll probably pop that in for the trip."

A very talented and affable gentleman, Francis' expert knowledge goes beyond Porsches. One of the many social highlights of the Historic Rally Carnival is a Sunday devoted to party-time and a traditional Bajan 'Hog Roast'. Last year, while drinks as pleasant as the assembled company slipped down and the spit-roaster cooked Mr Oink, Mr Tuthill spent some time explaining his view of how best to roast pig underground, Maori-style. . .

Hungi or Hangi - depending on the preferred spelling - involves many hours of preparation and cooking. So the challenge has been thrown down; according to Francis: "I've held my hand up, so I've got to do it."

Socially-seasoned rally champion McRae concluded: "I think Francis is more interested in doing his pig thing than doing the rally!"

For overseas competitors and spectators, the 2011 Barbados Historic Rally Carnival runs from 14 to 26 July - see the website for full details.

Barbados Rally Carnival

'RALLYSPRINT KING' RETURNS TO BARBADOS AFTER ALMOST A DECADE

Posted: May 8, 2011 1:06 PM

Austrian Josef Pointinger had little idea what an adventure he was in for when he loaded his historic Mk1 Escort RS2000 onto a ship destined for Barbados back in 2003. He came away from the experience with class runner-up spot on the rally, a class win on the RallySprint, total domination of the RallySprint handicap races and narrowly missed winning the King of the Carnival prize on his first attempt.

Josef returned in 2004 as co-driver in Ernst Harrach's Porsche 911, to better his results from the previous year. The Austrian team dominated the Historic class on the rally, scoring maximum points on all routes, dominated the RallySprint, again scoring maximum points and had their names engraved on that year's King of the Carnival trophy.

Josef's participation in the 2011 Historic Rally Carnival - in the same Escort - will jog some fond memories among local spectators, who enjoyed watching him, as well as local drivers who competed against him.

Inaugurated in 2003, the King of the Carnival prize was won by a hair's breadth in its first year by local driver Barry Gale. The prize was conceived by Rally Carnival founder Greg Cozier and UK motor sport journalist and commentator Robin Bradford. They felt that competitors in all classes - and at all budget levels - should be rewarded for giving 110 percent. Points are scored for class position only, with a few bonus points available if a tie-break is necessary. If a foreign competitor wins the prize, he or she is provided with a free entry to the Rally Carnival the following year; if a local wins, he or she gets an entry to a foreign event, which varies from year to year - this year, it is the Manx Historic Rally on the Isle of Man in October.

Greg Cozier had this to say:
"Everyone loves a trier, and the prize was created to reward those drivers who give their all and come out on top of their class, regardless of how expensive their car is. No-one who was there in June 2003 will ever forget Josef's drive at Vaucluse Raceway; not only did he win the Historic class, but he defeated car after car from all classes in the handicap races to come up against the fastest RallySprint man ever to drive at Vaucluse Raceway: Trevor Manning in his Lancer Evo VI. After the handicapped start (based on best race times), Josef's Mk1 Escort beat Trevor's Mitsubishi by half a bonnet in the three-kilometre RallySprint, as both cars were pushed well past their limits - an incredible spectacle".

"The King of the Carnival prize is the richest in Caribbean motorsport; we felt trophy keepsakes had their place, but we wanted to do something special that made a difference not only to the competitors' driving enjoyment and life-experience, but also to the promotion of the Carnival as a social affair.

"The prize is a memorial to Andrew Philips, a long-time motorsport competitor and enthusiast, who not only helped to shape the landscape of the sport in Barbados through his social chairmanship of the Barbados Rally Club, but also took many young drivers under his wing and offered encouragement, advice or outright assistance. Andrew is no longer with us, but his Halda SpeedPilot challenge trophy passes from one set of eager hands to another each year and helps to spread the spirit of what we do."

No pressure then, Mr. Pointinger!

For overseas competitors and spectators, the 2011 Barbados Historic Rally Carnival runs from 14 to 26 July - More details:

Barbados Rally Carnival

TWO TREMENDOUS ISLAND ASPHALT RALLYING EXPERIENCES JOIN FORCES

Posted: May 8, 2011 11:05 AM

See details on:

Isle of Man International Rally - CANCELLED

Event Website

Posted: May 8, 2011 11:02 AM

Barbados Rally Carnival