MG METRO 6R4 CONFIRMED FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS

©Eddie Kelly Motorsport Photography

Following a successful shakedown on home ground last weekend, Scotland’s Robin Hamilton announced today (March 30) that he will contest Sol Rally Barbados 2018 in his Gleaner Fuels MG Metro 6R4, the first appearance in the island’s premier event of one of the iconic 1980s Group B cars for nearly 20 years. Confirmation that Ireland’s Peter Gallagher will also return with a recently-acquired Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI brings the overseas entry to 25. Sol RB18 will run from Friday to Sunday, June 1-3, with The Rally Show and Flow King of the Hill (KotH) the previous weekend, May 26/27. As the entry closing date of April 27 fast approaches, crews on both sides of the Atlantic are finalising their plans. Including island competitors, a total of 60 are so far listed in the on-line entry on the official web site, rallybarbados.net, including 17 four-wheel-drive cars. Hamilton and his wife Vanessa made their Caribbean debut last year, with a 10th wedding anniversary visit in their historic Talbot Sunbeam Ti, in which they finished 48th overall; between them, the couple have won a good number of event and year-end titles, Robin twice the Scottish Tarmac Champion (STC), while Vanessa has been top female co-driver three times in the STC. Robin said: “I really enjoyed competing in Barbados last year, when I was approached by several people asking if I would bring the Metro. It is thanks to support from Gleaner Fuels and RHA Ltd that I can.” While Vanessa will co-drive on Flow KotH, Barbados regular Steve McNulty will sit in for Sol RB18. It will be their second event together, after last Saturday’s (March 24) DCC Stages at Ingliston, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, half an hour from the Hamilton’s Gorebridge home. Despite a broken driveshaft and some minor brake issues, Hamilton was happy that ‘Auld Rumbly’, as the 6R4 is known, would be fit for the trip to Barbados following its recent engine and transmission rebuild. He has owned the car since 1999: “Having thought long and hard about owning and running a 6R4, I took the plunge, and there was a good omen, the registration number: C511 RRC – Robin’s Rally Car!” Since then, Hamilton has won several single venue events and been well placed in the majority he has entered. Originally owned by New Zealander Tony Teesdale – Hamilton has the original bill of sale from the factory – it was a full-spec 3-litre Group B car when campaigned in 1986. By the time Hamilton bought the car, a 2.8-litre engine had been installed to comply with UK rules. The last time a 6R4 competed in the Barbados Rally Club’s premier event was in 2001, when Ireland’s Denis Biggerstaff finished 10th in one of the very early examples; in fact, there were three, Andy Elliott from the UK and Turkey’s Ali Serpen also entered. In November 2006, Ulsterman Lawrence Gibson became the first lap record holder on the new Vaucluse Raceway Rallycross track in his recently-rebuilt 6R4.

© William Neill/neillpics.co.uk

Gallagher has also been in action recently, to shake down the Evo VI, in which Jonny Leonard won his class in the 2017 Irish Forestry Championship; with no dry tyres to hand and a streaming wet course for the McGrady Stages at Bishopscourt in early March, he had a challenging day: “It was the first time I drove the car and we didn’t get one clear run, aquaplaning all over the place; we ended up mid-field, but it was a steep learning curve . . . and the locals know Bishopscourt like the back of their hands. We were on course once to be third in class, when an Evo IX spun right in front of us . . . we had to take to the grass to avoid contact.” This is the 12th visit to Barbados for Gallagher, who finished class runner-up in the Irish Tarmac Championship in 2009, and he will again be accompanied by local co-driver Rene Forde.