ALL READY FOR 2020!

The 2020 rally season is the most highly anticipated for quite a few years…and for good reason. On the back of a 2019 season which saw quality entry lists for each event, the return of iconic stages, the SOL Rally Barbados trophy return to home soil and the ratification of the R5 class coupled with the restrictions on the WRC class being lifted, how could it possibly get better? Well, to answer that question, we had a chat with Barbados Rally Club PRO Neil Barnard.

Doing a bit of retrospect on the gains which rallying achieved during 2019, Neil noted that some of the key points would have been an increased number of competitors, new cars, safety improvements and making times available more quickly and easily. “Robin Bradford had issued a press release stating that there was an increase in competing members - he studied the data, in rallying over the course of the year. This certainly bodes well for 2020. There has also been a significant investment in new machinery, which I haven’t seen in a long time, and that bodes well for the foundation that rallying exists on and where it’s likely to go. In terms of infrastructure, we’re in good health. With the introduction of Rally Safe, streamlining of timing, and the safety which it involves, it obviously brings things up to an international spec standard. I honestly hope that Rally Safe plays a bigger part and we’ll continue to cross our t’s and dot our i’s in terms of safety on events - particularly with the increase in entries.” There is also work going on behind the scenes to improve the Rally Safe user experience for spectators, “We’re in discussions with the developers to work out the kinks that some spectators were having last year. The ability to have live timing of each car was incredible…”

As mentioned earlier, the R5 class is now ratified locally and response to this has been unbelievable. This was also coupled with the decision to allow WRC cars manufactured after 2008 to compete. “I think the decision that the club membership made in the end was the right one. This year I think we’ll see- and I’m ‘kind of’ guessing, three 1.6 Fiesta WRCs along with three other WRCs for Sol Rally Barbados. We’re also likely to see up to a dozen R5 cars for SOL Rally Barbados- and that’s no exaggeration. That’s because we are likely to see at least seven R5 cars competing throughout the year in that class.” The rumour mill has been spinning at full speed about potential car and driver combinations. There is some fact among the fiction and the quest to identify what falls into each category is only adding to the excitement leading up to the first event and ultimately SOL Rally Barbados. Roger Hill, Stan Hartling an even Roger Skeete have had their names linked to R5 machinery. Paul Horton’s Citroen is said to be up for sale. Is he looking to step into the R5 party as well? Jeff Panton will have his R5 Fiesta shipped here after he competes in the Alan Healy Memorial Cadwell Park Stages in early February. Could you imagine a Sunday morning event with these names in one group plus Stuart Maloney, Suleman Esuf, David Coelho and Andrew Mallalieu? That would be akin to the days of Roger Skeete, Paul Bourne, Stuart and Mark Maloney and Trevor Manning in their Group A heyday.

Speaking of SOL Rally Barbados, the profile of this event has been raised significantly. This has been accomplished because SOL Rally Barbados is now one of the rounds of the FIA NACAM (North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and the north of South America) Championship. This particular championship uses the R classes: R5, R3, R2 and R1, as well as Group N. Mexico’s Ricardo Triviño is the reigning 10 time champion. “Through the BMF, we’ve been working on this for some time and they NACAM announced on Wednesday via their Facebook page that we’re a part of the championship, which we can now confirm. This is a big deal for a few reasons: yes, we’ll get an additional set of entries for SOL Rally Barbados – maybe as many as 10 or more cars. But SOL Rally Barbados now becomes a listed FIA event, which brings its own set of prestige and visibility.” With many professional drivers already knowing of the Caribbean’s biggest rally, this additional exposure could potentially put the event on the bucket list of a few more of them.

One of the constants in life is change, and 2019 saw changes to some of the stages used for events, as well as the return of the iconic stages like Turners Hall and Swanns to Rock Hall. “The Swanns to Rock Hall stage was very well received and we plan to run it again this year during the Shakedown Stages. For that event, we’ve made a change to one of the other stages which is very interesting”

There was also taking FLOW King of The Hill back to Stewart’s Hill. 2020 will keep that theme going, as the BRC looks to keep things fresh and interesting. “The return of the Vaucluse 90 was a big hit. The sheer number of spectators there reminded me of the crowds we saw turn out in the mid 2000’s when Gary Gregg was here with his Ford Focus WRC.” It’s an understatement to say the return of the Vaucluse 90 was well received by competitors and spectators alike. So too was the move of to bring FLOW King of The Hill back to Stewart’s Hill, which will be back there again for 2020. “We may make an alteration to the route at Stewarts’s Hill for FLOW King of The Hill but that’s all I can say on that for now. For SOL Rally Barbados. we will do what we normally do and make some tweaks to existing stages as well. We have made some changes to the Friday night start, and during the rally there is an opportunity also the for us to run a stage which will be at least 50% totally new.

Do you remember before we had King of The Hill, there used to be an informal shakedown the Thursday before the Rally Barbados, starting just before the Vaucluse 90 and finishing at Hangman’s Hill? Imagine having one of those to start the rally season. Yes…it’s a thing. This practice stage will give drivers a chance to shake off the rust and get some seat time without the pressure of having to worry about times. “We’d love to do this, because we believe from a spectator’s standpoint it would definitely build the hype. I think there are a number of drivers who would welcome the chance to do this. It would more likely than not be a short stage – about 2 kilometres. We’re trying to finalize a date for this event – potentially late March, maybe a Saturday afternoon. Even if we get 20 cars, it would generate conversation in advance of when the season starts in earnest.”

There are more than a few final details to work out, but the 2020 season is set up to be epic. Organizers, competitors and spectators alike are gearing up for what promises to be a year full of excitement. Neil left us with these final words on his outlook for 2020 “I’m cautiously optimistic about the year as a whole. I’m very optimistic about the entry levels that we should see this year and of course it puts a bit more pressure on us as organizers now to meet that challenge to ensure that the events are as good as they were in 2019.”