Barbados Rally

Graeme Finlayson is back in the sun, churning up the dust

I'm back again for another shot at the Barbados Rally Carnival - with a new car, larger crew, further spares and more experience.

This years Carnival has a full foreign contingent, with thirty cars from Europe and a further ten from the surrounding Caribbean islands to complement the fifty local entries. Our new car came in nearly 200kg underweight, meaning that four days were spent strategically adding lead to the car to pass scrutineering on the Friday.

The first event of the Carnival is the Sunbeach RallySprint, taking place on the custom-built track allowing two cars to race side-by-side round the mixed surface crossover track. With a lack of rain in the preceeding months the rallysprint was going to be tough. Rain is actually good for the track packing down the surface and allowing high levels of grip. However, no rain means a dusty loose track which is very succeptible to be broken up by the four-wheel drive cars.

Qualifying

Saturday saw qualifying and allowed the first chance to see the changes made to the track since last year. For the first qualifying run I'm up against Martin Atwell in our sister car, Martin is a Bajan local who has had significant success with his Westfield MegaBird in Barbados (finishing 2nd overall in the previous RallySprint a few months earlier).

The first run is also my first run in anger in the new car and my first run in a bike engined machine. A shaky start off the line - these bike engines seem to die below 3,000rpm, then think about it over 6,000rpm and then all hell breaks loose over 8,000rpm. The new suspension seems to work well on the bumpy sections and the new tarmac sections really seem to suit us. I accidentally flip the ignition off while changing gear (using the mechanical shift), my second experimentation with the hydraulic handbrake at the outside hairpin results in a half-spin and I'm still trying to figure out what surface changes occur when.

Atwell records a 2:27 and with my woes I'm way down the road with a 2:38. Time to review the footage, playback the track in my mind and get ready for the next run. Atwell is 5s in the lead of the class, quite clearly showing his comfort and familiarity with the car and the track so he chooses to sit out the 2nd qualifying run.

Out for the second qualifying run against Graham Manning (BD engined Escort) I have another poor getaway from the line but start to put the lap together, a clean run sees me post a 2:29s and take 2nd in class behind Atwell ready to make a push for the final qualifying run.

The third qualifying run is then cancelled as the dry track is getting too cut up, stopping the day short allows the machines to come in to relay the track ahead of the competition tomorrow.

Sunday

Sunday arrives, we arrive at the track but Atwell doesn't - electrical woes mean his car is stranded in the garage with a team of mechanics frantically trying to get to the bottom of the problem.

For a sighting run I get to go up against Terry Pankhurst's Cosworth engined 206WRC, with 4WD and 380bhp on tap I want to push it, purely for bragging rights (not a competive run).

Lights green, another mediocre start (7,500rpm and still nothing!) the car starts to peg the 206. Initially I'm a little cagey round the first long right-hander but it then occurs to me the 206 isn't exactly disappearing into the distance so I decide to go for it.

Lots of speed under the bridge and back onto the loose and tidy round the hairpin it appears I'm actually keeping pace, losing a little round the loose right-hander at the end of the straight I really gun it over the bridge and down the main straight, towards the end of the lap braking a little too late for the hairpin the car understeers, slaps the tyres and grinds to a halt, a second or two later the 206 roars off to the finish line. Grrrr. This close. But at least no damage to the car and I live to fight another day.

The Race

Onto the main event, the class final, up against another BD Escort I take things relatively smoothly as the track is now really getting cut-up, a smooth run sees me taking the class. I'm very pleased with a class win on the new cars debut but saddened by the fact I didn't get to go up against Atwell to take the class due to his electrical issues.

The run-offs see me trying to make up a 3s handicap to yet another BD engined Escort, after feeling some serious abuse through the sump on the now very cut-up track I throttle back after the final hairpin and cross the line a foot or two behind the Escort choosing to save the car for the Rally Barbados rather than risk further abuse to the new machine. Happy with the class win and the cars best time of 2:26.

So all in all a great start to this year's carnival, now onto another week of pace note prep and relaxation on the beach before the all important Rally Barbados. Final worries are a delayed clutch courtesy of FedEx which is now due the evening before the rally, at least one benefit of these bike engines is that the clutch can be changed in fifteen minutes!

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