Scotsman's Sol Rally Barbados 2010 Marathon
European cars set sail for the Caribbean

Scottish rally driver Kenny Hall completed a 26-hour marathon this week, the latest stage of his preparations for Sol Rally Barbados 2010 (May 29/30), which celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the inaugural running of the Barbados Rally Club's (BRC) International All-Stage Rally.

Hall left his home in Melrose in the Scottish borders at 3.30am on Monday (April 26) for the eight-hour, 410-mile drive to Portsmouth on the English south coast, towing the ex-works Super 1600 Ford Puma in which he is aiming for a fourth Class win when he contests the Caribbean's biggest annual International motor sport event for the seventh time next month.

Once in the port, Hall was joined by fellow-Puma driver Andrew Costin-Hurley (right), John Hardman and Martin Stockdale; while Hardman is not competing this year, Stockdale's record nine visits to Barbados help these four to a total of 26 appearances in the region's premier event, a resounding vote in favour of the event's - and the island's - appeal for overseas visitors.

Each year, a handful of the European competitors volunteer to assist in loading the overseas cars on to the Geest Line freighter which ships them across the Atlantic; Monday's group also included Stockdale's son, Thomas, and Costin-Hurley's co-driver Shaun Mellett and wife Sonia, who celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at Sol Rally Barbados 2009.

Loading did not start until the evening, as Mellett explains: "We sprang into action around 6.45pm, moving the cars to the dockside crane. By the time all the cars were loaded, the sun was setting and the temperature had turned a bit chilly. We all had a long journey home to look forward to . . . some a lot longer than others."

And Hall's journey was the longest of them all, by some considerable margin! By the time he reached home, it was around 5.30am Tuesday, roughly 26 hours – and well over 800 miles - since he had left. In an e-mail received by the Sol RB2010 rally office before sunrise Tuesday Barbados time, sent before he collapsed into bed, Hall said: "I'm back, the cars are loaded and good to go. But I'm exhausted, and reckon a few competitors owe me a rum!"

Sol Rally Barbados Chairman Barry Gale said: "It is not just the other competitors that owe Kenny and all those other helpers a rum – as organisers, we do, too. Without the enthusiasm of our European friends - over the last 10 years especially - it is safe to say we would not enjoy the event we have today.

"The roots of Sol Rally Barbados are firmly planted in the participation of ‘clubman' competitors, right from the early days of 30 or so local entrants up to the current mix of local, regional and international. That is why we decided to channel our resources in this 20th Anniversary year into rewarding them for their years of support, by further subsidising their entry fees – first-timers still get a subsidised rate, but those who have competed in the past get rates that are reduced by as much as half of the cost to the club to offer the package.

"And the sort of effort put in this week by Kenny, Martin, Andrew and the others is just remarkable. And it proves that our decision on how to approach this year's event was the right one, to support those who have supported us in the past . . . and continue to do so. I hope that I'm the first person to get to the bar and offer them all a glass of rum when they arrive!"

The Geest Line freighter Klipper Stream will take roughly 10 days to reach the Bridgetown Port in Barbados, where the cars will be collected and taken to a central storage facility by officials from the Barbados Rally Club.

Sol Rally Barbados 2010 (May 29/30) and Shell V-Power King of the Hill (May 23) are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007; title sponsor is the Sol Group. Marketing partners are Simpson Motors, LIME, Automotive Art, Banks and Karcher; official partners are the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, Barbados Tourism Authority, Divi Southwinds Beach Resort, Geest Line and Virgin Atlantic Airways; associate sponsors are Stoute's Car Rental and Little Switzerland.