More Compact Route For Rally Barbados
Sting in the tail for unwary competitors
The Barbados Rally Club (BRC), organiser of Rally Barbados,
has again revised the route of the annual two-day International
event in its continuing efforts to balance retaining the appeal
of the Caribbean's premier rally to overseas competitors with
the importance of limiting inconvenience to the public.
Rally Barbados 2006 (June 3/4) will comprise 24 special stages;
one stage has been cut from each day, allowing an earlier
finish on both evenings, but the event has a sting in the
tail for unwary competitor - the final loop of stages on Sunday
is the longest, representing around one-sixth of the total
competition.
Rally chairman Barry Gale said: "As we did last year,
we have looked carefully at each day's route, and the impact
the event has on residents in the area - we have made some
more changes to the route to cut down the time we close the
roads for, but we have lost less than eight per cent of our
total stage mileage."
"I hope these are changes that will make Rally Barbados
more enjoyable for all, as we continue to search for improvements
that raise the standard of the event . . . all in an effort
to lure our overseas visitors back every year."
Rally Barbados has again attracted a strong overseas entry,
with current or former National Champions from Britain, Jamaica
and Trinidad hoping to become the first overseas driver to
win the BRC's blue riband event in 10 years; the last overseas
winner was Ireland's Kenny McKinstry, who claimed his second
victory here in 1996 in a Ford Escort RS2000 . . . but he
did have some local help, with Sean Gill as his co-driver!
Six special stage venues will be used this year, three each
on Saturday and Sunday: from the 9.00am Saturday start at
Simpson Motors in Warrens, competitors will head straight
for Automotive Art Shell Canefield, the popular 5.9-kilometre
stage, which runs from the bottom of Hangman's Hill, turning
north past the Vaucluse Raceway. The familiar route is then
continued at Blue Waters Sailor Gully, the 4.5-kilometre stage
running westbound.
Stage three will be the 2.4-kilometre SB Distribution Turners
Hall, after which crews will head back to Simpson Motors for
their first service halt; these three stages are then repeated
in the same order before second service. The third loop will
comprise just two stages, Turners Hall being missed out, as
marshals will be modifying the stage to run first after lunch
at the increased length of 3.7 kilometres.
Sailor Gully and Canefield will be reversed, running east
and south respectively, and follow Turners Hall in the first
evening loop; these two stages will then be repeated, with
the first car scheduled to pass through the last stage of
the day at 7.15pm, around 30 minutes earlier than last year.
The Sunday restart will be at 7.30am from the yard at Carrington
Factory; as on Saturday, there will be one fewer stage than
last year, while the other key change is that the 4.4-kilometre
Gatorade Stewarts Hill stage will run only in the westerly
direction. The 3.1-kilometre Digicel Malvern stage will host
the second competitive action of the day, after which crews
will tackle the rally's longest stage, DaCosta Mannings Auto
Centre Kendal (8.1 kilometres, running south).
Spectators who went to Kendal for the BRC's Carnival Warm-up
Tarmac Rally in April will know that some traditional spectator
areas on that stage have been changed and new arrangements
are in place for parking - fans are asked to arrive early
and abide by instructions given by marshals and security staff.
Those three stages will run again before competitors return
to Carrington for the lunch break. After one return to Stewarts
Hill and Malvern, the final service halt will precede the
sting in the tail of Rally Barbados 2006 - the longest loop
of the event is the last, with one pass through Malvern and
two through Kendal. At 26.8 kilometres, this loop represents
one-sixth of the total competitive driving, so could spring
a surprise or two.
Rally Barbados 2006 is rounds three and four of the Texaco
BRC Rally Championship; it is organised by the Barbados Rally
Club in association with Armstrong Agencies, Automotive Art
Shell, Da Costa Mannings Autocentre, Digicel, DMS Distributors.com,
McEnearney Quality, Red Bull, Simpson Motors and Texaco West
Indies. The event is supported by The Boatyard, J E Security
Systems & Services, Nassco, Office Solutions & Systems,
SBI Distribution and Stoute's Car Rental. The Red Bull Vaucluse
Raceway International RallySprint is organised by the Vaucluse
Raceway Motorsport Club. |
