FROM COMPANY CAR PARK TO SOL RALLY BARBADOS

British rally driver Andy Hawkins will this year return to the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International, Sol Rally Barbados (June 1/2), for the first time since his debut in an historic Austin Mini 10 years ago. This time, he will be at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf GTI MkIV, formerly his mother’s company car, which is currently undergoing a ground-up rebuild to transform it for Sol RB13.
 
The Golf is one of four cars of which the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) is currently aware, that are being built, or completely rebuilt, by International competitors specifically for the island’s premier event. This continues the trend of previous years, in which perhaps the most notable new build was the Mini of Dutch enthusiast Frans Verbaas created for Sol RB09 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the iconic car’s launch.
 
Confirmed last month were Ireland’s Enda McCormack with a new-build Ford Escort MkII and his team-mate Tommy Doyle’s Renault Clio, in the midst of a bare-shell rebuild in Ireland. In addition to the Hawkins Golf, father and son team Rob and Ross Weir, who entered for the first time last year in a new-build Subaru Impreza, now have an historic Triumph TR7 V8 being recreated.
 
Hawkins and co-driver Chris Prabucki earned a host of fans in 2003 in the Mini, which was driven with great enthusiasm to 32nd overall and fifth Historic. Having largely retired from rallying after RB03, Hawkins concentrated on his love of motorcycling, enjoying two major adventures, to Mount Ararat in Turkey (resting place of Noah’s Ark), then deep into the Sahara Desert and high into the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
 
The Volkswagen was presented to Hawkins’s mother, Jenny, when she took early retirement just before RB03; when he decided in 2011 to return to Barbados this year, he bought it and started work. Hawkins says: “The decision was soon made to fully strip and create a car that would be even better built than the dear old Mini. Sol Rally Barbados is the reason for our return to the sport and the car is currently being re-fitted, aiming for first tests at the end of February/early March.
 
“I envisage that the engine will be pretty much standard for RB13, so possibly not that competitive, as we will not have had time to develop and test it before shipping. I am more interested in ensuring the thing will go in a straight line, start and stop. It will be fun driving a full-size car . . . actually, it will be fun rallying again!”
 
Fans can track the rebuild on the team’s facebook page (www.facebook.com/ashadirs), while the Ashadi Rally Sport web site (www.ashadi.co.uk) should be fully operational within a couple of weeks.

Barbados regular Perez rocks and rolls in Norway

Sol Rally Barbados regulars Steve Perez, Geoff Bell and Andrew Siddall rejoined battle in their private G-WRC - Gentlemen's World Rally Championship – last Sunday (January 20) on Rally Hadeland Historic Rally Norway. Co-driven by Sweden’s Staffan Parmander, Perez pulled off an impressive victory, only days after a dramatic roll in the Amigos Tequila Beer Lancia Stratos.
 
Perez was testing at the John Haugland Rally School when the car caught a snow bank, fell off the road and gently rolled over. Perez said: “We couldn't get out of the car for five or six minutes, because of the amount of snow. We had to wait for a rescue team to dig us out . . . and I must say I was glad to see daylight."
 
The BTR service crew drove through the night to an Oslo workshop, then worked all the next day to have the 1974 Stratos ready. On the first stage, Perez was 17 seconds faster than South African Bell, co-driven in the Magnum Cream Liqueur/Amigos Tequila Beer Ford Escort RS1800 by Kenyan Tim Challen. The Stratos driver said: “I thought I had won the rally on the first stage and backed off, but Geoff caught me napping and took 32 seconds off me on the next two stages . . . meaning the fight was on!"
 
Perez and Bell swapped times, with Perez just three seconds down going into the last stage: "I decided it was going in the lead or going in the trees! We drove flat out for the next 21km of frozen forest tracks, and we had a few close calls, but it worked out well." Perez pulled 16 seconds back from Bell, giving him the victory.
 
Siddall and co driver Carl Williamson had earlier gone off into a snow bank when the throttle stuck open on their Siddall and Hilton Products Ltd Ford Escort MkI.

Sol Rally Barbados (June 1/2) and Scotiabank King of the Hill (May 26) are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2007; Sol RB13 is the 24th running of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and marks the sixth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com
web sites: www.rallybarbados.net; www.barbadosrallyclub.com