SOL RALLY BARBADOS ENTRY LIST FILLING UP FAST

Entries for Sol Rally Barbados 2015 (May 29-31) have surged past 80, with support for the four-wheel-drive classes now representing more than a quarter of the entries received on-line through the official web site, rallybarbados.net. As the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) celebrates the 25th Anniversary of its first International All-Stage Rally, the overseas interest is at record levels.

Trinidad-based Briton Peter Morris is the latest regional entry to be confirmed, at the wheel of his Valvoline Oils and DMack Tyres-backed Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. Having taken a break from rallying in recent years, Morris returned to action towards the end of 2013, after converting his company car into a rally car. Initially, his daughter Hannah was co-driver, before he was reunited with his former partner Lyndon Mohammed, with whom he had enjoyed success in the past.

Morris started rallying in 1963 in a Triumph Herald and progressed to the European Rally Championship, contesting events in Europe in a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus in the 1980s, in the years immediately after Talbot had become Manufacturer Champions in the World Rally Championship in 1981. He also competed in the Monte Carlo Rally, the opening round of the WRC, in 1984.

Since moving to the Caribbean, Morris has enjoyed success both on land and at sea, as he is also an avid sailor. A regular competitor in the Trinidad & Tobago Rally Club (TTRC) Championship, he has won many awards and also competed in Barbados on a number of occasions, once making the front page of the Barbados Advocate with a big jump in his then Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III.

Trinidadian co-driver Mohammed has recently returned to the sport in which he first competed as a 14-year-old in a Ford Escort in the late 1970s. His accolades include winning the TTRC Championship in 1992, finishing ninth in Rally Jamaica in the same year and winning Group 2 in the Caribbean Rally Championship. In addition to his partnership with Morris, he has also sat with Frankie Boodram, Paul Chung, Ian Gibson and John Powell.

Nine years ago, when Mohammed withdrew from rallying to pursue further studies, he also started mountain biking although, last year, it went wrong, as he explains: “In March 2014, I broke my arms going downhill. I possibly didn’t realise I had no roll cage. By October, I was back in a rally car with Peter, winning Group A on our first outing, followed up with another class win in November. I’m looking forward to competing on the twisty curves of Rally Barbados.”

Barbados regulars help the Wyedean Rally celebrate 40 years

Regular Sol Rally Barbados competitors will be playing a key role in helping the Forest of Dean Motor Club in the UK celebrate the 40th running of the Wyedean Forest Rally on Valentine’s Day (Saturday February 14) . . . not least Rob Weir, who will be returning to the island this year with his historic Triumph TR7 V8, and who is sponsoring the event through his business Weir Engineering.

Based at Chepstow Racecourse in South Wales, the event has attracted a full-house entry of 175 crews, headed by double Sol RB winner Paul Bird in his Ford Focus WRC08, with Welsh co-driver Aled Davies; after achieving a hat-trick of wins at last weekend’s North West Stages, ‘Birdy’ is on a high coming in to the opening round of REIS Ravenol BTRDA Rally Championship.

Bird finished second in last year’s Wyedean to another Barbados regular, Steve Perez, who has elected not to defend the title in his Focus WRC, but is entered with Paul Spooner in his iconic Lancia Stratos. The Scottish crew of David Weston and Kirsty Riddick – she won Sol RB12 as co-driver to Bird – start at number two in a Subaru Impreza WRC.

In what promises to be a spectacular weekend of celebration, the entry also includes Warren Philliskirk (Ford Escort MkI), who will make his Sol RB debut this year, and three-time Wyedean winner from the 1970s Graham Elsmore, driving Rob Weir’s Escort RS1800, rebuilt after a major accident by Rob Smith. After a test day at Walter’s Arena, the former Ford and British Leyland factory driver Elsmore said: "The car is just fantastic. I just wanted to blow the rust and cobwebs off me, before the Wyedean. The car is as good as any factory car I drove, that's the best compliment I can give Rob Smith and his boys, and I can't thank Rob Weir enough for giving me this opportunity".

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Bhajan,

Sol Rally Barbados and the King of the Hill shakedown event are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which was founded in 1957; Sol RB15 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and the eighth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.