Record shipment of rally cars heads for BCIC RB25

Thirty-five rally cars, the largest-ever single shipment from Europe heading to compete in Rally Barbados, left Portsmouth on the south coast of England early this morning (Monday) on the Geest Line freighter Lombok Strait. A group of 15 regular overseas participants had worked a lengthy 12-hour ‘shift’ on Sunday helping the dockside staff carefully load the precious cargo.
  BCIC RB25, the Caribbean’s biggest motor sport international, will run from Friday, May 30 to Sunday, June 1. The Auto & Rally Show, where every car entered is on display in an annual celebration of island rallying, and the final shakedown and seeding event, First Citizens King of the Hill, fill the previous weekend (May 24/25).
  Already in the hold when the ship docked in the UK was the Austin Mini Cooper of four-time Dutch Rally Champion Frans Verbaas, which had been loaded at Flushing in the Netherlands. It was joined by 13 cars each from England and Ireland – a record number from the Emerald Isle – six from Scotland and two from Wales.
  Verbaas built the bright orange Mini to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the iconic British car in 2009 and debuted it running at start number 50 in Barbados where he had competed twice before in Opel Astras. It shares its front-wheel-drive layout with the Mini, along with a spectacular widened body, but is powered by a 2-litre Opel Kit Car engine, with Sadev six-speed sequential gearbox and Opel Astra Group A.
  Between 2009 and 2017, Verbaas finished Rally Barbados six times in the Mini, with four class wins to his credit. Although Group B is not eligible for overall results, his best result was in 2012, the first of his class wins and a top 20 finish with co-driver Carina Berkhof-van Westen, who returns to compete this year.
  Verbaas, whose family were Austin Rover dealers for many years, has done little rallying since his last visit to the island and reports: “The Mini is the same as in 2017, apart from a new flywheel, clutch and front spoiler . . . and a big service!"
  The shipment also includes the final BMW to be confirmed for the event, bringing the total number to a remarkable 38, just over 30 per cent of this year’s record-breaking entry list. First-time entrant Matt Cusens from the UK visited the island in 2023 with colleagues from Red Mist TV, Will Frost, Adam Male and Sam Perring, shooting content for their YouTube Channel. As BMW fans, the group soon made friends in the island, including Rhett Watson, who invited Frost back to co-drive in 2024.
  Shortly after their return to the UK, however, Frost was tragically killed in a road accident, after which the team decided to enter a BMW M3 in BCIC RB24 to honour his name. Although the car was not finished in time and the entry withdrawn, a large group including members of Frost’s family still attended the event, with Perring joining Watson as co-driver, finishing 11th overall, top 2wd and SuperModified 2 class-winners.
  This year the new M3 is now on its way, entered in Modified 3 with island co-driver Stephen Bell, who last year sat with the UK’s Rob Swann for KotH and Jersey driver Darryl Morris in RB24. Cusens first competed in 2013, driving a Nissan Skyline in the British Drift Championship before rallying a BMW Compact for a couple of seasons, then moving on to circuit racing in endurance events, including sharing with Frost. As well as driving, he has been instrumental in the design, specification and build of the new car, which has been tailored around him and his very aggressive driving style.
  On arrival at the Bridgetown Port next week, these 35 cars will combine with those already based at workshops around the island to make a record total of 51 overseas crews competing in the Barbados Rally Club’s premier event.

Rally Barbados is a tarmac rally, with around 20 special stages run on the island’s intricate network of public roads, under road closure orders granted by the Ministry of Transport & Works; the previous Sunday’s King of the Hill ‘shakedown’, run under a similar arrangement, features four timed runs on a roughly four-kilometre stage, the results of which are used to seed the running order for the main event.

For media information only. No regulatory value.

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