[DerekR]

What a rally! Rally Barbados 2005 was a roller-coaster ride for the MINI. Literally and figuratively. Definitely the most exciting event in the MINI's life.

The rally started at 9.00am, flagged off by surprise guest Didier Auriol, 1994 World Rally Champion, who flew in as a guest of the Barbados Rally Club. The usual horde of spectators, estimated at around 5000, flocked around the cars and made it difficult to leave the start and make the target time for arrival at Stage 1.

And then the drama began for the MINI. Twenty seconds into the very first stage the left front wheel of the MINI thumped a piece of rock in the road and the car slowed. It took us a few seconds to realise what had happened. Mounted just above and behind that wheel is a crash sensor which did it's job as programmed by BMW. It's little brain decided the impact indicated catastrophe. Whereupon it killed the engine. So the MINI coasted to a stop off the road and a steamed driver leapt out, raised the bonnet and reset the circuit breaker, vowing (again) to bypass the infernal device as an order of priority before the next event. By this time one of the cars in our class had gone by - you could see the surprise inside the Astra!! Just as we got going again a Suzuki Ignis Cup Car squeezed by as well.

Needless to say the proverbial 'Red Mist' descended on the MINI's driver and we set off after the Ignis. We caught it just as he turned onto a long straight and there ensued a drag race in front of several thousand spectators. The MINI executed a pass with two wheels in the grass which earned the approval of the spectators if their antics were anything to go by.

The Suzuki got it's revenge thirty seconds later, however. After a lurid moment in an S-bend after the straight we approached the second of the three 'famous spots' on that stage - the yump where a Jamaican driver crashed heavily last year, breaking his leg and destroying his Evo VIII. The MINI 's driver was bent on making up time and opted to 'fly' the car over the yump instead of taking the more circumspect line and avoiding the worst of the yump. Well, fly it did! So much so that it began to nose over and when it made contact with Mother Earth again it was very definitely on one wheel only, the left front! The driver thought "S***, the crash sensor again!" but that was a fleeting thought because the real problems arose when the rest of the car touched down. The back wheels bounced the car back into the air again and from that point we were passengers! The MINI climbed the embankment on the right side, launched over that and began to do a slow roll! Marshalls and spectators later claimed to see the entire underbody. It may have been this indecent exposure that caused the MINI Gods to intervene. They obviously decided the MINI's unclad body should not be so exposed and the car crashed down onto the mud. Stuck fast but upright and apparently unhurt except for the loss of the front spoiler. MINI Gods do exist. It seemed an eternity before the Marshalls reached us but along with help from spectators we were pushed out. We finished the stage with two flat tires and a horrible three minutes twent-seven seconds behind the class leader. Three minutes in rallying is a mountain.

And then the horrible spectre of OTL raised it's head. In Rally Barbados each competitor is allowed a maximum lateness per leg of fifteen minutes. If you exceed fifteen minutes lateness you are deemed to be "Over the Time Limit" and out of the rally. So here was the MINI , already three and a half minutes later than it should be, and needing to change not one but two flat tires. Which were on the service vehicle. Frantic phone calls to the service crew, a crippled MINI limping slowly in the direction of the next stage, anxious eyes on the clock - we had nine minutes - and the co-driver obviously trying to restrain herself from asking the driver just what the **** he thought he was trying to pull back there! She showed admirable restraint.

The tire eventually parted company with the rim and we were forced to pull over. Eight minutes. We figured we did not have enough time so we would try and flag a car down, borrow it's spare, get the next stage done with that spare and arrange a rendezvous with the service vehicle after. An obliging young man stopped, agreed to lend his spare and we used his jack to take the front wheel off. We figured we'd drive with the rear wheel flat. Six minutes. Then we found that the borrowed wheel would not clear the brake calipers on the MINI. Five minutes, fifteen seconds. We decided to take the rear wheel off and wait on the service vehicle. Which arrived ten seconds later. Frantic activity and we left with spinning wheels and three minutes to make the arrival control at Special Stage 2. We did it with nine seconds to spare and a blind eye from the constabulary - thanks, Officers. We were still in the rally but we figured we were so far behind we did not have a chance of winning the class. So we drove Stage 2 sanely. And found we were 19 seconds quicker that the class. Some quick maths and we realised that with 24 stages to go there was a very, very slim chance - if the other cars did not wake up!

So we went for it. By lunch we'd taken back a minute and a half and it was probably this and the cheap psychology we employed giving the impression it was a done deal that sent the rest of the class into shock. Privately we did not think we had a hope but we were going to try. So the MINI lived dangerously - especially when the rain came down and caught us without driving lights just as darkness fell on the line at the start of the muddy Mt Misery to Hangman's Hill stage (how's that for a stage name!?). We drove that without the help of the extra lights and paid a price - we were only 11 seconds quicker than an Astra who had fitted his extra lights at 4pm. Then the next two stages were cancelled. We were running out of stages. The last stage on Saturday was a rerun of Mt Misery to Hangmans and this time we had lights. We decided not to play safe on that last, wet and muddy stage and we stormed through some 40 seconds quicker than the rest. At that point we figured we had an even chance.

Then some inebriated spectator driving at breakneck speed slammed into a parked rally car near the start and injured himself. The nearest ambulance was the one designated to that stage, which still had four cars left to run. The ambulance had to cart the injured man off to hospital and so the stage was cancelled as the rules require an ambulance at each stage. We went to bed.

Sunday dawned and according to the officials we had reduced the deficit to 49 seconds. We figured there was an error in their maths somewhere and decided it was business as usual until we got back a minute plus. By lunch time, with six stages left, we thought we had done it. So we we were able to back off a little. In the end we won by more than a minute - if someone had predicted that on Saturday we'd have laughed outright.

Rally Barbados 2005 was also a milestone for the MINI's driver - the tenth class win in this event since its inception in 1990. And having a World Champion present us with our trophy was the icing on the cake to a memorable weekend.

(Photos and reports of Rally Barbados 2005 can be seen at www.justbajan.com and www.rallyman.com)

[robbo mcs]

Hi Derek,

Thats a fantastic result under the circumstances, congratulations

Thanks for the awesome writeup

Cheers

Robbo

[ScottyB]

Huge congratulations Derek



w00t

[StuJones]

Great work Derek. Really love the inspirational stories of climbing back up the ladder after adversity!!

[obehave]

Excellent.

Nice story

They have it titled as a NIssan Sentra

[s_and_m]

I may have to ship the Superbee ver for next year.

Quality plate by the way!

S

[DerekR]

Would love to see other MINIs compete in Barbados. Rally Barbados is part of the Barbados Rally Carnival which is a two-week motorsport party! It's been running in its present form for several years and overseas entrants are offered a package deal which includes shipping the car from the U.K, airfares, hotel accomodation for two weeks, insurance (both road and competition), entry to two events on successive weekends (one is a rallysprint and the other is Rally Barbados) and an almost-continuous round of parties, pirate cruise parties, parties and more parties. Have a look at www.barbadosrallycarnival.com

[s_and_m]

Quote: Originally Posted by DerekR

overseas entrants are offered a package deal which includes shipping the car from the U.K, airfares, hotel accomodation for two weeks, insurance (both road and competition),

Scanned the website - any idea of rough costs from the UK?

S

[DerekR]

Not sure of current costs but if you email the contact address on the site they should get back to you. If you're serious move quickly as they turn down dozens of people each year. While there's not a definite limit it depends on the shipping capacity available etc. Usually there are around 40 or so cars from Europe. If you don't get a quickish reply let me know and I'll contact 'em from this end. Obviously you need to know the costs to make a decision but you may also want to have a look at the classification rules (www.rallyclub.com and follow the link to Classification Regs) and see where your car will run based on what's done to it. If you post a quick list of mods I'll let you have a rough idea of what you'll compete against.