SOL?RALLY BARBADOS double Group B winner Andrew Costin-Hurley says that he will be trying very hard to get the rally number 50 for this year’s event organised by the Barbados Rally Club (BRC).
In fact, it would be triple celebration for the Briton and his wife Melissa, who will both turn 50 this year as they will also be celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.
Speaking after submitting his entry form with regular co-driver Rob Brook, who once acted as international steward in Barbados, said the Sol Rally Barbados had become the beacon on their calendar and they structured everything else to fit around it.
They have again entered in Group B in the Earl’s Performance Hoses/Zeta Engineering Ford Puma.
“Having got engaged on Tiami and frequently had the pleasure of experiencing my birthdays in Barbados, all these events seem inextricably linked to the rally. I’m going to be trying very hard in Scotiabank King Of The Hill to get that rally start number of 50,” the former Indy car and F1 engineer said.
Pointing out that he is pleased to have Brook as co-driver again, he said the Puma looked like a whole new machine since he installed a sequential gearbox last year, and he couldn’t wait to drive it in the rally.
“It’s come a long way since the over-sprung, harshly-damped, bump-steering, skittish car that I first brought out in 2003. The Barbados’ roads have been a tough, but very rewarding test venue,” Costin-Hurley said.
It will be the 11th Rally Barbados for Costin-Hurley’s self-built rear-wheel-drive Earl’s Performance Hoses Ford Puma, in which he won Group B in 2007 and 2008.
Sol Rally Barbados 2014 will be BRC’s 25th running of its premier event. Scrutineering and King Of The Hill are slated for May 24 and 25 followed by the rally the next weekend.
