Juniors and women class for Autocross
Two new classes and the presence of past and present champion drivers are among the ingredients wrapped up in this year’s Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Autocross series starting tomorrow at 9 a.m at Bushy Park.
A junior class for 14 to 16-year-olds and a female class for which first-time competitor Cheryl-Ann Hurley in a 1400cc Opel Corsa, is the first entry, are new for 2019.
“The junior class is aimed at encouraging parents to enter their children with one of their cars giving them an early chance to compete in a motorsport event without having a driving licence,”clerk of the course Geoff Goddard explained.
He said too, that the sport is also instrumental in helping competitors learn manoeuverability of a vehicle, judgement of spaces when driving, and the general skill in handling a vehicle and should be attractive to people already in karting, as it would give such people another avenue of motorsport that they can enter and enjoy.
Goddard said that competitors entering in this group will be required to take a competency test under the supervision of an autocross official.
With regards to the female class, Goddard said a few women had competed in the past, but the organisers would like to see more of them taking part in the series. As a result, they have introduced a class for them to compete against each other and also improve
by Trevor Thorpe
Two-wheel drive champions Geoff Ullyett and Christopher “Teach“ McFarlane will share Ullyett’s BMW M3 with Jody Forte in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Autocross.
(Picture by Trevor Thorpe.)
their driving skills.
Both of these new classes will score points for class awards as well as towards the overall championship, and a contender for the title could come from the new classes.
Apart from the two new classes, the presence of past and present champions sharing cars could make predicting a winner difficult in tomorrow’s action, the first to be held at Bushy Park since 2013.
Four-time champion Omar Boodhoo returns to active competition at the venue where he took most of his victories at the wheel of a Suzuki Swift GTI. However, this time he will be driving a Subaru Impreza STI, and will meet new four-time champion Jamaicanborn, Barbados-based Christopher “Teach “ McFarlane in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 10 FQ 300.
“It would be modern machinery in the form of the EVO 10 up against an earlier model Subaru Impreza STI, however, both cars and drivers are expected to produce good times,” Goddard noted.
And to add to the mix, sliding master Geoff Ullyett is entered in the 4WD class sharing the EVO 10 with McFarlane along with Kofe-Jean Baptiste in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 1X, who finished third in this class in last year’s championship.
The two-wheel drive classes are also expected to be keenly contested and provide close competition as last year’s class champion McFarlane, Jody Forte and Ullyett, will be sharing Ullyett’s BMW M3.
