BARBADOS RALLY CLUB TO CELEBRATE 50 YEARS

The Barbados Rally Club (BRC) is to mark its 50th Anniversary in 2007 with a month of activities leading up to the annual staging of the island’s longest-running motor sport event – now titled the June Safari, this will be contested over the weekend of June 9/10. Its forerunner, the June Rally, was first staged in 1957 and led directly to the founding of the island’s oldest motor sport Club.
Chairman Mark Hamilton revealed the four core elements of the celebrations during the Club’s Annual Awards ceremony last night (Friday, November 17), which was attended by hundreds of motor sport enthusiasts, plus family and friends. Nearly 60 Club members shared in an impressive array of awards and trophies, recognising their successes during the season, while the vital contribution of volunteer marshals was also marked in a special celebration.
Hamilton said: “A specially-formed sub-committee has been working for some months on a plan to make this an unforgettable milestone in the Club’s history . . . and in that of island motor sport. Integral to those preparations is a sponsorship document, which has already been presented to those companies with which the Club has developed close ties over the years. I am pleased to say that we have so far secured more than 50 per cent of our target figure.”
The month of celebrations will be launched at the Sherbourne Conference Centre on Saturday, May 12, at a Gala Dinner bringing together Club members old and new in the largest formal motor sport gathering ever seen in the island. In addition to Club officials, competitors, marshals and their friends and families, invitations will be extended to overseas drivers who have helped shape motor sport in Barbados, as well as dignitaries from the public and private sectors. A display of cars will look back over the Club’s five decades, while the evening will also include a multi-media presentation of the Club’s history and contributions from the invited guests.
Also launched at the Gala Dinner will be the Club’s official history, titled 0 to 50: The Barbados Rally Club 1957-2007; it will be available at selected retail outlets around the island and also on-line, while a number of those in the public and private sectors who have contributed to the Club’s history will receive presentation copies. By drawing on the Club’s own archives, plus the collections – and recollections - of many long-standing competitors and officials, this case-bound, full-colour coffee table book will be a lasting souvenir of the Club’s first 50 years.
In addition to tracing the history of the Club’s unique contribution to island motor sport as an organiser of both circuit racing and stage rallying events, its 200 pages will also profile some of the sport’s Bajan legends and include personal contributions from local, regional and international motor sport personalities, who have made an impact on the Club. It will feature more than 200 illustrations, many of them taken from personal scrapbooks and therefore previously unpublished.
Fittingly for the Club’s anniversary year, Rally Barbados 2007 promises to be one of the most hard-fought ever, with national honour at stake. The trophy has left the island only four times since the Club’s series of annual special stage rallies started in 1990, most recently in the hands of Jamaica’s Gary Gregg last year . . . and Barbados wants it back! RB’07 is scheduled for May 26/27.
For the fourth and final core element of its celebrations - the 50th Anniversary June Safari - the Club returns to its roots. The creation of the Barbados Rally Club grew out of the staging in 1957 of the first June Rally, which remains the longest-running motor sport event in the island; shortly after, a meeting was called and all who competed automatically became members of the new Club. A rally has been held annually ever since: originally a navigational event, the June Rally evolved for a time into a special stage rally, but it has recently reverted to type, and – renamed the June Safari – is now a round of the Club’s Safari Championship for four-wheel-drive vehicles. Inspired by the Club’s anniversary, many former competitors are preparing vehicles especially for the 2007 running, which looks set to be the most challenging of recent times.
Hamilton added: “These four elements comprise the core of our plans for 2007, but there are other ideas still being considered. Any member who can think of other ways to mark this milestone is invited to log on to www.rallybarbados.bb where you will find the 50th anniversary logo on the home page and follow the instructions – all ideas will be considered.”

For further information, robin@bradfax.com