Overturning a car for a male competitor can be a heart-stopping and career-ending experience. For most female drivers, such an experience should certainly bring their careers to an end.
Not so for Malvina Gibson, who experienced this.
In an interview with EASY, Malvina, who said she obtained her driver’s licence at age 16 or 17, said that as far as she could remember she always had a passion for fast cars and racing. “I remember sneaking off down the gap in my grandmother’s Morris car. I was so short at the time, I literally had to stand to reach the pedals, but that was fun.”
Malvina remembers that her first motor sport experience was when she travelled with the pit crew of her then husband Ian Gibson, who was a member of the Barbados Rally Club.
She joined the Barbados Motoring Club in 1987. That same year she had her first taste of competition – in the Rabbits And Hares Rally, sponsored of the Barbados Rally Club.
That first event turned out to be one of her worst experiences. “I was all excited at doing what I had wanted to do for a long while, that was to take part in my first competitive event.
“Willie Hinds was my navigator, and it was while driving through Russia Gully that the car picked up a slide and before we knew it the Starlet was on the top. We got out, pushed it back over, checked and realised it was not too badly damaged and so we just continued on.”
An experience like that would certainly have daunted the spirits of most other competitors, but not Malvina. She would later have the vehicle repaired and readied to compete in the Barbados Motoring Club’s BP/Pirelli 150 km Rally of the same year, followed closely by another 150 km rally.
Overturning at Russia Gully was not the only time Malvina would look at the flooring of her car from an upside-down position. “My second time over-turning was at the top of Stewarts Hill in St John – you could say in my back yard, a stone throw away in from my home at Moncrieffe Plantation. “I left work one afternoon during my lunch hour to go home and test the car. I was alone on this occasion. The car just decided it was going to do what it wanted to do and over it went at the top of Stewarts Hill. I got out realised that apart from my pride the only damage were to the car, so I just left it and went back to work like normal.”
Her love for rallying was truly demonstrated in 1988, when she took part in the club’s Shell Rally while pregnant with her first child Erica.
While Malvina enjoys all forms of motor sport, rallying is her favourite. “Navigational rallies offer you a greater challenge. It is not only competing against the clock or another competitor – who on several occasions was her husband Ian – but also the mystery and adventure in starting out not knowing where the next instruction would have taken you, in addition to going places you would not normally visit was very exciting and educational.”
Even though Malvina has never won a rally outright, she has won her group on a couple of occasions. “There were one or two occasions where I beat my ex-husband Ian. I remember beating him on a night stage in St Thomas. On that stage I gave him some warm licks. Another occasion that comes to mind was beating
Peter ‘Duct Tape’ Thompson and the others in my group.”
The year 1995 would see the racing career of Malvina coming to an abrupt end. “My son got into a serious, debilitating accident and I had to pay more attention to him. All my money and time had to be focused on his rehabilitation.”
However, Malvina’s love for the sport saw her turning her attention to the organisational aspects of the club. In 2004-2005 she was voted president of the Barbados Motoring Club. Today she is the club’s vice president and plans to assist as long as her services are needed.
On the question of getting into active competition again, her response was: “Yes, I would love to, but the problem I have with racing in these times, is that it is being priced out of the reach of the small man. Not everyone can afford a quarter million or even a million-dollar car. I am hoping that one day I could get back into competition.”
