Sol Rally Barbados 2011 will be open to 100 starters.
Word of this came from chairman Barry Gale who said that the two-wheel drive competitors will also come into sharp focus next year.
The club, he noted, is targeting the most exciting two-wheel-drive cars in Europe to compete in an event which will be staged over the weekend of June 4 and 5.
Gale said the club had decided to do something to more actively encourage the cars that go out of their way to excite spectators.
“Invariably, these are the two-wheel-drive monsters created through the fanaticism of competitors who are convinced that their Ford Escort/Peugeot 205/Toyota Starlet can be the fastest thing in a straight line . . . or, perhaps, the most sideways thing ever to see a straight line”, he said.
The two-wheel drive cars, according to Gale, were the cars that sparked the crowd into delirious fits of revelry when they managed, somehow, to completely negotiate a corner without ever facing the direction they were travelling in. “These are the cars we want.”
He added, that the club’s two-wheel-drive awards had been expanded to include, for the first time, a Top 10 that was separate from the rest of the rally, and for which only two-wheel-drive cars were eligible.
It’s their hope, Gale said, that this potential for recognition would bring out the best on offer among those fanatics. “Not least for the fact that some serious bragging rights are at stake.”
In addition to the Top 10, the fastest overseas competitors in front-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive will receive a refund of their entry fee.
“Simple, and immediately gratifying, this is designed to further encourage our overseas friends . . . . Gone are the days when only the WRC cars steal the limelight,” the chairman added.
In addition to a stepped scale of discounts for repeat visitors, which proved popular when it was introduced this year, the club is offering a range of new incentives for 2011. These include trophies for the Top 10 two-wheel-drive cars, while the highest-placed overseas crews in front- and rear-wheel-drive cars will have their entry fees reimbursed.
