A Mackay family affair is on the cards for June’s Sol Rally Barbados.
That’s because former Scottish tarmac champion Allan Mackay and his son, Euan, are entered in the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international event organised by the Barbados Rally Club (BRC).
The senior Mackay will once again be partnered by ‘Mad’ Mo Downey in a Ford Anglia WRC, a similar machine to his son’s. Euan will have fellow Scot Calum Macleod as his co-driver and will be seeing action in Barbados for the first time, in a Ford Anglia JWRC, a car run by Mark Greer Motorsport in Ireland.
Powered by a Duratec engine and Quaife 60G gearbox, fitted during the off-season, the car was originally built as a Clubman spec car, with a 1600cc crossflow engine. Euan said he was always getting the ‘hand-me-down parts’ from the WRC of his father, until its current specification, which makes the two cars identical.
Despite a combined age of more than 100, the two Anglia 105Es are among the most lively on the rally scene and promise more than enough sideways action to keep fans entertained.
“After my father competed in Barbados the first time, he came home and wouldn’t shut up about it, so I had to go see what the fuss was about,” the younger Mackay said.
The senior Mackay gave a shell to his son for his birthday who started navigating in the Anglia WRC for his father when he was 16, but soon became bored and wanted to be at the controls.
“I started doing sprints in the WRC, then got a Vauxhall Nova before me and my friends built my own Anglia and a Peugeot 106 Cup car from scratch,” the younger Mackay said.
Mackay Sr, who won the hearts of the crowd on his first visit in 2010 despite retiring with bent steering, finished 29th overall in 2011, fourth in SuperModified 10, then 49th in last year’s event, slipping a few places down the order in SM10.
