Plans for the hosting of Sol Rally Barbados 2014 are at an advanced stage and international crews are being encouraged to enter early for the event slated for May 31 and June 1.
Subject to final ratification by the Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF), it will be the 25th running of the blue riband event of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) and will offer the first 30 international crews subsidies.
Scrutineering and Scotiabank King Of The Hill will be settled the previous weekend of May 24-25.
Public relations officer Neil Barnard said the club will again focus on its core values of staging a seriously competitive event, while maintaining a relaxed clubman-type atmosphere and delivering the level of hospitality that visiting crews and their families enjoy.
“It’s fantastic that Sol Rally Barbados is on the ‘must-do’ list for so many overseas competitors,” he said.
“It is an incredible tribute to all of our volunteer marshals and officials, who help us stage an event which measures up to world-class standards. I would encourage international crews to enter early, as the first 30 will again benefit from subsidies, especially those who have competed in previous years.”
The biggest competitor base remains Britain and Ireland, but the event has attracted competitors from as far afield as Australia, Canada, Japan, Kenya, South Africa and the United States, and mainland Europe.
From small beginnings in 1990, the event has grown into the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international and is said to pump nearly BDS$4 million into the country’s economy annually.
Much of this is in foreign exchange, and officials say the event accounts for nearly 4 000 visitors at a traditionally quiet time in the tourism calendar.
Entries have been rising steadily over the years and this year 120 entries were received, including 39 international crews, although withdrawals for financial or logistical reasons left the starters list at 94.
Since 2011, 65 first-timers have carried the number of overseas entries to more than 350, and continued interest from newcomers seems set to drive that figure past the 400-mark within the next two or three years.
On-line entries for the event will open on the club’s official website www.rallybarbados.net on October 1. It will be the seventh year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.