2025 has gone. On this first day of 2026, Happy New Year from BajanThings…

This years June Rally was by far the smallest in terms of entries that the Barbados Rally Club has held since its inception in 1957. The 19^th renewal of what has become an annual feature of the sporting calendar of Barbados was still suffering from the effects of high fuel and car prices and the actual entry of 17 was 3 below last years number. One was withdrawn and 16 left the start at CBC studios at the Pine.

The decline in popularity of rallying in Barbados had again caused doubts in the mind of the organisers and therefore it was a case of a hastily set course. The organising committee was headed by David Edwards and Richard Goddard who undertook the setting of the BRC’s biggest event for the first time and it was therefore a case of the organisers being the novices and the participants were the more experienced ones.

A sponsor was not found until the week before the rally and it was announced at the briefing meeting on the Thursday before the event that fortunately Gordon Spice Accessories had come to the rescue. The event therefore bore the title Gordon Spice 350. It covered some 365 miles.

The field while not being star studded one, included some of the best from the GIN Club, an affiliate of the BRC and among these were Jimmy Carter and Michael Spence in a Datsun 1600 SSS, Peter Lewis and Mark Corbin in an Escort 1300, and Geoffrey Parkinson and Neil Ward in a Toyota 1200. and Andrew Rodrigues and Noel Goddard in a Datsun 1200. The best from the Rally Club Mark Maillalieu and Barbara Mallalieu in a Datsun 1600 and Harry Watkins and Jocelyn Johnson in a modified Datsun 1200 and Trevor Gale and Malcolm Martin in a Hillman hunter GLS.

Carter and Spence were leading in the overall placing for the annual Rally championship when the rally begin and second were Mark Mallalieu and John Bayne. It was therefore unfortunate that Bayne could not go in the rally as a win by this team could have accumulated enough points to put them in first place if anything unusual happened to Carter and Spence. In the absence of this challenge the latter pair coasted to a well earned victory.

The first stage being at night this made things a bit more difficult than the previous June 500’s in the early parts but by and large navigation was on the easy side. The Organisers appeared to be a little per-occupied with putting in loops but those lost their novelty after the first one or two. What was far more confusing was some of the new developments that were on the new road map and some were not. Hence a run through Sunset Crest development which has most of the roads marked as tracks or not at all was very time consuming and it is doubtful if anybody got this correct except by chance. Even those who came upon the 2 or 3 D checks placed in this area from the right direction had gone in several wrong directions in the maze before approaching these points correctly.

By the time the midnight stop was made at Haymans Factory there were 3 drop outs. Henry Vieira and Garry Clarke Fiat Rallie came in with a blown head gasket, while lightinig troubles of one kind or another had knocked our Charles Corbin and George Brathwaite in an Escort 1300, and David Reece and Gerry Seale in a Datsun 1600. The rallyists also experienced what few other Bajans had seen for months – a heavy shower of rain that had officials scrambling for shelter and cars leaving on the appointed minute without a signal.

The new development at Fortescue in St. Philip was not yet on the map and has not yet acquired houses, was most disconcerting to those who had not been there since the bulldozers completely changed the map and some were not.

Old landmarks that were so handy in the dark were searched for in vain.There were two special events in the night stage. The first a special stage at the Belle and the second an acceleration test over a standing half mile on Yorkshire / Hannays stretch. Origanisation was a bit loose here and at the first too many cars owned my the officials and their helpers were parked on the road at the finishing line, while at the second the distance was not indicated either in the instructions or at the start and some drivers took Acceleration Test to mean the usual standing quarter mile.

Carter and Spence had established a good lead at the half way mark when breakfast was taken at 4am at the Busy Park Club House. Close up were Rodrigiez and Goddard who are obviously shaping up as rallyists with a promising future. Parkinson and Ward another very Promising crew were also in the first four while the Mallalieu’s were about fifth. Penalties did not sound too high at this stage and every body returned to their task with renewed vigor and boyant hopes.

The rest of the special stages were in daylight hours. They opened at 6.30am with a run of one mile on the old hill sprint course from Thickets to Stewarts Hill. Here the fourth drop out in the rally occurred when Harold Webster ditched his Toyota 1600 but both crew members were unhurt,

Not long after came the two mile run from Greenland in St. Andrew up to Farley Hill

This was new course never used before and proved much more interesting than it looked to be on the map. There, it looks like a gently curving road, but when taken at high speeds these gentle curves become bends that take some negotiating. The final gradient through Cleland to the top of Farley Hill also makes timing of the gear changes vital. Fastest time of the day on both of these stages was by Trevor Gale in the Hunter GLS.

Some navigation in St. Lucy proved again tricky due to one or two tracks being plowed up and therefore nonexistent, but most got through these without much delay. The loop around Pie Corner was at this stage academic, serving only as a time consumer.

By the time Bulkley in St, George was reached and the third stage was finished Carter and Spence were further in the lead. However Parkinson and Ward, Goddard and Rodriguez and Lewis and Corbin were exchanging positions in second, third and fourth places.

The fourth and final stage contained three short special stages, the first for Hopefield the Foursquare, a particularly brief one at Verdun and the last about one and a half laps the wrong way around the race track at Busy Park. Otherwise there were no navigation features of great consequence except through the tracks from Three Houses to the finish which definitely did not work out according to the instructions.

Jimmy Carter and Michael Spence finally came in with 498 penalties to win by some 309 points ahead of Geoffrey Parkinson and Neil Ward (807) and they in turn were closely followed by Noel Goddard and Andrew Rodriguez with 843, and Peter Lewis and Mark Corbin with 857. In the special events section Group 1 was won by Clinnard Brooks is a Escort GT1100, Group 2 by Peter Lewis in an Escort 1300, and Group 3 saw a tie between Trevor Gale in a Hillman GLS and Harry Watkins in a modified Datsun 1200. The last two also tied for the overall special stage prize.

All told the Gordon Spice 350 was well up to the standard of most June Rallies of the past and the future maintained its reputations as the best that rallyists in Barbados can still enjoy.

The detailed results appear below.

Dropped Out

Special Events Overall

Special Events Group Winners

Teal Prize
The Bajan Team

See also:

• Richard Rose reminisces: The Barbados Rally Scene in the 1960s and 1970s
• Mike Spence reminisces: The Origins of the GIN Club, Strathclyde.