SOL Rally

Sol Rally Barbados, the Caribbean's biggest annual motor sport international, reaches an important milestone in 2014, when the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) celebrates the 25th running of its blue ribbon event. A key player in the country's sports-tourism product, the event contributes nearly Bds $4 million to the island's economy each year, much of it in vital foreign exchange, and accounts for approaching 4,000 visitor nights at a traditionally quiet time in the tourism calendar.

While a record entry of 13 cars in the World Rally Car classes for Sol RB13 maintained the event’s reputation of breaking records year on year, the BRC remains focused on its continued growth. Preparations are already under way for 2014, the organising team focused on delivering the core values of seriously competitive event, while maintaining the relaxed clubman-type atmosphere and delivering the level of hospitality that visiting crews and their families have come to enjoy, and which bring them back year after year.

Since the first overseas competitors took part in the International All-Stage Rally in the early 1990s, the event has played host to more than 350 drivers and co-drivers representing nearly 30 countries, including six from the wider Caribbean, with Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago providing the best support. The biggest competitor base is the UK and Ireland, but the event has attracted competitors from as far afield as Australia, Canada, Japan, Kenya, South Africa and the United States, as well as mainland Europe.

Sol RB14 Rally Office Manager Jeanne Crawford said: “The UK entries again look solid - Paul Bird heads the list, chasing a hat-trick of wins, although Jeff Panton from Jamaica seems determined to stop that happening; add in potential front-runners such as Kevin Procter and Rob Swann, crowd-pleasers like Allan Mackay and his son Euan in their Anglias, and the mix is already developing very well.