Alexandre Haynes 6/11/19 Alexandre Haynes 6/11/19

Rep Ya Ride 2019

Barbados’ largest car show, happened in April, I know I’m late with this, but a lot has been happening outside of writing for the website. We have some really cool content coming and I’m excited for it. Car shows this large you’d have to be there to experience it, to fully understand it, but I’ll share my top 30 photos. Enjoy this Rep Ya Ride Gallery.

Hope you enjoyed the gallery! Happy Motoring!

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Alexandre Haynes 5/7/19 Alexandre Haynes 5/7/19

Wheels N Heels BEST 15 photos

I always try to push myself to get better images, this time around, I took the time to put together what I thought is the 15 most interesting photos from the last Barbados Auto Racing League event! Feel free to download and use them as wallpapers, you can drop us a mail if you would something more Hi-Res, happy motoring!

Alexandre Haynes 4/14/19 Alexandre Haynes 4/14/19

CRT Movement at Rally Barbados Shakedown Stages

A good team can really shine through when facing difficulty. Justin and Aryton communicated the issues they were facing so they could quickly assess the situation and determine a course of action to start repairing the issue with the car.

Rally Barbados has really started with a bang for 2019. The season builds up with some Shakedown stages, which build up towards the main event SOL Rally Barbados where most rally teams in the island really aspire to take part in and really make their mark for the year. This year, I had the privilege of spending some time with the Campbell Racing Team. They are often referred to as “The CRT Movement”.

This was my first time really covering a Rally here in my island Barbados, and it has its challenges as a photographer, being that having legs definitely makes me fall behind a rally car with my ability to get from place to place. This is why though, this unique perspective I was able to have made me so happy. I was covering the team from behind the scenes, this really allows me to see how tough rally can really be on the team, the driver, the co-driver, the engineers and other auxiliary members that provide support.

The team consists of Rayson, Dwight, Jim, Leandre, and Keron as mechanics and engineers as well as Aryton Bannister, the co-driver and Justin Campbell, the driver of their car. They work hard to maintain a BMW E46 M3.

Ups & Downs

I picked up the rally day mostly into it’s second half, coming in just about at the break for lunch and service bay intervals. Lunchtime didn’t really mean it was a chance to have a break though, because while drivers would have a chance to debrief and rest up, the engineering team would talk and see how the car was faring in the stages. This first rally shakedown brought it’s woes for CRT but, it’s better it happens now than it happens later on in the season.

It’s never a good sign to see your team’s car coming back into the pits on the back of a wrecker. Unfortunately with CRT this event, despite starting strong and being on the leader board of their group, they were affected by some electrical issues and they were out of the rally early into the day.

A good team can really shine through when facing difficulty. Justin and Aryton communicated the issues they were facing so they could quickly assess the situation and determine a course of action to start repairing the issue with the car. The car was still starting on it’s own, but stalling under load they determined it was a problem with the voltage of the battery, but replacing the battery didn’t help, so it ran deeper than that, it was the car’s alternator that was giving the issue.

The alternator of the car would have to be replaced if they needed to use the car for the rest of the stages that were coming after the lunch break. For this to happen on time, everyone would need an assigned job and they would need to really communicate well, so things fall in place and they can make the deadline. For these guys, it was child’s play.

“This really has shown me that Rally is definitely not about having the fastest car, or the being the most skilled driver. It’s a cumulative effort, from a well-oiled team. ”

In all of 15 minutes, the alternator was changed, and the car was ready to be fired up to test. Fortunately the car started right up and everything was finally in order. They were going to compete in the rest of the rally, starting the afternoon off at Sailor Gully, then to Lamberts in St. Lucy.

Pushing through

Justin_campbell_Aryton_Bannister_barbados_rally

What are the consequences of something like this happening to a team though? Missing a stage, meant that for the rest of the rally no matter what times they would’ve set with a working car, they would still finish the rally with a DNF (Did Not Finish) rating. This disappointment didn’t deter Justin and Aryton from trying to achieve the best stage times possible. They were not racing for that solely for that day, they were using the times they gathered as a yard stick of types so they would know where in the rankings they among the rest of their competitors.

On their way to the next stage, both Justin and Aryton were in high spirits, having in full confidence in their car after the service stop. They took some time to honor their team tradition to say a small prayer before being hitting the tarmac again asking for a safe return and praying for tons of grip.

Team Spirit

The CRT Movement, is moving pretty quickly, by the look of things this season. I am incredibly grateful for the chance to capture their work behind the scenes, in this Shakedown Rally, I’m hoping this isn’t my only chance. The team really has a chemistry, something that really binds them together, for sure it’s love of machine and it’s for the love of the sport itself, some things I can see for myself. They were never daunted by challenges they would’ve faced. They were incredibly sportsman-like at the end of the day as well, Justin and Aryton made their way over to the other teams, congratulating them for a rally well completed. Rally in Barbados, is one really good way to explore the love and commitment persons have for the sport and for cars here in the island.

CRT has the hardest part of the rally already covered, having a good team, for them the future of the rally season will bring more of it’s Ups and Downs, but once they can stick together, they will accomplish a lot more than they have already.

This is Alex, until next time, Happy Motoring!

Gallery

Alexandre Haynes 10/3/18 Alexandre Haynes 10/3/18

Wheels and Heels the BEST 15 Images

Here are my best 15 from the last Wheels and Heels Event, editing and leaving images on the cutting floor this time around was difficult. I’ll let the images speak for themselves. Hope you enjoy!

Happy Motoring!

Alexandre Haynes 12/31/17 Alexandre Haynes 12/31/17

Wheels & Heels GYMKHANA EDITION

With community outreach like this, it helps bridge the divide between bystander and driver, it helps to raise another generation of sideways fanatics.

The spotlight of drifting was shown once again here in Barbados, at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium Sunday afternoon for an event of gasoline, smoking tyres and a whole lot of fun! Drifting is a serious adrenaline rush, for both racers and spectators.

It is one of the fastest growing global and cultural phenomena. Some would say it's far more exciting than regular car racing but, for a fact, we know its been highly successful in polarising opinions in the motoring community! There's nothing like seeing a car slide around a corner or in this case barrels.

Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL) as we know is one of the leading auto racing leagues in the island, they have been a bit under the radar for a few years but it's nice to see them making a comeback. With their recent track attack, track day at Bushy Park, we were treated to another event from them, this year's other dexterity event Wheels & Heels - Gymkhana Edition.

Most auto enthusiasts would agree that drifting is very much a spectator sport, and picking up from where they would have left off in August it's good to see things are still going strong and drivers are showing a high level of commitment to the sport here. Unfortunately, they were a bit fewer drivers coming to the venue this time around, but this did not serve at all to dampen the spirit of the event!

Stefan Hinds, Chairman of BARL taking them through the course.

The venue this was a bit smaller than last time and it favoured smaller cars like RWD Starlets and Charmants this only added to the excitement when it came to timed runs around the course. Keeping marshals busy with their clocks.

Per usual it starts off with a recce of the course drivers walk through it to see where the turns are and where any particularly challenging spots may show up. Stefan lead the way designing the courses, with some input from more seasoned drivers.

Over the few months we have been blogging about car culture here in Barbados we've been making friends, running into people the likes of Marlon, Ryan, or Bob is always fun seeing them getting up shenanigans in the pits.

After the walkthrough, some warm-up runs were started, and drivers were able to get a feel for what the course would be like. Taking the car back the pits and fine tuning it for the timed runs that were coming later that night. This little starlet was really in form. Horsepower doesn't matter as much here it's a matter of skill.

The driver of this Skyline, Marlon got into a little accident on his way to the event, we all thought he was down and out. Instead, it turned into something pretty amazing to watch in real time, as they were able to find the source of the damage and rectify it.

“Seriously, who finds a control arm and tie rod for a Skyline, on a Sunday afternoon, surely someone has to be looking out for him.”

He was soon out on the course, having a blast with the other drivers!

We had a bit of fun with the spectators. The drivers took along a spectator, so they could experience what going sideways in a car is like. This is actually an amazing idea, what better way to ignite the love for driving than a full on rush of adrenaline.

With community outreach like this, it helps bridge the divide between bystander and driver, it helps to raise another generation of sideways fanatics.

As the sun started to go down, timed runs started and this is when things really get intense. Drift and Dexterity events push the drivers and their cars to the limit.

The course the cars competed on was a two car course, they started at one end and drove to the other but there were barrels along the way that they had to either dodge or drift around.

It lead to some very close racers as the faster turbo-charged cars would get the lead initially but the slower more nimble cars could hold a tighter drift around the barrels so they would often catch up or even win. It really came down to skill. The winner of each race would then advance, till the last two cars are standing.

Climbing to the top of the fray were four competitors in the dexterity event. They were Jerun White in his green turbo charged SR20 swapped Charmant, Robert Daniel in his turbo charged SR20 swapped Charmant, Dario Brathwaite in his 3SGE beams swapped Charmant and Anderson Richards in his RWD starlet.

The drift event on the other hand, when the smoke cleared were Marlon Bell in his R33 Skyline, Dario Brathwaite in his 3SGE BEAMS swapped Charmant, Jerun White in his green SR20 swapped Charmant and Robert Daniel in his turbo-charged SR20 swapped Charmant.

The event was an overall success and we'd like to congratulate all the competitors and also send a special thank you to everyone that attended the event. From watching Marlon's car come from being out of the event to burning rubber in the drift event and seeing the adrenaline rush of the ride along the spectators were allowed to experience, this really sums up the event as more than a drift event, its a celebration of everyone who loves cars and burning rubber! Hope you find you at the next one.

Until then, Happy Motoring from Sleeper Forest!