Barbados Auto Racing League is back at Bushy Park

Mar 14, 2024 Sports

Get Your Machines Ready!

Kaieteur Sports – That’s what the Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL) is telling members after a four-year hiatus from circuit racing. It was back in October 2020 that the 28-year-old club hosted a time attack and track day drifting, all at the iconic Bushy Park, which attracted forty cars and drivers.

League Chairman, Stefan Hinds, said this year’s racing season kicks off with circuit racing and a time attack event on Sunday, April 21.

“We have four groups in the club – Group 1,2,3,4 and within those groups are specific classes as well, depending on CC sizes etc. So, it would be those four groups in the circuit aspect of it,” Hinds said. He further explained that the time attack would be in the four classes of Enthusiast Tuner, Tuner Plus and Race Cars; there is also a bike class which was previously unsubscribed. “Motorsports lovers can expect loads of action from the combined two disciplines along with drifting demonstrations from our Wheels and Heels drivers,” he said.

Hinds also stressed that after a decade of shifts and changes in the club and in motor sport by extension, BARL is in the process of rebuilding. “We are asking the fans to bear with us, we are working towards getting back to where we were, and we need their support to do so.”

He continued: “We have a generation of drivers between 2013 and 2023 that we need to reconnect with because it is about the continuity of the sport, we need to develop new drivers, so we have to connect with that lost generation in effect as well.”

Last year the club recorded success with two quarter mile acceleration tests, and two Test and Tune events, however, Hinds pointed to the acceleration test held in July which he described as ‘outstanding’ and noted that it was held in collaboration with the Barbados Association of Dragsters and Drifters (BADD), which he referred to as BARL’s sister club.

“We intended to develop this relation further in 2024 through supporting their club events and eventually touring regional islands,” he revealed. This is just one element of the chairman’s three-year plan for BARL which includes finalising plans for the USA/Caribbean series and driving school in association with the Sports Car Club of America or the SCCA.

The club will also be hosting a recruitment drive in the last quarter of this year, “This event will bring all drivers, crew, family, members, affiliates and partners together to kick back, relax and have an enjoyable day,” the chairman said.

Registration for the upcoming racing season which runs from April to November is expected to start in the coming weeks, interested drivers can sign up via [email protected] or at Motor Sport Services in Haggatt Hall, St. Michael.

About BARL: The Barbados Auto Racing League was established in 1996 to bring structure to the Sunday afternoon Bushy Park ‘race-offs’ between groups of grass roots ‘weekend warriors’ that had developed since the venue closed after the previous October’s final race meet.

BARL developed steadily in the following years; by the late 2000s, it claimed the largest ‘exclusive’ membership of any island club, as most purpose-built track racers are unsuited to other disciplines.

In recent years, the club has undergone a transformation, running a wide variety of disciplines, including events at the Vaucluse Raceway and popular ‘Wheels & Heels’ dexterity events in town centre car park locations.

Barbados Association of Dragsters and Drifters (BADD), BARL Chairman, circuit, machines, Stefan Hinds

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