Gordon and BRC 'spice up' Williams Digicel International

British saloon, single-seater and sports car legend Gordon Spice will travel to Barbados this weekend (August 27/28) to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the island's Bushy Park race track. The milestone will be marked during the Williams Digicel International Race Meet, to be staged by the Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL).

Spice was among the first European drivers to help place the Caribbean on the world motor sport map in the 1970s; the stories he and fellow racers such as Mike Crabtree, Gabriel de Freitas, Derek McMahon, Alec Poole, Allan Staniforth and Barrie 'Whizzo' Williams told when they returned home from their winter visits to Barbados and Guyana have become motor racing folk lore and introduced many people to the attractions of the region.

In another link with the past, members of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) – it was the organiser at the St Phillip facility in the 1970s, and again in the '90s - have been invited to contest the BRC Two-wheel-drive Challenge, which will pit some current-day race-track regulars against some special stage stars.

BARL Chairman Adrian Mayers said: "We are so pleased that Gordon will be here, as his exploits in this part of the world, including race wins at Bushy Park, are the stuff of legend. It was guys like him that helped promote the island's image way back then . . . apart from cricket, which was a national team game, this really was the start of sports-tourism!

"The Barbados Rally Club played an integral part in the early days of Bushy Park, which is why we wanted to include its members in celebrating this milestone. We're delighted they accepted our invitation to race, and the two-wheel-drive cars that are entered are entirely in keeping with the entry lists of the period."

BRC Chairman Geoff Noel added: "Most of our leading two-wheel-drive competitors jumped at the chance to be involved in the Bushy Park celebrations. Our Committee of Management was flattered to receive the invitation from BARL, not least because it speaks to the importance of co-operation between the member clubs of the Barbados Motoring Federation, as we all work towards the common goal of sustainable motor sport in the island."

Poole and Spice were the first European 'invasion' in 1971, although Spice was not to race at Bushy Park until '72, once it had gained its tarmac surface; he became a fixture in island motor sport, rarely missing a visit until Bushy Park closed at the end of 1975, when he arrived with crutches and a wheelchair, following a massive Formula 5000 testing accident.

Spice went on enjoy an accomplished career: with nearly 30 overall race wins and more than 40 class wins, he won the top capacity class in the British Touring Car Championship for six consecutive years in Ford Capris, then went on to even greater success in sports car racing. Initially using Tiga chassis, then Spice Engineering's own designs, his team won no fewer than 14 International Championship titles in Europe and the United States in the late 1980s and early '90s, after which sports car racing begin to decline.

A number of the best two-wheel-drive cars that currently see action on BRC rallies and speed events will line up for three six-lap BRC Two-wheel-drive Challenge races: likely front-runners include the Toyota Starlets of Neil Armstrong, who finished sixth overall and highest-placed two-wheel-drive in Sol Rally Barbados this year, Josh Read (ninth overall and second two-wheel-drive) and Bushy Park four-wheel-drive lap record-holder Roger Mayers, whose 'Let has been repaired following an 'off' on day one of Sol RB11. The list also includes the BMWs of Brian Gill and Bushy Park race-winner Justin Campbell and the Peugeot 306 Maxi of former CMRC Champion Driver Stuart Maloney.

Bushy Park's 40th Anniversary celebrations will also include a lunchtime parade and driver interviews, plus a display of photographs, posters and other memorabilia from the 1970s and '90s, many provided courtesy of former competitor, photographer and collector Geoff Goddard and Wendy Williams, who was the Competition Secretary of the first-ever Bushy Park race meeting in November 1971.

Williams Digicel International Race Meet timeline

Friday, August 19 – 4:00pm: Meet the Drivers promo, Mall Internationale, Haggatt Hall
Friday, August 26 – 4:00pm: Meet the Drivers promo, Bushy Park, St Philip
Saturday, August 27 – 1:00pm: Qualifying, Bushy Park
Sunday, August 28 – 8.00am: Williams Digicel International Race Meet
Monday, August 29 – 7.00pm: Prizegiving
* all times are approximate