Rally All Inclusive - Cedar Hill - 25th February 2007
Photos by Devi Nath, Gerrard Wilson, Christian Cozier, Sheldon Paul, David Campbell, Ryan Ramsaran and Candace Bhagirath
Article courtesy: TTRC
 The Trinidad & Tobago Rally Club hosted its first championship event for 2007 on February 25th. Aptly named, the Rally All Inclusive event, promised spectators, sponsors, and rally people alike a day full of thrills as the drivers and co drivers warmed up for the international competition at the end of March.
The event was carded to take place at the Bronte stage, which was now extended to 10kms, and is in fact the longest gravel stage ever run in the country. However no amount of preparation done by the club could have prepared them for the cane fire that took place less than 36 hours before the rally, and which resulted in limited access to the stage by the club.
But the club’s motto has always been ‘rally on regardless’ and rally on they did. Now moved a short distance away to the popular Cedar Hill stage, the Rally All Inclusive got underway a bit later than the 10:00AM scheduled start. The delays mostly caused by the transportation of sugar cane from the weighing station to the factory didn’t do much to dampen the spirits of the fans, marshals and the competitors.
Eight (8) competitors were registered to start the event. Having not been able to have their cars in time, this rally started without the promised debuts of newcomers in Group A Kirk Pouchet and Mark Williams and in Group 1, John Ferriera. Also not able to have his new car ready in time, John Powell would surely have disappointed all of his fans by not showing up with his Group N Subaru Impreza.
First underway for the 2007 season, the 2006 champion driver, Ainsley Lochan in the NP Ultra/ Stag/ Josef’s car showed his familiarity with the Cedar Hill stage. Lochan has become a household name in the motorsport fraternity, and commented afterwards that the course was indeed very slippery with the loosely compacted gravel, and he was trying his best to “jus’ keep it on de road” at times.
Everything Ainsley tried though was matched and bettered by Barry Mckenzie in the Castrol/ RallyMac Motors/ Sweet Tamarind Mitsubishi. Barry’s experience, as well as the car’s power showed as he continuously beat Lochan’s time in the morning session.
Jerome Lum Hung in the privately funded Mazda missed one stage in the morning due to an electrical bug, and allowed Vishal Dhanraj in the Esso/ Mileage Mack/ Lucozade Sport Subaru to gain the edge at the end of the morning’s stages.
Rezan Mohammed, who won Group 1 in 2006, and has improved in every rally, showed up with a new Mitsubishi Mirage hatch. While he anticipated that this car, with the much lighter shell, and the shorter wheelbase would have been a force to reckon with in Group 1, he didn’t anticipate on the Darrel Ramesar in the Lancer, and Roger McKenzie making a return to competition in the RallyMac RunX. Roger however damaged the engine at the end of SS2 and put him out of a probable podium finish.
Darrel however, started and finished each stage, and took the eventual class win, and the overall win. Of notable mention, I can’t remember of any instance in the history of the TTRC that a Group 1 (2WD) car has won a rally outright over Group A (AWD) cars.
Darrel’s win though was at the expense of others. Barry came in too fast into a left hand corner on the first run of the afternoon, and clipped the bank on the inside of the corner. The car flipped three times, and landed in the ditch at the side of the road. While the car was totaled, both Barry and his co driver Justin Wallace were visibly unhurt. They were examined by resident TTRC medic Dr. Surendra Dhanraj, with the assistance of EMT’s from the Trinidad & Tobago Fire Services and the Red Cross and sent to the emergency ward for x-rays as a safety precaution, but returned to the finish of the rally all well and in high spirits.
Ainsley suffered a damaged shifter linkage, which put him out on SS5. He was able to cling to 2nd place overall though, but only because of the blistering times he set in the morning session.
Dhanraj’s determination and consistency paid off, as he drew level with Ainsley at the end, winning the group, and placing second overall.
The next event is the Rally Trinidad Invitational Stages carded for March 31 and April 1. At least 6 foreign teams have confirmed their entry, and the event promises to be one of the biggest rallies that club has ever hosted. The TTRC has put measures in place to ensure that competitors, spectators and sponsors are impressed with the continual growth of Rally Trinidad.
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