After bagging two major Caribbean rally victories in succession, local rally hero John Powell is preparing for the biggest regional motorsport event dubbed Rally Barbados which is set to race off on June 8. Preparations include Powell returning to Mexico to continue the highly acclaimed NACAM Rally Canada series where he secured second place. Following this, he leads the T&T contingent to compete in Rally Barbados. Should he clinch the Bajan title, Powell would be the first T&T and Caribbean national to achieve such a rare tripeat milestone. He has already won Rally Jamaica in December 2011 and Rally Trinidad last month. As far as Powell is concerned, this is one of his better years in the sport, "Doing the four major rallies in the region was a goal. We had success in Trinidad, Jamaica and Guadeloupe. Now Rally Barbados is a great chance for all of us in T&T. This was not planned but we are excited and nervous as well." Powell revealed that his passion for motorsport has grown from since childhood days, "My son reminds me of how I used to be racing toy cars as a kid. I always loved rallying but there were challenges. Getting into my first race car in Jamaica which was a Mazda 323 was unbelievable. It was my baptism into motorsport. I really hope the local government can get a facility for talented youths to be groomed in a racing profession."
Presently the years of experience in the field coupled with hard work and determination has brought his team to the highest stratum in the region. The local racer claimed that the secret to success in Mexico was based on his ability to adapt fast. He praised his team for their huge efforts despite collecting the car late (4.45 am) on the morning of racing before the 7am. start. "A good rally driver tries to understand the strengths and weaknesses of his car. You can't jump in and beat it. Racing in Mexico at 2200 metres above sea level makes it difficult to breathe (in) the thinner air plus, we had no intercom...it was tough. Rally conditions change and so must you. (Jamaican co-driver) Mike Fennel helped us deal with a lot of stress, made pace notes and utilised the traditional rally hand signals with little sleep." Powell was also quick to highlight the talent of Nicholas Telfer (his co-driver for Rally Trinidad), "We have good communication and he understands you. He calls the cars "girls" which is very funny. We normally discuss the pros and cons of the races." For Rally Barbados, Powell will drive his preferred Subaru S14 with co-driver Telfer. The Subaru is setup to do 330 Horsepower and attain 780 foot pounds of torque. A normal car does approximately 150 foot pounds of torque. After Barbados Powell will head to Costa Rico for more action.
