Fun for all at the Auto & Rally Show Saturday

Motor sport fans and their families are in for a real treat at Saturday’s (May 23) Auto & Rally Show, now in its fifth year at Bushy Park Barbados in St Philip. With new cars, new drivers, new liveries, this annual celebration of all things rallying is the curtain-raiser to the Caribbean’s two biggest weekends of motor sport.
 More than 120 rally cars are entered for Sunday’s First Citizens King of the Hill and BCIC RB26 the following weekend (May 29-31), including 16 from overseas that are in the island for the first time, five of which were built specially to compete here this year. Open from 2.00pm to 6.00pm, the show offers a unique opportunity to meet the drivers and teams from home and overseas.
 While the die-hard fans have their heads buried under the bonnets of cars ranging from a 1960s Saab 96 to a state-of-the-art Porsche 992 Rally GT, the rest of the family can enjoy competitions like Spin the Wheel or Chefette’s Grab-o-Rama, collect some giveaways, sample product or have a crack at VR Racing on BCIC’s stand. Courtesy of KotH title sponsor First Citizens, there will also be a visit by the ever-popular Tuk Band.
 Local importers BYD, CAR, Inchcape and Megapower will be exhibiting a range of vehicles, some of which will be available for patrons to road test on the northern half of the circuit. Inchcape, which is once again supporting the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) with vehicles for the all-important Safety Caravan which precedes the competition cars at KotH and RB26, will also feature an interactive Spin-to-Win experience.
 The BRC tent, alongside the food & beverage stands, is where patrons need to go for a free copy of the event’s 36-page Official Programme packed with background information and the provisional entry list, while the tent doubles as the collection point for KotH competitor numbers later in the day.
 With a new location in the centre of the display area, the Main Stage will host interviews with drivers and special guests, while many more competitors will be waiting to interact with fans at the tents of team sponsors. These include: Automotive Art (Edward Corbin and Dane Skeete), Bushy Park (Mark, Stuart and Zane Maloney), Cargo BGI/Do Henrique Tequila (Logan Watson), Chefette (Barry Mayers), Fun Miles (Kyle Gill and Natya Soodeen), Rentokil (Ireland’s Mick Smith) and Subzero (Nigel Reece), while Britain’s Rob Swann will be on the Ocean Acres stand to encourage patrons to adopt a rescue dog from the shelter.
 Food and beverage booths to suit all tastes are over by Gate 3: macaroni pie, BBQ ribs, veg and beef burgers from Danny Burger, buttermilk fried chicken sandwiches from Smash Burgers, whole or sliced pizza from Pizza Bums and Santia’s Popcorn. Nearby are Coffee Break and Mike’s Rum Punch, while Happy Hospitality will run a fully-stocked bar overlooking the circuit featuring cocktails created by the Barrelhouse Distributors mixologist, with the Frosteez ice cream truck opposite Gate 3.
 Pedestrian access to The Auto & Rally Show will be through Gate 3 off Gaskin Road, with parking outside the perimeter fence; there will be no access through the Pit Gate. Admission is Bds$5 for adults, children 12 and under are free.

BCIC Rally Barbados (May 29-31, 2026) is a tarmac rally with around 20 special stages run on the island’s intricate network of public roads, under road closure orders granted by the Ministry of Transport, Works & Water Resources; First Citizens King of the Hill (May 24), run under a similar arrangement, features four timed runs on a roughly four-kilometre stage, with the results used to seed the running order for the main event.