My favourite time of year is marked by many things, one of which is Rally Jamaica. Now I love motorsports, and of all of them I love rally the most (F1 a close second). To me its a true showing of driver skill, and ability, and of cars being pushed to their limits. Rallying normally takes place off the beaten track (ie public roads) and are more popularly done in dirt, and gravel, however there are asphalt rallies and in countries outside of Jamaica there are also ice and snow rallies. Now ever year Jamaica gets the last of the regional rallies in Rally Jamaica which normally takes place in the first weekend of december. It is a two day rally to see who can cover the stages in the quickest time. There are many different classes of cars depending on their engine size, drivetrain, and modifications done. So there is some level of equality in that regard. However all of Jamaica's top drivers enter in the top 2 classes of JA9 and JA8. JA9 consists of turbo cars which are World Rally Championship level cars (with 2 litre or larger engines) and are therefore literally just made for rally racing, and JA8 are made of cars which are heavily modified but not exactly WRC level cars. So thats a basic look at rallying.

Now rally Jamaica is always exciting because it gets entrants from not only Jamaica but from all over the caribbean, and there is always a friendly competition going on to see whether or not the Trinis or the Bajans will take our title from us - This has never happened before, the RJ trophy has never left Jamaica, but the RT and RB trophies have all come to Jamaica before... hence the rivalry. This rivalry means that each years drivers come with better cars and hone their skills more to fight for the trophy.

Local drivers always seem to shine though. Drivers like Jeffery Panton, Gary Gregg, Richie Rerrie, Doug Gore and David Summerbell  are always the Jamaican drivers to look out for. These drivers, especially Jeffery and Gary are consistently the fastest entrants in the rally, especially if they enter with a proper car which gives no problems. However they have to compete against the likes of Paul Borne, James Betts, and Trevor 'Micey' Manning (didnt enter this year) all accomplished caribbean drivers who are highly competitive and who carry cars that generally mean business. But dont think this is a male only competition, there are also female drivers who are highly competitive as well, Natasha Chang is a name that sticks out among this list of female competitors who really scare the pants off alot of males.

All in all rally Jamaica is an exciting race and one which I eagerly look forward to every year. I'm late this year but I am going to watch it! So as the slogan for Rally Jamaica goes... Lets kick up some dust!