Here is a driver that gives real value for spectators' money
but who is the man behind the wheel? I talked at length to Barrie
and was able to put together a pen portrait of this popular
and amusing chap who just loves to race.
 Barrie
was literally born into a motoring family, his Father Frank
(Usually known as Tony) had raced motorcycles in the 30's and
had in fact broken his back in the Isle of Man during that period.
He was strongly supported by his friend "Uncle" Bill
Walker, Barrie's Godfather and Wife Kay in his ventures. They
owned a garage at Bromyard, Herefordshire which was the H.Q.
of their activities. The family went to early events at Shelsley,
Prescott etc., where the lad soon became addicted to burnt Castrol
"R".
 A
pupil of Hereford Cathedral School, Barrie had a burning ambition
from a very early age to be a racing driver and around the age
of 14 decided to write to one of the big players in motor racing
in the 50's, David Brown who just happened to own Aston Martin
at this time. The Aston team were the personification of glamour
during this period. Their team for 1953 included; Roy Salvadore,
Peter Collins, Reg Parnell, Pat Griffiths and the ex-World Champion
motorcyclist, Geoff Duke. Their sports car team were strong
rivals to the Jaguar "C" types and were winning on
a regular basis. A letter to Mr. Brown did not have quite the
desired effect, he was not sent for immediately to become an
apprentice racing driver but the Company had other areas to
it's empire, one of which was the Tractor Division. Barrie was
offered a position as an engineering apprentice in Yorkshire
to one of the manufacturing bases at Wakefield. One early friend
from that time who has remained so who went on to become another
well known competitor was Tony Lanfranchi, they both joined
the Huddersfield Motor Club, a thriving and active gathering
place for motor sport enthusiasts of all types.
At this time, Father had become interested in the new concept
of Karting and had devised them at the garage with Barrie enthusiastically
driving. Williams Snr., was instrumental in the first official
Karting event to be held in the U.K., at Trentham Gardens, Stoke
on Trent. He was on the Committee which laid out the R.A.C.,
rules and guidelines for the class structure for this new branch
of the sport. The Kart that he put together for Barrie to compete
at this meeting was a Villiers engined. He was successful with
this and went on that season to finish 3rd in the Karting World
Championships.
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By this time, Barrie had well and truly been bitten by the bug
and he purchased a Downton tuned Morris Minor and with Tony Lanfranchi
formed the Huddersfield Racing Team. Such activities demand money
and to support his expensive habit Barrie took a job as a coal
lorry driver. It was around this time that Barrie had a nasty
road accident while driving an Austin A40 estate. He had a shunt
which would have been relatively minor had he not been carrying
a load of steel rods which came forward at whatever speed he happened
to be driving at the time and made quite a mess of him in the
process. He was badly injured but as we well know survived to
continue his racing career.
Feeling fairly confident with the experience gained, he then
entered for the Welsh International rally of 1963. Due to snow
this was postponed until January 1964. Part of this rally was
a long race at the Llandow circuit on the south coast of Wales
which he went into with great gusto. Against all his expectations,
Barrie won the Welsh and admiring journalist Andrew Marriott coined
the phrase "The Welsh Wizard" Which led to the nickname
"Whizzo" Marriott. That headline left a lingering impression
that Barrie is of Welsh birth, but not so. After his Welsh win,
Barrie was offered support from the BMC Competition Department
which was more than welcome at the time.
His career was put on hold for a while when he lost his licence
for speeding in London. This turned out to be a bitter pill for
shortly afterwards Stuart Turner, Head of Ford's Competition Dept.,
offered him a place in their Works Rally Team which he was unable
to take up due to his misdemeanor.
At this point, Barrie does feel that took the wrong route. He
feels that this was the optimum time to have taken a Manager and
let him negotiate drives and all career matters. His energies
would have been better placed in driving rather than trying to
handle the business aspects.
Shortly after regaining his licence, Barrie was offered a drive
in a hairy beast known as the Egall. A hybrid of a Jaguar E type
fitted with a highly tuned Ford Galaxy engine. This engine had
thrown out 475 bhp on the test bed and was seriously quick. At
the first event, a sprint meeting he completed the course in 12
seconds averaging 147 m.p.h. He received a lecture from the Clerk
of the Course for his hairy driving but went on the have 2 seasons
of very good fun with the car.
At this point well known Entrant/Driver Alan McKechnie offered
Barrie his Ford Cortina to drive which he eagerly took up. On
his first event the top hose burst allowing the water which was
well laced with anti-freeze to pour on to the circuit, the rest
of the field went off as a result of this.
The Mini was the car to have at this time and when the Cooper
"S" was announced, Barrie put his name on the 6 months
waiting list to buy one. Eventually the car came along and he
rallied it for the next 2/3 seasons becoming increasingly successful.
During all of his ventures, Barrie had unswerving help and assistance
from his parents, not particularly of a financial nature, but
rallying is by nature destructive on cars and his cars were very
often in the family garage having emergency repairs to body and
mechanics in time for their next appearance.
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