National rallying lost one of its more colourful competitors this week with the untimely death of Barry Robinson.
Barry is remembered particularly for his feats in his two black Vauxhall Chevettes, during the 1980’s at the Ashley Forest Rallysprint. Here he regularly qualified the top four and was runner up to Reg Cook in 1984.
Originally he drove his 2.3 litre rally car in these events, but then built up a separate car for sprint type events, a car that spouted wings and the navigator’s seat in the rear. The car was fitted with a twin cam unit.
On the rally scene he won the Otago Rally in 1981, 82, 83,91 and the Southland Rally in 1983 and 1985. He has also won a Canterbury Rally. For much of this time his navigator was Geoff Lange, while in the latter years of competition Wade Patterson sat in the hot seat.
During the Rallysprint campaign’s, navigator and service crew was the late Denis Lyon, a person who had made his name in performance engine building along constructing and racing his own Formula Ford.
Barry was runner up to Malcolm Stewart in the 1983 national championship after leading going into the final round before suffering engine failure.
NZRC’s publication of the best 25 drivers ever in national rallying placed Barry at 21.
He farmed in Southland for much of this life before moving to Alexandra where he and his wife Jane grew cherries and apples. At the time of his death Barry was still involving himself with rural contracting work and was working on a re- birth of the rally Chevette !
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