Fast and furious 37

When rally driver Barry Gibbs found out he had type 1 diabetes, not knowing much about diabetes he had burning questions, ‘Will it affect my licence? Can I still drive?’

‘It was a full-on afternoon,’ is how Barry Gibbs describes his time at a medical centre in 2014. He had already felt awful for weeks, but had woken up feeling even worse, so he rang his GP and was told he could have an appointment at the end of the week. Barry had an inkling that he needed to see someone as soon as possible, so the Northland local was booked into a different surgery in the next town.

In the time leading up to that day, Barry remembers always feeling really thirsty, so he had been drinking lots of orange juice, hoping that would perk him up.

The doctor did the finger prick test, and it was 37 mmol/l. The normal range is between 4 and 8 mmols/l, meaning Barry’s blood glucose was extraordinarily high, and the nurse told him, if he’d waited until the end of the week he would’ve found out in hospital instead.

Barry’s finger prick numbers worked their way down fairly quickly after his diagnosis, from the extreme 37 to 10 over a couple of hours. Because he felt so awful with plummeting of blood sugar levels, the diabetes nurse told him that this would give him an indication of what a low could feel like, even though it wasn’t low.

Barry’s only understanding of diabetes was of an uncle who had type 2. He had progressively lost first his foot, then his lower leg, then his other leg. Naturally, this led to Barry being petrified of the new diagnosis. Later, he found out that the uncle hadn’t been great at managing his condition. The diabetes nurse put Barry at ease, telling him that if he looked after himself he could well avoid what his uncle went through.

TIMING

The day before the diagnosis, Barry had competed in his third ever rally event, racing his beloved Ford Escort MK2, whom he affectionately nicknames Doris.

Barry spent a lot of time around rally as a kid and teen, with his mother and uncle taking him to meets. But as he wasn’t from a wealthy family, he realised if he wanted to race then he’d have to build the car himself.

At 17, he went looking for an Escort around the country and ended up finding one on his back doorstep, just a few streets away. His grandmother paid for Doris, then he set about building her up from the original workings, replacing everything apart from her good looks and strong bones.

Barry chose to train and work in the automotive trade, then moved over to agriculture. He made the switch to marine when he started working on his own car so that he wouldn’t get bored continuing his day job into most evenings and weekends.

Working in Opua, in the beautiful Bay of Islands, means there is always plenty of work within marine automotive. He manages the marine division of Bay of Islands Auto and Marine and is currently teaching a small team. His work, he says, has been amazingly supportive with his health, as well as his racing career.

The first time he raced, it was a day of excitement and he was supported by his family. ‘I had in my mind that I could drive a car at a decent pace, but it was a bit of a surprise how competitive I was. It cemented that that was what I wanted to do as a hobby.’

The day proved he had some natural talent that just needed honing.

The car’s barely attached to the ground – that’s what it feels like. High speed and floating the car corner to corner and it’s just wicked when it all comes together.

THEN, OF COURSE, THE DIABETES

Barry’s co-driver in life and play is his wife Nikki, and she is the one who pushed for Barry to get a CGM. He has a monitor that reads his CGM and sends the data to both his phone and his wife’s, useful for when Nikki’s not in the car with him.

Barry used to finger prick but found it difficult to find the time when racing, as competitors quickly go from one stage to another. ‘If you are a little bit late for the next stage of the event, then I didn’t have time to do it. Being able to glance at your phone and see the numbers makes things much easier.’ Barry says he wouldn’t be without his set up and regrets his past management.

‘When I look back, it’s probably quite silly of me to be like that. To this day, I’ve never gone low when racing. But looking back it was pretty silly not to be testing all the time. Any time I had a chance, I should’ve focused on that rather than what else I was doing which wasn’t as important as being low in a racing car.’

Barry and Nikki met at a rally sprint at Port Waikato. She was co-driver for another team but before long started driving with him. While the drivers have control of the car – getting it from A to B – co-drivers are the eyes ahead of the action, calling the severity of each upcoming corner.

In the last four years, Barry has clocked up quite a few wins and trophies, including as historic champion at both the 2016 and 2021 Northern Rallysprint Series, and historic runner up in 2017. In 2021, he won the Northland Car Club Hillclimb.

‘Historic’ is the class of car where most parts have to be pre-1982.

ROAD/RALLY — WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

According to Barry, almost everything. In a rally car, the roll cages, seating, and seatbelts are all purpose built. The suspension is a lot harder as well. Whereas a road car is made for a smooth comfortable ride, a racing car is a lot harder so the vehicle doesn’t move around as much. ‘You’re making everything stronger: the steering or anything that’s going to get beaten up by driving over a lot of gravel. You want a lot of reliability. Strengthening everything up is also safety. You don’t want steering or suspension components breaking.’

The average rally event is split into six to eight stages, and each of these is timed, so the driver is racing the clock, not other drivers. Each stage can last between 10 and 15 minutes, and at the end of the day the earned points are tallied up to find the winners.

THE BUZZ OF IT

Barry’s favourite thing about rally is the buzz of it. It offers a little bit of danger. He says he doesn’t like doing other things that are dangerous, like bungy jumping or adrenaline sport. ‘It’s more being able to produce that car, setting it up, and then driving it to compete. Getting a sense of achievement to produce that car and then be able to pedal it quite quickly as well.’

Barry says, as with most things in life, if you want to give rally a go – give it a go. There are many car clubs where he says you can join and do the most basic event, which is ripping around in a paddock. There you will get a feel for it and see if you’re going to enjoy it or not.

He says he’s seen all sorts starting out. He’s seen many guys come in and be happy to tottle along in last place while they learn and get used to everything. He’s seen others never get better but still enjoy it. Some come in but fall down the order. ‘Before they get a chance to get better, they realise they don’t like losing, so they give up.’

He says the biggest person to talk you out of it is probably yourself. ‘If your brain tells you it’s too expensive or that you’re not good enough, just find a way. Just start at a low level.’