In 1971 Barrie did little racing owing to lack of funds. In the winter of that year he went to Paris to try to find a sponsor, teaming up with old friend and fellow F3 racer René Ligonnet.
After 3 months of door knocking Barrie went to a photography exhibition where he met the marketing team of Kodak Pathé. After a short negotiation he secured his first real sponsor, Kodak France. What a difference it makes to have proper funding.
He won most of the races he entered, racing exclusively in France for the 1972 season.
Barrie and René had races most week-ends and if there were no circuit races they did international hill climbs. Barrie having never done hill climbs before found they were very daunting, “there was nowhere to go if you fell off the road” he said!
For the interest of skiers and for those who know the road, the international hill climb at Méribel is a typical event, with a distance of 18kms from Brides les Bains to Méribel ski resort. The little Lola T290 was geared for 130 mph for the flat part near Les Allues. Barrie went up the hill in exactly 8 minutes pulling top speed between the houses at Les Allues. He finished second , missing the win by a tenth of a second, as he nearly missed a hairpin at the bottom of the climb and had to select 1st gear loosing some 5 seconds.
A class win at Le Mans 24 hour classic with René Ligonnet co-driving was the best result.
The Kodak Lola T290 was the first Lola to ever finish Le Mans. There was no help from the factory, Geoff Richardson prepared the Cosworth FVC and Grand Prix Metalcraft modified the body. The little Lola ran faultlessly throughout the 24 hours, loosing 30 minutes in the pits for a brake change, but for that they would have been 5th overall ! Barrie won the Coupe des Salons at Montlhéry and came 3rd at Magny Cours.
Barrie was often the only “foreign” driver at many of these French events, so always won the prize for the best placed foreigner. Kodak Pathé were always impressed when he bought them the silverware on Monday mornings!
Kodak had all the trophies in their Paris headquarters until they closed in 2012.
