Africa - Conservation the name of the game, penultimate day
Dec-19 2003 / 08:25 EST

The Kenya Airways East African Safari Rally crews have been focused on conservation and reaching the finish of this mammoth historic event and, although the fight continues, many have eased the pace to get their cars to Mombasa tomorrow. Rob Collinge and Anton Levitan continue to head the leaderboard in their Datsun 240Z, with Frederic Dor and Stuart Rolt holding station in second and third respectively, both in Tuthill-prepared Porsche 911s.

Tanzania hosted the Kenya Airways East African Safari Rally convoy for day nine of the event, the crews contesting three competitive sections totalling 252.18 kilometres, the second longest leg of the event. The route headed east from Arusha for one section on the edge of the Mkomazi Game Reserve and the border of Kenya, before bearing south through the Usambara Mountains, a section that has claimed many competitors in Safaris gone by and which decimated the field of entrants to the ‘Magnificent Seven’ finishers in 1963. At the finish of this final section, the town of Korogwe was awash with hundreds of Bondaei, Misikwa and Samba tribes people, all of whom cheered on the crews in an exceptional display of enthusiasm for the event.

Rob Collinge and Anton Levitan set the pace once again in the opening two sections, winning both and further extending their lead to 45 minutes and 45 seconds. The car has not missed a beat throughout the day and the crew is now focused on cruising to the finish tomorrow.

“The opening section was very nice and one tricky junction was our only minor problem,” commented Rob. “There were a few concrete dips after crests in the second one and then the Usambara Mountains were wonderful. Hopefully now we can cruise to the finish without problems.”

Frederic Dor and Didier Breton have maintained the pace and lead the Porsche team challenge in second position. The French crew is still struggling with suspension problems, but set two fifth fastest section times and were second in the final one of the day.

“We’re still on the standard shock absorbers, but they’re okay if the roads are not too rough,” commented Frederic. “The roads in the Usambara Mountains were magnificent; it would be great to drive them with the proper suspension! We have one set left for tomorrow’s final day.”

Team-mates Stuart Rolt and Richard Tuthill have had a trouble-free run, maintaining third position and in no hurry to attempt to catch Dor. The crew have enjoyed today’s sections, but are also focused on finishing this legendary event.

“I knew we’d lose time in the opening section, but that’s fine,” commented Stuart. “Richard is slowing me down and that’s the right approach. The second section was classic, absolutely great and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The third was particularly challenging with lots of steep drops; scary Safari stuff! It was hard work for an old man like me!”

Fourth position is held by Andrew Barnes and David Lewis in the leading David Sutton-prepared Ford Escort, with the local Porsche crew of Bruce Field and Jan Thoenes climbing to fifth after Iain Freestone’s puncture in the opening section. The ex-Skoda driver now holds sixth, ahead of John Lloyd in seventh.

The final day of the 2003 Kenya Airways East African Safari Rally takes the crews from Tanga in Tanzania back to Kenya and the finish on Diani Beach, Mombasa. The route takes in 119 competitive kilometres over three sections as it heads north up the coast of the Indian Ocean.

DRIVER QUOTES – DAY 9

2. Bruce Field/Jan Thoenes – EAK/EAK – Porsche 911 “The first section couldn’t have been much better for me; I’m happy! (The crew passed Iain Freestone in the section). We then had a really bad landing in the second section, Jan hurt his back and the rear window popped out. We landed full on the sump and the engine’s been misfiring a bit since then. The final one was fine, good for us and Jan survived intact.”

3. Michele Mouton/Ana Goni – F/YV – Ford Escort “Today’s been good, but so much dust from the guys in front. There was a big jump not marked in the second section, but we are not fighting so no problem. The final section was just like Corsica on gravel! And I just wanted to get ahead of the Skoda in the final classification, which we have done today.”

5. Alastair Cavenagh/Carl Tundo – EAK/EAK – Ford Escort “We had our first clean run for about four days in the opening section. It was very nice; we just needed a few hundred more horsepower! We broke the steering in the second one and the guys who came to help us then also broke down!”

6. Iain Freestone/Rod MacLean – GB/GB – Ford México “In the middle of the night David (Kedward) knocked on my hotel door and asked if he could borrow my spare gearbox. I phoned the service crew and got them to sort it all out, and then spent the rest of the night worried sick about my own! It was puncture city in the first section; there were loads of embedded rocks and we had one flat on a straight. Amazingly we then had an oil leak from the gearbox in the second section! I can’t believe it! The final section was marvellous; I’d have turned round and done it again. The gearbox is playing up a bit and it’s difficult to find some of the gears at times. I just need to get through tomorrow without problems.”

7. Ray Bellm/Pasquale Lanzante – GB/I – Ford Escort “We hit a bump and hole at 130 kph in the second section and landed straight on the nose on the up-slope, and then had two punctures a kilometre from the finish. How this car is still in one piece, I don’t know! It was a section of survival. This rally is bloody hard work and the final one was like driving 100 laps of Brands Hatch!”

8. John Lloyd/Paul Amandini – GB/GB – Ford Escort “We followed Iain (Freestone) for more than 50 kilometres in the opening section, but it was a lovely stage. From then we took it a bit slower; we’ve got nothing to gain and everything to lose. The car’s got a bit of a misfire, but otherwise no problems.”

9. Wolfgang Pfeiffer/Peter Knoebel – D/D – Porsche 911 “We lost both rear dampers after 10 kilometres in the first section so had to go slowly as we’ve now run out of shock absorbers.

12. Josef Pointinger/Wolfgang Nolscher – A/A – Ford Escort “We had no brakes in the opening section and driving through the stage, in the downhill sections, was a special experience!”

14. Richard Martin-Hurst/Tony Devantier – GB/NZ – Rover V8 “The car’s running fine today, no overheating, and we passed Pfeiffer in the first section. It’s very tired now though….”

15. James Ingleby/Moira Ingleby – GB/GB – Ford Mustang “We’ve had a great day, the sections have been good and we’ve had no problems. We had to do a bit of welding yesterday and amazingly it turned out that the daughter of the manager of the garage went to school with Millie, and his other daughter is my god son’s girlfriend! So far we’ve raised £8,000 for the Anthony Nolan Trust, which is great.” The crew’s entry is in support of the leukaemia charity and specifically a young girl called Millie and is running under the banner of ‘Millie’s Mustang’.

16. Anthony Ward/Mark Solloway – GB/GB – Ford Escort “There were great jumps in the opening section; a fabulous stage. There was a bit of dust, but that’s by far my favourite section.”

18. Jayant Shah/Lofty Drews – EAT/AUS – Datsun 1600SSS “We’ve had too many things go wrong, the engine overheating being the major one. Continuous head gasket problems have been with us for six days and the penalties have added up to telephone numbers! We’ve enjoyed the last few days though.”

19. Henri Guyonnet-Duperat/Claude Valion – F/F – Porsche 911 “We’ve had no problem all day, but it’ll be good to arrive at the finish tomorrow. I have done many events without a service crew, but this is too much; it is much harder than anything else. It’s a great experience though, and the organisation is absolutely top.”

25. Paul-Eric Jarry/Craig Redelinghuys – F/ZA – Porsche 911 “We were stuck for 10 kilometres behind car 26, for the second time. We also had a bit of a moment for the same reason right at the end of the first section.”

26. Balaraj Matharu/Timothy Mammen – EAK/EAK – Datsun 1600SSS “There were loads of jumps in the first section, which slowed us down a bit and we got a bit lost.”

28. Don Simmons/Tony Jolly – GB/GB – Ford Escort “We had a split fuel tank at the end of day two, but managed to borrow a standard steel one to keep us in the rally. That split two days ago and since then we’ve spent more money on fuel than anything else!”

29. Aslam Khan/Arshad Khan – EAK/EAK – Datsun 180B “It was a good day for us and the Usambara Mountains were wonderful, just a pity the section was rough at the end. There was 60 kilometres of pure fun! Three more sections to go then home and to the party.”

35. Andrew Barnes/David Lewis – GB/GB – Ford Escort “We were stuck in Stuart’s (Rolt) dust for miles in the first section; very difficult, and then we came across a truck blocking the road in the second. The second one was awesome; I’ve never seen so many twists and turns but we’re pretty pleased with the way everything’s going and hope to get through the last day without problems.”

36. Paul Haym/Tim Ryce – CDN/CDN – Datsun 1600SSS The crew drove non-competitively from Arusha to Tanga.

45. Jiri Kotek/Juergen Bertl – CZ/D - Skoda “We lost the rear shock absorber in the second section and bent the front arm on the last. We’re here and that’s what matters, but the car’s tired; so are we!”

47. Richard Pugh/Liz Pugh – GB/GB – Volvo 122S “The rear diff broke and we’ve spent three days going round scrap yards and old dealers looking for a replacement. Driving in a straight line is okay, but cornering is impossible.” The crew drove non-competitively from Arusha to the overnight halt in Tanga.

48. Peter Banham/Bettyann Banham – GB/GB – Mercedes 220SE “We’ve had a catalogue of problems, from silicone in the fuel tank in the opening legs, to hydraulics and the wrong size con rods. We’ve had to have pistons re-welded, we blew the head gasket, an oil seal has gone on the back and the starter’s broken. Having said that, we’ve only missed day five of competition and the middle section yesterday when the shock absorber bracket broke. The car’s done 40,000 competitive kilometres; I couldn’t hire it to anyone else so we thought we’d kill it here! Betty was 60 last week, it’s my 60th in a couple of months, we’ve been married 25 years and this is the 50th anniversary event. We’ve blown all our savings to do it and we have to drive over the finish ramp, not push the car; drive it. We competed in this event in 1982 and didn’t finish; it’s the only international rally we’ve not finished in over 50 events; we had to do it.”

49. Robert Kaugi/Willy Mburu – EAK/EAK – Ford Capri The crew went off the road in the final section but were uninjured. Their service vehicle then ran out of a fuel on the way to assisting them.

Leaderboard after Day 9

Rob Collinge Datsun 240Z 16hr 23min 59sec
Frederic Dor Porsche 911 17hr 09min 44sec
Stuart Rolt Porsche 911 17hr 42min 14sec
Andrew Barnes Ford Escort 18hr 13min 11sec
Bruce Field Porsche 911 18hr 20min 56sec
Iain Freestone Ford Mexico 18hr 24min 01sec
John Lloyd Ford Escort 18hr 48min 47sec
Ray Bellm Ford Escort 19hr 36min 07sec
Wolfgang Pfeiffer Porsche 911 19hr 45min 12sec
Anthony Ward Ford Escort 19hr 49min 30sec