East African Classic- 2011

[datsfun]

43 Peter Stoehr / Crispin Sassoon (Datsun 1600SSS)
“The third section was just unbelievable. Everything was dry and it did not rain and suddenly there was a river coming towards us. Before that we already had a v-belt braking during a river crossing. I am really tired now.”
Crispin Sassoon added: “The flood was as high a hedge. It even washed a saloon car with four people in it down the road.”
44 Kurt A Engelhorn / Johan Nel (Ford Escort Mark 1)
The car got stuck at the end of the last section.
45 Franz Wunderlich / Klaus-Peter Kristek (Porsche 911 )
“When we got to the river in the first section it was 3 metres high and not possible to cross and the re-route was very wet and slippery. But the rest of the day was perfect. We’re beginning to realise this is typical Safari!”
46 Jean-Michel Martin / Ronain Martin (Ford Escort Mark 2)
“We got stuck in the first section after 16 km but got out ourselves. On the second section we hit a bad stone and broke the front left suspension, which we repaired in service. The third section was fine until 4 km from the finish where the track was like a river. We went onto the side and got through. It was a tough day.”
47 Bernhard Kessel / Ronny Kessel (Porsche 911)
“It was wet. The water was one metre high in the road. We went around it on the grass and made it but it was more luck than anything else. We also got stuck on the second section but it was still fun.”
48 Paolo Faldini / Nicolas Beech (Porsche 911)
51 Samira Khan / Anita Irwin (Ford Escort Mark 1)
“When we saw the river coming towards us in the third section, we nearly turned back. It was something I have never seen before. But we gave it a go and made it. We just needed to be towed once when the engine stalled. It was a good and trying day but we enjoyed it.”
52 Quentin Savage / Russell Savage (Datsun 180B)
“We did not do any stages today because yesterday in service we realised that the back end of the car was falling off. We took the car back to Nairobi where we got proper welding equipment and worked over night. For tomorrow everything is done and we will rejoin the race.”


PICS to follow chaps...stay tuned
.

 

[SeanDezart]

Hee, hee, hee !

 

[Rob Gaskin]

What a fantastic event. Datsuns rule (I hope!)

Preet I note that all the S30s are 260Zs. Is that for any particular reason (strength, homologation) or just coincidence?

 

[datsfun]

Perfect start to East Africa Classic Rally - YouTube
2) Classic Rally Monday - YouTube
3) EA Classic Safari Rally in Kajiado - YouTube


Some footage taken from local kenyan TV coverage...amazing commentary

 

[rallymanDP]

Rob - my understanding is that the reason they are all listed as 260Z's ( even though at least one of them is a 240Z ) is because of the Engine Capacity Regulations allowing a certain increase in Bore size from a 2.6 up to a 2.8, but not for a 2.4 up to a 2.8ltr.
PMac will no doubt correct me if I have got it wrong.

And on a seperate note, did anyone spot the ( originally a ) Samuri 240Z on the event ?

 

[SeanDezart]

Rob - my understanding is that the reason they are all listed as 260Z's ( even though at least one of them is a 240Z ) is because of the Engine Capacity Regulations allowing a certain increase in Bore size from a 2.6 up to a 2.8, but not for a 2.4 up to a 2.8ltr.
PMac will no doubt correct me if I have got it wrong.

And on a seperate note, did anyone spot the ( originally a ) Samuri 240Z on the event ?

Wierd regs they have then ! But then look at the roll-cages.

No, I didn't where, which number, whom ?

 

[rallymanDP]

Nick Mason's 240Z - TON 666H - as per the Sam Registry.

An interesting History, but the wrong thread to expand upon here.

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Nick Mason's 240Z - TON 666H - as per the Sam Registry.

An interesting History, but the wrong thread to expand upon here.

It's had some good drivers in it's time too

 

[rallymanDP]

With one exception, Rob.....

 

[datsfun]

yesterday there were flash floods and....


flash floods...



a nasty accident to the leading 911...

 

[datsfun]

some more snaps capturing the atmosphere...

somewhere in there is the kick team, kronos team and tuthill team camps

 

[rallymanDP]

Nick Mason standing in front of No: 28 - TON 666H - doing his impression of Biggles !

 

[pmac]

Rob - my understanding is that the reason they are all listed as 260Z's ( even though at least one of them is a 240Z ) is because of the Engine Capacity Regulations allowing a certain increase in Bore size from a 2.6 up to a 2.8, but not for a 2.4 up to a 2.8ltr.
PMac will no doubt correct me if I have got it wrong.

And on a seperate note, did anyone spot the ( originally a ) Samuri 240Z on the event ?

And Pmac will just confirm your understanding...Using a 260Z allows the use of the 2800cc engine.
Originally the cars used a 2600 engine eg Larrys original blue car from Starmotorsport.

Wierd regs they have then ! But then look at the roll-cages.

The regs arent wierd Sean. They are just different to normal FIA Historic regs.
And in the case of roll cages they hark back to the 70s when events like this were current and roll cages evolved into being an integral part of the structure. Check out an original " World CUP. London to Sydney Mk1 Escort to see what I mean.
I probably had some pictures in my magazine article on the Blue Safari car???

 

[datsfun]

The Datsun is still leading...JUST

Geoff Bell and Tim Challen have kept hold of the lead of the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally by a mere seven seconds on the seventh day of this exciting marathon event. Having lost their lead yesterday, Bjorn and Mathias Waldegård were hoping to close the six and half minute gap between their Porsche 911 and the Datsun 260Z of new leaders Geoff Bell and Tim Challen. On the first section the Waldegårds narrowed the gap to 4 minutes 47 seconds but, with the second section cancelled, this left only the last section to gain more time. And time they did gain, closing the gap to just seven seconds.
Last night, as the crews of the Kenya Airways East African Safari Rally slept soundly in their beds, the rain continued to fall, causing more wet and slippery conditions on the seventh day. The first section of the day proved relatively undramatic compared to the flash floods of yesterday’s first section. Nearly 70 km long, the section was a mix of flowing road and twisty rocky sections, which seemed to suit the overall third placed Porsche 911 of Gérard Marcy and Stéphane Prévot who set fastest time by nearly 50 seconds. Another Belgian driver set second fastest time in the form of previous rally leader Grégoire de Mévius alongside Alain Guehennec in their Porsche 911. Third fastest was Waldegård, whilst Kenyan rally champion Ian Duncan got stuck in a ditch and was nearly eleven minutes slower than the fastest time set on this section. Meanwhile former Kenyan rally champion Patrick Njiru had a problem with the rear suspension near the end of the first section and returned to parc fermé to get it fixed, not starting any more sections for the day. “We are not lucky,” he said. “Yesterday we had one good section and we thought that was the beginning of our rally but we only managed one section today.”
Due to wet and muddy conditions the second section of the day that goes around Lake Baringo was cancelled and the cars were held at Lake Bogoria Hotel before heading off to the third section. This was news that was probably not welcomed by Waldegård who would want as many competitive kilometres to make up the 41 minutes he lost yesterday when fixing his roll cage on a road section after a collision. “When you are fighting you want all the sections you can get,” he said.
Undoubtedly Waldegård hoped to gain time on the third section, which was a classic Safari stage that passed over God’s Bridge - a narrow man-made passage with thousand metre drops either side. With the rain still coming down the section was again very wet and slippery and it was de Mévius who set fastest time by over two minutes from Waldegård with Marcy setting third fastest. “That was the hardest section I have driven so far,” said de Mévius . “But we tried to strike a balance of safety and speed.” De Mévius is now in sixth place, which is impressive considering he was in fifteenth position after the rest day on day five. Waldegård broke the top mount of a rear shock half way through the section and also had problems with the electrics on the last section. “I think we must have lost about one and half to two minutes,” he said. Rally leader Bell was 6 minutes 43 seconds slower than de Mévius’ fastest time, which meant his lead had now diminished to only 7 seconds from Waldegård. Bell, who yesterday took 25 copies of the results to frame, had been certain that Waldegård would snatch the lead back today but it seems he will need to make more copies of the results this evening as he is still leading. “I’m not even trying to catch the “god” (Waldegård) or keep him behind me,” said Bell. “But it didn’t help that I had a major spin on that last section.” Problems hit the later crews on the final section when an army truck slid sideways and blocked the route so that many had to be diverted. Those who were diverted and those who spent a long time getting around the truck were given notional times for the section.
Marcy who has been setting good times today is still in third place overall but over an hour behind Waldegård. Stig Blomqvist and Ana Goni are in fourth place, only seven minutes behind Marcy. Blomqvist suffered a two minute penalty yesterday when his car was late out of service after work was done on the clutch. Unfortunately his Ford Escort suffered clutch problems again on the last section today. Steve Perez and Staffan Parmander are now in fifth place in their Datsun 260Z despite losing time stuck in ditches on the last section.
Tomorrow is the penultimate day of the rally. Heading south-east to Voi there are four sections, including a short two and a half kilometre spectator section near Nairobi. If the popularity of the website and Rally Management Systems tracking are anything to go by, then the section should be packed with rally fans.

QUOTES FROM THE CREWS
1 Ian Duncan / Amaar Slatch (Ford Capri)
“On the first section we went off in a ditch and were stuck for some time – probably losing about ten minutes. The last section was very long and very slippery.”
2 Gérard Marcy / Stéphane Prévot (Porsche 911)
“We set the fastest time on the first section this morning because it wasn’t so reliant on power as it wasn’t so mountainous. The second section was very very difficult for us – there must have been at least fifty hairpins and we had to be in first gear, which is not good for us as we still have a problem with power. We’re just going to drive gently to the finish.”
3 Grégoire de Mévius / Alain Guehennec (Porsche 911)
“A great day. The last section was one of the toughest of the rally – so slippery and when we were driving fast the car was all over the place. If you lose it you just don’t know where you’ll end up. I even had congratulations from my co-driver, which is not something that happens everyday. After the first section we re-cut the tyres and that probably helped. We were driving fast but it was also a bit of survival, especially as the suspension is a bit collapsed on the right hand side.”
4 Bjorn Waldegård / Mathias Waldegård (Porsche 911)
“It was a good day – extremely slippery with light rain all day. We did quite well on the last section but should have taken more time from Geoff (Bell). Half way through we broke the top mount of a rear shock and then the main electric switch went off for no reason. Mathias got out the car but then it just went on again – we must have lost about one and a half to two minutes.”
5 Stig Blomqvist / Ana Goni (Ford Escort RS 1800)
“Today was not so good.”
From Ana Goni: “We’re very tired. We had no clutch on the last section or on the road section coming back to Naivasha.”
6 Steve Perez / Staffan Parmander (Datsun 260Z)
“That was a tough day. On the last section we went into a ditch and, after we got out, the nuts were loose on the rear left wheel and the steering was funny and we went into another ditch. Then as we were just managing to get out and Andrew (Sidall) came along, hit us and pushed us back into the ditch and then they went into another ditch himself! We lost a lot of time in those ditches!”
7 Geoff Bell / Tim Challen (Datsun 260Z)
“Today was fine but that last section was tough. We’re not even trying to catch up with the “god” (Waldegård) or keep him behind us. We let Stig go past in that last section and then followed him for four kilometres and I made the mistake of thinking I was driving an Escort as we had a massive spin!”
8 Alastair Cavenagh / Carl Tundo (Ford Escort Mark 2)
The crew are not continuing due to problems with their engine.
9 Andrew Siddall / Mike Borissow (Datsun 260 Z)
“The first section was an absolute nightmare - we had no windscreen wipers. In the last section we were going really really nicely then saw Perez in the middle of the track and we hit him causing us a rubbish time.”
10 John Lloyd / Adrian Cavenagh (Ford Escort RS 1800)
“There was lots of water. It was very muddy and very rough but we didn’t get stuck while the others did. We had a good day and the sections weren’t too hard.”
11 Aziz Tejpar / Andy Nagi (Ford Escort Mark 1)
“Today was very hectic. We took it easy on section one but then we had overheating problems that slowed us down. The sections were very, very rough. There were cars stuck all over the place on section two.”
12 Simon Tysoe / Imran Khan (Ford Escort Mark 1)
“The first section was good. But on the second a Porsche went into our back and we got stuck in the mud. Everyone got stuck there.”
14 Steven Funk / Andrew Doig (Porsche 911)
“Mud again! We had a good smooth run on the first section but broke the torsion bar on the road section afterwards and got 29 road penalties. We managed to finish the last section and went past the army truck. That section was unbelievably difficult and once again we got in behind traffic so the road was already chewed up. We got the first dings on the car today from bouncing off the ditches.”
15 Jürgen Bertl / Bernhard Ettel (Porsche 911)
The Porsche slipped off the road into a ditch on today’s third stage and arrived in parc ferme very late.
17 Steve Troman / Michael Nutt (Porsche 911)
18 Aslam Khan / Arshad Khan (Porsche 911)
“The last section was very wet – we passed three cars. Then right at the end we lost our windscreen wipers and so we went off. We had no reverse gear so we couldn’t get out. Finally we got going but I had to leave my co-driver behind as if I stopped I would get stuck again – he had to walk for quite a while to catch up! Then slowly we started losing gears – fifth and fourth - and we had to drive all the way out in third.”
19 Jean-Pierre Mondron / Nicolas Gilsoul (Porsche 911)
“Fine but very very rough and slippery, especially the last section so we went cautiously and passed everything without a problem.”
20 Louis Antonini / Pierre Antonini (Porsche 911)
Yesterday the Antoninis got stuck in mud in the last section and when their service crew arrived to help they also got stuck. Both competitors and service spent the night there before coming into Naivasha this morning.
21 Jayant Shah / Lofty Drews (Datsun 260 Z)
“We had a bit of fun: got stuck and spent a bit of money on getting pushed. Did 50 km and then. I can feel a Tusker coming on.”
22 Richard Jackson / Preston Ayres (Porsche 911)
23 Thierry de Latre de Bosqueau / Eric Werner (Porsche 911)
“An easy day. The first section was great fun – slippery with lots of river crossings. In the last section we were going well and then we dropped into a ditch with rocks. The car is still in one piece which makes me happy and we’re back in the daylight.”
24 Patrick Njiru / Fabrizia Pons (Porsche 911)
“We are not lucky. The whole rear suspension ripped off from the body about 10 km from the finish of the first section. It just went down. We were driving very smoothly so I think it’s from previous damage. But we will fix it and start again tomorrow.”
25 Mark Bentley / Edward Bentley (Ford Escort Mark 1)
“We had a great first section and then got into the second and had a complete adventure. We’ve had starter motor problems but we’ll get that fixed.”
From co-driver: “I must have been out of the car about eight times and paid about $100 to the locals in push money.”
26 Marzio Kravos / Renzo Bernardi (Mercedes 450 SLC)
“The first section was no problem and in the last section we overtook five people but then diverted it so it was a real shame as we were doing well in that section.”
27 Rommy Bamrah / Harvey Jutley (Datsun 260Z)
“Today was really wet. It is a shame that we could not complete the third section. We did very well there. Now we hope for no rain tomorrow.”
28 Nick Mason / Alex Horsey (Datsun 260Z)
“We overtook nine cars in the last section and then came across the truck that had fallen over. It was too dangerous and very slippery. It was disappointing because we were doing alright on that section.”
29 Albert Michiels / Patrick de Coninck (Porsche 911)
“No problem on the first section. Unfortunately we only did about two thirds of the last section – it was fantastic, very very slippery. We are learning a new way of life.”
31 Jacques Walens / Thierry Lacroix (Porsche 911)
“Yesterday the car got very wet and the electrical network is pfffff. Perhaps we could use it as a boat on the lake now! This rally is a real learning curve but we will be starting again tomorrow.”
32 Kulwinder Sandhu / Harpal Singh Sudle (Datsun P710)
“Sections one was slippery and wet. We had a puncture and a broken rim because we hit a rock. Section three was really boggy. You just could not climb up it. A proper safari day.”
33 Richard Arrowsmith / Norris Midwood (Ford Escort Mark 1)
“We got on well on the first section and did well. We were disappointed in the last section as we worked hard to get up the slippery hill and got stuck a couple of times and then there was an army truck across the road. It was a dry weather section on a wet day. We saw Eyland, Buck, Heron, Blacksmith Plover, Malibu Stork and lots of lilac jacaranda.”
34 Jac Nellemann / Joseph Huber (Porsche 911)
“It was unbelievable! The uphill bit of section two was a challenge but I cannot understand how you can drive that downhill. Even on the flat bits our car was moving in all directions. Ice was nothing compared to this.”
35 Minesh Rathod / Sachin Sumaria (Colt Lancer GSR)
36 Gunther Kronseder / Gerd Petzold (Mercedes 450SLC)
37 Phillipe Vandromme / Frederic Vivier (Porsche 911)
“The last section was very difficult – the most difficult of the rally. It was the first time I had problems today – we got stuck in the mud about four times.”
38 Jonathan Somen / Richard Hechle (Ford Escort Mark 2)
39 Ramesh Vishram / Atul Kochhar (Ford Escort Mark 2)
“In the first section we broke a shock absorber after 10 km where there were massive rocks and we broke the front left control arm. We had to wait service then we were late for the last section.”
40 Arron Banks / Tim Chesser (Ford Escort Mark 1)
42 Josef Jobst / Uwe Kurtzenberger (Porsche 911)
“This was just crazy! On section two, we were one of the crews which went past the lorry and we had to lift the car to get past because the whole road was blocked.”
43 Peter Stoehr / Crispin Sassoon (Datsun 1600SSS)
“We had a puncture and had to be pushed uphill on the last section. We had 20 cm of water in the car – it was like bath tub. Crispin was standing on the boot to get us up the hill.”
44 Kurt A Engelhorn / Johan Nel (Ford Escort Mark 1)
45 Franz Wunderlich / Klaus-Peter Kristek (Porsche 911 )
“Section one was normal, just slippery like everything. Section two was a disaster. By far the toughest stage in the whole rally. We could not do more than 5 kph going uphill!”
46 Jean-Michel Martin / Ronain Martin (Ford Escort Mark 2)
“It was a very long day. We lost our windscreen wipers in section one and with ropes we managed to keep a small area of the windscreen clear. The roads were terrible. We are happy that we arrived in one piece.”
47 Bernhard Kessel / Ronny Kessel (Porsche 911)
48 Paolo Faldini / Nicolas Beech (Porsche 911)
51 Samira Khan / Anita Irwin (Ford Escort Mark 1)
The ladies team stopped on section three with an alternator problem and reached the parc ferme very late.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]52 Quentin Savage / Russell Savage (Datsun 180B)
“We were stuck in section one and stuck in section two because there were other rally cars stopped going up the hill. The engine is fine and just the top bit of the exhaust is missing.”
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[datsfun]

And Pmac will just confirm your understanding...Using a 260Z allows the use of the 2800cc engine.
Originally the cars used a 2600 engine eg Larrys original blue car from Starmotorsport.

The regs arent wierd Sean. They are just different to normal FIA Historic regs.
And in the case of roll cages they hark back to the 70s when events like this were current and roll cages evolved into being an integral part of the structure. Check out an original " World CUP. London to Sydney Mk1 Escort to see what I mean.
I probably had some pictures in my magazine article on the Blue Safari car???

Well said PMAC...what you need to realise is that these cars are prepared beyond the historic FIA regs. Class H /Historic UK cars would not last a day on this event...The suspension set ups used a near WRC spec with remote cannisters etc and so long as you dont change pick up points, most other enhancements are allowed. The EASR website has regulations so you can get an idea of what enhancements are ok. In a nutshell, they go well beyond a historic spec car.

 

[SeanDezart]

The regs arent wierd Sean. They are just different to normal FIA Historic regs.
And in the case of roll cages they hark back to the 70s when events like this were current and roll cages evolved into being an integral part of the structure.

They're normally more thorough and since a 240Z in FIA can use a 2.8..........!

Yeah, I've seen the roll-cages close-up - Custom cages std 240Z one I think is Safari spec !

 

[rallymanDP]

Not so, Sean.

The Safari-spec Cages go a lot further. They are allowed to go up to and through the Bulkhead ( well, not exactly through but meeting either side of it ) and into the Engine Bay with further struts connecting to the Suspension Turrets. Same at the rear - all of which is not allowed in FIA or MSA -Regulation Events.

 

[SeanDezart]

Not so, Sean.

The Safari-spec Cages go a lot further. They are allowed to go up to and through the Bulkhead ( well, not exactly through but meeting either side of it ) and into the Engine Bay with further struts connecting to the Suspension Turrets. Same at the rear - all of which is not allowed in FIA or MSA -Regulation Events.

That's what I meant Duncan :

 

[datsfun]

Chaps the datsun dream is over...Bell has been caught and passed by Waldegard ( as expected)....

VOI – WILDLIFE LODGE – WALDEGARD IS BACK IN THE LEAD
The Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic rally has seen yet another change of leader on its penultimate day. With true Swedish determination Bjorn and Mathias Waldegård seized back their lead on the first section in their Porsche 911, setting fastest time and gaining more than four minutes over yesterday’s leaders, Geoff Bell and Tim Challen in their Datsun 260Z. “I drove a bit too fast on that first section,” said Waldegård. “I know it well and I like a small attack in the morning but I think I pushed a bit too much.” Meanwhile the first section saw further changes in the top three with Gérard Marcy and Stéphane Prévot losing at least quarter of an hour stuck in the mud and handing third overall place to Stig Blomqvist and Ana Goni. Despite a puncture on the third section Waldegård extended his lead over the rest of the day to just under twenty five minutes. From a trio of Porsches leading the rally on the third day of this epic rally, there is now a much more varied 1-2-3 consisting of a Porsche 911, a Datsun 260Z and a Ford Escort. However the nationalities of the top three are not so varied, comprised of two Swedish drivers and a South African driver.
The first section was a 50 km long twisty road with very rough sections near the end. With his sights clearly set on taking back the lead, Waldegård set fastest time in his Porsche 911 by over two minutes from Grégoire de Mévius and Alain Guehennec in another Porsche 911. Third fastest time was taken by current Kenyan Rally Champion Ian Duncan and co-driver Amaar Slatch. Meanwhile former Kenyan Rally Champion Patrick Njiru and co-driver Fabrizia Pons had further problems with their Porsche 911, which had broken the chassis mountings of the rear torsion bars and only completed the first section of the day.
Next on the crews’ agenda was a 2.5 km spectator section at Athi river near Nairobi which was packed with rally fans, out for a Sunday afternoon’s entertainment. On this sprint section only five seconds separated the three fastest times with de Mévius setting fastest time, followed by Andrew Sidall and Michael Borrisow, whilst third fastest was set by Waldegård, putting him four minutes fifty seconds ahead of Bell with two more sections and 136 competitive kilometres to go for the day.
The 100 km of the third section saw plenty of action. Rally leader Waldegård stopped for about four or five minutes with a front puncture and was passed by de Mévius. “I had hoped to do the whole rally without a puncture,” said Waldegård. “But that’s just not possible on the Safari.” Bell also suffered a puncture on this section and lost time. “Our jack gun was flat,” he said. “So it was a slow change.” Waldegård was clearly keen to make up the lost time, catching up de Mévius and entering into a head-to-head 140 kph race on the fast, flowing part of the section. At about 30 km from the end of the section de Mévius let Waldegård pass. However it was Marcy who set fastest time on this section by nearly four minutes, narrowing Blomqvist’s lead over him to three minutes twenty seconds and continuing the battle for third place on the podium. With de Mévius setting second fastest time, Waldegård still held his lead from Bell and extended it to nearly eight and a half minutes after the third section.
The twist and turns of the last section of the day through the Sagala hills seemed to suit Blomqvist who set fastest time from his fellow Swede, Waldegård, by fifteen seconds and extending his lead over Marcy to nearly twenty minutes. However many of the following crews got stuck in a mud hole behind de Mévius who, having ripped off a wheel, went sideways in the mud and was blocking the route. This included Ian Duncan, Geoff Bell, Steve Perez and Gérard Marcy whilst some, such as Steven Funk and John Lloyd, drove around the mud hole to avoid getting stuck.
At the end of the third day Waldegård has an impressive lead over Bell at nearly twenty-five minutes. Bell seems quite relaxed at losing his lead but is determined to finish on the podium. “After getting stuck in that last section I drove in anger,” he said. “And it was excellent fun but tomorrow I will be very very cautious.” Blomqvist is now in third place but behind Bell by over 48 minutes. “Today has been okay,” said Blomqvist. “The car has been good but we still have one day left to go.”
With only one day and 158 competitive kilometres left of this incredible rally, there is still no room for the crews to relax. As we all know, the Safari can spring a surprise at any moment and change the fortunes of the most experienced crew. As rally leader Waldegård said, “It’s another Safari day tomorrow and I’ve got to drive it like one.”
QUOTES FROM TOP CREWS
1 Bjorn Waldegård / Mathias Waldegård (Porsche 911)
“Today was very good. I went too fast in the first section – I know the section and I like it and I also like a small attack in the morning but I went too fast. We hit a drift hard at one point. In the second section we got a front puncture. I had hoped to do the whole rally without a puncture but that’s not possible on the Safari. In the last section we drove through the mud hole – it was about 50 metres long - and I thought this would be a close one. Tomorrow is another Safari day and I’ll drive it like one.”
2 Stig Blomqvist / Ana Goni (Ford Escort RS 1800)
“It’s been okay today with no drama. The car has been working perfectly at last and the clutch is okay. We will see how we have done today and we still have a day to go.”
3 Geoff Bell / Tim Challen (Datsun 260Z)
“That first section was hard and rocky and in the third section we had a puncture. It was a slow change because the jack gun was flat. In the last section we tried to go around the mud hole and then a 4x4 pulled us out. After that I drove with anger which was excellent fun but tomorrow I’m going to be very, very cautious.”[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
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[datsfun]

right time for some pictures then?