" so close but so far from the finish, nothing to win all to loose"
Stuart Rolt and Richard Tuthill - Car 20


Day 1

Great atmosphere at start of event in centre of Mombassa. Nervous drive out to first stage. Whilst waiting for start of stage we witnessed possibly the best argument I have ever seen between one man and up to five women from which we deduced someone’s husband had less than faithful to his wife. Made Eastenders look tame. Good steady run through stage until last junction where we hit a rail crossing very hard. Last stage of day was fast at beginning and the climbed through the Taita hills to overnight halt, this was our first taste of rough stages, made conscious decision to take it slowly and dropped a lot of time but very happy to do so. Great overnight halt with dawn wake up call from wildlife at the waterhole.

Day 2

Nice early start, saw an elephant walking away from the lodge at 5.30am. Long day ahead which included our first visit through Nairobi! Reversed into fellow Tuthill Porsche driven by Frederic Dor, smashed a spotlight and bent our rear roo bar ! rather embarrassing ! Quite fast stages, the cars were being given a hard time. Smashed a wheel in a big hole and then got a puncture later in the day. First set of new dampers where fitted to the car before the long drive to Mount Kenya Safari club. Wonderful hotel, room service lit an open fire as we arrived, which burnt throughout the night.

Day 3

The longest stage of the rally was first up, approx. 100km into the stage we overshot a rough divert, Instead of reversing as we should have done, we accelerated away and a huge hole appeared in front of us, still do not know how we got through it. The result was a smashed front left wheel and bent front and rear suspension. Having changed the wheel drove to get to the end of the stage without loosing masses of time, the car was not easy to drive. The service crew where waiting and within no time the car was in perfect condition ready for the famous Gods Bridge stage. The end of this stage was horribly rough but we survived without problem to go onto possibly the most enjoyable stage of the rally, fast and flowing through lovely farm Land. The overnight halt was spectacular 200 tents in a field, with great outside catering. The showers were the highlight! Stuart suffered a sleepless night spent mostly outside on the deep drop loo, with a bad stomach problem that took three days to get rid of. We were now up to fifth place.

Day 4
Caught 4th placed Ray Bellm 20kms into the first 40km stage, sat in his dust for the rest of the stage, not brave enough to try to pass him in zero visibility.
Very long day into Kampala, quite glad we did not compete on the Ugandan stages as they were dangerously fast with so many, albeit well behaved, spectators. Very upsetting time for many of us when Ian Freestone’s Escort hit a boy who ran across the road. Great relief when we heard the boy had survived, had a broken leg but was OK.Managed to get through the flood, but only after experiencing the speed boat characteristic of a Porsche with undertrays..very unnerving, but we slowed down in time to keep the front wheels in touch with the ground!

Day 5

The only stage in Uganda provided a real challenge, low sun, fog very wet in places over roads that where hard to read, a great test of man and machine – moved into 3rd . The next part of the day was very tedious. The border crossings as always where brilliantly efficient, thanks to Gordon. Then onto the last stage of the day, that was in fact a very hard stage, but it was well disguised as a European stage, loads of spectators and very nicely laid out. Onto the Mara and a much needed rest day, apart from the service crews that is!!

Day 6

Rest day consisting of, game drive, book reading, go for a swim and a few beers – Very Nice.


Day 7

Started very badly only 2 miles into the road section! Broke a trackrod end and front brake pipe, all of which we had on board, got the problem fixed and then had to race like hell to get to stage on time, dropped our only penalty of the rally, 1 minute, very disappointed. Next up the roughest stage of the rally, it was awful at the end but I was glad that the organisers put us through there as it was a real eye opener. The road section that followed was worse, much worse before lunch with the Delamiers. . The next stage was disappointing. It was like driving through a field with very little vision. Glad not to have got totally lost and to be heading to Nairobi still in 3rd.



Day 8

Having enjoyed the Safari Park hotel we set off heading towards Arusha, Tanzania. The first stage was tricky but we got cleanly through with no dramas, and overtook Frederic Dor on the stage. Now running second on the road. The second stage was an excellent stage, used some of a previously used stage, and was problem free for us.. The stage that lay ahead in Tanzania was a bastard for a codriver. Amazed we got through without getting lost, Stuart in one or two places spotting a line of the only previous car. Relieved to be at overnight halt as others had really struggled and lost much time .

Day 9

So close but so far from the finish, nothing to win all to loose, this was how it was going to be for the next two days. First stage tight a twisty with a lot of blind crests, a real test and worries about oncoming traffic. Second one very fast and we recorded 2nd fastest time, Richard had to have a stiff word with Stuart about that as we were supposed to be backing off and saving the car !! Although we where both surprised as we had gone fairly gently. The last stage of the day was Awesome. It was a shame it was not at the beginning of the rally as we would have loved to attack it. However that was not in the strategy so got safely to Tanga overnight halt. Nice evening at Boat club, likes Tanga very much.

Day 10 – The last Day

Left Tanga and after about 40 km realised that we had virtually no fuel…! Crisis ! The car had self siphoned overnight and therefore made decision to go back to Tanga to get fuel. We then had to go flat out to start of stage where we made it with 30 secs to spare. It was the fastest Stuart was alowed to drive all day. Had knocking noise from front left damper all day which was very nerve racking, however as ever the car performed exceptionally and got us safely to the end of a great great Rally with a brilliant 3rd Position.


To summarise: we took part in a superb event, tough on car and crew, but sensibly organised to keep cars running. We saw fabulous country, drive some classic fast flowing stages and some brutally rough stages, and we carried out our plan to keep up a decent pace but conserve the car. When can we do it again…Stuart is not getting any younger !

Stuart and Richard
CAR NO. 20