Press Release : 013

November 24, 2009

Arusha, Tuesday afternoon

First a correction. There are two drivers with the surname Ciaraldi driving Ford Escorts in the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally 2009 and it was the Escort Mk1 of Giancarlo Ciaraldi and Peter Stone that came straight to Arusha without visiting the competition sections. Their problem lay with the gearbox. This was already the replacement unit as the original had failed on Monday. Now they are faced with the problem of removing the gearbox, then stripping and re-building it to enable them to continue.

The rally cars started arriving at Ngurdoto Lodge shortly after three o'clock. First in was the rally leader, Ian Duncan in his Ford Mustang followed very closely by the man holding down second place, Björn Waldegård in his Porsche 911. During the day, Duncan had set fastest time on all three competition sections and had thus extended his lead over the ex-World Rally Champion to two minutes, twenty seconds. After Gerard Marcy hit problems with his Porsche 911, Steve Perez is now in third place in his Datsun 260Z but classified some twenty-four minutes behind Waldegård. Quite close behind him is Graham Alexander in his 260Z with just two minutes deficit while fifth is Geoff Bell who brought his Datsun 180B through unscathed on a day that saw three other 180Bs in trouble.

For Gerard Marcy and Stephane Prevot, disaster struck on the second competitive section today when they caught a rear wheel of the Porsche 911 in what looked like an innocuous rut and promptly punctured the tyre and bent the trailing arm of the suspension. "Really I am amazed" said Marcy. "While we were stopped, I watch some Datsuns go exactly the same way through that thing at the same speed and - poof ! - nothing happens. We got the car out of the competitive section eventually but lost maybe forty minutes. The suspension was fixed in service and we went to the third section. About half-way through the engine stopped. The problem was the battery as the alternator had failed. We tried to persuade some local guys with trucks to sell us their battery but no chance. Then we got a jump start and got out but maybe we lost another fifty minutes in there. Now we have a big gap to the leaders."

Ian Duncan and Amaar Slatch, the carefree leaders came in and declared "No worries !". But their rapid day was not without its exciting moments. "When we hit that muddy stretch, almost a river, in the first part of the third section, we were going so sideways that the car was almost broadside on and collecting bushes and things at the side of the road. Branches broke the spotlights that are mounted at the foot of the windscreen." Duncan commented, "I was surprised that Björn wasn't quicker than us up that hilly bit on the second competitive section. He took so much off us in the Taitas that he would do that." However after service there was a slight problem with the clutch of Duncan's Mustang, making it difficult to drive in traffic.

Björn Waldegård and Iqbal Sagoo had a pretty good day in their Porsche 911. "That last section was just like Paris-Dakar in places. There was Safari mud to start with and then that soft sand. We hit something when we were caught in ruts and thought for sure it must be a puncture. And we heard a stone going round in the disc brake but then that sound stopped, there was no puncture and we came through OK. But you should see that wheel. It is going in my private museum!"

Rising during today to a podium position, Steve Perez and Staffan Parmander looked to have enjoyed themselves but there was a bit more to it than that. "That concrete drift in the second competitive section where the 180B rolled, we nearly stood the 260Z on its nose. It came up late in the road book and we thought we must have passed it and then we hit it. Wow ! That was some lift-off but no damage. Then in the third section, we got stuck where the mud was and after getting that we got a bit lost and for a while we were running parallel to the proper track, just driving through bushes and things."

Graham Alexander and Ross Runnals drove all day with their Datsun 260Z's engine held in by the straps that they had fitted last night. "We had no choice but to leave it that way and hope to change the cross-member and fix the engine in properly tonight. We had a puncture on the first section and Marcy came past. Then there was that really tough second section with the hills, really hard driving. And then that last one with the mud and sand where we went pretty well." Nevertheless they are in fifth place.

Classified eighth last night on only his second rally, Wayne Kieswetter partnered by fellow South African, Steve Harris, in a Datsun 180B was unfortunate enough  to hit that concrete drift in the second section and rolled the car heavily. He was taken to hospital where it is thought that he has a broken clavicle. He is now returning to South Africa for further medical treatment. In the same section, the sister car of Roddy Sachs and Dennis Matthews also rolled and Matthews was also taken to hospital by the event medical staff for a check-up.

That second section was really not a friend to Datsun 180Bs as the Savage brothers, Quinten and Russell, hit a concealed object and severely bent a tie rod end. "We tried at first to change it but we were having problems with jacking it up enough and, after we had spent almost half an hour of struggling, we saw that we had a flat tyre at the rear so decided to change that with some blokes that helped us lift the car and then abandoned the other job and drove out of the section slowly to get it fixed in service. The rest of the day was OK but we did get very sideways in the third section and clipped a tree with the rear wing."

The fourth 180B of Geoff Bell and Tim Challen didn't have a trouble-free day either, suffering two punctures on the rear left. As Bell noted "Always on the navigator's side!" However they are lying in fourth place.

With Marcy in trouble, attention now focuses on the other Porsche 911s run here by Francis Tuthill. Paul-Eric Jarry and Jean-François Andreoli enjoyed the first competitive section in their Porsche 911. "The first competitive section was great but the second competitive section was terrible - very very rough -and the third competitive section was very difficult in terms of orientation."

Steve Troman and Calvin Cooledge had a good run in their Porsche 911 on the first and second competitive sections but had a puncture on the third competitive section. "It was very tough and we bent the rim but apart from that there were no problems with the car."

Aziz Tejpar and Andy Nagi had quite a lot to say about the day. "What a nightmare! I've never driven anything as rough as competitive section two and competitive section three was insane. I sprained my wrist yesterday and it has been hellishly painful driving with it. But the Escort is awesome."

According to co-driver Keith Henrie the crew of the Datsun 1600SSS the day was not bad. However driver Kishen Bandheri corrected this: "We had two punctures, a broken brake pipe and a bent shock absorber but we had a good day."

According to Rommy Bamrah and Harvey Jutley the day went pretty well in their Datsun 260Z and they ended the day in tenth. "We lost the brakes in the second competitive section so lost some time and in the third competitive section toward the end we had to get out to remove the air filters."

Relative rally novices Richard Arrowsmith and Norris Midwood seemed to enjoy the third section despite a few interesting moments in their Ford Escort. "We had a few heavy landings on the first competitive section and damaged the sumpguard. Unfortunately the time it took to fix it incurred road penalties. In the second competitive section we went through a river and at the service we lost the starter motor. The third competitive section was really good and we passed about four cars that had stopped in the section."

According to Michel Pucheros and Nicholas Patel their day in the Datsun 240Z was not bad until the last competitive section. "We hit a mudhole and slid sideways then hit a tree but no major damage was done."

Jayant Shah and Lofty Drews suffered four punctures during the day in their Datsun 260Z. "Two on the second competitive section, one of the third competitive section and one on the road section but what can you do?"

Samit Gehlot and Asit Patel described their day in Ford Escort as excellent. "There were no problems. Just a few flying lessons but it was all good fun."

Hardev Singh Sira and Denis Giraudet only had one problem in their Ford Escort today. "It happened on the last transport section when our distributor failed and we had to wait for a service crew to fit a new one. In that third competitive section the organisers had done quite a good job with tapes and signs to help navigation in difficult places."  Just before going into service one of the mechanics had a look at the car and thinks it probably has a bent steering arm.

Like many others Thomas Flohr and Didier Breton in the Tuthill Porsche 911 saw the third competitive section as a bit of a challenge. "I preferred that rough stuff up the hills on the second section to that last one with all the mud and sand. But we can't complain. We have no punctures and the car is good so we are looking forward to the next six days of rallying."

And finally from the Tuthill armada are the Filipino entry for Martin Aguirre and Luis Mirasol who are taking things steadily but nevertheless are up to twenty second overall having suffered no particular problems during the day. Though they did get out of the car very dusty. "I really wouldn't like to do that again [the third competitive section] We were a bit stuck in the mud but other than that no punctures and no problems."

The Datsun 260Z of Jonathan Savage and Gavin Laurence felt that the day was going quite well until they got to the third competitive section. "We had two punctures in there towards the end and before that, we came into a dry river bed with a lot of sand and something just took the steering out of my hands and we drove up the bank. We were so lucky. A little faster and the car would have rolled onto its side for sure. As it was, the engine stalled, I fired it up took reverse gear and gingerly backed out. That and the punctures were such a shame."

Jean-Pierre Mondron and Dan Erculisse described their day as incredible. "There was everything: rain, sand, mud, fog. The Porsche 911 is fine but I think it was better this morning than it is now. It's feeling a bit tired like the crew."

Stefano Rocca and Piers Daykin were running back down the field after their problems of the day before when their Datsun 280Z ripped out suspension and brake pipes. "Actually, today was very good. The big problem we had was that we lost the left hand [co-drivers side] wiper blade in all that mud and for the whole of the rest of that section Piers had a very restricted view and the navigation became twice as hard."

Aslam Khan was finally able to shed some light on why his Escort had been stuck in the second section on Monday. "The wire between the alternator and the battery had come adrift and that's why we had no electrics and could not turn round." His Ford Escort, co-driven by Farhaaz Khan, currently lie 33rd as a result of those problems but they had a much better day today. "The only problem was a slipping clutch that showed up just as we re-started this morning. We had to go back and fix a spring to give it a more powerful return. But now it is slipping again."

Peter Stoehr and Crispin Sassoon in their little Datsun 1600SSS had a nice run through the first two sections today but found the third a bit more exciting. "We bottomed out in the sand towards the end and had to dig ourselves out which is partly why we look as if we have been through a sandstorm. Then some kids threw stones coming away from the section after we had taken off the helmets and broke the drivers side window. So with no window and the rear dampers gone, we really did not enjoy the last transport section back to Arusha."

Eric Comas had his Alpine Renault A110 in service early. They were fixing a gearbox mount which had prevented him from doing any competitive sections today but he hopes to tackle those tomorrow.

The Porsche 924 of Jean-Marc and Patricia Bussolini has been much better behaved today with only one broken wheel as the total of its problems. The 924 is an unusual rally car and it makes a change from all those 911s. Jean-Marc commented that, "The second section today was just awful, so rough up that hill. It is no pleasure to drive. But the third section that was simply marvellous. High speed drifting, sand, mud, river beds. I loved it."

Gianluca Ciaraldi and Uwe Kurtzenberger had a difficult day in their Ford Escort Mk 1. "We lost the right rear suspension on the first transport section and repaired it after the border but lost a lot of time and incurred penalties. The first and second competitive sections were OK but the third was very difficult  - there was no one obvious way to go and it was difficult to see the signs."

Nick Mason and Adrian Grinstead were still smiling despite a challenging day in their Datsun 240Z. "It was a disaster day. The first competitive section was great but two kilometres into the second competitive section we had a driveshaft go and had to change it. At the start of the third competitive section we had a puncture. We changed the tyre but then had another puncture half way through the section. We tried to drive on it but it just wasn't having it. At the end the front suspension went - one of the bolts had sheared - and we fixed it. Then to top it all someone threw a brick at the windscreen. But we're here and we'll be out tomorrow."

Arusha, 20:00