Press Release : 017

November 28, 2009

Naivasha, Saturday midday

If any proof were needed that Africa was unpredictable, when the rally office team arrived at the Sopa Lodge, Naivasha, this morning they discovered that it was raining - bit of a contrast to Amboseli who would dearly love to have some - and that all the tapes defining the parc fermé had been ripped out in the night by some wandering giraffes. Despite the rain here, the three competitive sections from Amboseli are said to be dry for the first cars but rain is moving in. Naturally speculation is rife about the sections near Lake Baringo tomorrow.

The news in from the sections today is that, provisionally, Ian Duncan with the Ford Mustang is increasing his grip on the lead. He set fastest time over the first competitive section of almost 120 kilometres with a time of 1 hr 15 min 16 sec, an average speed of some 95 kph. Second fastest was the Porsche 911 of Gerard Marcy three and half minutes slower with third fastest time going to Geoff Bell in his Datsun 180B. Duncan's closest pursuer for the lead of the rally, Björn Waldegård in a Porsche 911, was only fourth fastest just over six minutes slower than the flying Duncan.

On the second competitive section of 50 kilometres, Marcy was fastest but only by 15 seconds from Duncan with Steve Perez taking third fastest time with his Datsun 260Z. Waldegård was once again fourth fastest, one second slower than Perez but losing another 47 seconds to Duncan in the battle for the lead. At this point, Duncan's lead over Waldegård had risen to 11 minutes 57 seconds.

Naivasha, Saturday afternoon

The first car into the Naivasha control was Ian Duncan's Mustang and it was the only one to arrive before the rain started. With a clear lead of eleven minutes and forty-eight seconds over Björn Waldegård's Porsche, the local driver could feel that the advantage, barring the unforeseen, was his. Waldegård had set fastest time on the third competitive section today but had only taken back nine seconds of the Mustang's lead. Third overall is the Datsun 260Z of Steve Perez despite some early morning problems but the gap between him and Waldegård is around forty-two minutes. Geoff Bell in fourth with his Datsun 180B is definitely producing the drive of the rally in a less-powerful car than his principal rivals. He is just five minutes behind Perez and twenty-six minutes ahead of Gerard Marcy's Porsche 911. Marcy is making a remarkable recovery from early problems and his fifth place is indicative of the amazing pace he can set in the competitive sections.

There are two more Tuthill Porsches within the top ten with Thomas Flohr and Steve Troman flanking the Datsun 260Z of Jonathan Savage. Jean-Pierre Mondron in the Kronos Porsche 911 is ninth overall ahead of the unlucky Graham Alexander whose Datsun 260Z was stuck for an hour and twenty minutes in the first competitive section this morning.

And Alexander wasn't the only one who got stuck. Indeed, after today, no one can say that the East African Safari Classic doesn't inject revenue into the local economy. On the first stage a group of strategically placed Masai set up a service to push out the cars that had got stuck in the river. Since the cars were plentiful in number, the Masai took the initiative of offering the first push to the highest bidder.

What do you call a collection of rally cars stuck in a river bed? A local business opportunity.

So the question on everyone's lips is: will the situation hold between the two ex-Safari winners and Ian Duncan notch up a third victory for local drivers in the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally. The score is currently locals 2, overseas 1 with this, the fourth Safari Classic poised to change that reckoning.

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Ian Duncan and Amaar Slatch parked their Ford Mustang quite carefully at Naivasha before getting a wild reception from the hotel staff and various friends. "The new starter motor we fitted at Amboseli is playing up already. They get dust ad dirt in them and then refuse to work properly. We had the gearbox and clutch out yesterday and put a new clutch in as the old one was pretty well knackered with sand from the long stage on Thursday morning. And it may be that we will have to do something with the exhaust manifold as that is making a noise and the heat from that maybe affecting the starter as well. Today has been a hard day. I thought that Björn would be fast this morning so we probably tried a bit hard on that first one but I was still surprised by our time."

For Björn Waldegård and Iqbal Sagoo and their Porsche 911 : "Everything is fine. No we didn't have a puncture on the first section but we did take a wrong turning that cost us a couple of minutes, certainly not more, but it doubled the gap to Ian's time. He was very quick in there in conditions that were a bit tricky. If we had a problem today it was that, when we fitted new suspension yesterday, I put them back to the original Prodrive setting that we had started with. During the first days, we had clicked them up to be firmer and I thought that with new ones we could go back to where we had started. It was not so and the car was a bit too soft in that first stage so that did not help the situation."

Gerard Marcy and Stephane Prevot claimed that they were "taking it steady to avoid punctures" with their Porsche 911 but were respectively second, first and fourth fastest on the three sections. "Those were nice stages that gave a good challenge to the driver. Maybe it would have been better to have tyres with more open tread on the wet parts of that first section. The tyres we are using are more suited to forest roads in Europe. We have other tyres with open treads but they do not last for these long distances and you have to protect them on the transport sections."  Prevot added that, "This rally is so much more fun that the WRC rallies I have done. The competitive sections are good and the spirits of crews and officials is so much warmer."

Geoff Bell and Tim Challen have impressed everyone with their performance in the Datsun 180B but today at Naivasha they were muttering imprecations about one of their service crews. "We broke a shock absorber on the second section and reckoned to change it at the service before the third but those guys did not have one on board. We were less than pleased when we had to drive that section with the damper still broken. Otherwise, not too bad. Didn't see any rain on the sections but you could certainly see where it had been. There were some really slippery bits. The second stage was fast. Our car just gets eaten on those fast ones with these guys around us whose cars can do 175/180 kph. We're lucky to see 155 kph."

There was a poor quality to the start of the day for Steve Perez and Staffan Parmander when their Datusn 260Z refused to fire up in the parc fermé. "The officials pushed up out on to the road. The battery was dead flat for some reason. Trying to get it bump started was a nightmare until some nice fellow in a Datsun put his roo-bar behind us and the old thing finally burst into life. Then we discovered that when the front suspension had been changed on Friday, the tripmeter connection was broken and we had no mileage readings. Staffan did his best - which was pretty good - but nevertheless we had a ten minute wrong slot in that first section. Otherwise, the car's good and the battery seems to be charged up now."

Thomas Flohr and Didier Breton brought their Porsche 911 with no visible sign of damage. "We hit a tree near the end of the first section. I was sure it walked out into the road but I am told that we understeered into it. Before that, we had to stop to let five or six giraffe cross the road but really no problems with the car. You can say that our 'formula' for the day has been giraffe, tree, bar and lunch !"

Good Samaritans today were Stefano Rocca and Piers Daykin with their Datsun 280Z. "We saw Graham Alexander stopped and tried to help him get unstuck but it was unsuccessful. Then when we tried to get going, we were nearly stuck as well. And then we had the tow tope caught round the wheel and tyre. It was not a good start for us. And now the differential is making a noise as if it wants to join the two we already changed. Final thing is that the gearbox jumped out of reverse here when we parked the car which is not a good sign from that component." Piers Daykin added "It looks as if it will be another big service effort this afternoon - and I will be in all that mud doing my bit." They may have been Good Samaritans, but fate, in the person of the rally's CRO, handed them a bit of a negative deal. Jan Thoenes opened the driver's door to talk to Rocca at the end of the first section and when he slammed it shut, the glass shattered and there was no more window.

Biggest time loss of the day amongst the front-runners was that of Graham Alexander and Ross Runnals. They got out of their Datsun 260Z at Naivasha looking as if they had played a very combative game of rugby on a soft pitch in a thunderstorm. "It was just thirty kilometres from the start of the first section and we hit this muddy patch on a raised road with ditches either side. There was one big puddle and, boy, round we went. We were facing the wrong way and we had the back end in all this water and mud. Stefano [Rocca] tried to help to tow us out but frankly he was nearly stuck himself. We got six inches of muddy water in the car and, when we finally got it back on the road, we were swishing the water out with a chamois leather. The car was so well sealed against dust that it wouldn't run out on its own. After that, I'm afraid that we approached the last two sections with a noticeable loss of enthusiasm."

Jonathan Savage and Gavin Laurence only had one problem with their Datsun 260Z. "We were going OK until half-way through the third stage when we had a rear tyre puncture. I saw the rock but just couldn't get round it because we were a bit committed to that line. Anyway, the car is sweet and has no problems to speak of."

It was at this point that the rain, which had started falling shortly after the first car had arrived, became more intense and the comment was passed that perhaps someone should get some aqua-lungs for the service crews who were going to have to work on the cars for two hours in very damp conditions.

Steve Troman and Calvin Cooledge had enjoyed a trouble free day in their Porsche 911. "We saw Graham [Alexander] facing the wrong way in the first section and we passed Jean-Pierre [Mondron] in the third. He was very courteous as we came up to him twenty kilometres before the end of the section and he let us past straightaway. The car is terrific and we hope it stays that way."

Jean-Pierre Mondron and Dan Erculisse in the Kronos Porsche 911 had a day with no problems. "But that last section was very hard, so many rocks. There was no problem with the mud on the first section but then we were trying to take it steady and I guess that is why we came through OK even when the rain started afresh. We are enjoying it very much and happy to be in the top ten with a car that is still going well."

Marzio Kravos and Renzo Bernardi said that, in their Mercedes 450SLC they were "Still nursing it but going well. No problems in either the wet or the dry but you have be careful with this big car."

Similarly pleased were Samit Gehlot and Asit Patel in their Ford Escort Mk1. "No complaints. But we did hit a short stretch of black cotton in the second section that threw us off the road. But it was only a small fence. Less pleasant was that we hit a dik-dik on the third section. We both kept going but I don't like not knowing what happened to it."

The Ford Escort of Richard Arrowsmith and Norris Midwood were in close company with Gehlot's Escort but lost six minutes to him on the first section. "That was all down to the tyres which didn't have enough of an open tread for that muddy going. But I think we pulled most of it back on the next two sections so honours are about even. And the car gave no trouble today."

Paul-Eric Jarry and Jean-François Andreoli had a few navigational problems in the last competitive section in their Porsche 911. "We missed a 90 left in the rough, sandy section and went for about 2 km before we were sure we were wrong. We probably lost five to six minutes but the first section was very good and the second section went well."

Quentin and Russell Savage followed in their father's footsteps as they also suffered a puncture in their Datsun 180B - although theirs was in the first section. "When we were changing it we were over taken by Kravos and Bernandi in the Mercedes but then we managed to overtake them and the Escort [Tejpar and Nagi]. The second section was very quick but we were lacking some power and the third section was good but quite rough."

Aziz Tejpar and Andy Nagi found the sections a bit rough for their Ford Escort and the driver's wrist, which he sprained earlier in the rally. "The Fords take everything in the steering and both me and the car are feeling it today."

Martin Aguirre and Luis Mirasol suffered one of their first major problems in their Porsche 911. "We hit a tree stump in the middle of the first competitive section and ripped the oil pipe off from the damper reservoir and were then passed by two Datsuns. We got it fixed in service and the other two sections went well."

Michel Pucheros and Nicholas Patel spent half an hour stuck in the first section in their Datsun 240Z. "It took twenty Masai and 2,000 bob [Kenyan shillings] to get us out. There were more than one of us there and the Masai pulled out the highest bidder first. We had a bit of scary moment in the last section when we thought we might have gone the wrong way but luckily there were enough spectators to make the route clear. In fact there were so many they made a better job of signing the route than the East African Safari rally tape."

Roddy Sachs and Steve Harris were another car to get stuck in the first section in their Datsun 180B. However it must have been at another location to Pucheros and Patel. "We were stuck there for ten minutes and eventually a photographer pulled us out. But he watched us for over nine minutes before he came to help - just goes to show what the media will do to catch a good story! The other two sections were great."

Aslan and Farhaaz Khan suffered more clutch problems and ended up pushing their Ford Escort into the last time control. "The first section was great - we passed five cars - but in the second section the gears went hard and the clutch pressure plate wasn't releasing. After the section we tried to bleed the clutch and then it worked okay for a while but at the beginning of the third section the gearbox went - the whole selector broke and we managed to get it into 3rd gear with a screwdriver and then drove it in 3rd  gear all the way. Then on the transport section the clutch started to slip worse and worse and for the last part it disengaged completely and we had to push the car the last bit. Oh well - another day, another clutch! " His Ford Escort currently has a double-plate competition clutch but he is thinking of fitting a single-plate clutch this evening.

Minesh Rathod and Sachin Sumaria had a "lovely" day in their Mitsubishi Lancer. "We got stuck in the sand in the first section in the same place as Pucheros and the same Masai helped us out - they must be earning some big money today. The other sections were lovely - no problems."

Peter Stoehr and Crispin Sassoon had a good day in their Datsun 1600SSS. "We a clean day with no stuckness."

Thierry de Latrie and Nicolas Gisoul were very pleased with their day in their Porsche 911. "We finally managed to have a good day without steering problems of any kind. We had three great stages and I'm getting skilled at driving in the sand."

Kishen Bandheri and Keith Henrie were having a small but friendly disagreement about whose fault it was that their Datsun 1600SSS got stuck in the first section next to the Datsun 180B of Roddy Sachs. "It wasn't too much of a shame," said Bandheri philosophically. "Since we didn't have a shock in the back but it was fixed in service. We had a puncture in the second section but finally the third section was good."

Despite getting stuck three times in the Porsche 924 Jean-Marc and Patricia Bussolini were still smiling when they reached Naivasha Sopa Lodge. "We got stuck twice in mudholes in the first competitive section but managed to get ourselves out. Then we got stuck in a river and had to be pulled out by a truck - we also broke a front wheel. The second section was good and very fast and the third section was rough."

Jean-Louis Juchault and Steven Funk were once again pleased to finish all three competitive sections in their Peugeot 504. Like several other drivers they completed the first section with a little help from the local Masai. "Today was a good day. The car is holding together and we'll do whatever it takes to keep it together - welding, concrete, tape, paperclips.whatever!"

The large Citroen DS21 of Frederic Daunat and Guy Chriqui was also pleased to finish all three competitive sections today. "Today was very good. We got stuck two times in the firs section but, relatively speaking, there was 'aucun problème' today."

Nick Mason and Adrian Grinstead in their Datsun 240Z did their bit for the local economy. "We got stuck in that river bed in the first section. When we came we couldn't get a clear run as there were three cars stuck in there already with people pushing and shoving, So we were stuck and needed pushing - that cost us 2,000 shillings out of the right hand window and 1,000 shillings out of the left. Later in the section, we pulled over to let the guys in Citroen through but what we didn't know was that a bracket on the rear suspension was broken so that when we tried to accelerate back to speed, the car went straight off the road. We had difficulty in the second section with that river crossing and a guy in an Escort was nice enough to try and help, but finally we got out by using an air bag to lift the car sideways."

Jayant Shah and Lofty Drews had at least one recurrent problem with their Datsun 260Z. "We paid the Masai to get out of that river bed and then the clutch had gone solid with all the mud and we could not get started on the hill. So they had to push us back down again and we got a better run at it the second time. At least we had no punctures today !"

Hardev Singh Sira and Denis Giraudet described today as a "good day" in their Ford Escort. "We got stuck in the first section along with three other cars. We waited 15 to 20 minutes for them to be pulled out and then we got stuck ourselves. We ended up paying the Masai $40. The other two sections were nice and easy."

Albert Michels and Patrick De Connick had problems with the clutch of their Porsche 911 in the first competitive section. "We got dust in the clutch and it became locked. We then lost an hour fixing it but after that the other sections were okay."

Ekya and Zahir Shah were stuck with their Colt Lancer in the first section. "It cost us 3,000 shillings to get through but, apart from a puncture a bit further on, that was our only problem today."

As usual Andrew Siddal and Mike Borissow had a tale to tell about their rented - and troublesome - Datsun 280Z. "We caught one of the Lancers, I think it was number 30 [Rathod and Sumaria], and had a hell of time trying to get past him. It must have taken ages but we did it eventually and passed another car in the deep sands but then the car just stopped in the middle of a kink and refused to start. Eventually we managed to bump start it. We had a clear run through the second section but then it all started again. We wrong slotted in the rain and then the car stopped again and then a bolt fell out of the rear suspension. We got out of the section and on the transport the Datsun just died - something we have got used to - and the eventual cure was to wire the fuel pumps to the supply for the lights. The result was that we lost road time into Naivasha." Andrew would like it to be known that Mike Borrisow and Mike, their mechanic, have been the saving graces of his rally. "Without the two Mikes and all their unstinting efforts, we simply would not be here at all."

Charles Firmenich and Jean-Pierre Martin arrived with their Alpine Renault A110 having been initiated into the commercial activity of paying push-money. "When we arrived at that river crossing in the first section, the engine was misfiring. We did not know it but there was a lead loose from the distributor. Anyway, we did not have enough power to get through under our own efforts so we paid 2,000 shillings for a push. I didn't much care for the third section. When you have to drive 20 kilometres on such a rough road, there is no pleasure. It is too much. But the car is going reasonably well now."