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News from the frontline
With the cars of the overseas entries on the high seas and headed for Mombasa, there is not too much for the entrants in the Kenya Airways Safari Classic 2007 to do until they hear of their safe arrival except, of course, to make their final arrangements to get themselves to Kenya for the end of the third week in November.
The Safari Rally Office is bombarding them with information and reminders among which are the necessity to acquire visas and insurance. For the forgetful ones who have failed to get Personal Accident Insurance to cover any possible medical expenses, the rally has organised for them to buy it from the Jubilee Insurance Company at signing-on in Mombasa. Indeed the whole question of the on-event medical support has been looked into most carefully and the organiser's helicopter will be carrying Dr Harjinder Chaggar who for the last ten years has been Chief Medical Officer at a clutch of British race circuits including Silverstone.
Dr Chaggar will be on hand at the night halts to help anyone who is unwell in addition to providing fast medical aid to any incident during the event itself. And another service organised for the competitors is a professional Physiotherapist, also with a motor sport background. This is Daniele Aramini, who will be with the rally every evening. His experience as a motor racing physiotherapist was with the Benetton, Sauber and other teams for twelve years up to 2000. During that time he worked with Michael Schumacher, Jean Alesi, Nick Heidfield, Alain Prost and Jarno Trulli which means that competitors who are feeling the strain of nine days round East Africa can feel confident that Signor Aramini will be able to restore them in time for the re-start the next morning.
However, the news from the route suggests that a bit more than medical assistance may be needed to ensure success on this already tough rally. The highlands around Nakuru, Eldoret, the Kerio Valley and Elburgon are still very wet and Kenya is experiencing very unusual weather this year. The route has had to be changed in two places where landslides had blocked the road but the general result of all the unseasonable rain has been to render the roads more difficult and in some cases, slightly rougher. Certainly, they will need to be driven with more caution. The rest of the route should be unaltered from the last recce and in any case the three-day car will pass first and note the condition and make any necessary changes. The latest update will then be circulated every night of the rally in a bulletin.

For press enquiries, contact
E-mail: safari.press@btinternet.com
John Davenport Tel: +44.7973.334297
Francesca Davenport Tel: +44.7976.918968.