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Clasic Rally organisers in top gear

The organizers of the 2007 Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally are in jovial moods as they head into the final stages of their preparations for their event to kick of on 24 November.

Radio communication and a timing system which play vital role in a rally of the world class status have already been tested by the senior rally officials. There are less than three weeks to go before the event takes off from Mombasa for a 10-day rigorous trip.

Event Director Surinder Thatthi said he was happy with the tests on the electronics though there are several other important issues to be put in place before the rally starts.

For the rally to run a successfully, it will be vital for Thatthi to put every bit of his programme in place considering the magnitude of staging such a big international rally. His experience of the past two events should count immensely when he celebrates the third birthday of his pet project.

Rally Manager Ashok Bhalla, whose duties will include logistics and hotel accommodation for all the competitors and officials returned on Monday at the end of his trip through some of the hotels and routes of the rally.

A test carried out between the two on the long range radio communication between Taita Hills Lodge and Nairobi was triumphant for the whole team. The new timing system to be used by the Time Controllers was also successfully tested during the recent Guru Nanak Rally.

A total of 165 tickets have been booked the foreign crews while 185 rooms for officials and competitors have been booked at different hotels.

Though the new equipments are initiatives of the East African Safari Rally Limited, it has pledged to assist the Kenya Motor Sports Federation with its Kenya National Rally Championship series.

The present equipments have been in use for over three decades. Kenya has in the past suffered bad publicity and negative FIA reports attributed by lack of modern technology.

Thatthi said it was vital for the devices to run properly in order to run the rally successfully. He said a faultless rally heavily depended on the good performance of the equipments.

Meanwhile, foreign crews have attributed to well over 45 containers received at different ports of arrivals by the organizers of the KQ-sponsored event.

Over 75 machines comprising of rally and support vehicles, in addition to spare parts worth millions of shillings are already in the country in readiness for the raid rally.

The experience of the past two events has led foreign teams to prepare better for this year’s rally with 4x4 vehicles on top of the priority as support and chase car vehicles.

This year’s rally will include four days of competitions on each side of prolonged rest halts. The first break will be at the Amboseli Lodge by the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro followed by another in Arusha before cars head for the finish on the sandy beaches north of Mombasa via Tanga.

There will be a ceremonial start on Saturday 24th November 2007 with a small spectator stage in Mombasa. The KQ-sponsored rally proper will get under way on the morning of Sunday 25th November 2007 at 6am in the morning.

Cars will pass through Nairobi, Naivasha, Nyahururu, Narok, Kajiado, Amboseli, Namanga, Arusha and Tanga among other places before returning to Mombasa via Lunga Lunga.