Safari day8 - The big Rift Valley day

 

They day started in a unique Rift Valley fashion. In fact Rift Valley was started like that on the last edition, when however the Rift Valley stages came on day3, rather than the 3^rd from last day. Only in 2007 we had a fast, flat Mount Kenya farm land stage before heading down the Rift Valley, providing for drivers needing to be able to change rythm drastically. This year maybe was a little easier and more classic, as CS17 went on a road section North to then start with the escarpment. Escarpment means you stand on the edge of Rift Valley, like a canyon, cliffs both sides of the valley steep and matching, as in fact this is where the Earth opened for vulcanic action between two Earth plates. To get into the Rift the rally stage climbs down the cliff into the canyon, now that is steep, windy action, like Monte Carlo only black and dusty rather than white and icey. It really is like you are standing on the edge of the planet and wonder what you let yourself in for going down to inside the planet.

   

Just to add to curiosity once you reached the bottom of the gap, you find lakes and geizers and vulcanoes, but the first lake you come past Lake Baringo, while next, only a few km further South, is Lake Bogoria. Baringo is fresh water, while Bogoria is typical Rift Valley filled with natron, salt and vulcanic acid, something brown-green. Within a few km of stage you have the most drastic change of fauna and flora. The rest of Rift Valley will be more like Lake Bogoria, just not from this World. If only the WRC would understand what they are missing not visiting this place.

   

Sadly for the 2^nd stage I am missing a perfect description. Or maybe lack of effort, since our web site server provider let us down so badly. I understand however it goes over God’s Bridge (driving along the top between two hills, like a gravel road with steep drops either side, only that this top of the hill is no peak but a couple of kms long!) and further North-West near Eldoret before returning into the middle of Rift Valley. Either way this stage in most classic and unique scenery is the longest of this year’s rally and at 150km it is not surprising in our day8 report we are hardly talking of anything but this stage.

   

The last stage of the day then is close to the rest halt in Naivasha, to be exact 42km over the Delamere ranch, a stage known from the IRC Safari Rally!

   

CS17 – Ol Ngarua – 65.6km

   

While Aslam Khan in his Escort complained that he miraculously managed to collect a puncture already before the climb down the escarpment, the only real drama was that the unique Citroën DS Proto of Frédèric Daunat has suspension problems here and lost some time. Is this the problems of the hydropneumatic suspension? Shouldn’t the hydropneumatic actually be a huge advantage on Safari? Well, unlikely it was a specific Citroën problem, as on the huge 150km stage the car ran absolutely faultless: "We managed to fix it and drive out. The second section was very long and very hard and the third section was great. I think we should be fine for the next two days.”

   

Another problem was a suspension brakage for Jonathan Savage in his Datsun 260Z, dropping huge time and outside the top10 – from overall 7^th! His sons Quinten and Russell in their Datsun 180B stopped, didn’t see much chance to help and then lost time themselves when on the next stage their engine dropped onto 2 cylinders.

   

Noteworthy in the sporting aspect is that Björn Waldegaard won this stage with Gerard Marcy completing a Porsche 1-2, Ian Duncan only managed 6^th fastest time and his lead was now down from 11min to just under 10.

   

CS18 – Ltuk – 149km

   

This is the big one! And all the big news of the day happened here:

   

Battle for 1^st. Let Ian Duncan do the talking: “It was going well on the second one when we had a puncture on a rocky stretch and with about eight kilometres to go into Rumuruti. It took a bit longer than normal - note that the Mustang has six nuts to undo on each wheel and the spare wheels have to be accessed through the rear window of the Mustang - and Waldegård came past us while we were working on it. But those were our only problems today. I guess maybe we just drove over one rock too many." Note: The Mustang may have the power, but surprised us as still being an unusual Safari car. Not the best car to service, never heard of a car with 6 wheel nuts per wheel, other than a lorry. Unlucky too, I mean of course huge stage in which you may have to household a bit (would in WRC a tyre last 150km?), but unlucky collecting a puncture only 8km from the end of a 150km stage!

   

Battle for 3^rd: Well, it was only 6min between Perez and Bell, but after so many days of surprising us, Bell’s Datsun 180B finally gave in: "We were thinking of changing one of the rear trailing arms before the second section but then decided not to. Unfortunately the bolt attaching the lower part of the damper to that arm had been slackened - but not fully retightened. Just 20 kms into the section it fell out and the damper started thrashing around. We tried to restrain it with strapping but it eventually broke free and damaged the drive shaft. Which in its turn damaged the differential. The whole lot was pretty well messed up. We changed everything at Rumuruti and it went fine on the last section but I think that we have to change some more things this evening as the replacement axle doesn't sound too happy."

   

And just to show what Safari is about, especially in vulcanic dust. Remember this is black dust and the day turned dry. Paul-Eric Jarry on the edge of the top10 had a word to say about Geoff Bell’s problems: “On the second section, we caught the stricken Datsun of Geoff Bell after maybe forty kilometres and had to stay behind him for fifty kilometres. It was not his fault. There was zero wind and the dust just hung in a long trail for maybe 300 metres. There was no way he could know we were there.”

   

Local Ford Escort crew Samid Gehlot and Asil Patel (14^th) however tell us about a very different but valuable problem with stages that long: "It was hard to keep your concentration in that long 150 kilometre section but fortunately I have a good co-driver who thumps me if he thinks I am losing the plot. Mind you, his idea of my losing concentration on a fast stage is when the speedo drops below 160km/h!” 

   

This stage was again won by Waldegaard, again with Gerard Marcy 2^nd. Plus Bell’s problems, Marcy is now firmly up to 4^th. Remember he was 15^th after day3. Waldegaard in return has made this rally exciting again, OK, helped by Duncan’s puncture. But still, amazing drive by 66 year old Waldegaard, as at this point Duncan’s lead is down from 11minutes to now 3 and a half!

   

Two victims of this stage are however two of the more interesting cars. The Mercedes 450SLC of Marzio Kravos ruptured the radiator 60km into the 150km stage and to avoid terminal engine damage Kravos made extensive repairs in the stage and missed the next stage too. Twice max time, but back in the night service on time to continue the rally without further penalties.

   

That means on this occasion (talking of an old, classic battle, where the rich and posh team mostly lost) the Mercedes fate is still better than the Peugeot 504 one. Sadly Jean-Louis Juchaut crashed head on into a tree during the long stage, and while the crew is fine, the car is a mess. At this point, with the “souprally” system in way that would make more sense for WRC, let alone a marathon rally, Juchaut and his Canadian navigator Stephen Funk still have the dream of finishing the rally, but that is not sure yet, while day9 for sure is to be missed out for repairs. This really is a shame, the Peugeot team was 8^th fastest on the day’s first stage and a repeat of this performance in the long stage would have had them rocket up the field.

   

CS19 – Mbaruk – 41.7km

   

On the Delamere or IRC stage, surely nowhere near as much drama as in the big Rift Valley stage. The main noise actually comes from the Escort of Aslam Khan (himself the navigator of Jayant Shah in works Nissans in the 1980s) and his co Farhaaz Khan. First of all they proved one thing about Safari: They changed indeed from the twin plate competition clutch to the more road car single plate one and as a result, despite the long stages, experienced their first day without any clutch slip problems! There drama of CS19 as Aslam Khan – as said himself a former works team navigator – explains: “To round off a typical Safari day, the driver decided that he knew better than the co-driver on the last stage and we went down a wrong road. A little local knowledge can be a bad thing!"

   

Ian Duncan won that stage and claimed some time back from Björn Waldegaard, 2^nd on all stages today a very consistant Gerard Marcy and surprsiing 3^rd, maybe annoyed from his long stage dramas, Geoff Bell in his 155km/h top speed Datsun 180B!

   

Australian Graham Alexander had a stunning time, with the result being that in the overall standings (see below) 7^th, 8^th & 9^th are after all those longe days seperated by as little as 1 ½ minutes.

   

More general throughout the day and we have a sensation. Everybody expected the long Rift Valley day to provide a change from the norm, but nobody expected that. Both troubled pre-event favourite 260Z of legendary crews Jayant Shah (former Aslam Khan chauffeur)/Lofty Drews (8 podium finishes) and Stefano Rocca/Piers Daykin celebrated their first trouble free days of this rally! Both are still way outside the top10, but at least N° 4 seeded Rocca tumbled into the top20 (16^th) for the first time all rally.

   

Rocca actually had a small problem in the 1^st section, that miraculously solved itself, and then he delivers another interestign description of the 150km stage in vulcanic dust: "We don't know what it was but on the first section the car just seemed to lose power. We did nothing and then it was working OK. Dust was the problem on the long second section. We passed maybe three cars. It was very dangerous because you need just the right luck to be close when they have to slow for something so they can see you and you can see them. When you drive in the dust of another car and can't see it or the road, you have your 'heart in your throat'”

   

Different problem and solution for the other South African Datsun 180B team, Roddy Sachs, who rolled in Tanzania: "The problem we have with this car is that it is bent. It goes beautifully through left-hand corners but right-hand corners are now a bit of a mission. We had a puncture on the first section while on the second section we had an unusual stop while the driver made a useful contribution to the solution of the Kenyan drought problem."

   

Final word of the day maybe to Andrew Siddall and his Datsun 260Z, remember he did the Roger Albert Clark Rally in an Escort Mk2 just a week before Safari: “This is definitely a proper rally!"

   

Tomorrow’s challenge and route:

   

This penultimate day is slightly easier explained than the long Rift Valley day we had now. CS20 is a reverse version of CS16, only with a different ending. Some drivers felt this stage was quite rough. It goes West of Nairobi and ends in Ngong, a town on the outskirts of Nairobi, such many spectators are expected. The following two stages are more savannah like again, CS21 actually going near the stage leaving the Amboseli rest day. Basically day9 is a transport section from Rift Valley past Nairobi to the Taita Hills, with 3 stages taken in. The last day then is a challenging showdown in Taita Hills to the Mombasa delta.

   

Results after Day8:
1^st – Ian Duncan EAK/Amaar Slatch EAK,   Ford Mustang,   14h17m36s

2^nd – Björn Waldegaard S/Iqbal Sagoo USA,   Porsche 911,   +5m31s

3^rd – Steve Perez GB/Staffan Parmander S,   Datsun 260Z,   +52m03s

4^th – Gerard Marcy B/Stéphane Prevot B,   Porsche 911,   +1h17m20s

5^th – Geoff Bell ZA/Tim Challen EAK,   Datsun 180B,   +1h41m07s

6^th – Thomas Flohr CH/Didier Breton F,   Porsche 911,   +1h48m13s

7^th – Steve Troman Gb/Calvin Cooledge GB,   Porsche 911,   +2h24m25s

8^th – Jean-Pierre Mondron B/Dan Erculisse B,   Porsche 911,   +2h25m44s

9^th – Graham Aleander AUS/Ross Runnalls AUS,   Datsun 260Z,   +2h26m

10^th – Paul-Eric Jarry F/Jean-Francois Andreoil F,   Porsche 911,   +2h49m43s