www.rallyscene.com - 11
Australian Rallysport News - February 2004
any mistakes, spins or punctures. It’s been fantastic.” Team-mates Stuart Rolt and Francis Tuthill maintained their third position and claimed a highly impressive result for Francis Tuthill’s team. In total, the squad had five Porsche 911s finish in the top 10. “Both Richard and I are thrilled; it’s a great result,” said Stuart. “We came here thinking a top 10 finish would be great, third is fantastic! Aside from the really quick guys, we were on the pace every day and the car has been fabulous; I can’t believe what it’s done! “The whole experience has been awesome, a terrific event and harder on the car than we ever thought. And for the team to have five cars in the top 10 is a real credit to Francis, Richard and all the guys in the team.” Fourth position was claimed by Andrew Barnes and David Lewis, a mammoth result for the pair in only their fifth rally. They led the Ford challenge and ultimately finished one hour, 53 minutes and 8 seconds behind Collinge. “This is a phenomenal achievement for us,” said Andrew. “The last section we were so nervous it was ridiculous! We cruised through it, but it was tense. We’ve now started five events and finished all of them, which is fantastic. It was physically and mentally harder than I’d imagined, and tougher on the car. It’s been a really emotional experience; the people have been incredible all the way along the route; quite humbling really.” Fifth position was claimed by Bruce Field and Jan Thoenes in another Porsche 911, with Britain’s Iain Freestone rounding off the top six. The only casualty of the final day was John Lloyd and Paul Amandini in the Historic Motorsport Escort, both of whom escaped injury after crashing. “We barrel-rolled the car in the first section of the day and it then caught fire,” said John. “It’s completely destroyed, along with all our passports, licenses and paperwork. It’s obviously disappointing after such a long event, but the important thing is that Paul and I are okay.” Commenting on the success of the rally, Mike
TOUGH CONDITIONS: Germany’s Gunther Kronseder battles on in his pretty Opel Manta.
Kirkland, Event Director of the Kenya Airways East African Safari Rally said: “It exceeded all my expectations. We seem to have everyone loving it; I didn’t find one person who didn’t love it and that’s exceptional in itself. “It’s a controversial sort of rally, different, and you would expect 10-15% wouldn’t like it because it’s so different to anything else, but there was no one. The numbers of finishers also ex-
ceeded my expectations by a long way; I’ve really got to praise the service crews for how hard they worked to keep the cars going.“ “It was also a very friendly rally; people made lots of new friends and eyes were opened not only to the beauty of the region and its great variety of scenery, but also to the friendliness of the people. It’s been tremendous.” Over the 10 days of the event, the Kenya Airways East African Safari Rally also embraced a humanitarian side by pledging charitable dona-
tions along the route. “We donated some money to the centre for street girls with no homes and probably no parents, those who are adopted and live in a centre in Mombasa,” added Kirkland. The Kenya Airways East African Safari Rally has been acclaimed by all as a huge success and a legendary event filled with special emotion. Most competitors said if they were told it was running again, they would enter on the spot!
STEWART WILKINS MOTORSPORT Historic Nissan / Datsun Specialist Parts & Accessories for your Datsun
East African Safari Rally
DO YOU SMELL SMOKE? John Lloyd’s Escort perished in this scorching fire on the final day.
Overall Results 1. Rob Collinge 2. Frederic Dor 3. Stuart Rolt 4. Andrew Barnes 5. Bruce Field 6. Iain Freestone 7. Ray Bellm 8. Wolfgang Pfeiffer 9. Anthony Ward 10. Paul-Eric Jarry
Datsun 240Z Porsche 911 Porsche 911 Ford Escort Porsche 911 Ford Mexico Ford Escort Porsche 911 Ford Escort Porsche 911
17hr 42min 42sec 18hr 30min 37sec 19hr 08min 31sec 19hr 35min 50sec 19hr 40min 33sec 19hr 46min 57sec 21hr 00min 33sec 21hr 12min 56sec 21hr 22min 44sec 21hr 49min 24sec
Aussie input in Safari success Sydney’s Stewart Wilkins not only built and prepared the car that took Rob Collinge to victory in the East African Safari Rally, but he serviced it as well. The car was originally built as a sister car to the one used by Ross Dunkerton and Harry Mansson in the London to Mexico Rally in
the mid-1990’s. It was later used in the London to Sydney Marathon by Mike Burleigh. After purchasing the car, Collinge had Wilkins prepare it for the event, then had the Australian head the service team which looked after the car in the gruelling event.
DATSUN 240Z Historic Rally Car One of a family of five we have built and sister of the recent East African Safari Rally winner. Reg. WNC 764 ● Built from the ground up for the 2000 London – Sydney Marathon. The car has not been used since. It features a rust-free body shell that was sand blasted, repaired and lightened then seam welded and reinforced where necessary. It is fitted with a comprehensive steel roll cage. The suspension struts are Proflex with adjustable bump and rebound. The wheel alignment is adjustable front and rear. Brakes have 11” vented discs and 4-piston alloy calipers front and rear with brake balance bar mechanism. ● Engine – 2.4 litre, 1.5mm oversize with forged pistons, 3 Webers and major head work. The engine meets Historic rules. The drive train features a direct fifth Option 4 rally ratio gearbox and all gears were new for the LSM. The diff is an R200 with 4.375 ratio and a Cusco LSD. There are ten 15 x 6 Nissan magnesium works wheels included. ● The car has a custom-made 120 litre bladder tank. Every part of the car was either new or rebuilt for the LSM.
Cost $AUD135,000 to build. Asking price around $AUD60,000.
6/16 Wingate Road, Mulgrave, NSW Phone (02) 4577 2400, Fax (02) 4577 4299 or email: swrallying@ozemail.com.au
Check out our website or phone for a catalogue www.swmotorsport.com.au