KCB Safari Rally 2015

[J4MIE]

This year's Safari Rally was announced yesterday at a press conference in Nairobi.

We will see if the changes they are proposing will affect the chances of a return to the WRC. I fear that the manufacturer teams will not be interested in servicing at the roadside instead of their workshops in a service area, but I am an optimist! It makes servicing a bit of a headache for us, as we had intended to service with Quentin Mitchell in his Fabia S2000, but this will be almost impossible with him running so far ahead of us on the road. We'll have to look at the logistics very closely!

Our entry has been submitted, and we are pretty much all set for another attempt, after our retirement last year. Geoff has been busy (watching someone else!) rebuilding, painting and rewiring the car since last year. He has also bought a supercharged engine for a bit more power! Unfortunately this means we don't get to compete in the 2WD class and are now in the SPV (Specially Prepared Vehicle) class. But we are out there aiming to have fun and entertain - and to try to raise awareness of the poaching problems Africa is facing.

I am sure to be more organised with the in-car camera and will get footage up when I return from the event.

You can read the preview at http://www.irallylive.com/ir_news.htm?00008060&10 or on the iRally app. Geoff will be updating with progress throughout the rally. If I can then I'll try to post in here too.

:bounce:

[vino_93]

So finally Mitchell is back with the Fabia ? There's a great field of modern cars now in Kenya, with the 2 Fiesta R5, 2 Proton S2000, the Fabia of Mitchell and a Punto (modified by Llovera).

Disappointing that the race isn't anymore in ARC :(

[J4MIE]

Yes - it seems the FIA observers have it a poor report last time, and with the large expense of having them cisit, together with the ARC fees, they decided it just wasn't worth it. So I can see why they pulled out, for the few extra entries. It now gives them a bit more freedom as they want to be back in the WRC. Whether they will succeed is anyone's guess.....

There are a number of nice cars, but the problem is the reliability of the Protons, which is a crucial factor in African events. Especially the Safari. The sometimes long flat out sections see them give lots of time away to the Grp N Evos. My favourite stage from last year is back in (Lengetia) but it's only being used once (still trying to find out if it'll be used in the same direction - I hope so!). I took a page of my pace notes from that stage, it was basically "FR, 2000, cut FR into ML thru gate, ER 1000, MAX brow 500 MAX brow 500" and it was basically 4km flat out. Great fun (even in our slow car)

I meant to post also that Tapio Laukkanen won the first round of the Kenyan championship last month and has to be one of the favourites for victory again.

[vino_93]

Will Tapio do the whole champ ? I see he took the kenyan license, so I suppose yes ...
how does he arrive in Kenya ? By Tommi Mäkinen Racing ?

[J4MIE]

I'm not sure, think he might live over there these days. It is quite a popular country for people to retire to, with the favourable climate for those of us that don't like the cold ;)

I will try to find out when I'm there and let you know.

We've been given special permission to do the recce on 1st & 2nd April, it is meant to be done the weekend of 28-29th March but I only fly out on the 31st! :s

[vino_93]

Thx ;)

Good luck for your Safari :)

[J4MIE]

Quentin launched his effort earlier today, must say the car really does look stunning!

http://www.irallylive.com/ir_news.htm?00008062&10

Me and Geoff also helped to secure a (very!) last minute co-driver for him, a young guy from the UK, Tom Woodburn. He sent me a speculative message on Monday asking if I knew if there was anyone looking for a co-driver,, now he's flying out there right now, just in time to start the recce on Friday! I'm not sure if he realises what he's let himself in for as he's never been out there before but is now one of the favourites to win it :bounce: They will be starting second on the road.

Weather wise, it's apparently raining heavily on the stages around Mt Kenya at the moment..... I know mud is part of the challenge of the Safari but I hope it dries up over the next week....... ;)

[J4MIE]

Geoff has had quite a few issues with the new engine, so it's been decided to put the old (non-supercharged) one back in, this puts us back in the 2WD class. It's a shame but we should still have more power than last year, when after the event it was discovered that two of the fuel injectors were blocked :s

I'm hearing from recce so far that there isn't much mud on the stages, so I'm really hoping it stays like that :D

[J4MIE]

Just on the plane now, all set for the off, I arrive in Nairobi late this evening then recce starts tomorrow. We'll see how the weather is.....

:bounce:

[Jeppe]

Just on the plane now, all set for the off, I arrive in Nairobi late this evening then recce starts tomorrow. We'll see how the weather is.....

:bounce:

Hope it´ll be great adventure for both of you. Have a tremendous rally!! ;)

[pino]

Just on the plane now, all set for the off, I arrive in Nairobi late this evening then recce starts tomorrow. We'll see how the weather is.....

:bounce:

Have fun, and good luck to both of you !!!

[J4MIE]

Thanks guys!

We picked the car up this afternoon and there are still lots of little issues with it which is on the list to do tomorrow. But nothing which will stop it passing scrutineering (we hope!) first thing tomorrow. Then we'll bring it back and get it fully sorted out.

So we only got to recce SS1/3 today, we have copies of notes from another crew and they look good, we will just need to be a bit cautious on the very fast bits.

I'll get on my laptop tomorrow night and put a few photos up here.

[J4MIE]

A long and tiring first day but it had a lot of waiting around, which was pretty annoying, then the road section times were so tight we were flat out on the roads as well, we and a number of others have put a complaint in to the stewards about it.

Had a steady run through SS1, no mishaps and just getting used to the car and how much better it is than last year. We developed a misfire which has got steadily worse through the day, and also seemingly a faulty oil pressure gauge which is why Geoff backed off quite a bit, he'd considered stopping at a few points. Not a good run through the SS2 superspecial, we'd not done a recce of it so had no idea where we were going, I didn't think I did so well on the notes but we did sort it out, had a small overshoot at a hairpin.

SS3 was a repeat of SS1 and the light was fading quite a bit by this time as we had a 90 minute regroup. We were quite lucky that we got through before the rain hit and swamped the service area. We really enjoyed the stage and thought it was the best we drove all day, Geoff really had the car dancing through a few bends and really enjoying it. However, we stopped when a car ahead had stopped and blocked the road, someone was out waving and it looked like they needed help so we stopped, I was about to jump out, but he opened the door and said to go around, cost us about 30 seconds. Geoff then overshot a jump into medium left through a narrow gate. We then had to slow right down to avoid a herd of Zebra!
We then got caught by the following car so had to pull over to let him past, then say in thick dust for about a kilometre before it cleared. After all this we were only 15s slower than the first run.

Back in Nairobi now, restarting about 6:15 with a 200km road section to take us up to the stages further north. Looking forward to it, will have to see how the conditions are. The first two stages we did last year, but haven't done recce for any of them this year, so are trusting the notes that we managed to copy.... The adventure continues!

[J4MIE]

Oh and we're not last!!!

[J4MIE]

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[Zeakiwi]

Chathe wins, Duncan second by 13 seconds.
http://www.nation.co.ke/sports/Jaspreet-Chatthe-Ian-Duncan-Safari-Rally/-/464918/2677028/-/94bxli/-/index.html

[J4MIE]

We managed to get to the finish, and not last in class and not last overall!'
Amazing event, felt really tough and we had lots and lots of problems to overcome and very changeable weather and a few bits of really really nasty mud.

I'm feeling fantastic, really happy to get there and we had a great time, everyone here is very friendly and always enjoying themselves, and always happy to help out. We did this on a very small budget and it's mainly thanks to our service crew that we even got to the start, never mind the finish. Every time we arrived with a problem it was sorted out quickly and easily.

I'll get some photos put up later, but sleep awaits.........