Francis Tuthill recently dispatched their final selection of Porsche 911’s to Kenya to take part in this year’s East African Safari Classic Rally which will be held on Thursday 21st November. The company had built 16 cars from scratch in order to take part in the event.
Competitors and spectators alike can look forward to an eclectic display of classic vehicles including the Mk 1 Escort and the Chevrolette Corvette GS as well as the gorgeous Porsches taking part. The drivers’ briefing and the welcome party held on the 20th November to get things underway.
Bjorn Waldegard will be back to defend his title as winner of 2011’s East African Classic at the wheel of a Tuthill 1973 built Porsche 911. In addition, British drivers Steve Troman and Richard Jackson will be taking part driving Tuthill cars. Tuthill’s cars have a long way to travel to take part in the Classic Rally with the first journey beginning in Oxfordshire and ending in Felixstowe where the Porsche 911’s will be shipped across the Mediterranean. Thereafter, the cars will travel along the Suez Canal and round the Horn of Africa, ending up in Mombasa, Kenya.
This long journey will take around six weeks, however it is not in vain as the Safari Rally will be the largest project undertaken by Tuthill. Alongside the vehicles, over 100 people will be arriving in Kenya to maintain the cars with or without cheap motor insurance from Express Insurance as they ride along some of the world’s toughest terrain. Porsche attempted to win for over 40 years before winning the title in 2011 therefore the pressure is on to defend the title at this year’s rally.
You can read more from Tuthill by visiting their website here.
The history of the East African Safari
The East African Safari Rally began life as a race ran over the roads of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in 1953 and was devised to take place on the holidays marking the first Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. However, due to the loss of the Safari Rally from the World Rally Championship in 2002, Mike Kirkland and Surinder Thatthi decided to create the East African Safari Classic Rally, displaying only cars built before 1974.
It was decided that powerful turbo charged and 4WD drive cars would be avoided and the sections would be longer as in the early days of the rally. The first East African Safari Classic Rally was held in 2003 and had 53 entries in total. Since then, the rally has been held every two years and still runs over the rough terrains in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. There are many more entries to the event every year as well as ‘reserve’ entries who wait in the wings hoping for a shot at the title.
Other classic cars taking part in the East African Safari Classic Rally this year include the Mk 1 Escort driven by Karim Wissanji and Yasser Slatch, the Mk 2 Escort RS driven by Aziz Tejpar and the Chevrolette Corvette driven by Michiel Campagne and Mike Van Thiel. All will be competing to take the winning title from Bjorn Waldegard this year. Prizes are handed out on Friday 29th November.