East African Safari Rally; A lot of work.

To enter and prepare one car for the East African Safari Classic is quite a task. There are several teams who are preparing three cars and rightly look upon that as major effort. But one organisation from Britain is undertaking a truly Herculean task by preparing and running no fewer than six cars in this tough African event come November.

Francis Tuthill´s name is synonymous with Porsche and thus it is not surprising that his company´s involvement with the 2007 Safari Classic centres on six Porsche 911s. On the previous two events, in 2003 and 2005, Tuthill Porsches have come very close to taking top honours. In 2003, Richard Tuthill navigated for BRDC Chairman, Stuart Rolt and their Porsche 911 took third place, while in 2005, Frederic Dor and John Lloyd finished third and fourth respectively in their Tuthill Porsches.

This time, it is Dor who once again heads the Tuthill Porsche armada using the same 3.0 litre 911 on mechanical fuel injection that he drove last year. The car has stayed out in Nairobi and is being re-prepared there in workshops that are a Kenyan extension of the main Tuthill operation outside Banbury. In both previous editions of the Safari Classic, Belgian Gerard Marcy has driven Ford Escorts and, though occasionally leading the rally, has yet to have a top ten finish . This year he has decided to join the Porsche ranks. He will drive a brand new 3.0 litre 911 on Weber carburettors that was tested in Kenya last December and has been left out there for the rally. His co-driver is the immensely experienced Alain Lopez.

In complete contrast, Steve Troman and Martin Brady are shiny new coins in the rally fountain. Steve has experience of Africa but only at the wheel of a bicycle with which he crossed the continent when he was eighteen years old. He and Martin have only just started their rally career by doing British national events in a 2.0 litre 911. For the rally, they too will have a 3.0 litre 911 on carburettors. The fourth Tuthill car is to the same specification and will be driven by Geoff Fielding, ex-boss of rally preparation firm RED (think Didier Auriol and Harri Toivonen in Metro 6R4s) who was quite a handy man behind the wheel of various Ford Escorts. A year ago, he came out of retirement to drive the Silver Fern Rally in New Zealand in a Tuthill Porsche and will now tackle Africa in a 3.0 litre 911. His co-driver is Preston Ayres, the same gentleman that accompanied him in New Zealand and who finished sixth with Iain Freestone on the 2005 Safari Classic.

Next in the Tuthill collection is another driver with Safari experience, Paul-Eric Jarry, a Frenchman living alternately in Czech Republic and Morocco. He drove his own rather standard Porsche 911 on the Safari Classic in 2003 navigated by a young South African, Craig Redelinghuys, and they brought it home in tenth place. The pair and the Porsche were reunited for the 2006 Silver Fern Rally in New Zealand under the Tuthill Porsche umbrella and now are running again in the Safari Classic with the 2.7 litre 911 fully rebuilt. The sixth string to the Tuthill bow is another all-Belgian crew of Albert Michiels and Patrick de Coninck. Their 2.7 litre Porsche 911 entered the 2005 Safari but retired with engine problems, something that its re-preparation at Tuthill Porsche is designed to prevent. And as for up-to-date African experience, Albert has recently driven the Historic Paris-Dakar in a Unimog - bring on the sand dunes !.

Having sampled the Safari at first hand in 2003 and with both he and his father, Francis, possessing first class rally driving credentials, Richard Tuthill is under no illusions about the toughness of the Safari Classic. “We do everything to make these Porsches strong and reliable, but it is the unexpected that catches you out. In 2003, Stuart and I were trying to pick our way across a river bed, we couldn´t have been doing more than 5 mph, and we dropped into a hole and bent the steering. Of course we have organised service along the route but it is strictly limited though this year it is a big help to have the rally organised in loops. Distances are big in Africa so you may have to limp a hundred miles before you get help. So the motto for the crews has to be ´speed with caution´.”

Meanwhile, entries continue to come in for the Safari Classic with the total now reaching forty-six. Among the latest entries is one from ex-works Toyota driver and Safari winner, Ian Duncan, who is this time going to be at the wheel of a Ford Mustang.


» Pressrelease från Safarirallyt, www.eastafricansafarirally.com.

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