I sneaked away rather than traveled to the safari last weekend, as such my travel plans were not only messy but not only that. I was not prepared at all and as such, missed not only a lot of action but also information.
I hope Emmanuel Katto and Moses Matovu will have an extensive rally report even if they do not want to talk about their own run.
We arrived in Nairobi in the nick of time, just before the ceremonial start and the super special. A quick look at the Parc Ferme revealed a sight to die for. Four N12 (Betti, Emontspool, Bakhressa, Chager), eleven N10 (Rautenbach, Kurji, Katto, Tundo, Patel, Shah, Verlaque, Singh, Gacheru, Huwel, Mohammed), Two N8 (Davite, Muchemi), many older Imprezas, Eight evos (Miyoshi, Rose, Cavenagh, Aslam, Asad, Whyte, Hans, Gow). I almost forgot, two Fiat Grand Punto S2000 Abarth – in the flesh. By the time we were done with securing our accommodation, Emka had completed his run. It turns out that the start-order had been changed so that the top15-20 cars run in reverse order and then the rest of the cars start in their seeded positions.
The course was only 0.9kms and run on the forecourt of the Uhuru Park in the centre of Nairobi. Entrance was free but the number of spectators was few. Imagine if you tried to hold the Pearl sprint at the constitutional square, and charging nothing at the gates! You would need Black Mambas, JATT, Red Berets, PGB, CMI, MONUC etc. to control the crowds.
We however saw like the top 10 drivers and then everybody else. 3 things were clear: a) non-europeans (including locally based westerners) are not capable of certain things. When it came to hairpins, Luca Betti, Emontspool, Rautenbach were in a class of their own, their cars looked like they were being lined up with protractors and rulers! So smooth, so powerful round the bends b) Mitsubishis are not capable of hand-brake turns – Miyoshi's was a decent attempt but you could see he was double-clutching to unlock the diffs, pull the handle, take off again. c) the S2000 cars were low on bottom end torque and had to employ tactics similar to Miyoshi's to get round the hairpins. Surprisingly, the Japanese driver was fastest over this short course.
Ahead of Leg 2, my expectation was that the Punto in the hands of Andrea Navarra would be able to set up leads of roughly a minute per 20km stage. We made it to the FF of the SS2/7 which was separated by 1metre from SS5/10. It was like watching 2 movies at the same time. This surreal experience was further catalysed by Conrad Rautenbach's helicopter hovering over the first 3 cars, the other 2 being the Fiats which were leading him. After watching the first 20 cars go through SS2, we now could watch cars in both stages! Navarra lived up to my expectations in SS2 beating Rautenbach (according to my phone) by about 7s. Tundo was 3 rd fastest while Kurji was 4 th . The rest of the field including Katto was about a minute adrift of the leader. Encouragingly, Katto was beating Bakhressa ahead of him impressively. Disappointingly, Cavenagh came out of the stage so slowly that we actually so 2 cars pass him within 100m of the FF. Chager also came in with a misfire. Betti rolled and wrote off the car he had rented from Emontspool. Another disappointment was that despite the impressive start list and the reports from recce that the route was uncharacteristically smooth, wide gaps had already developed between the cars even on this first stage. After the first 5 cars, there was a gap of nearly 10 minutes and then there was no telling who was coming or when.
On SS5, Kurji did not show and we learnt he had bent his suspension arms (at service he wished it was the N8 which he said would have never bent under the same conditions). But Katto was running well and had maintained position. In service after 5 stages, we learnt that it was Navarra, Conrad, Tundo, Katto, Scandola – even if Navarra had in fact just gotten the lead back from Rautenbach. Rautenbach had gone off at the same spot that Kurji went off but he got away with reparable damage. Huwel's gearbox was damaged so he retired.
In the afternoon, Navarra appeared to be taking it easy while Conrad seemed to still be on a charge. Emka eased a little bit too. But the man who put his foot down the most was Muna Singh who charged up several places and was expected to have overhauled Katto. Another attacking driver was Baldev Chager who had sorted his misfire and whose N12 was now serving him fair amounts of performance to match his driving. But by the end of the day, Katto had managed to hold onto 4 th and second among the ARC registered drivers. Scandola had retired due to overheating while Miyoshi had suffered several punctures and was not able to feature in the top results all day.
Our car had however overheated during the day and also on the way back to Nairobi. So while the plan was to catch the first 4 stages before departing for Kampala, I was not too surprised to find when I awoke that a majority decision had already been taken to just depart! This was in consideration of the fact that an overhearting car is not one to be trusted with 11 hours of driving in hot/dry weather. I was disappointed but not surprised and at the end of the day, they were right. The car overheated again between Naivasha and Nakuru, then again as left Kisumu. Luckily heavy rains came down on us as we approached Busia and then again as we headed out to Kampala. In fact we were permanently under rain all the way to Namawojjolo where we arrived at 7.30pm having taken off at 7 am from Nairobi. After chicken and plantain however, we realized we had a puncture which took more than an hour to change – (missing jack lever).
Over the course of the day, it became apparent that Katto had dropped to 8 th and then to 16 th . Riyaz who had started under superally had also retired under unclear circumstances. Navarra had appeared to extend his overnight lead over Rautenbach that we assumed he would win. I only found out this morning that his luck would turn and the young Zimbabwean would win the rally and that Katto finished a very disappointing 24 th after his alternator gave way in the middle of the stage.
A disappointing rally all in all, but more disappointed in myself and my preps than anything else. I had a digital cam but no batteries, we were always late for everything we failed to pick some up. My phone somehow failed to roam. And we should have had more reliable transportation – better still, air is a much more convenient option. I expected max attack from 10 cars but only half of those seemed interested or capable of a fight i.e. On the one hand Navarra and Rautenbach, on the other Miyoshi, Katto and Muna.
We should now look forward to the Pearl. But Miyoshi has intimated he may not make the start in Kampala next month. Logistics are tight and other than support from his navigator, sponsorship is not forthcoming yet. Emontspool is also unhappy about the way he has been treated in Uganda – both times he came. Compounded by his dismal performances over the first 2 rounds of the ARC, his campaign may just stop with the safari. That leaves Rautenbach, Asad Anwar and the Stado team as the cars to look forward to in the Pearl.
Uganda's National Champion Ronald Sebuguzi (Sebbaguzzi to the Kenyans!) watched the action with us and was not impressed with the competition except for Rautenbach and Navarra. Sebuguzi, who picked up 2 podiums in the last 3 editions is therefore looking forward to a historic POAUR where he is hoping to pick up his first international win.
Photos taken by a spectator (kaabunga) available at http://picasaweb.google.com/vkaabunga/KCBSafariRally2007?authkey=Ot8H76Vwbg4
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