Rallying

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

Sunday, 20 May 2012 11:49

CITROËN, FORD & MINI SUPPORT FIA ACTION FOR ROAD SAFETY

The three manufacturers registered in the FIA World Rally Championship have pledged their support of the FIA’s Action for Road Safety, a global campaign that focuses the Federation’s resources on advocating for safer roads, vehicles and behaviour.

Citroën, Ford and MINI will all be displaying the FIA Action for Road Safety branding on their rally cars from ADAC Rallye Deutschland and, with the support of their drivers and co-drivers, will help increase awareness for improved road safety.

Jean Todt, President of the FIA said: “Now is the time to act; road traffic accidents are the main cause of death among young people. The World Rally Championship manufacturers and their drivers and co-drivers are ambassadors and opinion formers and there is no doubt their support will help us spread important messages to millions of people around the world.”

Seven time FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb said: "We are happy to support such a campaign with the FIA as this is a very noble cause and a priority. I know it is also very important to Citroën and the PSA group who are involved in developing all sorts of technologies to help increase safety on board its vehicles and help reduce the death and injury rate from car accidents. I will be proud to actively participate in the campaign."

Gerard Quinn, Senior Manager, Motorsport, Ford of Europe said: “I'm delighted we have the opportunity to work with the FIA on their project. Safety is of paramount importance to Ford so any initiative where we can help to reduce serious injury or loss of life on roads around the globe is something we want to support.”

MINI driver Kris Meeke added: “Road safety is a big factor. In the World Rally Championship we are competing in a controlled environment where the roads are closed, we have full safety cages and all the safety equipment available to make it as safe as possible. When you take to the public roads you are dealing with cars that may have less performance, but they still don’t have all the safety measures we do, and the roads are open to everyone. We are in an ideal position to help highlight this and encourage safer driving to millions of fans around the world.”

The FIA’s Action for Road Safety supports the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, an initiative that aims to stabilise and then reduce the number of deaths on the road. The goal is to save five million lives in 10 years and the FIA’s campaign has already received support from across the motoring and motor sport spectrum.

Each year around the world 1.3 million people are killed on the roads and another fifty million are injured, some of them very seriously. It is the FIA’s objective to commit all of its members to projects to raise awareness of the importance of lowering the tragic figures of those killed on roads and to help the United Nations reach its objective.

The FIA’s Action for Road Safety campaign sees its global family working together and drawing on its unique resources and reserves to unleash a wave of support to reduce traffic related deaths and injuries worldwide. It allows the FIA to target motorists, motorsport enthusiasts, young people and governments. It will see every FIA club make a commitment to address a critical road safety problem in their country.

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Baptism of Fire - Kenya Airways East African Safari

Sunday, 20 May 2012 11:49

What better way to test your new rally car that to enter a rally ? Last weekend, that is exactly what experienced Kenyan rally driver Aslam Khan did with his new Porsche 911. The car is entered in the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally in November but, with it newly arrived in Africa, the chance to try it out on the modern Safari Rally Kenya held in Kajiado was not to be missed.

“The car is amazing and has so much more power and handling than the Ford Escort that I drove on the Safari Classic in 2009” said Aslam. The Porsche is prepared by Tuthill Porsche from the UK and it incorporates all the latest specification of components that will be used by the whole Tuthill team of Porsche 911s on the 2011 event in November.

On the Safari Rally at the weekend, Aslam was leading the Supplementary class when he lost control of the car and it gently rolled over. To his consternation, the car then had a small fire, but the crew managed to extinguish it before too much damage was done.

Entries for the Kenya Airways Safari Classic continue to pour in with new ones from Safari regular, Nick Mason in a Datsun 260Z and also from a newcomer, Kurt Engelhorn, from Germany in a Ford Escort Mark 1. Also, there is one more entry from Tanzania as Safari veteran, Jayant Shah, navigated by a former Safari-winning co-driver, Lofty Drews, have also confirmed they entry in a Datsun 260Z.

The entry list now stands at forty-six cars and the organizers are expecting at least seven more entries to come by the closing date of entries, which is October 15^th, 2011.

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Kenyan Airways East African Safari Classic Rally

Sunday, 20 May 2012 11:49

In an announcement this week, Surinder Thatthi, Event Director for the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally, gave out the details of the night halts for this event that will run towards the end of this year from November 18^th to 29^th.

As is now traditional, the pre-event formalities and the start will be from the Sarova Whitesands Hotel on the Indian Ocean coast just north of Mombasa. The rally will start early on the morning of November 20^th and the day’s activities will finish deep inside the Amboseli National Park at the Kilima Safari Camp. The second day of rallying will take the crews into Tanzania to sample what can be some of the toughest roads on the event. The halt will be at the Mount Meru Hotel in Arusha where the crews will spend two nights, November 21^st and 22^nd. They will spend the day in-between rallying in Tanzania before passing under the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro and re-entering Kenya.

The arrival on November 23^rd will be at the Ol Tukai Lodge in Amboseli where, after four days of hard rallying, the crews and their cars will get a full day of rest and recuperation. Probably the same cannot be said for the mechanics who will be servicing the cars during the day on November 24^th getting them ready for the last four complete days of the rally.

From Amboseli, the route lies north-west and skirts Nairobi to dive down into the Rift Valley and arrive that evening at the Sopa Lodge on Lake Naivasha. Again, there are two nights spent here – November 25^th and 26^th – with a full day of rallying on traditional Kenyan Safari Rally roads in-between. On the morning of November 27^th, the rally leaves Naivasha and starts the long run back through central Kenya towards Mombasa. There is one more night halt at the Voi Wildlife Lodge that nestles on the edge of the Tsavo East National Park and then it is full steam for the finish back at the Whitesands Hotel on the afternoon of November 28^th. The following day, there will be the gala lunch and prize giving in an outdoor setting overlooking the ocean.

Although the night halts, and thus the general outline of the route, are now known, the detail is being kept much more secret this year. On the last Safari Classic held in 2009, some crews were using the opportunity of receiving the road books in advance to send out recce crews to report back with detailed notes. In the interest of keeping a level playing field for all of the competitors, the road books for each day will now be issued the night before and not earlier.

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