A long road for Safari Classic competitors.

The Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally will run a competitive stage longer than anything seen in modern rallying. The Event Director, Surinder Thatthi, said after a rigorous route survey that they had found “a spectacular 154.7 km stage awaiting to rewrite history books when the event revs-off in the coastal city of Mombasa in November.” This particular section runs south of Lake Manyara - famous for its tree-climbing lions - from the Loibosot Escarpment and then back to Arusha, passing near the entrance to the famous Ngorogoro Crater. “The stage is a mix of virtually everything. It is twisty in some places and then becomes a high-speed affair before becoming rougher and finally climbing up into hills. It starts from Usa River in the shadow of Mount Meru near Arusha and goes down south, taking crews through a deep river-crossing where thrills and spills are practically guaranteed. Further on, crews tackle an open area with good roads before coming to the hills approximately 100 km south of Arusha. It then takes a rough and rocky trend near Lokisale before another flat-out stretch north of Manduli,” said Surinder.

The recent route survey also took in another breathtaking run where the rally enters Tanzania. “The 60 km Longido to Sanya Juu section is simply fabulous. It runs between the base of Longido Mountain to the foot of Kilimanjaro. While on the route survey, we came around a bend and there were four fully-grown cheetahs at the side of the road, not too happy about their peace being disturbed. Then on the last day of the rally the route climbs up some 75 km into the Usambara Mountains with at least a thousand corners that comprise some action-packed and intricate hairpin bends. The route survey has officially closed but we will be back over the ground to access the viability of all the roads after short season rains later in the year. However, no road books will be issued until one week before the rally to stop practice.” Surinder added.

The Usambara section along with Kerio Valley and the 50 km Taita Hills sections comprise three classical stages synonymous with the old version of the East African Safari that put Kenya on the world rally map for three decades in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Surinder Thatthi commented that “The Kerio Valley stretch will not go through the Fluorspar area as before on the Safari Classic. It will revisit Kimwarer and Tenjes areas and onward to Kipsaos, the birthplace of Robert Cheboror, one of Kenya´s top marathon runners.”

The headquarters of the Kenya Airways Safari Classic Rally 2007 will be at the Sarova Whitesands Hotel in Bamburi north of Mombasa. Competitors will take a ceremonial start on November 24th at 3pm in the afternoon under the famous "Tusks" on Moi Avenue in central Mombasa. After the actual start from Whitesands the following morning, Sunday November 25th the competitors then undertake 4,360 kilometers of gruelling African Safari country in just eight days of driving with one day of rest. The first port of call will be Nairobi and before reaching the night halt on that Sunday, the event will arrive at the EA Portland Cement Quarry in Athi River. Here the Nairobi residents have an opportunity to get a good view of the rally cars in action when they compete the Blue Triangle Quarry stage. Kenya Airways is planning a ´Motor Sport Day Out´ for Nairobi residents and there will be plenty of sideshow activities before the Kenya Airways Safari Classic Rally action gets under way from about 3 pm. Fans can also get to meet the drivers like Bjorn Waldergard and Stig Blomqvist at Athi River, while they are waiting to start the section.


» Pressrelease från Safarirallyt, www.eastafricansafarirally.com.

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