Ford’s big support team impressed in ‘77 Safari

 

Ford Motors came to Kenya in 1977 with an army of engineers, mechanics and local support all wrapped around as one big efficiency team.

The team monitored its crews from the air and land. Team Principal Peter Ascroft hired a star-studded drivers' cast. They had the best car, unmatched pre-event reconnaissance with a mega-budget to boot.

Ford, through the late Hannu Mikkola, broke the Safari jinx for overseas drivers in 1972 but skipped the next four event editions.

The Ford Escort RS1800 MKII was a 235Bhp car and their lead driver, the late Bjorn Waldegaard, was fresh from victories in Monte Carlo and Portugal. He spent three weeks in Kenya practising with and testing the car throughout the 5,000km course.

Others were Ari Vatanen and Roger Clark. Vic Preston Junior was enlisted just like in 1972 for local knowledge. He had done a lot of miles testing the car to the limit, feeding the data back to the factory in UK for continuous development of the car.

Ford set up their operation base inside a 12-seater Cessna aircraft marshalled by Ashcroft. Code-named November Golf but identified on the two-way radio as Ford Air with a range of eight hours.

It remained airborne for 75 hours, only coming down to refuel, and its place was always taken over by another light aircraft to maintain air vigil. November Golf was the command post, radio centre, sometimes flying low to provide reconnaissance for the drivers to avoid mud holes or wild animals.

The ground was ruled by six mobile workstation cars offering support for crew in trouble, three of them carrying the best factory engineers. Ford also had three Range Rover mud cars with pushing and pulling equipment for those who got stuck.

Ford even had a professional filming crew who produced a short film of their Safari victory.

The 1977 Safari attracted a healthy international field from Peugeot, Datsun, Lancia and Mitsubishi. Lancia were returning to the Safari after three unsuccessful attempts, fielding Sandro Munari and Simo Lampinen in the 24-valve Stratos and 12-valve versions for local Robin Ulyate.

Defending champion Joginder Singh led Mitsubishi’s title assault with Andrew Cowan and Davinder Singh. Datsun, unsuccessful since 1973, as always relied on Shekhar Mehta, Bill Kallstrom, Zully Remtulla, Howard Lawrence Brown and Rauno Aaltonen.

Peugeot, the dominant make in the Safari in the 60s and 70s, enlisted the services of Mikkola, Timo Makinen, Jean Pierre Nicholas, Bert Shankland and Jean Guichet.

There were many locals such as Johnny Hellier, Rob Collinge, and Frank Tundo who had the speed and support to challenge the overseas professionals.

The Safari was flagged off at 2pm by Vice President Daniel arap Moi outside the KICC with cars heading to Kisumu via Narok. There was a long muddy water hole removing the cobwebs for competitors just after Ngong.

Ari Vatanen splashed through when many made a detour. Thirty-eight out of 61 starters retired in many other muddy sections before Kisumu. This was to remain the norm throughout the first and third legs in the famous Kerio Valley / Cherangani Hills; the Aberdares and Mt Kenya regions.

The leader board was changing as fast as the revolution counter, and by Kisumu Nicholas was in the lead followed by Mikkola, Lampinen, and Waldegaard. The going got tougher for the UK-based team after Clark and Vatanen lost more time stuck in a muddy section.

Waldegaard turned on the pressure cooker, getting full attention from all departments of the Ford team, entering Eldoret first with a 23 minutes lead after a trouble-free run. By Iten, Nicholas was second followed by Aaltonen, 43 minutes adrift.

The return journey back to Nairobi was one big nightmare. For the first time, Waldegaard lost time following a seized front wheel bearing. Mehta’s Datsun came to a stop with a seized engine and the battle now narrowed down to Waldegaard and Aaltonen.

The highlight of this section was a flooded section in Sagana four times the size of a football pitch. It was nicknamed “Lake Sagana”.

Only Munari splashed through unaided. Waldegaard was pulled through the 200 metres long lake by Vic Preston Senior in one of the mud Range Rovers. Local enthusiastic boys guided Joginder running ahead of the rally car in knee-cap deep waters in the invisible road.

All cars needed immediate attention after this scary section but not Waldegaard who now lead Aaltonen by 74 minutes.

The Coast leg was a roller coaster for Waldegaard in dry sections despite some areas in Ukambani being wet.

On the 75th hour, Ford Air circled the last few kilometres, overflying Nairobi before heading back to the Wilson Airport.   BY DAILY NATION