This rally is known as the toughest rally in the world, and many unbelievable things were expected to happen. In recent times, the Safari Rally is no longer part of the World Rally Championships, but now a part of the African Rally Championships. The rally once used to be 5000km long but in the 1990's, the course was shortened and is presently 700km long. This does not mean that the rigorous Kenyan stages were not awaiting its prey. Private tests were performed on the Monday of rally week, about 20km south west of Nairobi, in Ngong village on the outskirts of Suswa. The ground color was red like bricks. The dust was fine like flour and permeated every where. As soon as the tests started, the dust penetrated inside the car and made it nearly impossible to see outwards. Fortunately two types of counter measures were found and the tests ended with no problems. The harshness of the rally was felt early on during the reconnaissance run. During a high speed right hand corner, the front left wheel fell into a 20-30cm hole. The impact caused 2 to 3 1m long cracks in the front glass... this was maybe a preview of things to come. And of course, the crew wrote "caution!" in their pace notes.
The rally started on Friday afternoon in front of Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC) in downtown Nairobi, where even the President of Kenya was present for the grand opening ceremony. First up was the tarmac Super Special Stage (SSS), which took place on the roads within a neighboring park. For instant tarmac set ups, especially for privateers, meant cutting the treads on the rally tires, then lowering the cars ride height. The attack on the rally began by setting the top time. The following day, the stages of leg 1 were held 120km north west of Nairobi on Saturday at Elementaita lake shore. The service teams also moved to provide full support to Miyoshi and Ichino. During the stages, the pair encountered 2 zebras. They slowed down to avoid damaging their car, but also knowing they would be losing valuable time. On top of that, foreign participants were strangely given penalties and the pair dropped to 3rd position. The Leg 2 stages were held on Sunday, about 30km south east of Nairobi, around the Athi River area. This was the same area where they were introduced to the harshness of the Kenyan rally during their reconnaissance run. At this point of the rally, 1/4 of the entrants had already retired, but Miyoshi and Ichino kept pushing hard to close the gap on the front runners. They finished the 2008 Safari Rally in 4th overall position, but were the 1st car home in the ARC group. |
