It’s now one week since I returned from my first trip to Africa, following the East African Safari Classic Rally with Tuthill Porsche as their photographer/media person. It was a brilliant experience: the team won the rally with Blomqvist, but even better stuff happened en route.
Pre-trip advice from friends who had visited Africa many times before was not positive. Guaranteed to be robbed, suffer food poisoning or worse, heatstroke or worse, malaria or worse, Ebola or worse: bring your own doctor and touch nothing would be a fair summary of their shared insights. Well, we did bring our own doctor (take a bow, paramedic and all-round good bloke, John Jones) but I didn’t require his attention. It was all smooth sailing once we found our rhythm.
I followed the doc’s advice and drank at least two litres of water a day, then added some simple precautions – no salads, kept my mouth closed while showering and brushed my teeth with bottled water, used antiseptic wipes to clean my hands and mouth a few times daily, brought some magic Avon mosquito repellent – and, while some of the guys I was travelling with had problems, I survived mostly intact. I wouldn’t do anything differently next time regarding keeping things clean, but I would look to sleep more, and spend more time talking with locals where possible. The best times in East Africa came from the people.
My ten bits of African travel advice (Kenya & Tanzania) for a first-timer virgin like me are as follows:
It will take you at least three days to get used to the heat, especially in humid parts like Mombasa
You will never get used to the heat, just endure it for longer. More altitude means you burn faster
Sleep is your very best friend. Get sleep and all will be well
Pack half the clothes you think you need, then get rid of half of them and bring a tube of travelwash
Come home with less than you brought (give shoes & clothes away at the end)
Pack plenty of earplugs, a decent sunhat and spare sunglasses
All shorts must have a front zip pocket for your passport: do not let it out of your sight. Be aware of who is around and keep cameras etc on your person
Neutrogena factor 60 sunblock is rubbish. Nivea 50 worked well for this blue-skinned European
Malaria is real. Take the drugs
Make sure your mobile/cellphone can roam in the countries you plan to travel to, and any country on their borders
Say hello to everyone – you will get the biggest smile back
There are eleven bits of advice there. Another tip from Africa is limits are for Westerners. There are mostly no rules: do whatever fits the bill and talk/smile your way out of trouble with officials. If you’re struggling with red tape, directions, airport check-in or whatnot, let a local help you. Even if they are no help (sometimes happens), chances are they will bore whatever officialdom is delaying your progress into returning your paperwork and sending you on your way. But mostly they are helpful, as long as you’re not in a rush. So don’t be in a rush. Also don’t be afraid to gatecrash VIP queues: it usually works.
Everything you carry is currency, be it local money, clothing, US dollars or just a bottle of water, even if it is empty. You will get by quite nicely if you’re ready to spend some time and play the game of “hey boss, take my picture and give me five dollars”. Obviously you’re not giving anyone five dollars to take their picture, but ask for permission to take a pic if that’s what you want. Then ask what people are doing, find out what happens in town, talk to people and soak up the experience. They soon understand there is no money coming and the people I met didn’t mind. That said, I have read a few horror stories so be prepared to make excuses and leave: “let me get you some lunch from my friends over there” or “I’ll just go and talk to my boss and get you something”.
Good advice from Richard was don’t give kids money, or anything else. Giving a kid money just means a bigger kid will beat them up and take it, then someone bigger than him will take it. Donate to community organisations if you feel so inclined – your accomodation manager knows who to talk to. In hotels or lodges, tip the luggage guys a few hundred shillings, buy a drink for the barman (chances are they will drink it and chat for a while), give your hotel chef a t-shirt, do all that stuff. But remember rules are for Westerners, so don’t follow my rules.
I’ve been working on the legendary Tour de Corse rally all weekend, where the Tuthill Porsche team has just won its class and the inaugural R-GT Cup with the exciting Porsche 997 R-GT rally car.
Victory on Tour de Corse – Round 11 of the 2015 World Rally Championship and the fourth round of the FIA R-GT Cup – is the second win for Tuthill’s Porsche R-GT car this season, following a proper result on January’s Monte Carlo Rally, opening round of WRC 2015. Four-time WRC winner, François Delecour, has driven the R-GT Porsche all season, but brought a new driving partner to Corsica in the form of Sabrina de Castelli: a Tour de Corse veteran with numerous class wins and podiums to her credit.
Pairing Frenchman Delecour’s experience on the Tour de Corse, including a win in 1993, with de Castelli’s considerable expertise on this historic WRC event proved an unbeatable combination on a Tour de Corse blighted by the worst weather seen on the Mediterranean island for more than thirty years. Torrential rain washed away some rally roads and led to multiple stage cancellations.
François Delecour Porsche wins WRC Tour de Corse
Starting the second day of the rally just twelve seconds behind season-long R-GT rival, Romain Dumas, Delecour was prepared for the slippery first stage of the day. As Dumas suffered a puncture and then car damage in the treacherous conditions, Delecour rocketed past to seize the R-GT lead. Dumas failed to arrive at the following stage, later announcing retirement from the Tour de Corse rally.
Losing Dumas did not hand Delecour a guaranteed win, as the Corsican landscape with its unforgiving stone walls, sheer rock faces and 500-metre vertical drops can always bite back. The Tuthill Porsche crew and its drivers still had to get the car to the finish, which it did with delight on lunchtime on Sunday.
A New Chapter in Porsche Rally Heritage
“Rallying is not about getting one thing right,” said our friend Richard Tuthill at the end. “This is a sport where any one weakness will damage a team’s ability to compete and to finish. Just as in the historic rallies where we earned our reputation and continue to excel, it is our team’s ability to build Porsche 911s that perform and finish rallies that has really made the difference.
“We fought a long battle to bring GT cars back to WRC rallying, and our first season with the Porsche R-GT has been much harder work than anyone expected. Winning the FIA R-GT title before the last round is satisfying and it is also terrific to add Tour de Corse to our team’s list of victories. This rally looms large in Porsche folklore, after Jean-Luc Therier’s memorable win here three decades ago. We’re proud to have written an entirely new chapter in Porsche rally heritage.”
Delecour’s Dream of WRC Porsche wins
“What a place to win a rally and the FIA Cup,” said François Delecour. “My dream was to bring Porsche back to the WRC and let fans of modern WRC see how exciting rally used to be. This year with Tuthill Porsche has been a huge challenge, but the team is really born to rally, so we fit together perfectly.
“Tour de Corse is magical: everything a great rally should be. It is fast, spectacular, beautiful and completely unforgettable, just like our Porsche R-GT. Thanks to Richard Tuthill and his hard-working team, my co-drivers Dominique and Sabrina and all the great fans of rallying who have made this year one of my favourites. I am so happy to win this: it is just a dream come true.”
The final round of FIA R-GT 2015 is ERC Rallye du Valais at the end of October. After that, the Porsche team heads for Kenya and the Safari Classic Rally. A busy end of year for all of us rally fans!
I hadn’t planned on two weeks of radio silence following Porsche’s win at Le Mans, but such was the time absorbed by Le Mans and my schedule at this time of year. Having helped eldest offspring through some important exams, restarted a garage & office building project and completed a surge of Porsche insurance valuations, two weeks had passed in the blink of an eye. Suddenly it was time to go to Belgium for the legendary Ypres Rally: round two of the Delecour/Dumas rally Porsche battle.
Round one was the Monte Carlo Rally last January. There’s no love lost between these French drivers, so bundles of needle was brought to the Alps. Dumas’ advantage with the lighter, more powerful 4-litre 997 GT3 RS over Delecour’s 3.8-litre GT3 Cup was negated on the cold icy roads of the mountains around Monaco, and it almost came down to who took more risks.
At the end of three days, Delecour emerged as the winner, but not on great terms with his rivals. Despite more than five months to go round two, there was absolutely no way that things would calm down in the interim. So it was that Team Tuthill arrived in Ypres last Monday, with a dry weather forecast and an opponent keen to redress the balance.
Imagine the tension before the rally got started, and you’ll still be nowhere near how knife-edge it was over two days of racing. Delecour is mercurial: completely electric to be around. A proven rally winner, but always in the background lies that legendary temper. Dumas is also an exceptional talent: a world-class endurance racer with pitch-perfect poise in a rally car.
These guys are at the very peak of driving ability, so watching them literally go to war in two 911s across a rally stage is incredibly powerful. FIA rally radio revelled in each driver’s desperation to know the times at the end of a stage.
In qualifying, Dumas went quickest. This gave him a nice early slot in the running, out of harm’s way amongst the ERC front runners. But as the rally got started, it was clear that running up front was a double-edged sword. Dust and gravel strewn across the roads was not being cleared quickly enough for the wide 911s.
Running straight on at a junction on stage three wiped out Romain’s early advantage and handed the lead back to François. Dumas was apoplectic on radio at the end of the stage: not the sort of talk your mother wants to hear. Delecour set a quicker time on stage four, but after that it proved impossible to stay the four-litre. Delecour dropped back down to second, and Dumas claimed the overnight lead.
With four R-GT cars entered in Belgium, Ypres was the strongest round yet for the fledgling GT rally car series. Former Ypres Rally winners, Patrick Snijers and Marc Duez, had also entered R-GT Porsches. Snijers had not been able to test his car ahead of the event, so made a slow start, but his skills soon freed up more speed.
Day two was ten stages: one hundred and seventy kilometres of rallying. The pace was absolutely flat out: none could have made those cars go any faster. On the first stage, Dumas went straight on at a junction: advantage Delecour. Until the stage end, where we found out that François had done precisely the same. The stage times were identical.
Delecour then had another small off, and Dumas stretched his lead. Then disaster for Delecour: the Porsche cut out mid-stage and could not be restarted. Eight minutes passed before Delecour and co-driver Dominique Savignoni used the proper reset sequence to get the car going and finish the stage.
Delecour in Tuthill Porsche R-GT
Victory was now out of the question, but all was not lost in the championship. The FIA R-GT Cup has the same points structure as all FIA series’ including Formula 1, so there was still plenty to fight for. R-GT leader Delecour had to keep going. Francois returned with his war colours on, chasing Marc Duez for third position. Snijers was more than three minutes ahead, but Duez could be caught with some luck.
Then, as so often happens in motorsport, the wrecking ball swung away from the chaser and back to the leader. On the penultimate stage, Dumas’ Porsche overshot a junction and went head-on into a wall of hay bales, causing immediate retirement (video below). All Delecour now had to do was finish to earn fifteen points towards his championship lead. In the end, there was no stopping François, who powered past Duez to second.
“Hats off to Romain Dumas for a lion’s drive this weekend,” said Tuthill team boss, Richard Tuthill. “We would rather have won head-to-head, but survival is all part of rallying. Second place is a good result for the R-GT championship. Our cars have taken wins in both Ypres historic rallies, so we leave here satisfied.
“Now we look towards round three: WRC Rallye Deutschland. Tuthill Porsche brought the first R-GT car to this rally last year, and we’re delighted to see R-GT growing, with four cars fighting in Ypres. This series has just started and the energy this weekend has been incredible.”
While much of the Porsche glitterati rested on its laurels in Goodwood, polishing museum exhibits and reminiscing past winners, the diehards were racing. Dumas, Delecour and the Tuthill Porsche team were flat out in Belgium. Tandy, Bergmeister and co were on the US campaign trail, and the Falken Porsche RSR claimed another Porsche win in a series it departs this year.
Winterkorn’s Volkswagen may build, sell and discount all the new Porsche luxury it can produce, but the root of this Porsche cult is in competition. That will never be lost while the real racers stick with it. Ferdinand Piëch personnifies this connection, just as his uncle did, as do Delecour, Dumas, Tandy, Enzinger and so many more. Kudos to the motorsport brethren: you are the heartbeat.
Here’s some Delecour in-car video: watch the eyes.
A pair of Tuthill-built Porsche 911s is competing in the 2015 Trans-America Challenge: the SWB 1965 Porsche 911 of Gavin and Diana Henderson (above) and the LWB 1973 2.5-litre car of Peter and Zoe Lovett (below).
Rally news updates paint a promising picture. The Road to Mandalay Rally-winning Lovetts are in the top three, while the experienced Hendersons have already claimed their first regularity challenge win. Both cars are running reliably.
Also in the rally is a Tuthill joint project: the Porsche 912 of Mark and Colin Winkelman. The body and interior was built by Tuthills, with the drivetrain and final assembly put together by Hayden Burvill at WEVO in San Francisco.
I haven’t shared the cars here as yet, as my ear gets bent if I put all the good workshop stories on Ferdinand, but all three are perfect examples of the ox-strong resto-rally 911s with creature comforts that Tuthill Porsche puts together so well. I’ll sort some pictures out and share them here later.
2015 Trans-America Rally
Organised by the Endurance Rally Association, the Trans-America Challenge takes place from June 7-28, 2015. It is the second running of the Trans America enduro, following the inaugural rally in 2012. Today was a rest day after three days of driving that has taken the entrants as far as Quebec.
The route for the three-week event runs across North America. Starting from Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast, forty five entrants from all over the world travel through Eastern Canada before crossing the US border and driving through Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York.
Once in NY, they approach the Great Lakes, briefly returning to Canada just south of Toronto before hitting Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The vast Dakotas are next (North and South), then the teams take in Wyoming, Idaho and sunny Nevada before landing in California, en route to the finish in San Francisco.
Porsche Trans-America Road Trip
I’ve done a Porsche road trip through New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. Our Rolling Stone Targa feature on Karl Donoghue’s cool R Gruppe Porsche 911 Targa and the Bethlehem Porsche 911 ST backdate story both came from that trip. The roads in this part of America are good fun to drive on, especially with mates alongside, and there is great character in the landscape. I’m interested to hear what the competitors say at the end, as it seems an interesting route across the continent: a journey I hope to make myself in a Porsche 911 on my half-century (not long now).
Game Girls Galore in Trans-Am
One other friend on this event is former McLaren team boss, Alastair Caldwell, of Porsche 912 on London-Cape Town rally fame. I recently bumped into Alastair at the Tuthill Porsche workshop with his SWB 912 rally car, but he decided against shipping the 912 to Canada. Instead, he’s running a beautiful 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II across America, with mum Dorothy as navigator.
Now a spritely 97 years old, Dorothy has competed in a number of previous rallies and thoroughly enjoys the experience: no doubt the craic is good in Canada tonight. AC reckons she has the best room at the palatial hotel they’re staying in for the rest day. Rightly so: she deserves it!
Pictures courtesy of Gerard Brown/Endurance Rally Association
After a decent day one of the 2015 Circuit of Ireland Rally, the Tuthill Porsche 997 R-GT failed to leave the start line at the evening’s special stage around Newtownards town centre. The car was pushed out of stage on to a trailer and recovered to the service area.
By the time we got back, it was dark. Spectators surrounded the tent, with plenty of work ahead of us. The boys set the car up on jack stands and set to work on removing the gearbox. Just over half an hour later, the transmission was out and the clutch was exposed. It took engine builder Anthony just a few seconds to spot the issue: one clutch plate had lost all of its friction material.
Single Clutch Plate vs Mutiple Clutch Plate Pack
The clutch kit in most road cars consists of three main parts: single pressure plate, single friction plate and a release bearing. In competition cars like the 997 GT3 Cup on which the R-GT rally car is built, the cars run a set of multiple clutch plates, arranged in a clutch pack.
The advantage of a multi-plate clutch is that it can transmit higher levels of torque through a smaller diameter unit. The more plates there are, the more torque it can transmit, or the smaller the pack needs to be: Formula 1 clutch packs are about the size of your fist. The clutch pack in the 997 R-GT is a bigger diameter than an F1 pack, but smaller than a single plate road clutch.
With a carefully calculated number of plates in the assembly, the failure of one plate does not leave enough friction to drive the car. This is what happened to R-GT. As the team carries spare clutch packs, it was straightforward to fit new parts and get the 911 ready to restart day two of the rally.
Chief Engineer Graham Moore also decided to change all four dampers on the Porsche, to make driver Robert Woodside more comfortable behind the wheel. The car enjoyed a trouble free run through Day 2 and the team came home satisfied with a job well done.
Circuit of Ireland Porsche Rally Video
I put together a short video of our experience on the 2015 Circuit of Ireland Rally, which you can watch below. Enjoy the sights and sounds of the first modern Porsche to start this great rally for almost thirty years: it was cool to see it in person.
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