RTG Southern Cross Daily Dispatch low-res - Flipbook - Page 21
15 February to 5 March 2020
Day 10
Lion Hill Camp to Lake Naivasha (133.32 km)
25 February 2020
We’ve just tipped over the halfway mark of the rally and, after our efforts of yesterday, we got a lie in
this morning. The organisers had planned another short, but action packed day, centred on the massive
Delamere Estate where an excellent Test and Regularity were planned to take full advantage of this
massive piece of real estate.
Whether on a Polish airfield or a Kenyan plantation, some
of the organising team know exactly how to put together
a regularity of fiendish difficulty in a seemingly benign
environment. Yesterday Paul Heal and Dick Appleton,
normally on 48 hour car duty, drove 145 km to carry on
this tradition, setting up 30 km of intense rallying for
today’s adventure.
Before the starting gun was fired, Lord and Lady
Delamere themselves came to welcome the rally and
kindly provided us with some welcome chilled drinks.
Then the timekeepers took over, sending the cars off at
three minute intervals, so as to give the choking dust time
settle. Michael and Eunice McInerney were the first away
and, as they galloped down the Test, they slotted their
Mustang neatly through a herd of zebra, in what must be
a rare equine coincidence.
The estate land encompasses many different landscapes,
but the bit we’d been loaned was classic African scrub,
complete with herds of zebra, antelope, and whatever
else lives in this sort of environment. The rugged tracks
throughout were all unmade and, whilst there were a
smattering of landmarks noted in the route book, the
tripmeter was the only guide the crews had as to where
they were. The old saying goes, better to be on the right
road at the wrong time, than on the wrong road at the right
time, but one mistake here meant a lot of lost time and,
judging by the occasional shouts of anguish coming from
within the cars, a lot of frustration.
The navigation wasn’t the only problem the crews had to
contend with. Enrico Paggi and Federico Mascetti’s Fiat 124
Spider damaged a brake pipe shortly after the Test, but
the capable crew calmly set about repairing it themselves
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Michael and Eunice McInerney, 1966 Ford Mustang
www.rallytheglobe.com
