1973 Safari Rally

1973 Safari Rally 21st East Africa Safari Rally 4 Nairobi, Kenya 1973 Rallye de Portugal 1973 Rally of Morocco April 19, 1973 April 23, 1973 5300 5300  (with 56 points of "time control") Gravel 1973 World Rally Championship season Kenya Shekhar MehtaKenya Lofty Drews Japan Datsun Datsun 240Z 89 18 The 1973 Safari Rally (formally the 21st East Africa Safari Rally) was the fourth round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-April in central Kenya, the Safari was a markedly different rally from the other dates on the WRC schedule. About 5,300 km of gravel roads comprised the course, though there were not distinct special stages as in other rallies, but instead the course was uncontrolled. The rally was considered very punishing, and thus many of the successful teams were specifically focused on it, leading to a different set of front-runners than led most other rallies. The rally was won by a local driver, Shekhar Mehta. Report In 1973, and for several years afterward, only manufacturers were given points for finishes in WRC events. Like the drivers, the cars were different for Africa than for other rallies. As a result, the successful types did not mirror the results of other rallies on the circuit, and Datsun and Peugeot both made strong showings. Additionally, cars were not broken into separate groups or classes as in other rallies, so only overall results were classified. Time was not measured as the total elapsed through special stages as with other rallies, but instead a penalty was assessed at each time control for not meeting the target: total penalty time was the measure of who was in what place. Results 1973 Safari Rally results Finish Penalty Car # DriverCo-driver Car Mfr.points 1 6 m : 46 s 1 Kenya Shekhar MehtaKenya Lofty Drews Japan Datsun 240Z 20 2 6 m : 46 s 9 Sweden Harry KällströmSweden Claes Billstam Japan Datsun 1800 SSS 3 8 m : 47 s 7 Sweden Ove AnderssonFrance Jean Todt France Peugeot 504 12 4 9 m : 14 s 19 UK Tony FallUK Mike Wood Japan Datsun 1800 SSS 5 12 m : 7 s 28 Kenya Peter HuthKenya John McConnell France Peugeot 504 6 13 m : 10 s 17 Kenya Hugh LionnetKenya Phillip Hechle France Peugeot 504 7 14 m : 3 s 20 Zambia Satwant SinghZimbabwe John Mitchell Japan Mitsubishi Colt Galant 4 8 14 m : 34 s 23 Kenya Robin UlyateKenya Ivan Smith Italy Fiat 125 S 9 14 m : 37 s 27 Kenya Mike KirklandKenya Bruce Field Japan Datsun 1600 SSS 10 15 m : 5 s 44 Kenya Jim NoonUK Rager Barnard Japan Datsun 1600 SSS 11 16 m : 16 s 18 Kenya Joginder SinghKenya Tim Samuels Japan Mitsubishi Galant 12 17 m : 57 s 15 Tanzania Zully RemtullaTanzania Nizar Jivani Japan Datsun 1800 SSS 13 18 m : 58 s Kenya Pat NeylanKenya Lofty Reynolds Japan Mazda RX-2 14 19 m : 8 s 3 Kenya Vic Preston Jr.UK Bev Smith UK Ford Escort RS1600 15 20 m : 0 s Kenya Brian BartonKenya Chris Flyer Japan Datsun 180B 16 20 m : 12 s Kenya Davinder SinghKenya David Doig Japan Mitsubishi Galant 17 20 m : 19 s Kenya Ewart WalkerKenya Anton Levitan Japan Datsun 1600 SSS 18 20 m : 52 s Kenya John RoseKenya Steve Rose Japan Datsun 1600 SSS Retired (mechanical) 2 UK Roger ClarkUK Jim Porter UK Ford Escort RS1600 Retired (mechanical) 4 Finland Hannu MikkolaUK John Davenport UK Ford Escort RS1600 Retired (mechanical) 5 Poland Sobiesław ZasadaPoland Marian Bień Germany Porsche 911 Retired (accident) 6 Finland Rauno AaltonenUK Paul Easter Japan Datsun 240Z Retired (accident) 8 Tanzania Bert ShanklandKenya Chris Bates France Peugeot 504 Retired (mechanical) 10 Sweden Björn WaldegårdSweden Hans Thorszelius Germany Porsche 911 Retired (mechanical) 11 Kenya Edgar HerrmannGermany Hans Schüller Japan Datsun 240Z Retired (excluded) 14 Kenya Perre ParsonsKenya Jim Cowper France Peugeot 504 Retired (accident) 16 Finland Timo MäkinenUK Henry Liddon UK Ford Escort RS1600 Retired (mechanical) 22 Kenya Jack SimonianKenya Mike Doughty Italy Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV Retired (mechanical) 25 UK Bill FritschyKenya Kim Mandeville Germany Porsche 911 Retired (accident) 29 Kenya Peter ShikuyahKenya Kim Gatende UK Ford Escort RS1600 Source: Independent WRC archiveSafari Rally http://www.juwra.com/safari_1973.html juwra.com Independent WRC archive 2017-03-16 Championship standings after the event 1973 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers points standings after round 4 After round 4 Team Season end Position Points Position Points 1 52 France Alpine Renault 1 147 2 22 Japan Datsun 6 34 3 22 Italy Fiat 2 84 4 20 Sweden Saab 5 42 5 13 Italy Lancia 13 17 6 12 France Citroën 7 33 12 France Peugeot 16 13 8 12 USA Ford 3 76 9 8 Germany Porsche 9 27 10 6 Germany Volkswagen 15 15 11 5 Germany Opel 11 25 12 4 Germany BMW 8 28 4 Japan Mitsubishi 17 4 11 3 Czechoslovakia Škoda 18 3 13 2 Sweden Volvo 4 44 References External links Official website of the World Rally Championship 1973 Safari Rally https://web.archive.org/web/20070927182829/http://www.rallye-info.com/event.asp?event=320 2007-09-27 at Rallye-info https://web.archive.org/web/20200627135750/http://www.rallye-info.com/ 2020-06-27 Safari Category:Safari Rally Safari Rally, 1973