rallying flashback

came across a very interesting article today..

Michael Schumacher has agreed to take on the current rally world champion Sebastien Loeb in December's Race of Champions. The rally-based event will take place at the Stade de France in Paris on a one kilometre, figure-of-eight track.

Schumacher has previously avoided meddling in other forms of motor sports but has had a change of heart and insists he is looking forward to the event. "I'm really looking forward to it, it looks a lot of fun," said Schumacher. Promoter Michele Mouton said: "We're thrilled he accepted our invitation. Rally drivers will not want to lose to a circuit driver."

that sounds very cool, but what really piqued my interest here was the name michele mouton. she was the fastest woman in rallying back in the early 80s, and no doubt one of the hottest too!! click on this link for a quick bio. this is what she looks like now, trying out the audi nuvolari quattro concept car. this name takes me back to the grand old days of the world rally championship (WRC), when it was still about endurance and car conservation and not the trade plied by the speed merchants today.. the audi quattrowas the meanest sonofabitch on the roads, and it was driven by hannu mikkola, walter rohrl & michele, while peugeot had just gotten out their 205 T16 under ari vatanen & juha kankkunen.. and the strongest car by far was the toyota celica twincam turbo driven by bjorn waldegaard.. good old days.

back then the Safari Rally held in kenya was a 5 day event; unlike what it is today, it was over 5,000 kilometers in length, and it had the name "the toughest rally in the world".. still is, actually. the 50th Safari was held last year following the original format of kenya, uganda and tanzania in the route.. the driver who won was never the fastest guy, always the smartest guy. bjorn waldegaard, juha kankkunen, local boys rob collinge, shekhar mehta and vic preston junior... these were the smart guys.. while ari vatanen, hannu mikkola, walter rohrl, timo salonen & markku alen were the blazers.

some of my most vivid childhood memories of the kenyan countryside were of the safari.. we'd go and camp out in the bush for the period of the rally.. in vast endless savannah plains, with a single rutted dirt track snaking through it.. and a rally car whizzing in from the distance.. trailing clouds of dust behind it.. an orange sunset blazing above the green-brown canopy of thorn acacias that lined the horizon.. a herd of elephants somewhere in the distance trumpet at the intrusion by the turbocharged cars.. giraffe nonchalantly chewing away at the baobab twigs.. antelope grazing shyly, at a respectful distance from the road, casting nervous glances at the thicket behind.. where lions could be lurking, and hyenas behind them, cackling their evil laughs.. yes, those were the days *sentimental flashback memory of home*.. finally, here is a link (click the red tab on the left side that says "TTE's Images", then click on Safari) to some awesome images from the Toyota Team Europe (TTE) site for the '99 Safari, which was special to me as it was eth last Safari i saw before leaving kenya..