1973 Safari Rally 21st East Africa Safari Rally | |||
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Round 4 of the 1973 World Rally Championship season Contents
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Host country | ![]() | ||
Rally base | Nairobi, Kenya | ||
Dates run | April 19, 1973 – April 23, 1973 | ||
Length | 5,300 km (3,300 miles) | ||
Stage surface | Gravel | ||
Overall distance | 5,300 km (3,300 miles) (with 56 points of "time control") | ||
Results | |||
Overall winner | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||
Crews | 89 at start, 18 at finish |
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 5300 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.
The World Rally Championship (WRC) is a rallying series organised by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver, co-driver and manufacturer. The driver's world championship and manufacturer's world championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. The series currently consists of 14 three-day events driven on surfaces ranging from gravel and tarmac to snow and ice. Each rally is split into 15–25 special stages which are run against the clock on closed roads.
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in Africa with 47 semiautonomous counties governed by elected governors. At 580,367 square kilometres (224,081 sq mi), Kenya is the world's 48th largest country by total area. With a population of more than 52.2 million people, Kenya is the 27th most populous country. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi while its oldest city and first capital is the coastal city of Mombasa. Kisumu City is the third largest city and a critical inland port at Lake Victoria. Other important urban centres include Nakuru and Eldoret.
A special stage (SS) is a section of closed road at a stage rallying event. Racers attempt to complete the stage in the shortest time. A race on a special stage is coordinated such that each competing racer begins after a set interval, to reduce the chance of impedance by other competitors. Each special stage is a relatively short section, usually up to about 30 miles in length. A rally usually comprises approximately 15–30 special stages. The driver with the lowest overall time for all special stages in an event is the winner.
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.
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Source: Independent WRC archive [1]
After round 4 | Team | Season end | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Position | Points | Position | Points | |
1 | 52 | ![]() | 1 | 147 |
2 | 22 | ![]() | 6 | 34 |
3 | 22 | ![]() | 2 | 84 |
4 | 20 | ![]() | 5 | 42 |
5 | 13 | ![]() | 13 | 17 |
6 | 12 | ![]() | 7 | 33 |
12 | ![]() | 16 | 13 | |
8 | 12 | ![]() | 3 | 76 |
9 | 8 | ![]() | 9 | 27 |
10 | 6 | ![]() | 15 | 15 |
11 | 5 | ![]() | 11 | 25 |
12 | 4 | ![]() | 8 | 28 |
4 | ![]() | 17 | 4 | |
11 | 3 | ![]() | 18 | 3 |
13 | 2 | ![]() | 4 | 44 |
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