Porsche: 911s in historic design on request
PERSONAL NOTE The rally history of the Porsche 911 begins even before its first victory in the 1984 Paris-Dakar Rally, with unforgettable entries in the East African Safari Rally in the 1970s.
While the Rally Design Package, which is optionally available for the Porsche 911 Dakar, is closely based on the appearance of the 1984 winning car, the sports car manufacturer is offering three other optional foiling options for the new model that are reminiscent of the entries in the African rally in 1971, 1974 and 1978.
Fifth place for Polish team
The East African Safari Rally, which covered a good 5,000 kilometers, took its participants through savannahs, semi-deserts and the highlands of Kenya in 1971. Porsche took on this challenge for the first time with an official factory team. The Rally 1971 decal set takes up this design and presents itself with the starting number 19: In that year, the Polish drivers Sobieslaw Zasada and Marian Bien finished in fifth place.
Björn Waldegaard enters the scene
The East African Safari Rally had very long stages - in 1974, the race was divided into three sections that the teams had to complete in five days. Out of 99 cars that competed, only 16 finished.
Swedish champion Björn Waldegaard, who has already won the Rally Monte Carlo twice on Porsche, was in the lead for a long time with co-driver Hans Thorszelius in the 911 Carrera 2.7 RS and finally finished second after a technical defect. Characteristic of the main sponsor's livery were the blue trim stripes that ran along the shoulder lines of the white car.
African Safari Rally with problems
Waldegaard wants to know it again. The Swede competes in Kenya with one of two specially built 911 SC Group 4s and soon shows the competition who is driving for victory. In the end, however, the East African Safari Rally again proves treacherous: wishbones, shock absorbers and drive shafts were damaged, leaving only fourth place for the fast Swede.
The South African Porsche duo Vic Preston and John Lyall took second place. The sponsor's decor consists of wavy surfaces in orange, dark and light blue. It is known worldwide thanks to the activities of the Martini Racing Team, which has been in existence since 1958.
