Looking Back at Porsche's Last Attempt to Win the Safari Rally

Know the Struggle

By now, most every Porsche fan is well aware of the brand's safari racing efforts over the years. But what you might not know is that over 40 years ago, Porsche put forth a tremendous effort to take home one final win at the Safari Rally before putting their off-roading dreams on hold for some time. Recently, we got to relive this incredible struggle, a true reminder of just how tough the 911 is at its core.

Photos: Porsche 

First Obstacle

Vic Preston Jr. and his co-driver John Lyall were the ones destined to drive this 911 SC over 3,100 miles of brutal terrain. Their first obstacle was Cherangani Hills, which measure up more like mountains. It was there that they encountered their first obstacle - a broken front right shock absorber.

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Too Hot to Touch

Luckily, Roland Kussmaul and Jürgen Barth were nearby with a car packed full of spare parts. “We had to get the whole steering knuckle out because the damper wasn’t moving anymore," Kussmaul recalled. "Everything was so hot that we couldn’t touch anything. We told Vic and John to please move 20 meters away from the car. We had no water to cool down the damper, the brake, and the wheel mount. So we tipped 20 liters of petrol over the whole thing and then did the repairs.”

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Raging Rivers

Despite the quick fix, this problem sunk the team out of the top running at the time. Meanwhile, fellow 911 SC driver Björn Waldegård was having a little better luck. He was one of just five cars to make it across a river before flooding rendered it impassable. After nearly losing the car to a second river crossing, Waldegård made it safely to Nairobi, where the cars and drivers were able to rest for the night.

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Advantages and Disadvantages

At this point, the lightweight 911 held an advantage over the heavier competition. But it also required a bit of finesse, as Kussmaul explained. “Because of the short wheelbase, the car nodded and dipped heavily. A large stone at the wrong moment could have seriously damaged the exhaust manifold or the engine. In addition, the car can glide through deep mud or dust on the aluminum as if it’s on skids.”

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Luck Runs Out

Despite this, Waldegård's luck ran out once the rally resumed. Near the halfway point, he was leading the race when he broke a rear axle swing arm. It took nearly an hour for Kussmaul to reach the car, which was stuck in the mountains. And once Waldegård and his co-driver Hans Thorszelius got going again, they struck a low-flying buzzard, which seems like pretty bad luck.

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Bird Encounters

"When we reached Björn, there were a few parts of the vulture in the back of the car and they smelled quite strong," Kussmaul said. "But mainly the bird was stuck to the windscreen." Thus, they simply removed the windshield and soldiered on. "You wouldn’t believe how much it hurts when a beetle the size of your thumb hits your face at 180 km/h," Kussmaul added.

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Obstacles Galore

After a while, the team receives a new windshield courtesy of a Porsche-chartered plane that manages to land on the road. But soon, another broken shock slows the team down again. The way back to Nairobi proves rough, with raging rivers, impassable mud holes, and washed out roads providing all sorts of obstacles. Problems resume the next day, as a throttle linkage repair soaks up another 45 minutes.

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Tough Race

By the time the Safari Rally was over, only 13 of 72 cars remained in the running. Which is a great indicator of just how insanely tough the race was on cars and drivers alike. One-time leader Harry Källström misjudged a jump in his Datsun, which promptly shattered on landing. Pieces of the wreckage were apparently flung hundreds of yards away from the point of impact.

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Almost the End

In the end, Porsche didn't take home a win in its final Safari Rally, but Waldegård did manage an impressive fourth-place finish. And that marked the end of Porsche's Safari adventures, at least until a few years later when both a 911 and then a 959 won the nearly 8,700-mile rally from Paris to Dakar.

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