Porsche 911 Engine and Gearbox fit in under twelve minutes

While competing in the 2017 East African Safari Classic Rally, we were forced to change the engine on the Porsche 911 of Stig Blomqvist and Mattias Adielsson, which at the time was leading the event. It was a precautionary change in accordance with the regulations. We knew the engine change would cost Stig the lead, but we felt – and Stig agreed – that he would probably make the time back as the rally progressed.

This turned out not to be the case, as another problem later on in the rally forced the crew to reverse eleven kilometres out through a stage. The pair picked up a five-minute penalty for passing a time control in the wrong direction on top of the time lost at low speed, all of which pushed us too far back to recover.

Stig and Mattias went on to set several top three stage times – including one fastest time on Day 8 – and eventually came home seventh overall. The drivers and mechanics all gave their best, as this video shows.