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Three German crews entered on the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally recently gathered for a combined test session. The test was held in an open-cast mine near Leipzig, often used by rally raid teams to prepare Dakar cars.
One of the drivers dishing out car pain was Franz Wunderlich. Wunderlich will drive a Tuthill prepared Porsche 911 with Klaus-Peter Kristek on this year’s Safari Rally.
Franz is relatively new to the sport, coming to rallying quite recently. His first car was a 911 Targa, which was used in regularity events on Tarmac roads. The recent test session was the first time Franz had driven on gravel in anger. The Safari Classic will be his first major rally.
“The test near Leipzig was my first real experience on gravel and I really enjoyed it,” said Franz. “Although we got stuck once, I think that driving on loose surfaces is better than everything I have ever done before. The movement of the car is much more gentle and going sideways is just so easy. Our Tuthill Porsche ran well during the test, we just have small things to improve like the windscreen wipers. We will probably do another two-day test with Tuthill in Wales before the Safari Classic, to get more experience with the car on gravel.”
Safari preparations here at Wardington are ongoing. There’s talk of a two-day test in France soon with the Race4Change.org team: we’ll let you know how that goes!
