EAST AFRICAN CLASSIC SAFARI RALLY - DAY 03

Glen Edmunds and co-driver John Roberts on Day 03 of the East African Classic Safari Rally 2025

There’s a reason … hell, there’s probably at least a dozen reasons …why the East African Safari Classic Rally is known as the world’s toughest classic rally.

One of the biggest reasons is the changing conditions on each of the competition sections, which there are three per day - from gravel roads (honestly, more hard packed dirt with large stones/small boulders than gravel), to chapparal-like, brush covered tracks, to deep, soft sand. And out on the course one will likely experience all of those changes in just one 70+ kilometer section…that’s being driven right on the edge of the car, driver, and navigators, capabilities…and some times beyond one or more of them.

For the Glen Edmunds Advanced Driving / Vehicle Dynamics Institute team, and our SSS Rallycraft-prepared Datsun, it’s just another day at work on the course.

Without a doubt, yesterday challenged the car, the driver and co-driver, as well as the crew, as we all struggled with overcoming some handling challenges that were made more so with the changing surface conditions.

But, relying on solid communication, well over a hundred years of combined experience making all sorts of race cars work in all sorts of conditions, and making small, incremental changes, we managed to get the car closer and closer to bring sorted.

Of course, along the way a fence post, some heavy brush, and a bit of bodywork, paid the price. Oh, and a dislodged circlip, leading to a disconnected shock resevoir hose led to the “untimely death” of the right front shock absorber (that’s damper for the Brits among us).

When all was said and done, everything and everyone are all still in one piece…and, as I write this, the amended start list for today is out, and all the hardwork everyone put in yesterday has paid off, as we’ve picked up another five positions.

Author: Joe Autera, Car 33 Team Manager