The 1973 Safari Rally (formally the 21st East Africa Safari Rally) was the fourth round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-April in central Kenya, the Safari was a markedly different rally from the other dates on the WRC schedule. About 5,300 km (3,300 mi) of gravel roads comprised the course, though there were not distinct special stages as in other rallies, but instead the course was uncontrolled. The rally was considered very punishing, and thus many of the successful teams were specifically focused on it, leading to a different set of front-runners than led most other rallies. The rally was won by a local driver, Shekhar Mehta.

1973 Safari Rally
21st East Africa Safari Rally
Round 4 of the 1973 World Rally Championship season
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Host country Kenya
Rally baseNairobi, Kenya
Dates runApril 19, 1973 – April 23, 1973
Length5,300 km (3,300 miles)
Stage surfaceGravel
Overall distance5,300 km (3,300 miles) (with 56 points of "time control")
Statistics
Crews89 at start, 18 at finish
Overall results
Overall winnerKenya Shekhar Mehta
Kenya Lofty Drews
Japan Datsun
Datsun 240Z

Report

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In 1973, and for several years afterward, only manufacturers were given points for finishes in WRC events. Like the drivers, the cars were different for Africa than for other rallies. As a result, the successful types did not mirror the results of other rallies on the circuit, and Datsun and Peugeot both made strong showings. Additionally, cars were not broken into separate groups or classes as in other rallies, so only overall results were classified. Time was not measured as the total elapsed through special stages as with other rallies, but instead a penalty was assessed at each time control for not meeting the target: total penalty time was the measure of who was in what place.

Results

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1973 Safari Rally results
Finish Penalty Car # Driver
Co-driver
Car Mfr.
points
1 6 m : 46 s 1   Shekhar Mehta
  Lofty Drews
  Datsun 240Z 20
2 6 m : 46 s 9   Harry Källström
  Claes Billstam
  Datsun 1800 SSS
3 8 m : 47 s 7   Ove Andersson
  Jean Todt
  Peugeot 504 12
4 9 m : 14 s 19   Tony Fall
  Mike Wood
  Datsun 1800 SSS
5 12 m : 7 s 28   Peter Huth
  John McConnell
  Peugeot 504
6 13 m : 10 s 17   Hugh Lionnet
  Phillip Hechle
  Peugeot 504
7 14 m : 3 s 20   Satwant Singh
  John Mitchell
  Mitsubishi Colt Galant 4
8 14 m : 34 s 23   Robin Ulyate
  Ivan Smith
  Fiat 125 S
9 14 m : 37 s 27   Mike Kirkland
  Bruce Field
  Datsun 1600 SSS
10 15 m : 5 s 44   Jim Noon
  Rager Barnard
  Datsun 1600 SSS
11 16 m : 16 s 18   Joginder Singh
  Tim Samuels
  Mitsubishi Galant
12 17 m : 57 s 15   Zully Remtulla
  Nizar Jivani
  Datsun 1800 SSS
13 18 m : 58 s   Pat Neylan
  Lofty Reynolds
  Mazda RX-2
14 19 m : 8 s 3   Vic Preston Jr.
  Bev Smith
  Ford Escort RS1600
15 20 m : 0 s   Brian Barton
  Chris Flyer
  Datsun 180B
16 20 m : 12 s   Davinder Singh
  David Doig
  Mitsubishi Galant
17 20 m : 19 s   Ewart Walker
  Anton Levitan
  Datsun 1600 SSS
18 20 m : 52 s   John Rose
  Steve Rose
  Datsun 1600 SSS
Retired (mechanical) 2   Roger Clark
  Jim Porter
  Ford Escort RS1600
Retired (mechanical) 4   Hannu Mikkola
  John Davenport
  Ford Escort RS1600
Retired (mechanical) 5   Sobiesław Zasada
  Marian Bień
  Porsche 911
Retired (accident) 6   Rauno Aaltonen
  Paul Easter
  Datsun 240Z
Retired (accident) 8   Bert Shankland
  Chris Bates
  Peugeot 504
Retired (mechanical) 10   Björn Waldegård
  Hans Thorszelius
  Porsche 911
Retired (mechanical) 11   Edgar Herrmann
  Hans Schüller
  Datsun 240Z
Retired (excluded) 14   Perre Parsons
  Jim Cowper
  Peugeot 504
Retired (accident) 16   Timo Mäkinen
  Henry Liddon
  Ford Escort RS1600
Retired (mechanical) 22   Jack Simonian
  Mike Doughty
  Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV
Retired (mechanical) 25   Bill Fritschy
  Kim Mandeville
  Porsche 911
Retired (accident) 29   Peter Shikuyah
  Kim Gatende
  Ford Escort RS1600

Source: Independent WRC archive[1]

Championship standings after the event

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1973 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers points standings after round 4
After round 4 Team Season end
Position Points Position Points
1 52   Alpine Renault 1 147
2 22   Datsun 6 34
3 22   Fiat 2 84
4 20   Saab 5 42
5 13   Lancia 13 17
6 12   Citroën 7 33
12   Peugeot 16 13
8 12   Ford 3 76
9 8   Porsche 9 27
10 6   Volkswagen 15 15
11 5   Opel 11 25
12 4   BMW 8 28
4   Mitsubishi 17 4
11 3   Škoda 18 3
13 2   Volvo 4 44

References

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  1. ^ "Safari Rally". juwra.com. Independent WRC archive. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
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