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Francis is making his final preparations before setting off on the 2012 London to Cape Town World Cup Rally. In just three days time, forty-four rally cars & crews will assemble at the Brooklands Motor Museum for pre-rally safety checks and briefings.
From 10am on January 1st, public well-wishers can see the cars and meet the crews in the old pre-war race-bays near the Clubhouse. At 4.00pm, the cars will be flagged away to drive to the Official London Start, where they line up in the House of Lords car park in Parliament Square. As Big Ben strikes 7.00pm, the drivers will begin the long journey to Cape Town.
After a night navigation section through Kent, the crews catch the 3:40am Dover to Calais ferry on the longest non-stop section of the marathon. Next stop is Beaune, where the cars will undergo the first reseeding.
Their route takes in three Continents, and 14 countries, covering 14,000 kilometres. Part 1 drives across Europe before taking a ferry from Greece to to North Africa. After Egypt, the route moves on to Saudi Arabia and on to Jeddah. From Jeddah, the event crosses the Red Sea to Sudan, then a day’s run into Ethiopia.
A stunning mountain road runs from the frontier deep into Ethiopia and on towards Kenya. Here, they cross a demanding desert track and on to Nairobi for a day off. Then it’s south to Tanzania, driving from Arusha to Dodoma, and continue heading south for Zambia, where the local Motor Federation will organise some time trials in the plantations around Lusaka.
After taking in the splendours of Victoria Falls at Livingstone, the rally traverses the Caprivi Strip: the narrow passage of land that takes drivers into Namibia (lots of gravel roads here). After Namibia, it is into South Africa and on to Clanwilliam – gateway to the Cederberg Mountains – before finishing in Cape Town.
This is the first rally to stage a timed drive with the clock ticking every day from Europe to Cape Town without recourse to airlifts or special shipping. The only boats involved are scheduled ferry services, in a route that aims to keep the wheels turning all the way. Results will be clocking up daily: the successful survivors going home with trophies at the end of a unique adventure.
(Photo by Enduro Rally/Gerard Brown)
