Death of Elizabeth II – The Kenya Safari, the ultimate rally tribute

What is the link between the World Rally Championship and Queen Elizabeth II? To find out, you have to look at the history of the Safari Rally in Kenya. The African event, which returned to the calendar of WRC in the summer of 2021 after 19 years of absence, was invented in honor of the British monarch.

It was even in Kenya that the life of Elizabeth of Windsor took a decisive turning point on the night of February 5 to 6, 1952. At that time, King George VI died in his sleep in London. Automatically, the title of monarch is transferred to his daughter, Elizabeth. However, it is located some seven thousand kilometers south of the United Kingdom, in the thick Aberdare forest in Kenya. Remember that at the time, this East African country was a British colony.

The 25-year-old was then leading a tour of the Commonwealth in place of her ill father. This episode was evoked by a phrase attributed to Jim Corbett, the naturalist and hunter who accompanied the royal couple to Treetops, in the guestbook of the Kenyan wildlife observation lodge: “For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl once climbed a tree as a princess and, after having what she described as her most exciting experience, she came down from the tree the next day being queen. »

So much for the great History of the United Kingdom. A month earlier, in January 1952, two British nationals shared a drink in a bar in Limuru, Kenya. Eric Cecil asks his cousin Neil Vincent why he is content to compete in hill races over very short courses, when the immensity of Kenya is available to him.

“If you could organize an event where we got in our cars, slammed the doors and drove back and forth across Africa and the first car was the winner, then I would participate,” responds Neil Vincent to Eric Cecil.

The latter sees things in a big, very big way. Why not create a merciless test for man and machine, longer than the 4 km Nairobi-Johannesburg which appeared in 800? He then imagined a route of… 1936 km around Lake Victoria, with only two checkpoints and total freedom of paths for the competitors. Neil Vincent rejects this idea, and for good reason: he is the head of the East African Automobile Association (EAAA), the East African automobile association.

Eric Cecil does not let himself be discouraged and will take advantage of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II to submit another project. “Please allow Kenyan motorists to commemorate the Queen's coronation with a long-distance event,” Cecil appeals to the EAAA. The federation accepted this proposal and the first edition took place in 1963 under the name “Coronation Safari Rally”.

Thanks to this ingenious marketing stunt, the region's major newspaper, the East African Standard and the oil giant Shell Oil are sponsoring the event. According to the laws in force at the time, only the white minority could own a vehicle in Kenya. THE rally is effectively closed to the local population and is disputed between British immigrants over a length of 5 km.

The Safari Rally offers sumptuous landscapes, like Kilimanjaro in the 1980s and 1990s. © DPPI

Three countries are visited: Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania (under the Tanganyika colony). Alan Dix and Johnny Larsen finished first in a simple Volkswagen Beetle. Originally, the Safari Rally classification is not determined by special times, but by penalty points based on an hourly average. The crew that receives the fewest number finishes first.

It was not until 1972 that a driver from a non-Commonwealth country won the Safari Rally (Hannu Mikkola on a Ford Escort RS1600).

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