1973 Safari Rally

1973 Safari Rally 21st East Africa Safari Rally
Round 4 of the 1973 World Rally Championship season
Host country	Kenya
Rally base	Nairobi, Kenya
Dates run	April 19, 1973 – April 23, 1973
Length	5,300 km (3,300 mi)
Stage surface	Gravel
Overall distance	5,300 km (3,300 mi) (with 56 points of "time control")
Results
Overall winner	Shekhar Mehta Lofty Drews Datsun
Crews	89 at start, 18 at finish

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 5300 km 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.

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.

Source: Independent WRC archive

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