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Concept
Unsinkable Seven
Summary
Unsinkable Seven was a nickname given to the seven drivers and co-drivers who managed to survive to finish the notoriously difficult East African Safari Rally that began and ended in Kenya, in the unusually difficult rallies of 1963 and 1968.
Inaugurated in 1953, the rally's notoriously tough conditions required cars to be adapted to cope; despite this, it made it popular with factory teams. From the 1960s onward, they travelled from as far as Japan and Europe to compete.
Courses lasting 3,100 miles to the finish line made the rally a challenge to complete, sometimes made worse by adverse weather conditions. The "Unsinkable Seven" nickname was awarded on two occasions, in 1963 and 1968, when a number of mishaps were caused by heavy rainfall, both before and during the rally. Also exclusion for a number of reasons including lateness and disqualification, meant that a large number of competitors had to retire. So only 8% finished, making it the lowest rate ever. Alternatively, the competitors are nicknamed "The Magnificent Seven".
The idea of the rally began in 1950 when a pair of Nairobi businessmen, Neil and Donald Vincent, who recently had set a new record at the Nairobi – Cape Town – Nairobi run, were approached by their cousin Eric Cecil, who was a chairman of the motorsport committee of the REAAA, to race at the 3.3 mile Langa Langa (now known as Gilgil) circuit that was made up of perimeter roads of a World War II military camp. The Vincents were unenthusiastic at the idea as they had grown tired of circuit racing but were interested in the idea of a long-distance driving event similar to the one in which they had competed the previous year. Cecil considered a road race around Lake Victoria but shelved the idea when he realised that parts of northern Tanzania, where the race would be likely to take place, were prone to seasonal flooding, making that idea impractical.
Eventually various ideas began to gel together forming the basis of the rally that was to be run over roads in the three African Great Lakes nations of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Official source
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