Gallery: Historic Bentleys and Porsches tackle Southern Cross Safari rally

Competitors dodged local wildlife, muddy plains and rugged gravel tracks on the 2,000-mile Southern Cross Safari route through Kenya and Tanzania

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March 11th 2020

Keith and Norah Ashworth's 1927 4½-litre Bentley took the course conditions in its stride to win

The dust flies as a 1929 Bentley 4½-litre looks to make up lost time

EType — Clint & Dawn Smith's 1967 Jaguar E-Type in mud

EType 2 — Camels were one of the many wildlife obstacles on the route

Bentley 2 — Keith and Norah Ashworth's 1927 4½-litre Bentley took the course conditions in its stride to win

911 1 — Second-place finishers Lars and Annette Rolner in their 1974 Porsche 911

911 Bentley — Bentley heads Porsche on one of the many gravel tracks

Mud, punctures and mechanical failures – yes. But lions?

A new hazard was added to the perils of historic racing last month, with the first running of the Southern Cross Safari, organised by Rally the Globe.

The 19-day, 2,000-mile route through Kenya and Tanzania included private reserves and national parks where hazards included herds of zebra, crossing elephants and big cats.

Some of the regularity stages would be familiar to followers of the Safari Rally, with routes around Kenya’s Lake Naivasha and in the Taita Hills.

Among the vehicles that squelched through sinkholes and sped through clouds of locusts was a 1966 Ford Mustang, 1974 Datsun 240Z, safari-spec Porsche 911s and a Lancia Fulvia Monte Carlo.

You can see some of the stunning imagery from photographer Gerard Brown, in the gallery above.

The pre-event briefings included advice on what competitors should do if they broke down in one of the reserves but, even so, it’s just as well that reliability was on the side of the eventual winners – Keith and Norah Ashworth in their open-top 1927 4½-litre Bentley.