NAIROBI, Kenya, June 25 – To get a better understanding of the workings of FIA and the WRC Safari Rally, Capital Sport got the chance to hang out with David Ryan the FIA E-Safety delegate.
His key responsibility is to ensure that the Hybrid cars are running safe throughout the duration of the WRC Safari Rally.
Our day started at 5am, barely had breakfast as we hit the road out to meet him, we knew we were early but we weren’t taking chances as last year’s event taught us a lesson that we will never forget.
We were at Lake Naivasha Resort by 6:00am. We had no idea what to expect so we packed a few snacks, some water and warm clothes to keep the cold Naivasha morning breeze at bay.
At 6:45am, a lovely ‘chubby’ young man walked up to us, jolly and full of life, we introduced ourselves; Tango Echo 18 and he introduced us to our pilot for the day; Ruben Barasa.
At 7:00am we were airborne and headed out to Soysambu for the official start of day three of the WRC Safari Rally.
We flew over the shores of Lake Naivasha, over the “sleeping warrior” and in a record 15 mins we were at the start of Soysambu.
Once we landed, he took us through what an E- Safety delegate does and how he works with the TIV unit. (Technical Intervention Vehicle)
“The TIV unit have been trained severally over the last few weeks to ensure that they are ready for the task at hand. Their role is to simply secure the vehicles for the extrication of the driver and navigator in the hybrid cars in the event of an emergency.”
“Thing is, these vehicles are extremely safe so we do not anticipate anything, however, a good rally is a safe rally so we work towards ensuring we are ready for any eventuality.”
We flew to the staring points of todays three stages in Soysambu, Elementaita and the Sleeping Warrior to check on the ground crew (TIV) to ensure they had carried all the necessary equipment and waited for all 12 Hybrid units to get through the stage before processing to the next.
After the first loop, we returned to service park for a late breakfast, as the Ruben did a quick check up on his ‘bird’. We are waiting to head out for the afternoon loop.
For now, all we can say is “ A good rally is a safe Rally. “ it’s good to be prepared for any eventuality and it’s good to know that nothing has been taken lightly, all hands are on deck and the presence of the FIA safety delegation and the entire WRC safety delegation is proof of the same.
