Former Kenyans Scott Armstrong and Harpal Sudle have finalized the necessary paperwork and will be shipping their Datsun 160J well in time for this year’s Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally.
The duo who live in Coventry and Leeds, will be taking on other drivers for the event.
The Datsun which Scott will drive is a ‘replica’ of what Shekhar Metha used back in the 1980s.
Amstrong has never competed in Africa and this will be his first outing as a competitor. He has been a service crew on the EASRC in 2009 and 2015 when he helped Balvir Grewal and Nick Mason.
Harpal- originally from Eldoret-returns to the Classic for the umpteenth time.
The son of longstanding Eldoret Rally clerk of the course Sinder Sudle has been involved in all editions of EA Safari Classics in different capacities since inception in 2003.
Sudle junior had this to say in an interview: “Scott has been working tirelessly to meet the deadline for shipping. Until 3 weeks ago we didn’t have an engine and we almost pulled out! We can confirm that shipping is in a week’s time. We got let down by the first guy who was building our engine. We then asked Andy Dawson to do it for us. Andy is an old hand in the game having worked with the Nissan team back in the day. He then had an eye operation and the engine build stopped again! He just managed to complete it 3 weeks ago. Safari Classic is like a child getting his first toy. Every Safari is different. No one knows what to expect … the weather … the stages … it’s really a magical feeling. We will do some local testing once we arrive in Kenya on November 12. The car and parts should be there on the first week of November.”
Courtesy