“Richard Burns crossed the final flying finish line, punched the air and shouted something so obscene that the BBC won’t be able to show the moment!” That was how Autosport’s rally reporter Keith Oswin described Burns’ first win of what would become a glittering but unfortunately short World Rally Championship career on the 1998 Safari Rally.
In recent years, this clip of Burns and Robert Reid crossing the finish line has resurfaced, becoming a social media hit that perfectly conveys the overwhelming emotion of succeeding at the Safari Rally. It was pure euphoria emanating from Burns, who had not only conquered one of the most gruelling events in world motorsport, but it just so happened to be the first of 10 WRC wins.
Twenty-five years on and sadly Burns, who succumbed to a brain tumour in 2005, is no longer able to tell the tale. But co-driver Reid sums up a significant moment of their careers succinctly when asked to recall what was also his first WRC win.
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“Your first win is very important and very memorable,” Reid tells Autosport. “If you were to pick an ideal place to get your first win it would be at your home rally or on an iconic event, and there is no more iconic event than Safari. It is one of the few trophies that I have on display, most of the others are in a container. A big bronze elephant was a very special trophy.”
It’s a special trophy because, put simply, the Safari Rally is a one of a kind rally. To this day, it remains one of the toughest events in world motorsport. First held in 1953 to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the rally was the epitome of driver and machine taking on the harshest of the elements. In its heyday it was a brutal endurance test exceeding 3000 kilometres that lasted an entire week as crews took on the roughest of terrain on open roads that sprawled through Kenya’s wildlife-filled savannah.
Back in 1998, the rally was still a 1063-kilometre marathon held on open roads, meaning crews could face the quite incredible and dangerous prospect of oncoming traffic in addition to Kenya’s unpredictable wildlife. To limit the dangers, spotter helicopters were deployed to run with cars to warn of any upcoming dangers, but there were still plenty of risks.
Reid recalls: “I remember once getting to the end of a section and saying to Richard, ‘We were lucky with that gatepost in the stage’. He said to me, ‘What gatepost? That was a giraffe’s leg!’
Source: Autosport