Page 34 - EASCR22
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Glen Edmunds and Jir
Glen Edmunds and Jiri Kotek
Glen chuckles when asked this question and admits
that he accidentally agreed to this crazy project one
Sunday! His codriver for the 2022 'Classic is a certain
Mr Jiri Kotek. Jiri has been around rallying longer than
the World Rally Championship has existed! In 1978
Bjorn Waldegaard drove one of his Porsches to one of
the best ever Safari Rally result for the manufacturer,
at that time! Jiri then went on to become team boss at
Glen Edmunds Jiri Kotek Skoda and steered the giant killing 130LR to 17
consecutive RAC Rally class victories!
F or a man who has been involved in and immersed Jiri has been friends
himself so deeply in Kenyan motor rallying for so
long, it is a bit of a surprise that the 2022 East African with Glen since the WRC
Safari Classic Rally will mark the debut of none other Safari Rally days and had
than Glen Edmunds. Well known these days for his been nagging his Kenyan
radio presenting skills as he offers the expert analysis friend to compete on
on global motorsport for local radio stations, Glen was, the Classic Safari in one
for many years, one of the pace setters in the Kenyan of his 130LRs'.
Rally Championship. Eventually Glen said yes
and then promptly
Throughout the 80's and 90's Glen was heavily forgot about this until
involved with various international teams with logistics Juri announced that
and testing for the WRC Safari Rally and scored a he'd put an entry in for
number of outright wins himself, including the 2003 them for the tenth
and 2005 KCB Safari Rallies! Glen then turned his skills edition of the rally!
and focus to creating Kenyas' leading defensive driving
school which is now officially recognized and endorsed Glen is thankful that the “main” event was postponed
by the UN and various embassy's. as they have learnt a lot about the car during the Mini
Classic in November. They only had four days of testing
Glen back in action! before the event and so treated the rally as an
Nearly 17 years after his last competitive outing Glen extended test. And with both cars reaching the finish,
was back in action last November, at the wheel on the its' fair to say it went pretty well!
smallest car in the rally – the Skoda 130LR! And
showing that horsepower is not everything he hauled Great things come from little things.
the cute looking little car to a number of top ten Glen also admits that the car is a lot more fun to drive
overall times and finished ninth overall! than he expected. It has a peaky little 1300cc engine
which can be lots of fun but its' not a car you can relax
But why a Skoda? in, and so he has upped his fitness regime ahead of
the big event.
The second car is being driven by British entrant Iain
Dobson. Before the Mini Classic in November his
recent rallying history was in Classic Escorts in Europe
and America, winning the two wheel drive class on the
2019 Sno*Drift Rally – no mean feat considering this is
a true snow rally and studded tyres are prohibited. The
Mini Classic was quite the baptism for him but Iain was
th
able to bring the car home relatively unscathed in 18
position, with lessons learnt that will help him
enormously on this bucket list event!
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