Kenyan rally holds no fears for Bentley duo

WHALLEY rally driver Mark Bentley says he has no worries about safety as he prepares to travel to Kenya next month to take part in the East African Safari Classic Rally alongside brother Ed.

The duo have committed around £30,000 to the once-in-a-lifetime trip but Kenya has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons in recent weeks, with the Foreign Office advising against all but essential travel to the north of the country after kid-nappings near the Somalian border.

The world famous rally, though, will take part over 3,000 miles in southern Kenya and Tanzania between November 19 and 28, and Mark is convinced they will be able to enjoy the gruelling event without any problems.

“We are going to Mombasa and it’s about 500 kilometres north of there where the problems have been, although I know a French woman was kidnapped at Lamu Island a bit further south,” said the 41-year-old.

“But the main tourist area is 100 kilometres north. We will be sensible and stay with the security with the rally.

“And I think once we’re out of Mombasa we will be fine because we are going west towards Nairobi and then to Tanzania.

“This is something that we’ve always wanted to do. I have been rallying since I was 17. Ed is three years younger than me and he started when he was 16 and has been co-drivng with me ever since.

“If you ask people which rally they most want to do, in the UK a lot of people would say the RAC Rally, the Rally GB, but around the world probably 50 or 60 per cent would say the Safari Rally.

“It used to be part of the World Rally Championship until 2001 when it got dropped because it was too dangerous with how widespread the area is and because of problems for the television.

“But now it has become a historic rally for cars from the 1980s and before, the sort of cars that Stig Blomqvist and Bjorn Waldegard used to drive, so it has been reborn.

“People have been asking me have we been there before and I say, ‘I’ve been to South African on holiday and I’ve been to Knowsley Safari Park, does that count?’.”

The Bentley brothers, who grew up in Accrington, competed in the British Rally Championship before taking time away from the sport between 1998 and 2008 to concentrate on their day job as Ford dealers.

Their main base is in Skipton but they also have dealerships in Keighley and the Isle of Man.

They have competed in various rallies this year and have also spent time testing their Ford Escort Mk1, which has now left for Kenya via container ship ahead of the departure of the Bentley brothers and their support team next month.

“The car went two weeks ago and we’re flying out on November 13,” Mark said.

“It has been adapted for altitude because we are going up to 12,000 feet in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro.

“There are 50 cars in the rally and on average only 50 per cent finish so just finishing will be an achievement. We’d like to finish in the top 10 but that’s in the lap of the gods because there are effectively four British Rally Championships rounds every day for 10 days, so it’s like two full seasons of rallying in the space of 10 days.

“We are sponsoring the trip through our own businesses but we’re now asking for sponsorship that will go towards two charities, the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and a Mombasa-based charity, the WEMA Foundation.

“In six weeks’ time we will be at the orphanage to present them with the money.”

Anyone able to sponsor the Bentley brothers can donate to the charities at www.justgiving.com/ bentleysonsafari.