There have been a number of threads covering aspects of the 1971 2.2 Safari ST/Rally cars but none that tried to pull all the details together.
This thread is an attempt to do so and also raises questions about the identity of one of the werks cars as well as seeking to establish the identity of the practice cars for the event.
Brian Long’s book, and other records, show that there were actually 5 2.2 ST/rally Safari cars produced not the three entered by the werks team in 1971 and generally assumed to be the only ones.
In addition, although only 3 were entered by the werks team the other two were initially used as practice cars and then, according to sources Nikolay has found, were entered by private entrants, meaning all 5 cars competed in the 1971 safari event. (although the results of the other two cars are unknown it is presumed at this stage that they did not finish as otherwise there would be more records of their participation).
According to Long’s book, and other records I have seen, the 5 cars produced as 911S 2.2 safari cars were:
911 130 0561
911 130 0589
911 130 0612
911 130 0637
911 130 0683
An extract from a table on the 911 rallye cars between 1965 and 1972 is shown below. It also shows the same numbers.
It is well documented that 911 130 0683 was the Zasada car S AA 4827, car #19, and it is now owned by Frank Gallogly.
Car 911 130 0637 has been for sale in Germany for some time at Jan Leuhn’s. It is claimed to be the car #1 from that event, S AA 4826, for Andersson. There is no reason to not believe this claim.
There have been a number of threads on this board on car 911 130 0647, which is currently portrayed as the Waldegaard car from that event, car #33, S AA 4825. It was the blue car at Christies auction in 2006, and later at Rennsport III in the safari livery.
I am intrigued by this claim as that chassis number is not listed in any of the sources that I have seen as a safari car. That does not mean the claim is incorrect, the sources I have seen including Long’s book and the table of rally cars shown below may have wrong information, and may have all been sourced from the one place originally.
I have checked back through a number of Auction results and other sales since 2000 (when it was apparently bought by Edmund Harris in the UK (ex Germany) and then in 2001 sold back to a person in Germany before being sold back to Edmund Harris shortly afterwards).
In each of the auction sales (or at least appearances), following that time, the Waldegaard provenance is mentioned.
It would be good if the combined resources of this board could throw some light on this situation.
That leaves the two “practice” cars. I have posted below pictures of two other cars from that event with the following registration numbers:
S AA 3128
S AA 3129
It is hard to make out how modified S AA 3128 is but S AA 3129 (from what can be seen of it) looks like a rally prepared car (and in the same black and white livery as the Zasada car (and all cars were originally).
From this it appears that S AA 3129 is likely to be a “safari” car but it is not certain if S AA 3128 is.
Nikolay has provided me with the following information about the extra cars also being entered in the safari:
“The two Recce cars Porsche in the 1971 Safari rally was following start numbers:
#7 Entrant: SEARS TYRES; driver: R.Gerrish
#37 Entrant: MOTORSPORT CLUB; driver: A.Kling”
Assuming for a minute that 0647 is NOT the Waldegaard car, and the other three numbers are correct, it would be tempting to assume that the two earliest numbers (0561 and 0589) were the practice cars and the Waldegaard car is actually 0612. It is also interesting that the earliest numbered car (0561) is only a couple of numbers away from the ST rallye car used by Waldegaard for the 1971 Rally Sweden and 1971 Rally GB RAC. (And that car looked like a standard 911 in the Swedish rally, similar to what S AA 3128 looks like in the photo)
It is also possible that the records are wrong and 0647 is the Waldegaard car 33 and the two other safari practice cars are two of the tree others in the records and the third is not a safari car.
So…….. from all of this can we nail down:
If 0647 was really the Waldegaard car as claimed;
What were the chassis numbers of the two practice cars, and can we match them to registration numbers then also and to entry numbers;
Can we find out what happened to the two “non factory” entries. The “private” entrants names are interesting to say the least – Sears Tyres were sponsors of the factory effort, and it would be interesting to find out if “MOTORSPORT CLUB” was actually Motorsport-Club Stuttgart, (or MSC Stuttgart), well enough connected to the factory to have Vic Elford, Jürgen Barth and Leo Kinnunen racing 917-30’s in their name in 1973!
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Originally Posted by HughH
