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Unsinkable Seven was a nickname given to the seven drivers and co-drivers who managed to survive to finish the notoriously difficult East African Safari Rally that began and ended in Kenya, in the unusually difficult rallies of 1963 and 1968. Inaugurated in 1953, the rally's notoriously tough conditions required cars to be adapted to cope; despite this, it made it popular with factory teams. From the 1960s onward, they travelled from as far as Japan and Europe to compete. Courses lasting 3,100 miles to the finish line made the rally a challenge to complete, sometimes made worse by adverse weather conditions. The "Unsinkable Seven" nickname was awarded on two occasions, in 1963 and 1968, when a number of mishaps were caused by heavy rainfall, both before and during the rally. Also exclusion for a number of reasons including lateness and disqualification, meant that a large number of competitors had to retire. So only 8% finished, making it the lowest rate ever. Alternatively, the competitors are nicknamed "The Magnificent Seven". ==Overview== The idea of the rally began in 1950 when a pair of Nairobi businessmen, Neil and Donald Vincent, who recently had set a new record at the Nairobi – Cape Town – Nairobi run, were approached by their cousin Eric Cecil, who was a chairman of the motorsport committee of the REAAA, to race at the 3.3 mile Langa Langa (now known as Gilgil) circuit that was made up of perimeter roads of a World War II military camp. The Vincents were unenthusiastic at the idea as they had grown tired of circuit racing but were interested in the idea of a long-distance driving event similar to the one in which they had competed for the previous year.〔 Cecil considered a road race around Lake Victoria but shelved the idea when he realised that parts of northern Tanzania, where the race would be likely to take place, was prone to seasonal flooding, making that idea impractical.〔 Eventually various ideas began to gel together forming the basis of the rally that was to be run over roads in the three African Great Lakes nations of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.〔 This idea became a reality in 1953 when it was staged over the holidays as the East African Coronation Safari, a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.〔 Overseas interest grew from the 1959 rally, with entrants from the British motoring press.〔 By the following year, the Safari was filmed for British television stations; by then over one hundred overseas journalists covered the event.〔 Factory teams and drivers soon began to arrive, and the likes of the future husband and wife Pat Moss and Erik Carlsson competing in the event. With a course of 3,100 miles of bush road varying in elevation from sea level to 7,000 feet over a short period of days, that tested the limits of drivers and co-drivers and their machines with very little chance of a rest in between stages.〔 The rally has sometimes been marred by flooding during a thunderstorm period, meaning route changes were necessary even before the start.〔 Flooding also made the rally far more difficult with normally treacherous roads becoming booby traps with unseen and terrifying hazards. Each stage gave either large or small cars a disadvantage. High altitude of up to 9,000 feet above sea level gave a disadvantage to small cars as it robbed them of power, requiring altitude correctors to the carburettor main jet to maintain the correct air/fuel mixture to the engine.〔 With flooding on the course, roads turned to mud, giving a disadvantage to larger cars as they slipped, slithered and ground to a halt on tracks where the rain and dust had combined to turn the roads into a sea of bottomless mud that saw cars bogged down to ground level.〔 Many of the competitors resorted to using snow chains on their tyres, some of those stuck to their normal tyres instead of the snow tyres favoured by competitors.〔 The deep treads of snow tyres offered more grip in the mud, but required more power.〔 Many of the Volkswagen Beetle drivers favoured normal tyres as the car offered better traction in the mud.〔 As a result, for those who were less fortunate, competitors got themselves trapped in the Mau Escarpment along the western rim of the Great Rift Valley.〔 In 1960, it was renamed the East African Safari; in 1965 the "Rally" tag was added and kept that name until 1974, when it became the Safari Rally; by that time it was awarded a World Rally Championship status.〔 Until 1970, Nairobi was the rally's start and finish point.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Unsinkable Seven」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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