From 4 to 7 November 2011, 75 Surinamese and 21 foreign teams participated in the annual 4-day Staatsolie Diesel Savanna Rally in Suriname. South America's smallest nation (400,000 inhabitants), located along the north coast of South America, has had a thriving rally community for decades. The SARK (Surinaamse Auto Rally Klub) organised the Savanne Rally for the 35th time.
A large scale event with the focus on fun
Antoine Brahim, president of the Surinamese car rally club said, "The Savanne Rally is not like major world rallies with money prizes, support vehicles and such. We have an independent technical team that will give basic assistance where needed, but other than that drivers are on their own. I would say the most important part of the rally is the fun."
Yet you can't say the Savanne Rally a small-scale event. Foreign teams came from Brazil (2), Belgium (1), the Netherlands (10), Trinidad & Tobago (4), French Guiana (3) and the Dutch Antilles (1). The rally was transmitted by five television stations, two of which live throughout the rally. A special off-road stage on Saturday, included to celebrate SARK's recently granted stretch of the OP Savanne, was filmed by helicopter.
Preparations for the Savanne Rally
In order to participate in the Savanne Rally, all cars have to pass a technical safety check. Although this is no requirement, the cars are four-wheel drives and generally well equipped with a winch, auxiliary lights, and a machete and bucksaw to clear paths of fallen trees. Most cars have a trip master and GPS.
The majority of the teams is sponsored. This makes the rally a national event because apart from almost 100 teams a large number of Surinamese organisations is involved in the event one way or another.
The start of the Staatsolie Diesel Savanne Rally 2011
On Friday night November 4, the event was kicked off with a grand opening in the Onafhankelijkheidsplein downtown Paramaribo. There were children's activities, a brass band, a flag parade, fire works and the official fuelling of the first rally car by the Savanna Rally's main sponsor: Staatsolie Diesel.
After the National Anthem the first vehicle with Judy Caldeira and Romeo Rolador started at 9.01pm. A herringbone chart led the teams through Paramaribo south towards the savanna. The Savanne Rally is not a speed rally but a navigation rally. Over 4 days, about 400 kilometres were covered with the aid of charts such as the ball-arrow chart and the blind line-chart, with further challenges in the form of orientation stages with aerial photos, compass routes and photo orientations.
Ilonka Elmont, third in the A-class of the 2010 Savanne Rally, commented: "As a driver I greatly enjoyed the excellently plotted route with fun stages in the savanna. The navigation was tough, especially the first day, which made it difficult for us to get into the rally. The following days were better and I hope we'll manage to get in the top ten this year."
The teams drove throughout the night and, after a 20-hour exhaustive drive, stopped on Saturday to camp at the weekend resort of Marinalex. Sunday meant of another long day of driving whereas Monday was a short day that finished in the Flamboyant Park in Paramaribo around four o'clock.
Highlight: Coesewijne Savanne
Geographically the more than ten savannas that were crossed show wide differences. Some are similar to prairies whereas others are dominated by forests or by islands with Mauritie palm trees.
Piem Reiziger, a crack who has participated in the rally since 1977 said, "The best part of the rally is covering areas where otherwise you never, or hardly ever, drive. This year there was no region new to me, but I really enjoyed the Coesewijne Savanne. We had not been here for the past eight years."
The dry weather played a crucial part in the smooth rally. Jos Klink, one of the plotters, said, "The week before there had been quite a bit of rain and there were stretches where all cars could easily have got bogged down. Fortunately our logistic preparations in this respect were not needed."
History and organisation of the Savanne Rally
On November 7-8, 1970 Suriname's first Savanna Rally took place with 57 cars, which were Volkswagen Beetles, Fiat 500s, Peugeot 404s, or Minis - no heavy four-wheel drives. As a veteran said, driving skills were much more important in those days. In 2001 the Savanne Rally became a 4-day event, which it has been ever since. Due to the civil war the rally was cancelled several times between 1985-1994, but has been held annually from 1995 on.
Following tradition, the winners of last year's Savanne Rally are the main plotters of this year's rally. Together with 13 other plotters and support teams for safety, logistics and other facilities, Jerry Pocorni and Diego Chin A Sen worked for 9 months to make the Savanna Rally 2011 a success.
Diego stated, "For me it was important to plot a rally through areas that are fun to drive, to not just focus on the technical side of the rally, but also to make it a beautiful one. I believe we succeeded in doing so."
The winners of the Staatsolie Diesel Savanne Rally 2011 are:
- Top class: Jane Harkisoen and Lloyd Chin Kon Sun
- A class: Irene van der Zwan and Ronald Rooij
- B class: Hans de Groot and Marieke van Loon
- Touring class: Jan Willem Versol and Petra Versol
- International class: Jose Maria Esteves and Diego Ameerali
Karin-Marijke Vis - Karin-Marijke Vis is a bilingual writer (Dutch-English) who has been traveling in Asia and South America since 2003.
