Most people who find themselves with the means to buy a vintage Corvette keep it stock and meticulously maintained, driving them only on sunny days to very local car shows. But there are other people out there with the money to buy and build vintage Corvettes into the legendary racing machines we know and love. Then they go that extra step and actually race ‘em.
Tachyon Racing [1], based in the Netherlands, is a team of speed freaks with a Corvette addiction, and their East African Safari Rally replica Corvette Grand Sport remains among our favorite vintage racers [2]. We came across another one of their videos, this one from a summer shakedown run at Amsterdam’s Eurocircuit Valkenswaard off-road rally course. We just can’t get over the idea of this old Corvette recklessly rallying in one of Africa’s oldest off-road races.
The Safari Rally was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the still-reigning monarch of England, and in 1960 it was renamed the East African Safari Rally. It’s a dusty and tough rally course that to this day attracts historic race car drivers from all over the world, including the Tachyon team and their 1963 Corvette Grand Sport replica.
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This shakedown run was supposed to give the European team a taste of the conditions to come, but the rally, which ended in early December, saw a V8-powered Ford Capri take the overall victory. The Tachyon team still managed to cross the finish line after over 1,000 kilometers of rough racing, despite encountering busted clutches, broken steering arms, and some overly-attached mud. This is a proper tribute to the Corvette’s performance history.