Sorry obsnw, there is no way you could prep a car for the WRC East African Safari or the Dakar rally. Even assuming you are a master fabrictor with unlimited funds for building, the required support for either of those events is so far beyond almost everyone of us as to be unbelievable. Rally America on the other hand, is attainable. So is NRS. In fact, I think there is a NRS event in your part of the world.
To compete in a Rally America event or a NRS event, it takes a car costing about $5000. It helps to have a pickup and friends for service but even those can be provided by other competitors. Entry fee and travel to and from the rally might cost you $2500 per event if you eat PB&J sandwiches and drink PBR beer. So do you really think you could enter either the Safari or Dakar for that little of money? Of course, there is the small problem that for that little of money, you will not beat Travis. Of course, you could also spend $100K for the car and $50K per event for crew and spares and travel and umbrella girls. You still would not beat Travis.
Richard
(I have beat Travis
)