On a bright sunny day cheerful spectators, vintage and classic car, and motorcycle competitors and dedicated officials gathered at the Nairobi racecourse for the 47th edition of the annual Concoursd’Elegance organized by the AlfaRomeo Owners Club and sponsored for the sixth time by CBA.
The event was one of the most clos fought in the series with Diccon Wilcock’s 1934 Railton finishing one point ahead of the 1952MGTD sports car of his wife Julia. Diccon also had the satisfaction of winning the pre 1940 class and his team took home the best team car awards.
The tussle for the top motorcycle was equally nail biting with Sati Jabbal’s 1925 DKW finishing only one point ahead of the 1929 New Henley of Johannesburgbased Bevan Beckmann. It was a great day for Sati who also won the up to 900cc street bike class and the category for competition motorcycles. In addition he captured the award for the best motorcycle costume.
Legendary rally driver Ian Duncan contested the competition car class with a 1972 Ford Capri racing sports coupe. This immensely powerful machine was driven to victory by the late Bill Parkinson and Peter Hughes at the Embakasi track and Bill won the touring car and track champion titles.
Duncan won his class and received a meritorious award for achieving a high standard of preparation. Second place went to the 1975 Mitsubishi Colt Lancer of Alpine Auto Parts. This car was built by the late Joginder Singh to the same specification as his Safari Rally winning machine. Gilgil classic car enthusiast Fergus Robley was placed third in his gleaming red Alfa Romeo GTA.
Tumaini Muthiga was one of the competitors with multiple entries and he won the class for utility vehicles made upto 1974 with his gleaming blue 1965 Chevrolet pick-up and took second place in the up to 3000cc touring car class with his 1967 Ford Taunus. He followed Gayling May’s 1967AlfaRomeo Sprint which has been a regular class winner for several years.
The 1972 Austin Mini of Vitafoam Products Limited was highly successful finishing fourth overall only one point behind Veronica Wroe’s 1934 Rolls Royce Boatail. Veronica was delighted with taking third overall, second in the pre 1940 class and winning the car costume prize.
Several of the 12 Uganda car entrants feature on the prize list with Ronald Walusimbi winning the up to 2000cc touring car class inhis immaculate 1974 Mercedes followed by Kakooza Wazzir’s 1980 Toyota Corona. Kakooza was placed second with his eye catching 1991 Mitsuoka le-Seyde in the 2000cc touring car class which was won by Claude Mwende in a Peugeot 406.Third place in the class was taken by Micky Bassi’s AlfaRomeo 75 followed closely by a AlfaRomeo 2GTV of Kamene Wanday.
Once again Tor Allan from Arusha was the highest placed car competitor from Tanzania with his 1966 Peugeot 404 which looked like a showroom car. Newcomer Shane Ramzanali brought his Ferrari replica andJBA Falcon Roadster from Dar es Salaam for a first visit to the Nairobi racecourse. Both his Ferrari Replica and JBA Falcon sports car attracted great attention from seasoned spectators.
The strong Uganda Bikers Association (UBA) contingent took back to Uganda many of the awards for top motorcycles, but they were facing a challenge from The Superbikers Association (TSA) led by the chairman David Karuri whose 1998 Honda was placed third in the up to 900cc. Fellow TSA member Shaimam Mohammed Islam who won the 1000cc street bike class with his 2011 Yamaha. UBA member Jimmy Akena was placed second with his 2007 Honda and Motho Kimotho of the TSA took third with his 2000 Yamaha.
Victory in the over 1000cc Street bike class went to the 2002 Honda Goldwing of UBA member Enzo Amatofollowed by Nairobi based Mark Washer on a 2000Yamaha Roadster. The top three placesin the trail and enduro class for bikes made in 2009, or earlier was dominated by the UBA. Gianfranco Massetto was first with his 2000 Honda Varadero followed by Isacc kalussi and Renza Bonato. All the prizes in the class for trail and enduro motorcycle made in 2010 were filled by the Uganda Bikers Association with Antonino D’Agostino first with his 2010 BMW.
The Concours was closely monitored by Clive Mawson, the Vice President of FIM AFRICA who is the Chairman of the Leisure, Touring and Road Safety Commission. He visited the racecourse the day before the event to check the preparations and attended the briefings for judges and officials. During the Concours he toured the racecourse groundsbefore devoting his attention to the motorcycle and car judging.
Addressing the crowd at the prize giving ceremony Clive Mawson complimented the AlfaRomeo Owners Club and CBA for a Concours which compares favourably with events in Europe and South Africa. He summed up by saying that the classiest event on the Kenya MotorSport Calendar is “Outstanding “.