Kenya: Rally Driver Khan's Priceless 50th Anniversary Gift to Dad at Mini Classic

8 December 2022

Nairobi — Longtime Kenyan rally driver Farhaaz Khan says this weekend's East Africa Mini Classic rally is the perfect way to honour his father who has been in motorsports for the past 49 years.

Father and son will be debuting at the Mini Classic with the senior Khan, Arshad, navigating the junior one at the three-day event.

Farhaaz said he is not too focused on claiming a podium place but is simply looking forward to enjoying some father-son time.

"I will be going out with my dad... he has been in the rally scene for 49 years and by the end of this year, he will have spent 50 years in the motorsports industry. For me, it will be all out enjoying ourselves because opportunities like these to spend with my father never come around often," the UK-based Khan said.

The duo, who will be in a Porsche 911, will exit the ramp at Woodlands Hotel Nakuru at number 27, according to the seeding for the 31 participants.

Khan has been a regular in the East Africa Safari Classic, competing in the last three editions of the event.

At last year's rally, he finished up as a driver having began it as a navigator to Scott Armstrong.

He is looking to draw upon the experience garnered from last year to cope with the challenges on offer on the twists and turns of Cherangany Hills, among other stages of the three-day rally.

"Last year, I was navigating a gentleman by the name Scott Armstrong who unfortunately could not keep well. So the team discussed and a decision was made that I should get the car over the finish line," Khan said.

Speaking last week while giving an update on the preparations for the rally, Wast Africa Safari Classic chair Joey Ghose told participants to expect the toughest rally of their lives.

Khan admitted that he is not ignorant of the fact that the rally will put his skills behind the wheel to the test.

"It's the endurance stages (challenges foreseen)... it's the mental fatigue... the fitness levels. The rally is from Nakuru to Eldoret so that is basically the whole of Rift Valley... and that area is known to be rough. I doubt that has changed... so, it is going to be a very rough rally and we going to have to take it stage by stage," he said.

Day one of the rally will be preceded by pre-event activities on Thursday, such as scrutineering and installation of tracking systems, drivers and stewards briefing, all at Woodlands Hotel, Nakuru.

The rally will revv off on Friday at the same hotel before docking at Eldoret's Eka Hotel in the evening to cap day one.

Participants will then battle for top honours on the challenging, dusty roads of the Cherangany region before the closing stage at Eka Hotel.

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