PM Boris Johnson gifts Uhuru 1962 Safari Rally model car
The 1962 East African Safari Rally model car that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has gifted President Uhuru Kenyatta.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has been receiving accolades and gifts from across the globe after he rallied the world to raise a record Sh400 billion in the Global Education Summit in London last week.
The Head of State co-hosted the event, whose aim was to transform education for millions of the world’s most vulnerable children, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
For the excellent job he did, the President did not leave the British capital empty-handed, assuming he also picked up an English accent stronger than the Queen’s.
PM Johnson gifted him a model car from the 1962 East African Safari Rally in recognition of his efforts to bring the Kenyan event back to the World Rally Championship circuit. It’s a Trofeu 1509 Saab 96, which retails for Sh13,500 on ebay.
Prime Minister Johnson's gesture comes after President Kenyatta toured the United Kingdom last week, co-hosting the Global Education Summit with PM Johnson and sealing several key deals for Kenya.
More on this: UK makes Sh20bn investment in Kenya's Big Four projects
Warm relationship
The actual car was driven by Britain’s Wisdom-Riley Ann and navigated by Pat Moss-Carlsson. They finished third in a rally that was won by Kenya’s Fjastad Tommy and Schmider Bernhard in a Volkswagen Kafer.
“The Prime Minister knows rallying is close to the President’s heart, and wanted to acknowledge the success of bringing the Safari Rally back to Kenya this year. This model car from the 1962 East African Safari Rally was a demonstration of the warmth of the two leaders’ relationship,” stated the British High Commission.
“As part of President Kenyatta’s visit to the UK, he had a warm and long meeting with Prime Minister Johnson at his country residence, Chequers, where they discussed the strength of the Kenya-UK Strategic Partnership,” it added.
The 1962 East African Safari Rally model car that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has gifted President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Ann and Pat were among the most successful teams in the sport, not only in the Ladies’ category, which they habitually dominated, but competitive at the same level as the men in this exciting, colourful and gruelling sport. They were prominent competitors from 1956 to 1962, after which Ann retired to start her family.
But it was their outstanding success as outright winners of the four-day/four-night Liege-Rome-Liege Rally that made them legendary in motor sport circles.
The Saab 96 helped put the Swedish automaker on the map. It featured a three-cylinder two-stroke engine, a front-wheel-drive layout and an aerodynamic body formed with the assistance of a wind tunnel, at that time a technology mostly reserved for airplane manufacturing. Saab officially went defunct in 2012.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a meeting at Chequers, the Prime Minister's official country residence in Buckinghamshire, on July 28, 2021.
Rally returns
In June, the Safari Rally returned to the WRC circuit after a 19-year hiatus. It is often regarded as the toughest leg because crews have to cover long distances in unforgiving conditions.
It’s more of an endurance event than a sprint and, for decades, Kenyans bathed in the glory of hosting the roughest race in the circuit. Although the 2021 race was reduced to 320km from 5,000km in its heyday, everything in the original card remained, with unpredictable weather and challenging roads.
While flagging off the race at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, President Kenyatta said the Safari was a significant event in Kenya’s history.
“In 2013 I made a pledge to my fellow citizens that we would bring the Safari Rally back home and I also promised that I would return it to its position as one of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and the WRC's toughest rally,” he said.
On the final day of the rally, President Kenyatta announced, to the joy of motoring enthusiasts, that agreement had been reached between the government, the FIA and WRC to stage the Safari Rally every year until 2026.
“Our efforts have paid off. We have staged a remarkable 2021 WRC Safari Rally that has challenged both man and machine, and which will be remembered for many years to come,” he said.
