By Ben Ochieng
NAIROBI, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- It will be a dream-come-true for Kenyan-born Briton Scott Armstrong when he returns to Kenya to compete at his childhood passion rallying.
Armstrong, who is currently training in Kenya, will compete at the East African Safari Classic Rally that will be flagged off in the coastal city of Mombasa on Nov. 23.
The race will take competitors to neighboring Tanzania and end at the same venue on Dec. 1.
"I saved money and prepared for years to take part in the event, having taken part in the Safari Classic as a mechanic in 2009 and again in 2015 on Nick Mason's 260Z. My 2017 entry was my maiden participation as a rally driver," Armstrong told Xinhua during an interview in Nairobi on Saturday.
"I was born and raised in Kenya. We lived here until I was seven, when my family moved to the UK. My dad was a big rally enthusiast and took me to watch the Safari Rally, always bringing his camera along too," Armstrong remarked.
As he grew up, Armstrong became increasingly obsessed with a photo his father had taken in 1982 of legendary rally driver, Shekhar Mehta in the Datsun 160J Violet.
"Cars have been my passion since childhood and I have always loved rallying. Slowly the dream emerged to follow in Mehta's tyre tracks to do the Safari Rally in the same type of car as his," Armstrong said.
His co-driver, Harpal Sudle, said Armstrong sent him to Tanzania to source for the rally car that Mehta used in the original Safari as a recce (reconnaissance) car for the works team.
"We bought the shell of a car alongside the parts and shipped them to the UK. Our car for the Classic includes much of those parts. Scott's dream has been 10 years in the making and I am excited to be part of it," Sudle noted.
Armstrong said the Datsun 160J Violet is one of the most successful cars in Safari Rally history, having won four times in a row.
"I have spent years tracking down original works parts to complete my car to specification and it is almost ready. It will be a very proud moment when we become the first team to bring a 160J back to Safari after almost thirty years," Armstrong stated.
Armstrong currently lives in Britain on the outskirts of Coventry. His earliest memory of the Safari is watching the late Mehta win his 3rd Safari Rally in the same car.
The tyre test engineer who works for an international manufacturer built the car at home with help from friends and family and has literally put the car together over the last six years by himself using experienced he gained from every Safari Rally he serviced at.
He reiterated that his dream remains to bring one of the most iconic cars in Safari to the finish podium.
