Fully exploit potential of Classic Rally

The East African Safari Classic was surprisingly flagged off with little fanfare this week, even though the event holds so much promise because of its potential to attract a wider base of fans and sponsors.

This classic race is a rollover from the adventurous event of yesteryear — the East African Safari Rally and later the Safari Rally which became one of the rounds of the World Rally Championships series.

Even though the East African Safari Classic has been introduced as a nostalgic race to remind motoring fans of the years gone by — it only features cars manufactured before 1985 — a lot more can be done to widen its appeal.

To begin with, this rally must stop being viewed as an elite sport that cuts off ordinary Kenyans. One of the ways rugby and golf have been able to widen their appeal is by deliberately portraying themselves as disciplines that can be played or enjoyed by all Kenyans irrespective of race, wealth, creed or background. So long as rallying continues to be viewed as a restricted club, it will never be truly accepted by mass audiences as the Safari Rally was.

Because the Classic Safari traverses 3,800km in Kenya and Tanzania, its potential to promote tourism could have been more fully exploited. But all is not lost as future events can be more aggressively leveraged to appeal to all audiences.