Car No 28, Toyota Celica GT4 driven by Japanese Yasuhiro Iwase navigated by Sudhir Vinayak, speeds off at Ngariama in Kirinyaga District on its way to Embu during the 1990 Safari Rally.
To the motorsport fraternity, Sudhir Vinayak, who died in Nairobi on Saturday aged 66, was a very good navigator, less outspoken but had a big influence on those he interacted with.
Vinayak was a top-notch rally co-driver, a doctor and an eminent professor of medicine at Aga Khan Hospital University, a long-distance runner and mountaineer who also loved charity work.
To refer to him in his full title, Professor Sudhir Vinayak was the Chair of the Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging at the Medical College, East Africa and the President of the World Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology.
His work and contribution in medicine was well known in medical circles. Many women owe their lives and health to Vinayak. In 2019, together with radiologists from Aga Khan University, he conducted over 10,000 mammogram screenings on women in Nyeri County, a region where seven out of 10 cancer victims are women with breast cancer.
He ran from Nairobi to Mombasa and climbed Point Lenana, one of the peaks of Mount Kenya, to raise funds for the Aryan community. Coming from a staunch Arya Samaj family, his legacy and contributions impacted positively the young people of his community.
However, it is in motorsport where he excelled, most notably in the 1985 Marlboro Safari Rally which is considered one of the most competitive in history.
The 1985 rally had a quality field of 16 professional drivers in works teams of Toyota, Lancia, Nissan, Peugeot, and Opel. Four of these drivers were local, namely, Shekhar Mehta, Mike Kirkland, Vic Preston Junior and Jayant Shah.
Sudhir Vinayak (second left) trains with teammates in Nairobi in this undated picture.
Vinayak and Iwase Yasuhiro, a Japanese national based in Kenya, were the first privateers to get off the ramp after the professionals in position 17 in a Nissan 240 RS.
But after five days of gruelling racing, covering 5,167km and 99 control points, Iwase and Vinayak returned to the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (now Kenyatta International Convention Centre) in Nairobi in eighth position in a race won by Juha Kankkunen, then 24, in a Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo.
Iwase and Vinayak also entered the annals of history as the top privateer in a field of 20 finishers from 80 starters.
The duo were at it again in the 1993 Trust Bank Safari Rally finishing fourth overall in a Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD to complete a Toyota 1-2-3-4 victory finish.
Juha Kankkunen of Finland claimed his third Safari title navigated by compatriot Juha Piironen. Another Finnish crew of Markku Alen and Ikka Kivimaki were second, followed by Kenyans Ian Duncan and Ian Munro, and Iwase/Vinayak completing the utter domination.
It took 37 years for Toyota to repeat a 1-2-3-4 finish.
This was at the 2022 WRC Safari Rally where Finnish youngster Kalle Rovanperahe led the clean sweep of the Toyota GR Yaris Hybrid Rally.
Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta joined him on the podium with Sébastien Ogier in fourth.
This fourth-placed Safari Rally finish was part of Vinayak’s glowing CV in motorcar racing.
He won his first national event, the 1983 Hermes Clubman Rally in a Datsun 1200 Pickup, co-driving Robin Bains
Said Bains, of the departed Vinayak: “A true gentleman.”
Vinayaka and Yasuhiro Iwase formed one of the longest-running partnerships in the Safari Rally cloaking 13 years. They finished four Safari rallies. The duo debuted in the 1981 Marlboro Safari Rally in a Toyota Carina failing to finish, and raced in their last rally together in 1995 where they retired.
Vinayaka competed in his last motor race in 1998, the Konica Jamhuri Rally in a Mitsubishi Lancer, navigating Malik Moez.
He was cremated in Nairobi on Wednesday.
