Hakuuz team ready to rumble in 2012 rally season

By Erick Ochieng’

Mombasa-based "Hakuuz Rallying" team driver Sudesh Hirani hopes to tackle the new KCB Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) season with renewed enthusiasm.

Hirani will also partake Mombasa Motor Club (MMC) events and may be without his regular navigator Harpreet Singh Sagoo.

Sagoo, has acquired a new car and will be driving this season. This means Hirani will also resort to a new navigator.

Hirani says he has now come to grips with the ex-Raaji Bharij Subaru N10 which he has used twice in the MMC Coast Round Three Rally and the KCB Mtaani Rally recently in Mariaklani.

"Preparations are in full swing. We are now ready and ready to attack. I now got the grip of the car though not 100 per cent. But its definitely better than what it was when I first drove it last September in the MMC Mariakani Rally. We have worked on all suspension settings and adjusted it to my driving style. The car is now perfect," said Hirani.

"I want to run the KNRC season. I might miss a round or two, but I’m going for it," declared Hirani who previously used the ex-Naushad Kara Lota’s Subaru Forester.

Asked what really drives him, he continued: "I just want to enjoy my drive and the faster it gets the better for me. This is a better car than the Forester. Now I have a car which I can compete with against other top drivers."

Meanwhile, Sagoo is shopping around for a new navigator.

Sagoo, who turns 30 on February 24, moved back to Kenya from the United Kingdom where he has been working as an Interior Architect but has now joined the family construction and joinery business (Sagoo Interior Decorators).

The driver is keeping the Sagoo Rally Team dynasty going. The Team’s inception dates back to the 1970’s and is indeed the initiative of his father Surjit Singh Sagoo who raced a Datsun 1600SSS.