Ranked as the classiest motorsport event on Kenya’s calendar, the 52nd Africa Concours d’Elegance reports a steady flow of entries for the event at Nairobi Racecourse on September 29th marking the anniversary of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club.
Historically the first Concours was solely limited to Alfa Romeo Owners Club members with their cars and was held in the grounds of a hotel. However, over the years the event has grown greatly, gaining international recognition evidently, since 2006 the Concours has been recognized and sanctioned by FIM Africa and now has full Africa Continental status for cars and motorcycles.
Entries already listed include the 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE of Doctor Joseph Aluoch who is a strong supporter of the event. Among the newcomers is Pablo Kengara who will also be driving a Mercedes along the judging line in front of the Racecourse grandstands.
The regulations for the twelve cars and eight motorcycle classes have been circulated to regular and potential entrants. The assessment of the competing cars and bikes is based entirely on the standard of cleanliness and preparation and originality is not taken into account.
Recognizing the increasingly high cost of living the Alfa Romeo Owners Club has retained entry fees at last year’s level. The regulations for the event of CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE are available from the event website www.concourskenya.com and from the Concours office which is located on the second floor of the Jubilee Exchange building on Mama Ngina Street.
Before commencement of the Concours D’elegance assessment of cars will be carried out in front of the main Nairobi Racecourse grandstands with competitors driving on the giant Quartz inspection ramp for the check of the underside. Subsequently, cars will be rated for the exterior finish, the interior and boot, and the engine, and motorcycles will be marked similarly at Racecourse parade ground.
While the cars are in front of the grandstands captain David Mwaura will be riding around the Racecourse parade ring for judges to rate the bike entries. A big influx of motorcycles from Uganda is expected from Pearl Bikers Africa. Last year 24 bikes were ridden from Kampala to the Nairobi Racecourse. It is anticipated that a similar number of Uganda riders will participate on September 29th.