26 replies to this topic

[Vicuna]

Sad news overnight with info on the death of Shekhar Mehta.

He came here in 1973 for what was our longest ever rally.

He finished second in a Datsun 180B SSS that looked like a showroom model alongside the winning Escort of Hannu Mikkola.

I don't follow rallying too closely but I think he did rather well in the Safari.

Datsun ads with him in a 240Z come to mind.

[Gary C]

Goodness, that IS bad news. Any more deatils? He wasn't that old, was he?

[Twin Window]

A rallying legend from his 'neck of the woods', with his five-time winning performances on the Safari exposing him to a worldwide audience.

Very sad news indeed; and he can't have been any age at all...

[Vicuna]

60 - 61 on June (b.6/45)

[Alan Lewis]

Second on the Acropolis as well one year (he thought he remembered off the top of his head)? And, not only five Safari wins, but the only man to win any World Championship rally four years running for a long time.

He'd only just resumed the Presidency of the FIA's Rallies Commission after the short, utterly ineffectual term of Jacques Regis.

A real loss.

APL

[Greatest]

A very sad loss... R.I.P.!

[petefenelon]

Damn. Too young by far. One of the real tough guys of a golden era of rallying and by all accounts a good guy too - I know a few people who met him over the years.

[WGD706]

Mehta died in his sleep in a London hospital at the age of 62 from medical complications due to an old injury that occurred during the 1987 Pharaohs Rally, where he broke his collarbone and went into a coma for several weeks escaping death miraculously. He was airlifted to a Paris hospital and later transferred to London for full recuperation in 1988.

[Falcadore]

Originally posted by Alan Lewis
Second on the Acropolis as well one year (he thought he remembered off the top of his head)? And, not only five Safari wins, but the only man to win any World Championship rally four years running for a long time.

He'd only just resumed the Presidency of the FIA's Rallies Commission after the short, utterly ineffectual term of Jacques Regis.

A real loss.

APL

One of many who might have been denied recognition he deserved by the World Rally Championship only starting in the late 70's.

While elected to the post, he never assumed the post, asking for this to be delayed after a sudden illness struck shortling before Tour de Corse. Sadly now we know why.

[Michael Clark]

In 1973 his co-driver in the Heatway Rally was a near neighbour and I, as a spotty 15 year old, was invited over for dinner.

He was quite a charmer and I well recall being just as fascinated in his stories about Idi Amin as the Safari Rally.

I also recall the subject of football boots...he thought it a good idea to keep a set in the car so the co-driver could get a decent footing if the need arose to push a car out of a damp ditch.

A lovely man and a very sad loss.

Damn good driver too..

[Graham Gauld]

Many years ago I was Chairman of the Competitions Committee of the Royal Scottish Automobile Club's International Scottish Rally. We got very excited when we received an entry from Shekhar with his Datsun 240Z Coupe. Eventually the car arrived and then Shekhar explained the story.
The Scottish rally was always one week after the Acropolis and Shekhar had not only competed on it but had won outright. His plan was that his car would then be taken straight from Greece to Scotland. However, he had not read the fine print in the Acropolis regulations. That year the sponsor was Abercrombie & Fitch the American company and as they were making a film of the event there was a clause in the entry form that said " The sponsor retains the right to ask the competitor to remain after the rally for any additional film work that is deemed necessary". As Shekhar had won and they didn't have enough film he was told to stay on with his car for three days so they could shoot additional footage of him on a couple of stages. It was ok for him to get to Scotland in time for the Friday of that week but what about the car.
He then telephoned home to Kenya and got his mechanics to prepared his other 240Z and at the same time book seven seats on the British Airways DC10 "Combi" ( WHich carries passengers and freight).
BA was then to take the seven seats out of the plane and put his Datsun into it and fly it to London where his co-driver would take it out of customs and drive it up to Glasgow. This duly happened and when his co-driver opened the car door there was a note pinned to the steering wheel written by the pilot which said " Congratulations, you are now the owner of the only Datsun 240Z that has travelled at 460 mph backwards from Nairobi to London."
Shekhar was a very friendly and kind human being.

[jarama]

A very sad loss, indeed.


Carles.

[Nanni Dietrich]

A rally legend, one of my idols.


His greatest result, in my personal opinion: 4th overall Rally di Sanremo 1974 at the wheel of a Lancia Beta Coupe only about 45 seconds delay from Sandro Munari, the winner of the rally in a more and more performant Lancia Stratos.

I have had a Lancia Beta Coupe (not racing version), and I can assure you it was a real, pacific, heavy, family car...

[D-Type]

This is the sad loss of a competitor who went on to put something back to the sport after his retirement.

What more can I say?

[RS2000]

I have video of him describing going off on the Scottish and then "taking some snaps for Martin" (codriver Holmes) when Mikkola went off at the same spot. Nice quaint words even for the early 70s. When he first came to UK his address was in Ealing near my then codriver. Too nice a man to ever be doing FIA dirty work.

[275 GTB-4]

Man they are dropping like flies....a true hero....the Safari was no stroll in the park....can we have some more on his background please.....I have only recall a handful of interviews and rally reports and he came across as a thorough Gentlemen.

[Huw Jadvantich]

I remember watching Mehta and I think Tony Fall doing a rally cross at Long Marston in their 240Zs.
He spun in front of us on the first lap of one race, and since he was so far behind he proceeded to do the same thing but faster on every subsequent lap. A real entertainer as well as a gentleman and a sportsman. Those rallycrosses were real biff and bash affairs even then, but Mehta was very clean and quick too. He and 240Zs made a huge impression that day.

[D-Type]

Originally posted by 275 GTB-4
Man they are dropping like flies....a true hero....the Safari was no stroll in the park....can we have some more on his background please.....I have only recall a handful of interviews and rally reports and he came across as a thorough Gentlemen.

In his book The Safari Rally - the first 40 Years Roger Barnard devotes a chapter to Shekhar Mehta. The following is a brief resume:

Chandrashekhar Mehta was born in Kampala, Uganda on 20 June 1945. His well-to-do family operated large tea and sugar plantations and imported motor vehicles. At the age of five he was sent to a Swiss private school and after that to an English public school. After a short spell with a firm of london stackbrokers and working with relatives who had a cement factory in India he returned to Uganda in 1965 to join the family business.

His first motor sport was in sprints and hillclimbs in a BMW 1800 (the Mehta family were importers). He moved on to rallies with the BMW and a Renault 16. He also raced a BMW 2002ti at Nakuru in Kenya. In 1969 hewon the East African saloon car, touring car and hillclimb championship in his BMW. Not having grown up in East Africa and misspent his youth tearing around on dirt roads, Shekhar had to learn how to do handle a car on loose surfaces.

He drove in the first of his 20 Safaris in 1968 in a Peugot 204 but failed to finish. In all he won the rally five times, four of which were in succession, all in Datsuns (1973. 1979-82). His first overeas event was the 1970 RAC Rally which he failed to finish. He finished sixth in the 1970 Acropolis but fell victim to the Kielder forest in the 1971 RAC.

In 1972 the family were ‘politely asked to leave’ Uganda and moved to Nairobi, Kenya, where the family also had business interests. This is why Mehta is sometimes listed as Ugandan (EAU) and sometimes as Kenyan (EAK) in rally results.

Following his Safari win in 1973, he competed in Morocco, New Zealand, Ivory Coast, Australia, Finland and the RAC. He continued to rally around the world for the next few years, highlights included winning the 1979 Kuwait rally; winning the 1980 Middle East championship, including wins in Kuwait and Bahrein; fifth in the 1981 World Rally championship with a second in Argentina, a third in the Ivory coast, and a fifth in the Acropolis; and so it went on with good placings in Argentina, the Acropolis, the Ivory Coast, New Zealand and even a fourth place in the 1987 Pike’s Peak hillclimb.

Then came the 1987 Egyptian Rally of the Pharoahs. He had a serious high speed accident, injuring his back and collapsing a lung. After being flown to Paris he spent two months in hospital followed by a long period of physiotherapy. The injuries were so serious that effectively his rallying career was over. His back injuries left him with some degree of permanent disability. Whilst convalescing he acted as assistant clerk of the course for the 1989 Safari and he went on to later serve on the FIA rally committee becoming president.

[Wilyman]

Shekhar Mehta,
He was a member of the Holden Dealer Team that ran Commodores in the 1979 Repco Reliability Trial. Resulted in 3rd outright class 3D. Crewed with Rauno Aaltonen/Barry Lake.

He fell foul of typical Australian irreverence with a name change: "Shagger Meter".

[jarama]

Originally posted by Wilyman
Shekhar Mehta,
He was a member of the Holden Dealer Team that ran Commodores in the 1979 Repco Reliability Trial. Resulted in 3rd outright class 3D. Crewed with Rauno Aaltonen/Barry Lake.

He fell foul of typical Australian irreverence with a name change: "Shagger Meter".

Barry,


would you mind sharing with us your memories on Shekhar?


Carles.

[Amaroo Park]

Sad news indeed fondly remebered by all Motorsports fans

[Barry Lake]

Originally posted by jarama



Barry,


would you mind sharing with us your memories on Shekhar?


Carles.

Sorry Carles, I have only just seen this post. My life has been extremely hectic recently, so little time for TNF.

I will be writing a story on Shekhar this week or next, will post a reply then, when it is all in my head.

So many memories of him from that Repco Trial. A great experience.

Incidentally, the only nickname I remember for him from those days was "Shaker Maker" - the name of a children's toy at the time. Maybe my own children coined the name...

[Paolo]

R. I. P.

It always struck me as an oddity that Mehta was so succesful at Safari and not nearly so elsewhere.
I have heard rumours about shorcuts, but don't know what to think of it.
What kind of fair or less fair advantage do you think he had in Kenya ?

[David McKinney]

He also did pretty well on the Acropolis, and the NZ Rally
I always thought his Safari advantages were a combination of knowing local conditions, and a good Safari car. Datsuns always went better there than almost anywhere else

[D-Type]

At the time I followed the Safari we felt the local drivers had four main advantages

There weren't that many roads so they would have covered a lot of the route in national rallies.
They knew how to drive a car as fast as the roads would allow but not so fast that they broke.
They were familiar with 'reading the road' ahead, eg when red earth changed to a more beige colour it meant it was stony and therefore harder and bumpier.
They spoke the lingo so would be better at negotiating the price of a shove out of a mudhole.

[Nanni Dietrich]

What was Shekhar Mehta's real complete name?

The Wikipedia page and many other websites have "Chandrashekhar Mehta".
A Kenyan website (don't know how reliable) reports the name of "Shree Shekharbhai Khimjibhai Nanji Kalidas Mehta".

Any help?

[D-Type]

Perhaps there's a bit of a translation problem there; Nanji Kalisas Mehta was Shekhar's grandfather! I think that 'Shree' or 'Shri' is an honorific and that '-bhai' means 'brother' (either literally or figuratively) but I don't really know.

I think it is safe to assume 'Chandrashekhar Mehta' was his full name - unless you get firm information to the contrary from someone who understands Gujerati names or from someone familiar with the Mehta dynasty.

Edited by D-Type, 04 March 2013 - 22:25.