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Rally fraternity and the May scare
Rajiv Ruparelia in the Service Park at the UMC Rally in Kasanda in 2021. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
Kurji was one of the most reputable drivers of his generation, and was leading the standings of the KCB Pearl of Africa Rally by Friday, no wonder he was crowned champion posthumously.
May could win the race of being the most tragic month in the rally driving fraternity. And the correlation is not only real abroad but also in Uganda. It’s far from superstition.
As we mourn the early departure of Rajiv Ruparelia, who perished in a fatal car crash Saturday morning, our minds raced back to Mwera, Mityana where his uncle Riyaz Kurji crashed his Subaru N8 into a tree. He died instantly. Saturday May 2, 2009.
Kurji was one of the most reputable drivers of his generation, and was leading the standings of the KCB Pearl of Africa Rally by Friday, no wonder he was crowned champion posthumously.
Rajiv Ruperalia racing.
It’s believed that Kurji is the one who inspired Rajiv into the game of wheels and speed. Rajiv made his rally debut in 2019—ten years after Kurji’s death. He would win his first National Rally Championship—the Kabalega Rally in Hoima in October 2021.
Kurji would have wished his protégé to carry on, and win more. But Rajiv died exactly 16 years after his idol. In fact, barely two hours into May 3, after his speeding Nissan GTR hit a barrier along the Kajjansi-Munyonyo road and caught fire.
Kurji died two days shy of his 46th birthday. Rajiv was 35.
Yet Kurji was just the fourth rally personality to perish on May 2.
On May 2, 1985, Italian driver Atilio Bettega lost control over his Lancia at the Tour de Corse, in Corsica, Italy. Like Kurji, his car crashed into a tree which simply ruptured into the driver's seat, killing Bettega instantly. He was 32.
Rajiv Ruparelia's VW Proto rests on the road side after dropping out of a rally event in Mbarara.
Surprisingly, his co-driver Maurizio Perissinot, just like Kurji's-Sayed Kadri, was uninjured.
On the same date in 1986, Bettega's former teammate Henri Toivonen from Finland died in a fireball accident at the same event, causing a ban for Group B. Toivonen like Kurji was leading the Corsica Rally. He was 29.
Toivonen’s American co-driver, Sergio Cresto, also died when their Lancia plunged down a ravine and exploded. He was 30.
The May carnage in Corsica would continue the following year, when French co-driver Jean-Michel Argenti perished in a Peugeot 205 GTI on May 17, 1987. He was 28.
As Rajiv’s body is cremated on Tuesday, the rally fraternity will struggle to forget the mayhem in May.
MAY VICTIMS
Jean-Michel Argenti (May 7, 1987), age 28
Sergio Cresto (May 2, 1986), age 30
Henri Toivonen (May 2, 1986), age 29
Atilio Bettega (May 2, 1985), age 32
Riyaz Kurji (May 2, 2009), age 45
Rajiv Ruparelia (May 3, 2025), age 35
