McRae Kimathi: Youngster who chose rally tapes over cartoons in his childhood
By Neville Amimo, March 1, 2022
McRae Kimathi just did what may be termed as the impossible by some; finishing fourth in the FIA Junior WRC rally staged in Sweden. Moreover, the young protégé has had quite an interesting journey into the life of rally races.
Growing up, McRae has always had an eye for cars, quite evident being in the shadow of his dad who is a Kenyan Rally legend, the one and only Phineas Kimathi who is also the president of the Kenya Motorsport Federation.
For McRae, childhood times were not the normal hide-and-seek playgroups that would, later on, catch up on television cartoons. In fact, Kimathi confessed to having found cartoons to be boring and instead opted to watch his dad’s rally tapes from the late 90s and early 2000s.
“I never used to watch cartoons. I found them boring,” McRae told What’s Good Media.
The 27-year-old second-generation driver possesses an insatiable appetite for success and the common belief that the rally-sport is a discipline of possibilities ‘as long as one has the right mindset and seat time’. Kimathi senior in his hey-days gave Hyundai their first national motorsport title worldwide in the KNRC F2 in 1997.
He was also the first person to win the F2 title in a WRC event for Hyundai. McRae, a career accountant, nevertheless believes there aren’t any shortcuts to stardom.
McRae started racing in 2015. His best KNRC result was Meru Rally 2019 where he finished fifth overall. He qualified for the program by virtue of being the current KNRC Division One leader. Prior to this, McRae first got his hands on a rally wheel when he was 10.
“The first time my dad taught me how to drive was when I was 10 years old because he was waiting for me to reach that height for the pedals,” McRae said during an interview.
Now, Kimathi and his compatriot Mwangi Kioni made history by becoming the first Kenyans to finish WRC Rally Sweden. “It’s such a great feeling. I mean first time on snow and fourth overall is such an amazing feeling,” Kimathi said.