Shekhar Mehta

Chandrashekhar Mehta, known as Shekhar Mehta, ( born June 20, 1945 in Uganda, † 12 April 2006 in London ) was a rally driver from Kenya, but had a British passport. As the son of an Indian origin plantation and cement plant owners Mehta family had fled in 1972 before the dictator Idi Amin regime in Uganda to Kenya. Shekhar was married to Yvonne Mehta, who was part of the time as his co-pilot in the Rally Car Racing.

Mehta won the Safari Rally equal to five times (1973, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982), each time on a car the Datsun brand. His best year in the World Rally Championship, he had in 1981, when he was fifth overall in the World Cup series.

His career as a rally driver, he finished in 1987 after a serious accident at the Pharaohs Rally in Egypt, who was then nearly cost him his life - and on the long-term consequences he died reportedly after. After retiring as an active racers Mehta was the rallying connected continue and was for many years President of the FIA ​​Rally Commission. A few weeks before his death he took office again provisionally, after its successor, the Frenchman Jacques Régis, had prematurely announced his resignation and the Finn and MEP Ari Vatanen the office once offered him did not want to take over.