Former internationally acclaimed driver, Manjit Sandhu, has announced a comeback to a motorsports scene after over twenty years silence.

Popularly known as Tanganyika Bus driver crew, Manjit and his deceased navigator, Jassi Sandhu, retired unbeaten in 1989, soon after winning the national driving championship.“We were the only rally drivers from the Lake Zone, who participated fully in both national and international level competitions and won most of them,” said Manjit.

He said his son, Manraj Sandhu, will spearhead the family comeback to the motor rally and he has already prepared a car for the major competitions.Manjit said besides the comeback, plans was underway to form a motorsports club in Mwanza that would serve all seven regions of the Lake Zone.

For many years now, motor rally has been a popular sport in only five regions, according to the records made available by the Automobile Association of Tanzania (AAT).Led by Dar es Salaam with two clubs, other regions active in motor rally include Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Tanga, Morogoro and Iringa.

Once Mwanza regains AAT affiliation, according to Manjit, it would activate its neighbours such as Shinyanga, Mara, Kagera, Simiyu and Geita.Explaining further about his short but sky-high successful career, Manjit said his debut to motor rally began in 1987 navigated by his cousin Jassi in a short-base Land Cruiser.

Their first international rally was in Kisumu where they competed in Nyanza 500 and the same year they competed in India’s Himalaya Rally and finished 7th overall, but first overall in their category. They then owned a special rally car, Golf G.T.I from V.W Motorsport which helped them to win several titles.

They won FIA African Championship thrice in Rally de Grand Lacs in Burundi in 1987 and went on to win Rallye de 1000 Collines in Rwanda, the same year. A year later Tanganyika Bus team claimed FIA African title in Zambia

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