• The renown safari rally navigator succumbed to blood clot complication at The Nairobi Hospital on November 3. He was in his 50s.
• He is set to be buried this Friday at his Karatina, Nyeri county, home.
Thomas Kihagi Muriuki would tell his friends that while most professions extolled teamwork for mere virtue signaling, for motor sport it is what blood is for the body: indispensable.
Muriuki cut his teeth as a team spirited motor sport navigator where success of one depended on how well he worked with his colleagues.
The renown Safari Rally navigator succumbed to a blood clot complication at The Nairobi Hospital on November 3. He was in his 50s.
He is set to be buried this Friday at his Karatina, Nyeri county, home.
Muriuki is survived by his two children, 26-year-old Melanie and 10-year-old Ethan from his two marriages.
Motor sport enthusiasts extoll him as talk walker on team work, mentoring many in his wake.
His friend, Njoroge Gitahi,with whom he once in a while charted the evening away over a sin of wine, says Muriuki’s gospel was always: “Work together, combing your efforts and achieve much.”
“This man believed literally in the saying that you go fast alone but far with others. His spirit loved people truly,” Gitahi said, with a poignant face.
He said his friend loved sports generally, and motor sport specifically, having been an established cyclist from his childhood days.
While his work with people such as Karim Wissanji, Kimathi Maingi, Musa Locho and Azar Anwar led to huge successes in the industry, his partnership with Jimmy Wahome — the father of WRC3 Safari 2022 winner Maxine Wahome— stood out.
They worked together in the World Rally Championship Safari Rally, posting authoritative performance.
Muriuki and Wahome built a name together as the most all-African crew to finish in three straight WRC Safari Rally editions spanning between 1997 to 1999.
They used Hyundai Elantra models for the fetes.
Muriuki started teaming up with Wahome in 1994 after he served as his service support crew.
They rallied together up to 2000 during which Muriuki guided Wahome to three WRC Safari finishes in a row, becoming the first indigenous Kenyans to attain the glory.
He would relocate to the United States in 2000 and got back home a decade ago.
For Geoffrey Kariuki, who served him pretty much as a personal assistant, says what stood out for him about Muriuki was his level-headedness and calmness when faced with adrenalin rushing scenario.
“The man never panicked—at least when I was with him—perhaps that’s why he made hit as a safari rally driver. He never shied away from taking risk, always having a soft spot for what others turned their backs on,” he said.
Kenya Motor Sport Federation secretariat said it was profoundly saddened by the loss of Muriuki and that his skill in rally organising, even in his retirement, was pivotal to the sport fraternity in the country.
The secretariat said in a statement that Muriuki and Wahome’s teaming together and their consistency together with Phineas Kimathi and late Gregory Kibiriti “attracted the attention of Shell Oil, which helped them form Africa rally team.”
His longtime companion in the sport Jimmy Wahome said he had “lost a friend who guided him to many achievements in motorsport.”
He described him as “a gentleman who was dedicated to his work in and outside the car.”