Kugi and Parminder, the brothers of my mother (my uncles) got me interested in fast cars. Having role models as a youngster and growing up with someone who was able to do the impossible would be inspiring for anyone—for me it did a lot in setting my vision on fast cars and what I was going to do—growing up hanging around the garage and later working there, started my mechanic profession and interest in cars.

“Understanding how it works is half the battle;  making it work better is the mechanic’s ability.” 

Performance parts were not always available. Often we made or crafted them ourselves. Rebuilding alternators, starter motors, transmissions and braking systems was a normality; in the process we often improved them.

Gurbux Singh Sagoo, also popularly known as "Gearbox" and “Kugi” to many of his fans was not only skilled as a racing driver, but an engineer "Par Excellence." He developed his own two racing machines modeled on the Formula One racing cars   which were known as "Sagoo Mark I" and "Sagoo Mark II." Kugi was greatly supported in preparation of the Formula One model racing machine by his brothers Parminder Singh Sagoo,Tarlochan Singh Sagoo and cousin Harbhajan Singh Bhamra—so famed as the tallest Sikhs of the nation. Kugi was the son of Thakker Singh who settled in the country in the early 1900s.

With those two machines he virtually dominated the Nakuru racing track from 1964 to 1968 and the Nairobi Embakasi track in the late sixties, winning the East African Track Racing Championship for four consecutive years. His duels with Pat Neylan on the Nakuru race track had become part of folklore among  racing fans in Kenya.

Gurbux retired from motor sports at the end of the sixties, but even now in the sunset years he still runs one of the most accomplished motor workshops in Kenya called "CITY PANEL BEATERS & PAINTERS LTD", which has been in existence for nearly half a century!
A profile by Papu Grewal (from SU souvenir 2008)