Online Reporter
Collin Matiza
Zimpapers Sports Hub
VETERAN Zimbabwean motor racing driver Phil “Archie” Archenoul is on the road to recovery after having been involved in a road accident in Harare a couple of weeks ago.
Archenoul, who helped fellow Zimbabwean Jamie Whyte to win back-to-back African motor rally titles in 2009 and 2010, sustained “some serious injuries” when his motorbike was hit by another motorbike.
He was admitted at a local private hospital where he is reported to be in a stable condition.
His close friend, Whyte, yesterday appealed to the local motorsport family to help Archenoul on his road to recovery.
They are both legends of the local motor racing world.
“Help us support “Archie” on his road to recovery. We’re reaching out with full hearts to rally around someone who means so much to so many — our dear friend “Archie.”
“After a serious motorbike accident, ‘Archie’ has spent weeks in hospital, enduring major surgeries and an incredibly tough recovery. He’s a fighter, and now, as he prepares to come home, he’s facing the next big challenge: months of physiotherapy, intensive rehabilitation, and the need for a live-in carer for a minimum of at least six weeks,” Whyte said.
Unfortunately, Archenoul’s medical aid doesn’t cover these vital next steps, and his family has already carried a heavy financial burden to cover the hospital stay and urgent surgeries.
“The costs ahead are daunting, but we believe in the power of community — and in ‘Archie’s’ fighting spirit.
“This fund-raiser has not been planned or requested by ‘Archie’ family. It is simply the heartfelt initiative of friends who want to help ease the pressure and show support in a tangible way. ‘Archie’ has always shown up for his friends, offered help with a smile, and been the kind of person you’re lucky to have in your corner. Now, it’s our turn to be in his.
“Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a real difference in getting “Archie” the care he needs to walk, move, and live independently again,” Whyte said.
Whyte and Archenoul made their way into the African motor racing history books when they won the African motor rally title for two consecutive years in 2009 and 2010.
Whyte was the driver and Archenoul the navigator; and they cemented their legendary status in local and continental motorsport by lifting the African title twice in a row.
They joined fellow Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach in becoming African motor rally champions.
Whyte and Archenoul also featured regularly in the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, which was at one stage the country’s premier motor racing event before it disappeared from the local motorsport radar just before the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.
They are among the greatest drivers in the history of local motorsport.
Archenoul later turned his hand to drag racing and main circuit racing at Donnybrook Park Raceway in Harare where he has been one of the star attractions at these events on his Superbike.
The turn of the new millennium also saw Whyte trading his bike for a motor rally vehicle and this saw him becoming one of the most revered drivers in Africa after he won back-to-back African Rally Championship titles in 2009 and 2010 in his Subaru.
Peter Tanyanyiwa