The monsoon in Goa is the best time to come out in the rain and
explore the terrain with four-wheel drives. For these drivers, it is a time to
break free from their cocoons and show the world the hard work they put into
modifying their cars for the upcoming off-roading competition season. Rightly
said by many off-roading teams in Goa, this passion is very expensive and
requires a good amount of research and efforts to make the vehicle last longer
in the game and finish with the best timing. Four Goan teams will be
participating in the eighth edition of India’s biggest and toughest off-road
motorsport competition this year, and are gearing up to give a tough fight to
the best off-roaders from across India at the Rainforest Challenge (RFC) India
2022. The event will be held in various parts of Goa from July 23 to 30 wherein
27 teams from all over the country will be competing for the coveted RFC India
2022 Champion trophy.
For Cedrick Jordan Da Silva from Margao,
this is the only time he is free from his restaurant and travel agency
business, to do what he truly loves. Participating in off-roading events in Goa
and outside the state where he has won competitions over the last eight years,
he still feels he is learning new strategies and techniques to overcome the
hurdles in off-roading competitions. He has been participating in RFC India
ever since 2014 and has consistently been in the Top 10 ranking of the
competition. Da Silva says, “I have fully modified my vehicle to the extreme.
Throughout the year, I hardly get any time out so for one month in the monsoon,
it is all about the off-roading competitions. The vehicle is ready and our
team, Dirty Frogs, is set for the season. For this competition, it will be six
days of continuous off-roading with a lot of tough challenges and vehicle
breakdowns, which make it unlike any other off-roading competition in the
country.”
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RFC India is the India Chapter of the Rainforest Challenge of
Malaysia, which is the third of the ‘Five Toughest Off-Road Races in the World’
by Skoda Motorsport (2018). Today, RFC India is counted amongst the top two RFC
Global events out of the 45 editions held across 22 countries and it enjoys a
cult following in the Indian and international off-roading community.
Ibrahim Firaz Shaikh from Vasco da Gama was brought up in Dubai,
where he enjoyed desert safaris. Back in Goa, off-roading turned into his
passion. He has been off-roading for over seven years and has participated in
competitions all over India. He and his co-driver Imran Garag won in the 1611
to 3010 CC Petrol Class at the RFC last year and he has all plans to outdo his
performance this season. His vehicle has been completely assembled with various
parts from cars and even a tractor. “For this competitive season, my vehicle
has the steering wheel from a tractor, the engine is from an Accord engine and
the heard box is a Ford gear box. The vehicle is completely customized. I have
a Mahindra Thar and a Maruti Suzuki Gypsy but this vehicle is ready for the
season,” says Shaikh.
He participates in nearly 15 events through the year which
improves his skills. This will be his third attempt at RFC India. “The moment
one edition of RFC India gets over, I start thinking how to upgrade my vehicle
to improve the performance next year and how to tackle different challenges
better,” says Shaikh, who calls his team, Sparatans.
Chandor-based Dattaraj Raut Dessai, doesn’t interact much with
people but leave him along with car enthusiasts and he is a completely
different person. He doesn’t participate in single-day events as he likes to be
tested. He is next aiming for the JK Tyre Orange 4×4 Fury competition at Dambuk
in Arunachal Pradesh. “I have a close-knit circle of friends and wait for this
one week when I can interact with fellow RFC India participants, marshals and
organizers. In the last race, my vehicle gave me big issues and I could
complete only nine out of the 26 stages. This year, I got the vehicle
completely modified two months ago by Jaskirat Nagra of Sarbloh Customs,
Mohali, who is the best in the field. He researched for almost two years and
has modeled his Mahindra Thar on the lines of Rainforest Challenge of
Malaysia,” says Raut Desai, a realtor.
Tejas
Shindolkar, a Margao-based businessman, is returning to the off-roading scene
after a break of nearly three years. After accompanying his friend, Pushkar
Audi in the beginning of his off-roading days, Tejas has been confident of
participating since 2012. He is part of the Western India Off-road Club (WIOC)
which participated in various competitions in India. “What I love about this
sport is the challenges of the track. We have to make strategic changes and
adapt at that moment to the track and every year, the track gets more
difficult. Also, the off-roading community is now a big family. It is like an
annual reunion of old friends who are based all over the country. It is an
expensive passion with the craze is something different,” says Shindolkar.
