For the first time in its history, a Goan team has won India’s biggest, toughest, and most prestigious off-road motorsport competition in India – the Rainforest Challenge (RFC).
Goan driver Cedrick Jordan DaSilva (42) and co-driver Mackwin Dias (38) were declared as RFC India 2023 champions after an intense week-long battle among some of India’s best off-roaders. The duo also emerged as the winners of the ‘Up to 1610 cc’ category.
Tributes have been pouring in from all quarters, praising the team’s achievement with even the Goa State Assembly passing a congratulatory motion in their honour.
As the top driver at RFC India 2023, Cedrick has won a free entry to the RFC Global Series 2023 Finale to be held in Malaysia at the end of the year.
Cedrick was quick to stress that the victory belongs to their entire team, named ‘Dirty Frog’, which also consists of Byron Dias (President), Vally Gracias (service team manager), and Gurinder Singh (mechanic).
“Every year, the competition is getting more and more difficult. This year also, it was a neck-to-neck fight till the penultimate day. However, whether we win or lose, it is the service team that goes through a lot and so winning the trophy is a big recognition of their skill, talent, and acumen,” said Cedrick.
Byron concurred and said it all came down to the hard work of the team, which took care of servicing and managing the vehicle as well as strategizing on how to best complete each round and not letting the obstacles overcome them.
“This is a long-awaited dream of being the champions at RFC India after our previous attempts. The vehicle was also in good shape. Whatever breakdowns we had were off track and not on the track. So, it was everybody, right from the service team, to the driver, co-driver, all was in perfect sync,” said Byron.
He added that it was their common passion for off-roading that got the team together.
While Cedrick has participated in all the editions, Byron has been with the team for the last three editions.
During the competition, the team had to keep a check on the dynamic scoring system, troublesome penalties, and how close their competition was after each day, while also keeping an eye on the hostile weather conditions or tricky terrains.
“Every day when we went to look at the track, we were initially quite stumped as they can make the easiest stage, the most difficult ones. They put heavy penalties if you do not go on the marked-out path. And every track has hurdles, sometimes you get out of the box and there is a hurdle immediately. So, we have to plan and make our strategy first. For how to get the vehicle out, where to move, and at what speed. There are a lot of calculations,” said Cedrick.
“At the same time, we have to count our timings. Some of the other teams come with fully equipped jeeps with better suspension. They do it in three minutes so we have to see how we can do it in 2 minutes. Plus, we have to avoid the penalties. Any silly mistake and we could have lost the championship. It keeps you on your toes. For example, you may be leading with 100 points for that stage but penalties could bring your scoring down if not careful,” he added.
Cedrick also shared anecdotes that captured the intensity and anxiety felt in key moments.
“I was on the top on Day 1 but the very next day, my winching rope snapped in one of the stages and my vehicle got stuck in a difficult position. So, I couldn’t go any further in that Stage and we were immediately 100 points down. In a competition where you are fighting for a lead of 10-20 points, losing so many points was a very big setback,” he recalled.
“It was a now-or-never kind of situation for us over the next three days. So, we put our foot down, planned our stages wisely, and tried various techniques to better our timings in the Stages. It was a very big struggle over the next three days to gradually come back to the top position,” Cedrick added.
He also elaborated on what made the difference this year.
“So, in Goa, it is not easy to find mechanics who can work on RFC spec vehicles to the high-quality levels of select mechanics from Punjab who have been doing this for years. So, for the last 8 years, I used to send my vehicle to these garages in Punjab and only get it back 5-10 days before the event,” Cedrick explained.
“But I never got the hang of the vehicle and within two-three days of practice, something would go wrong. So, I would always start from the 18th, or 19th position due to the vehicle breakdown and then work my way to the top 5 or so. This time, I decided to bring the mechanics down to Goa directly and my vehicle was ready a month and a half