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The driving force

PHOTO: VIPIN CHANDRAN

NEW KIDS Clint and Clive Wilfred with the new DDL Sports Team

As the lovely Ukrainian fire dancer Yuvi lit up the stage with her exotic stuff, racing star Joseph Chirakkekaran said, almost breathlessly, it all looks like a dream.

With laser lights, foreign dancers, cine stars and glamorous models in action, the launch of DDL Sports, Kerala’ s new rally team, turned out to be a high profile affair at the Taj Gateway the other night. One that motor sport has not seen in a long, long time.

Clint Martel Wilfred, the Chairman of the UAE-based Cee Cee Holding which owns DDL Sports, is a man who thinks big. “I want to raise the profile of motor sport here, I want to see people following our team closely,” said the 30-year-old who hails from the city.

“I’d love to take a hundred youngsters from Kerala in a bus to cheer our team at the National Championship rallies. I want to make it a very colourful affair.”

Clint, and his younger brother Clive Wilfred, had been crazy about fast and flashy cars since Clint first drove a gypsy as a little boy. They had been to racing and rally schools in Finland and England and had test-driven many fast cars. But the family was always against the young boys competing in motor sport. The risk was too big.

The Wilfred family has been a patron of sports for a long time. “My dad, Thomas Wilfred who passed away last year, used to sponsor football and volleyball tournaments for a long time,” said Clint. “Our new venture, DDL Sports, which will organise and promote sport in Kerala, and the rally team are just a continuation of my father’s dream.”

There are no big names in DDL Sports rally team which comprises a Baleno, an Esteem and a Gypsy, all Maruti Suzuki vehicles. In fact, the three drivers Joseph Chirakkekaran, C. Bobby Jose and K. J. Francis, all from Thrissur, are closely related.

“I used to do autocross events in Panangad, I’ve just done one National rally so it’s a big dream for me to drive for the team,” said Joseph, who will be driving a Baleno. His brother Bobby will be in action in a Gypsy and his cousin Francis will be pushing the Esteem.

The team was selected in Dubai last year. “We took five drivers to Dubai and tried them out in different cars. And we finally selected these three,” said Clint. “They are not big names but we want to groom them. I don’t have big goals for them in the first two rallies, they can have fun, but after that the rules and goals will come in.”

O. G. Sunil, who lit up the national circuit with his daredevil driving more than a decade ago, was very impressed with the team’s colourful launch. “I’ve not seen anything like this in a long time, it’s very good for Kerala motorsport. But I think they should have a stronger team,” he said. “And I feel the drivers should be sent to the UK for some crash course before the National Championship. Even a short course, say a week or so, will do wonders to your driving, teach you how to handle the turns, how to drive in the slush. Most of our drivers go for the brakes when it comes to slush, that should not be the case. It will improve your driving by some 30 per cent.”

Clint is open to suggestions. “We are a new team, an amateur team, we will be learning with each round, listening to experts,” he said.

When DDL Sports lines up alongside the big guns, Chennai’s Team MRF and Bangalore’s Red Rooster Racing, Kerala will be watching its own little team very closely.

And as motor sport buffs soak in the experience, there will be plenty of lessons for everybody.

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