By Jacob Ajom
To the average Nigerian kid, car racing remains an event only seen on television. The kids are excited by the speedy objects they see on the television screen race through the tracks with unimaginable speed. We are told the speed of a racing car could be as high as 230 kilometers per hour; almost as fast as a plane. Parents dread it and, perhaps, the last thing they would wish their children take to.

Despite this general dislike and fear for motorsport in Nigeria, one man stood out and forged ahead like a lone ranger. Abdulraheem Olu Agunbiade is the President of the Automobile Sports Club of Nigeria. His office is based at the Ikota Shopping Complex in Ajah. When he started motorsport in Nigeria in the early 1990s, Agunbiade’s office was at the Tafawa Balewa Square, near Club Arcade.

Ovie Iroro

He had Karts that were put on rent. He ran the place like a commercial outfit where parents come with their kids, rent the miniature kart cars for their kids to ride on. From that humble beginning, he began running competitions and formed the Automobile Sports Club of Nigeria. In 2010, Agunbiade organised one of those competitions and an ambitious lad, by name Ovie Iroro won the race. Ever since, it has been forward ever for Ovie.

He has maintained unbeatable progress and has remained a shining star in motorsport. He is a stickler for excellence and a racing giant in his own right. His skill and unbeatable prowess has distinguished him and made him a reference point in the field of car racing.

In his words; “I have always been interested in motorsport and driving fast since I was young and I learnt how to drive as soon as I was tall enough to do so. I only took it seriously when I won my first ever Go-kart race, it was against my friends but they had all done it before, and I sensed I had it in me.  I beat more than a hundred people from the qualifying stages down to the final race. That was the first time I had ever made any money on my own or won any high profile competition so I felt really good and I knew I had to take racing much farther.”

And that is what the young driver has done. Ovie who is currently a Mechanical Engineering student of the University of London participated in and won the prestigious Red Bull Karting championship in 2010, in 2012 he emerged the Best Rookie in the Rye House Club championship and just last year he participated in the British University Karting championship.

The 2014 season was indeed a very busy one for Ovie as he also participated in the Formula Renault BARC Championship where he had a testing anf training programme with the racing team.

He also took part in the F1A Young Drivers Academy race in South Africa, where he represented Nigeria. His best race was perhaps, the MSA Formula Ford Championship UK which was his debut race and he achieved one of the top 10 finishes.

In Nigeria during the week, the young driver called for support from corporate Nigeria in order to aid him achieve his life dream of taking part in a Formula 1 race. “I want to progress to the next level and ultimately to Formula 1. But I need the support of corporate bodies and well meaning Nigerians. Motorsport is capital intensive and that is my biggest challenge,” Ovie, who is the first Nigerian to take part the Formula Ford championship told the press in Lagos during the week.

Asked how he combines education and motosport, Ovie said, “what I am studying at school gives me a better understanding of the cars I drive. So you can see that studies and car racing complements each other.”

He said his inquisitive nature enhanced his ability to understand the nuances of motorsport when he arrived Britain. “I am a fast learner and I am a very inquisitive person. I had my learning period after initial trials and failures but I was able to catch up fast. That helped me a lot.”