Drifting With Toyo T

Do you think the new motorsport of drifting is becoming stale or has reached a state of doldrums in the Philippines? Heck no! My friends we are still at ground zero even if there are a few dozen hopeful enthusiasts out there. A few weeks ago I flew to Shanghai, China not for Formula 1 but for the very first Toyo Drift Competition at the Tianma Circuit in the Songjiang district. The Tianma Circuit is a Formula 3 certified track that is 2.063 km in length, with a width of up to 14 meters, and a total of 14 turns constituting eight left and six right bends.

Established in Japan in 1945, Toyo Tires has been around for 61 years manufacturing and innovating tire technology for the world market. However exceptional Toyo tires are, the company for all these years had focused their efforts primarily into engineering their products and left marketing to their individual dealer network, hence the reason why the brand isn’t a household name — which is unfortunate. One such dealer that has been holding the torch proudly since 1965 is the Filipino Armstrong Enterprises Company Incorporated, the local distributors of Toyo Tires in the Philippines. I was fortunate to fly in to Shanghai with them since the dealer conference coincided with the Toyo Drifting Competition. While they toiled with corporate matters I and a Malaysian colleague Murali Chandrasegaran, the only international press attending, covered the competition.

This was Toyo Tires and China’s first Drift racing competition on an international level. Preparation for the race took six months for both Toyo and the teams. The two types of race events were the single car race for time and two car race for time, obviously style and precision were paramount. The participating teams from Southeast Asia and East Asia included Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. Each team brought their own cars, equipment, mechanics, technical crew, and for a couple, their own promo girls even. The race featured 16 of the very best drifters from each country. Their heavily modified cars, one Nissan SX driven by Japanese D1 Champion A. Kuroi produced over 700bhp which didn’t stop burning out from start to finish, transformed the entire circuit into a foggy winter day with smoke from their Proxes R1R tires, the featured top ultra-high performance tire of Toyo known for their high speed ability, excellent handling characteristics, stable steering response and tenacity. Also featured was the Nissan 350Z which was featured in the movie "The Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift", only Toyo tires were used and showcased in the movie.

What does this mean to us Filipinos? Besides our renewed awareness to the Toyo Brand and their exceptional tires until now known more for their 18" to 26" tire applications, and in keeping with Toyo Tires’ new global marketing initiative, Toyo Philippines is looking for a Filipino Team that can compete in the 2nd Toyo Drift Competition next year!

Editor’s Note: The author, editor-in-chief of EVO Philippines, graciously volunteered coverage on the Toyo Drift Competition to The Philippine STAR in recognition of what he says are the more "progressive readers" of any motoring section. If you enjoy such stories and are interested in the world of tuner cars, do let us know. We might just take you up and focus more on such stories. Our thanks to Mr. Limjoco for the kind gesture — and the salute to our readers.