Motorsport and the Philippines

It was almost a clean sweep for the Filipino drivers in the opening round of the 2006 Asian Formula 3 series. 18-yr old, Tyson Sy, managed an incredible triple crown, winning all three races, while rookie driver, Michelle Bumgarner, scored her first ever win in the promotional class on her very first race. The Filipino streak was only broken on the last race by Indonesian, Satrio Hermanto, who edged out JP Tuason and Gabby de la Merced for the top spot in the promotional class.

What a difference a level playing field can make. All of a sudden, our local boys and girls started to shine. This year, all competitors in the Asian Formula 3 series will be running the same engines, which will be raffled out at the start of every race weekend, while tires will be limited to 10 sets per car over a race weekend. It can no longer be said to be a battle of the budgets.

Despite starting from the back of the grid and clawing his way up in the opening race, there were points where it started to look a little too easy for Tyson Sy, as he led the last two races from pole and never looked back. But only those that shared his tears in the final round of the 05 championship last year in Batangas knew that this win was as tough as ever and victory was well deserved.

It also proved that given equal footing, our drivers can dice it out with the best of them and still shine. This doesn’t take anything away from our foreign drivers who all drove exceptional races — John O’hara climbing his way from the back to clinch second in the final race, while team mates, Dillon Battistini and James Winslow gave us a nail-biting battle from the start until the chequered flag, finishing second and third respectively in the second race. Then of course there was the brilliant drive from Satrio Hermanto that broke the dry spell for Indonesia, giving them their first win of the year in the promotions class.

But Tyson’s win doesn’t surprise me. Filipinos are naturally gifted behind the wheel and are not genetically handicapped, unlike in basketball where height is a clear advantage. We actually have the ideal physique and mindset. Our biggest handicap is support.

Take Indonesia as an example. Last year’s AF3 champion, Ananda Mikola, traveled with an entourage large enough to have made Imelda blush. This included senior politicians that attend most of Mikola’s races. A bit much, perhaps, but the following year he drove for his country in the world cup of motorsport, the A1 GP, alongside another AF3 champ, Australian driver, Christian Jones. He had put his country on the world map of motorsport with an estimated audience of almost 1 billion people. Their investment has started to pay off.

As soon as Tyson, Michelle, Gabby or Dado Peña start getting international recognition, you will see a line of fast food companies lining up to put a piece of chicken in their mouth to photograph them. They will be used to sell everything from land to vitamins to world peace. But honestly, that is when they will need the help the least. They need more people to come in now to develop the talent, not capitalize.

During the long commute home from BRC (Batanagas Racing Circuit) after the race, as I negotiated my way through the horrendous Lipa traffic feeling like I was going through turn 1 of BRC on the start of a race, Assistant Secretary for Sports Tourism and Wellness, Cynthia Carrion, shared a great idea she has been working on. She has been talking PAGCOR into re-investing some of the proceeds from the new Casinos that are planning to sprout up along the reclamation area in Manila and build a world class race track there that can generate sports tourism as well as provide a more central home for Philippine motorsports.

That is exactly the kind of thinking that will get us back on the fast lane.

Ask anyone that has driven home from a race in BRC and they’ll tell you that it is no coincidence that Lipa is a four-letter word. I have to admit, even as a bona fide car enthusiast myself, I cringe at thought of driving all the way down to BRC. If it is not for official coverage, I don’t bother. Now, put the racetrack somewhere central, and you’re bound to get some more bites. And not just from here but from overseas.

But the private industry cannot shoulder the costs alone. Somebody has got to kick things off. Business will only support if there are crowds, crowds will only come if there are venues, media will only continue to cover so long as something is happening. It’s a vicious circle. Who will make the first move? I hope its PAGCOR, because with the caliber of drivers we have started to produce, it would be a safe bet.

Whoa, this is getting tough. Some of you have problems and questions that are quite difficult to address, while others have us on our toes with the answers we actually research to provide. Here are some of them from last week.

I drive a 96 Honda Civic VTi. Can it run on ethanol blend as is or are there changes that need to be done on the engine? — 09179447751 (Our sources at Honda Cars Philippines say that the E10 formulation — 10% ethanol, 90% gasoline — is safe to use for your fuel-injected car.)

The full meaning of BMW in German is BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERK. (Thanks for the German translation — which we failed to provide last week. To be clear, though, we got this from the Wikipedia online encyclopedia — BMW [an abbreviation of Bayerische Motoren Werke or, in English, Bavarian Motor Works]. As you can see, both translations are correct — save for that little "e" at the end of the word "werke" in the German translation.) — 09193873016

BMW is not Bavarian Motor Works, its Bayerishe Motor Worke. My German is rusty. Same meaning but in German. — 09205348142 (Again, please check the answer above for the correct meaning and spelling of both correct translations of the abbreviation.)

Is there anything we can do to instill discipline to regulate reckless driving of motorcycles? — 09228871771 (Here’s a little secret — there are groups now that are working to put together programs to educate motorcycle riders on the proper use of their vehicles. Nothing final, as yet, but at least we know of an effort being put together already. We’ll keep you posted on the developments.)

I would like to remind the LTO to be strict in checking tail lights during registration of vehicles. I see lots of cars without tail lights on the road. — 09209604385

Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a "Backseat Driver", text PHILSTAR<space>FB<space>MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2840 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters.