Rocking (and rolling) in the City

When Honda executives from Japan first heard of their local counterparts’ plan to use the Honda City for the Honda Media Challenge dirt trial series in 1998, they were shocked.

Their concern was understandable. The entry-level compact sedan was not designed for racing. Although it had passed the usual battery of safety and durability tests, it was never field-tested in actual racing conditions, let alone driven on a dirt track by four dozen journalists.

But three consecutive years of incident-free Media Challenges have seen the car pass with flying colors. Which led Honda Cars Philippines to believe that the City – and some journalist/racers – were ready to take on the next challenge: a full-on six-stage rally on dirt roads that snake up and down the mountains of Tanay, Rizal all the way to Infanta, Quezon.

This time there will be no orange pylons, no course markers, and no 50-kph average speeds. It will be just the car, the driver, his navigator, and speeds that could reach as high as 130 kph and rarely drop below 60 kph.

The course? A slippery gravel road with a mountain face on one side and a cliff on the other.

The date? June 9, 2001.

Spectators were but a handful of construction people working on the road. The rest of the participants waited at the end of each stage or in the service park. Rallies are basically time trial events with each car flagged off at two-minute intervals in each special stage (SS). Out of 16 cars that competed, two of which were fearsome 4WD turbo Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and a rally-spec Toyota Celica. Four were stock Honda City cars competing in the Media Rally Sprint.

I was assigned to drive stages 4 and 5 of the rally’s six special stages. After the first three stages, our team (Team Red composed of Butch Gamboa of Motoring Today, Milo Cacanindin of ABS-CBN, and navigator Ronnie Romero of Business World) was trailing the other three media teams in cumulative times. Team White, which was anchored on the superb driving of Manila Bulletin’s Anjo Perez, was leading Team Black, the second placer, by more than 30 seconds and our team by 2 1/2 minutes.

In the 14-km uphill SS 4, I managed to drive our car to 2nd place, seven seconds behind Team Black’s Andy Leuterio of Gadgets Magazine. In the reverse downhill SS 5, navigator Ronnie Romero and I were making good time and were just less than a kilomter from the finish when the back end of the car fishtailed as I entered the third-to-the-last corner, a sweeping left bordered by a vertical mountain face on the right and a gently sloping hill on the left.

I tried to correct the car with the steering but the rear end won the battle and swung almost 180 degrees to the right, taking us right smack into the hillside. The car’s right front corner smashed into the hill after which the still-sliding car broadsided the slope, causing it to topple over, turn turtle twice, and land on its side.

End of rally.

To this day, Ronnie and I still don’t know how the car ended up facing the right direction when it first broadsided the hill facing the wrong direction.

What happened?

I came in a wee bit too fast (perhaps 80 kph when 70 kph would have been the maximum corner speed uner the circumstances) and the sudden weight transfer of too-late heavy braking on a slippery gravel road upset the car’s balance as it was turning in. In other words, driver error. I should’ve braked two seconds earlier.

The whole accident lasted for less than 10 seconds. The initial impact when the front of the car hit the hill was not too jarring, thanks to the soft red soil that absorbed much of the energy. It was the incredible vertical g-force when the car toppled over that took our breaths away, much like a roller coaster that suddenly drops down, leaving your stomach in midair.

Fortunately, the car was fitted with a Nodalo’s rollcage which prevented the roof from caving in, and Sparco racing seats and Sabelt four-point safety belts that held us firmly in place.

Perhaps the most disorienting thing was when the car landed on its side. Resting on the window, the car was diagonally upside down. My window was smashed and broken bits of glass were raining on me. The windshield was shattered too. Luckily, our racing suits and helmets protected us. Amazingly, the engine was still running so I quickly switched off the ignition. I could not find anytihng to lean on as everything was tilted at a crazy angle.

The first thing that sprung from my lips was to ask Ronnie if he was okay. When he said yes, the second thing I said was, "I’m sorry."

I tried to push open my door upward but my left arm was hopeless against the full weight of the door. I wanted to release the buckle of my safety harness but co-driver Ronnie reminded me that I will fall on him! After what seemed like 15 minutes, but was probably less than five, help came.

The eerie silence was broken by voices shouting from everywhere but I couldn’t see anyone. Suddenly, my door opened from outside as hands and arms reached in to pull me, and then Ronnie, out. The mandatory Philippine Motoring Association ambulance arrived within minutes to give us a medical. We were shaken but okay, just like freshly tumbled-dried clothes.

And the Honda City? Had we landed right-side-up, we could’ve driven the last 600 meters to the finish, broken windows and all. The engine was running, the radiator and fuel tank weren’t even leaking, and all four wheels still pointed in the right direction. Even the tires were all fully inflated.

Aside from the broken glass, the hardy little car suffered two snapped side mirrors, a broken right headlamp and signal light, a cracked tailight, a crumpled hood and numerous dents on the fenders and doors, the most notable of which was a nasty dent on the portion of the roof above Ronnie’s head.

Team captain Jun Diaz of Activity Asia Association is confident that the car will be race-ready for the next round in Subic this Saturday, just three weeks after the rollover. Even more impressive, however, is Ronnie Romero’s decision to navigate for me again.

Now that’s courage!