Breaking Records in Cebu

MANDAUE, Cebu – Chalk this one up for Ripley’s: Only 1.07 liters of Shell Diesoline Ultra was used to run 89.3 kilometers in an unmodified Isuzu Crosswind XTO with a 5-speed manual transmission driven by the team of Anjo Perez of the Manila Bulletin and Erle Sebastian of Today during the Cebu leg of the Isuzu Challenge 2003 last Feb. 8. This translates to an astounding fuel mileage of 83.46 kilometers per liter, shattering the previous record of 36.48 km/l set in the 2002 Isuzu Challenge by more than double.

Unbelievable? I’d be thinking that way too if not for the fact that I was part of a team that broke another record. I was the navigator while Vernon Sarne of Rev magazine did the driving in our Crosswind XUV with an automatic transmission, which consumed 2.94 liters running the same distance. Though modest by comparison to the Crosswind M/T record, our effort returned a mileage of 30.37 km/l breaking the previous Crosswind A/T record of 26.01 km/l.

Meanwhile, the lone Isuzu Trooper with a manual transmission (and four-wheel-drive system, no less!) driven by a team composed of Isuzu Mandaue customers Samuel Ong and Roland Chuang turned in a mileage of 52.22 k/l from a consumption of 1.71 liters. Their achievement wrote a new category (Trooper M/T 4X4) since the existing 2002 record of 33.18 k/l was set using a Trooper A/T 4X2.

Even the folks from Isuzu Philippines Corporation (IPC) were struck with disbelief since they weren’t expecting any records to be broken. They thought that the different traffic conditions and hilly terrain of Cebu would not compare to the mostly downhill Alabang-Tagaytay-Batangas drive that the first Isuzu Challenge offered. Luckily, they invited Antonio Labios of the Department of Energy, Alan Mercado of the Automotive Service Association and Col. Vladimir Custer Kahulugan of the Regional Traffic Management (Region 7) to validate the results, which added valuable credibility to the contest.

Winning the contest was literally the icing on the cake. During the economy drive which started in the Isuzu Mandaue dealership, we were rewarded with sights and sounds that are native to Cebu. Centuries-old houses and churches, relaxing palm-lined vistas, zigzag roads that border the mountainside and the beaches, beautiful cebuanas and other distractions more than often lured me away from my navigation duties. The surrounding roadside views from Compostela to Catmon were dreamy in a tropical way. The municipal hall of Catmon served as our turn-around-point and the drive back was just as scenic.

It was scenic and pleasurable, although it was not really comfortable. We turned off the vehicle’s aircon to minimize parasitic load on the engine but kept the windows closed to lessen the wind drag which may hurt our fuel economy. It was warm and humid inside the vehicle but thankfully, the weather cooperated by hiding the sun behind some clouds during most of the run. We scanned the road ahead for traffic and similar obstructions (stop-and-go would increase our fuel consumption) and coasted towards stoplights in neutral hoping the lights would turn green by the time we got to the intersection. We would also coast on downhill sections of the route and use just enough torque at low engine speeds to carry us uphill. In short, we strutted, sputtered and sweated to squeeze the most mileage out of a liter of fuel.

I called Vernon’s attention when he would rev the engine beyond our agreed limit while he always reminded me to check, double check and triple check the surroundings and landmarks against the highly-detailed route book/map so we will not miss our checkpoints. We nearly missed our final and most important destination, the Shell station where they measured our vehicle’s fuel consumption, due to my sight-seeing distractions. But nevertheless, we got there without getting lost and with fuel consumption results that allowed us to top our category.

After getting our fuel consumption readings and having them validated, we proceeded to White Sands Resort in Maribago, Mactan for lunch and the sports and games portion of the Challenge. The participants were divided into several teams, which competed in volleyball, kayak and flag capture activities. The motoring journalists in our group (including yours truly) who have participated in the 2002 games decided to relax on the white sand beach of the adjoining resort where the games where held and admire the view instead. Sorry, I neglected to get the name of the adjoining resort since I was busy admiring the view (wink, wink).

After the games, the participants were collected back to White Sands where the awarding ceremonies were held. Looking at the faces of the participants, both media guests and customers alike, everybody had a fun and fantastic day. Chalk this one up for another successful Isuzu event.