Trikes have no place in the Hi-way

A Filipino who works in Japan has informed me that from time to time during breathers he digs into this column to keep him informed on the latest motoring news in his home country, through philstar.com, I suppose. He considers himself blessed having the opportunity to visit his family three times a year and make out-of-town trips every time. It is in these trips that made him decide to write something about the state of road travel within the country.

Mr. Tino Cabrera writes, "I relish those days more than 15 years ago when driving out north from Manila to Baguio was such a breeze. During those times, it would only take around four hours of continuous normal driving to reach Baguio in the daytime. Say, add one hour for lunchtime somewhere in Tarlac or Urdaneta and a visit to the johns or a fill-up in Rosario junction. But now, I am beginning to feel traveling time is gradually getting longer and longer. Our last trip to Baguio last year took me seven hours of nerve-wrecking journey. I understand more and more Filipinos are beginning to own cars and that means more and more vehicles are plying our national roads. But if you have well-conditioned cars and enough horsepower under the hood and with a good sense of overtaking maneuvers, you could make up some lost time. I also understand there are ‘detours’ and ‘under-construction’ conditions but these are not something to reckon with all the time. So there should be a culprit somewhere slowing down the traffic and I know what it is — tricycles!!!

You’re driving nicely along a straight highway at about 100 kph and suddenly you have to put on the brakes to slow down to 30 kph because there is this long queue of vehicles ahead of you. Is it a road construction ahead? A road accident perhaps? A town fiesta parade? No!!! It’s a pesky little tricycle leading the pack. And the reason why those vehicles behind it cannot overtake is because right on the opposite side there is also a pesky little tricycle leading another pack. And these pesky little tricycles do not even budge by taking on the gravel side road."

Mr. Cabrera echoes the feelings of most, if not all motorists, including this writer, who travel by road either north or south bound, regarding the soundness of travel management in our highways. Thank God they are strictly banned from the expressways.

Two weeks ago, on a trip to the north for our yearly family pilgrimage to Our Lady of Manaoag, I again realized why our trade and commerce might also be in such a snail’s pace. These tricycles, that are illegally allowed to run in the highways, tremendously slow down the transport of people and goods within the country through our road networks, which, by the way, is also in a not-so-ideal state. But then, that’s another story altogether.

These tricycles are not allowed by law to travel along the highway. What is our law enforcement agency in charge of managing traffic in the highways doing about its illegal presence? What are the local governments doing to keep the highway within their jurisdiction safe by making it tricycle free?

Names change but high-level quality stays

The NBC Tent at the Fort was almost filled to the brim during the highly successful launch of two top selling diesel engine oils in the Philippine market.

In its aim to highlight the product upgrade and reinforce the leadership of the Delo brand, Caltex (Philippines), Inc., a Chevron Texaco company, announced during the affair that Delo 500 will henceforth be known as Delo Gold, and to clearly show the hierarchy within the product line, Delo 200 will be known as Delo Silver.

I had a short chat with the very accommodating general manager of Caltex Lubricants Sales and Marketing, Steven Mulvaney, and in our conversation he emphasized that, "Caltex is committed to developing better quality products using advanced technologies to cope with ever-changing market demands in the Philippines. We continue to upgrade the market-leading Delo line of diesel engine oils, which has gained the appreciation and trust of Filipino drivers for its reliability and performance. On-going product development will provide greater consumer benefits."

In the same chit-chat, Jojo Sacdalan, marketing manager, lubricants sales & marketing, appraised us that the Delo Gold Multigrade is suitable for Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), 4x4s and pick-ups to include fleets of heavy-duty trucks, buses and construction machinery, while the Delo Silver is best for commercial vehicles such as jeepneys, Asian Utility Vehicles (AUVs), Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs), trucks and buses.

Motoring journalists together with executives from car manufacturers that use Caltex lubricants and other business partners of Caltex Philippines formed the greater part of the guest list of the highly secured event, where invitations must be shown at the gate in order to gain entrance.

Top-notch entertainment was afforded the guests with no less than the country’s current top songbird, Regine Velasquez and well-loved male vocalist Ogie Alcacid hugging the stage to the appreciative applause of the audience.

Formula 1 Pit Lane Notes

With Kimi Raikkonen still ahead in points in the drivers championship, the McLaren-Mercedes Team sees brighter times ahead after a successful testing of the MP4-18, their new 2003 Formula One challenger last Wednesday, May 21 at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. Despite lingering five seconds off the pace set by Kimi in the old car, McLaren International Director Martin Whitmarsh was heard saying, "We are very confident from the analysis and simulation we have already done that the car will definitely be quick." The MP4-18 incorporates a number of visible differences from its predecessor, including a shorter and lower nose, a more tightly packaged rear and a slight dorsal fin shaping to the engine cover. In addition, the new Mercedes-Benz engine, the FO 11OP V10, has been lowered within the car, producing center of gravity benefits.

It appears that everything is not well in the Williams-BMW F1 Team paddock. Word has it that its technical director, Patrick Head has criticized individuals at engine partners BMW for "trying to rattle our cage in the press" after an unimpressive start in the season. In the face of the Williams-BMW team not winning a race since March 2002, finishing on the podium just once this year when Juan Pablo Montoya came second in Australia, Head has been quoted as saying, "I am mildly disappointed in terms of individuals at BMW who think they can achieve anything through trying to rattle our cage in the press. It shows their limitations and it is a bit sad."

Mark Webber was also reported to be heard saying in the paddocks that he believes "it will be another few years yet before his Jaguar Racing Team will be ready to challenge the top three outfits for podium places", this despite putting in some impressive performances so far this season. He anticipates another year or two of hard toil and added that, "The work that I put in there will hopefully be fruitful next year and then in 2005 will be when we are at our strongest."

Ferrari officials have finally announced the findings of their investigations into the pit lane fire that occurred during Michael Schumacher’s first pit stop during the Austrian Grand Prix tracing it to a damaged hose seal. It appeared that a small amount of fuel remained in the breather hose of the rig during the previous pit stop of Rubens Barrichello and due to the damaged seal on the breather nose, "the fuel left inside was able to escape onto the exhausts, thus starting a fire."

The playground of the rich and the famous will be this Sunday’s glitzy venue of the 2003 World Formula One Series for the Monaco Grand Prix, where the end all for most drivers is getting the pole and praying for the car’s reliability to finish the race.

Nicky’s up the GM ladder

We congratulate Nicky Mariano for his promotion in General Motors Automobiles Philippines to being the top marketing honcho of this American world auto giant’s representative office in the country. For many, if not all motoring journalists, Nicky has toiled hard and is very deserving of his new stature. Consequently we welcome Bobby Shaw, who is now "saddled" with the task of taking care of the so-called "pampered" motoring journalists. But Nicky insists that, if need be, just like before, he will always be there personally to take care of the media’s needs.

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