Nissan springs back from deep slumber

While other local major automobile manufacturers find themselves in a frenzy of activities in trying to protect their share in the still recovering local automotive market, Nissan Motors Philippines, after having gone through what appeared to be a long and deep slumber, springs back to life with a twin barrel of events last week.

First was their well-attended and highly successful launch of the X-Trail, when Nissan formally threw its hat into the local automotive market’s arena for compact SUVs. The NBC Tent at the Fort was filled to the brim with dealers, the motoring media and other friends of Nissan including the friendly competitors who were admittedly curious to see up close Nissan’s latest market offering after being silent for quite a while.

Then came two days after, its X-Trail media test drive where a whole slew of brand new X-Trails were freely released to the motoring media for its journalists to use and abuse in order for us to feel for ourselves the vehicle’s combined rugged and refined features that Raymond Tribdino, who now presently handles NMPI’s corporate communications and media affairs, confidently feels we would never find wanting.

For the test drive to be a real test drive and not just an excuse to partake of good food and fine drinks, a route was designed to allow the motoring journalists to drive the X-Trail hard through different road surfaces and fortunate for Nissan, also through different weather conditions.

The first stage of the test drive took us from the Nissan Plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna all the way to the back roads of Canlubang and on to Tagaytay City — a combination of concrete, asphalt, tarmac, gravel and rough roads, which were both flat and inclined, most perfect to test the X-Trail’s engine and suspension performance in determining its power capabilities, maneuverability and handling.

Now, right after a hearty lunch at the Chateau Royal in Tagaytay, all the X-Trails were brought to a specially designed and prepared track, just by the entrance to the Evercrest Golf Club and Resort, where motoring journalists subjected the X-Trail to various challenging driving conditions, which included muddy terrain and a pool of water to approximate almost real adverse off-road conditions.

There should have been other activities lined up for the media guys back at the Chateau Royal after the off-road track test, like paint ball shooting, which I was so tempted to join but I had to stop myself due to the heavy rains that started to pour. But the heavy downpour proved to be a blessing for Nissan as again we were able to test the mettle of the X-Trail driving through pouring rain and a whole lot of water and mud pools that we encountered on our way to Caylabne, in Ternate, Cavite our final destination for our rest for the night.

But it proved to be a real long day for the media when a little after a sumptuous dinner at the El Patio we were advised that more merriment and more food and drinks await us at the Marina Bar. There we were joined by our good friend Val de Leon, who now heads Nissan’s corporate planning group and Nissan’s new president for its Philippine operations Mr. Leman Lee, who proved to be very friendly gamely opening the sing-a-long segment of the merry making that night.

Considering that part of the first stage of the test drive required us to answer some questions found in the route book given just before each vehicle was flagged off at 3-minute intervals and a disposable camera for us to use to compose pictures relative to our answer to the questions, we looked forward for the awarding of prizes for this sort of competition.

Well, as I expected the award of having composed and shot a picture that said a thousand words went to the group that included top-notched motoring photo-journalist, Anjo Perez of the Bulletin with Popong Andolong, motoring editor of Today and Erle Sebastian, columnist of the same paper and regular writer for the TV show Motoring Today, as team members.

Our Motoring Today/Auto Focus Team got an award for having arrived first at the finish line after effortlessly following the route book and answering all its questions and I got the special award for having produced the biggest splash when I wantonly drove the X-Trail through the pool of water at the specially designed off-road track.

At the end of the day all of the motoring journalists gave the X-Trail the passing mark, with most giving it flying colors. What a way for Nissan to spring back after a long and deep slumber.

Congratulations to Nissan Motor Philippines!

Pit Lane Notes

Jaguar accomplished last week what they’ve been meaning to do several races ago: sack driver Antonio Pizzonia. They were fortunate to have found a proficient and capable replacement so soon. Guess who? Minardi’s Justin Wilson will join another former Minardi driver Mark Webber for the rest of the season. As for the Malaysian team, they have hired the services of Nicolas Kiesa to replace Wilson. According to Jaguar, Pizzonia did not perform to expectations for the past 11 races. They, however, offered him a spot as their test driver — a proposition the young Brazilian driver decided to reject. He claimed that his sacking came as a complete shock because, in his opinion, he has steadily improved in the past couple of races. Why he doesn’t realize that his zero-point output has been completely outclassed by teammate Mark Webber’s 7 is a mystery.

In line with jumping-ship stories around the league, Renault’s technical director Mike Gascoyne is being rumored to have been in close contact with Toyota. Close enough, in fact, to be pirated. This is a rumor that Team Renault has vehemently denied, and said that it was Toyota test driver Allan McNish who started the rumors when he said that his team was very interested in getting Gascoyne’s services. Managing director Flavio Briatore shared with the press that Gascoyne was "100% focused on the (Renault) team". When Mike himself was asked, he denied rumors that he was going anywhere as of the moment. He, however, was evasive on answering where he might be in the future.

The British Grand Prix was a very memorable race. For those who watched it, I highly doubt if it will be a race they will soon forget. McLaren’s David Coulthard said he was inches to killing both himself and the man who suddenly ran into the track in the middle of the race. Security must be tightened in the coming races to ensure that this incident does not happen again. It’s dangerous enough to cross in the streets of Manila — what more the Silverstone racetrack.

The German Grand Prix is fast approaching, and you can be sure that Ferrari ace driver Michael Schumacher has long marked his calendar for the event. Schumi has always done well on the Hockenheim track, his runs no doubt fuelled by the screaming home fans on the stands. He would have to wait for just several more days.

Motoring Tip of the Week

When you find your vehicle "oscillating" or its tail either going left or to the other direction, especially after coming from a turn, which you may have taken at a faster than normal speed, the best reaction is not to step on the break but to try to correct your vehicle’s trajectory. You can safely do this by steering to the right when your vehicle’s tail is going towards the right and to the opposite direction if your vehicle’s tail fades to the left. If you try to correct your vehicle’s course the other way, it would most likely spin.

But to avoid this situation all together, always take a turn at reduced speed and power out of it. The basic racing rule in taking a turn is, "Slow in, power out".

Happy Motoring!!!

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