Feathering the Throttle to Batangas

Isuzu Philippines Corporation (IPC) capped its exciting activities for 2003 with the finals of the Isuzu Challenge last November 29 and 30 at San Juan, Batangas. The economy drive and sports activity pitted the winners of this year’s Isuzu Challenge legs in Cebu, Bacolod and Isabela along with some newcomers for the honor of defending their records or breaking their previous ones. The contest was swamped with 52 contestants vying for economy drive records for the 119.6-kilometer trip from Fort Bonifacio in Taguig to the Shell station in San Juan, Batangas.

My team mate, Vernon Sarne, motoring editor of The Manila Times and editor-in-chief of Rev Magazine advised me to be at the Fort Bonifacio starting grounds by 5:00 am so we could be one of the early registrants and that we could be flagged-off early. With him as the driver and your truly as the navigator, we would try to break our previous fuel efficiency record of 30.37 kilometers per liter that we established in Cebu using an Isuzu Crosswind with automatic transmission.

Before dawn of that chilly Saturday morning, Vernon and I arrived at the site as agreed but found it already swarmed by contestants who came as early as 4:00 am. We met up with Timmy Naval, IPC’s PR manager as she queued up her personal Aztec Gold Crosswind XUVi for a full tank of Shell Diesel. She graciously lent us her automatic transmission-equipped vehicle for the contest and it was registered in the entry sheets as Vehicle No. 1.

We did our pre-competition checks (tire pressures, general vehicle condition, etc.) and our magic incantations on the XUVi and lined it up at the starting grid. We ate breakfast as we waited to be summoned to the briefing tent and be sent on our way. We waited and waited...and waited. Vernon, who had no sleep because he had to finish his work at the newspaper, napped a little while waiting. When he awoke by 8:00 am, he was disappointed that we were still not being dispatched. Finally, after much wrangling and rumbling with IPC officers and the organizers, we were flagged-off to start our drive at 8:07 am.

Vernon felt, and I agreed with him, that our late take-off diminished our chances of breaking our previous record. We lost the advantages of having a colder, denser air and a lighter traffic had we been flagged-off earlier. Encountering heavy traffic at the South Super Highway after the Bicutan exit and a long toll queue at the Canlubang exit, our confidence on our winning prospectus was being chewed bit by bit. But being the trooper (no pun intended) that we are, we soldiered on to Batangas.

Heavy traffic greeted us on the road to Lipa due to drivers rubber-necking a crumpled yellow sedan that was involved in a recent crash. Vernon tried his best to get the most out of the situation, but the obstacles we had faced had convinced us that we wouldn’t be breaking any records during this race. We regrouped our efforts towards finishing first in our category, and Vernon continued pussy-footing the gas pedal even when the vehicles behind us blasted us with their horns to prompt us to go faster.

Apparently, our hearts weren’t in the competition anymore by the time we got to Lipa because we started talking about life in general instead of concentrating on the road map, the tachometer and the topography. I missed out on a left turn near the Makro wholesale superstore and we had to retrace our trail by at least two kilometers to get back to the turn. I half expected Vernon to holler at me for missing the turn, but he kept his cool and just told me to concentrate.

By 12:14, we arrived at the finish line at a Shell station in Batangas. The marshals stripped off the sticker covering the fuel door flap and the gas attendant pumped gas carefully until the tank got filled up. Vernon and I watched carefully as the gas pump rolled its numbers and stopped at 5.017 liters. With the distance totaling 119.6 kilometers and an average speed of 29.05kph, our economy drive netted us 23.5851 kilometers to a liter, way below our established record.

We eventually had to settle for second place as another Crosswind A/T driven by the Isuzu dealer team of Ray Domingo and Jhiegie Domingo topped our category with a consumption of 4.628 liters and a fuel efficiency of 25.8427 kilometers per liter. Jeff Reyes of The Philippine STAR and Aris Ilagan of Manila Bulletin landed in third place with a consumption of 5.701 liters and a fuel efficiency of 20.9788 kilometers per liter.

The only record broken that day was done by the team of Michael and Patrick Gutierrez whose Isuzu Fuego pick-up consumed only 2.465 liters to chalk up 48.5193 kilometers per liter. Their feat broke the previous Fuego fuel efficiency record of 47.46 k/l and netted them an additional cash prize on top of being the first in the Fuego category.

After the e-drive, the participants were pitted against each other in fun-filled games and sports activities at the Laiya Beach Resort while others did some swimming or sunned themselves on the beach. The event was capped by a beach party were the winners reveled and everybody danced to the beat of a live band. It was a fitting end to cap Isuzu’s challenging year.