Racing for the Environment: Petron E10 Premium Run

I have raced in a lot of motor sports competitions ever since I’ve had my driver’s license. I’ve competed in drag racing, street racing, slalom, rally cross, circuit racing, off-road, and karting. I’ve gone racing on two wheels and four and I’ve raced for speed as well as for fuel economy often finishing on the podium. But I’ve never raced for the environment. Not until now…

Last September 17, Petron Corporation and ADBM Resources invited several members of the local media including yours truly and my driving partner, Dino Directo III of Manila Standard Today, to compete in the Petron E10 Premium Run, which was also tagged as the Petron E10 Premium Green Cannonball Run. The E10 Premium Run, which was divided into four legs, started at the Petron Square at Macapagal Avenue where most participants, including the drivers, teams and the organizers had a filling breakfast at the Café de Lipa at the gas station.

Bull Run

The First Leg was a bull run where we had to drive from the Petron Square Macapagal to Petron NLEX Marilao in Bulacan as fast and as safe as we could. It was up to the teams to decide which route to take and it was also the teams’ responsibility if they get apprehended for speeding or unsafe driving. At a quarter before 10AM, the participants were flagged off in a Le Mans-style start where the teams had to run to their cars. My co-driver Dino had cleverly placed our car, a silver Nissan Sentra GSX 1.6, at the entrance of the gas station and after we strapped our selves in our seats, we were the first off the line.

However, the Toyota Altis of Team Gadgets Magazine composed of Val Villamar and John Nieves and the Nissan Serena of Team Stoplight TV with Eggay Quesada driving took the same route as we did and we were racing on EDSA and jockeying for position among the unruly buses, post-rush hour commuters and other road users. We were able to leave the Nissan Serena behind after SM Megamall while we passed the Toyota Altis after SM City North EDSA to take the lead going into the North Luzon Expressway. Dino and I won the first leg, taking roughly 36 minutes to cover the distance with the regular EDSA mid-morning traffic and without any MMDA traffic enforcer chasing us to the marshals’ desk.

On Time, All the Time

After logging in, we took a short break and at exactly 10:30:00AM we were flagged off for the Second Leg where we drove from the Petron Marilao station to the Petron Lakeshore station in a Sampaguita Rally “On Time, All the Time”-type run. Our objective was to run the 50-kilometer distance between the two Petron stations in exactly 40 minutes and arriving early or late would mean demerit points for every second. This was one of those days when I wished I wore my Casio G-Shock with a stopwatch and timer that Toyota gave to media men last year but unfortunately, I didn’t and neither did Dino.

Dino and I arrived at the marshal’s post at Petron Lakeshore at exactly 11:09:37 or 23 seconds too early. We landed in third place, which was still good enough, and Ron delos Reyes of Team Auto Review won this leg, arriving within 5 seconds of the required time. Thankfully, lunch was a delicious feast at the Razon’s Restaurant located at the station.

Speed Gun Test and Mickey Mouse Rally

The Third Leg required us to drive from the Petron Lakeshore station to the Tipo entrance of the Subic Bay SBMA zone traversing the new Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX). The catch was that we had to maintain our vehicles’ speeds at exactly 100kph, the legal speed limit, and this will be captured by the highway patrol’s speed gun. Our team was gunned doing 96 kilometers but with a 7kph-factor, we exceeded the limit at 103kph and got us a 20-point demerit.

Luckily, the Fourth Leg was the Navigator’s Run, a Tulip-style rally where we had to follow directions written on a road book that was handed to us at the start of the leg. With Subic’s many forest roads, many participants eventually became lost but our team had a good run on the route which looked like Mickey Mouse’s head when viewed from above. After all the participants reached the final destination, the Lighthouse Marina Hotel, and logged in with the marshals, we went up to our rooms and waited for the dinner cum awards night at about 8PM.

First Place Winner

Dino and I expected to be among the top three finishers especially when we were each given our prize, two Petron Fuel Cards pre-loaded with P1,000 per card for topping the First Leg. But we were delighted to be declared as the overall winner of the 2008 Petron E10 Premium Run with a total 65 points. We both received another Petron Fuel Card with P15,000 loaded into it while Team Gadgets came in second with 62 points. Dino, who was my riding partner in the 2005-2006 Yamaha Pan ASEAN Touring series, said that his story will headline “Pan ASEAN Duo Tops Petron Run”. Indeed, to the winners go the spoils as well as the bragging rights.

Aside from the prizes, we found that just by using Petron E10 Premium on our fuel-injected cars, we are already winners. The higher octane rating of the fuel helps increase the power output of the engine while the 10 percent fuel grade Ethanol helps decrease carbon monoxide emissions resulting in cleaner exhaust emissions. At a P2.00 lower price than other fuel blends, we get tremendous savings as well. Kudos, Petron!