He thinks it's not as safe - without saying it

One of the many perks the Philippine motoring journalists enjoyed during the recent Toyota Motor Philippines-hosted trip to Singapore for its first Formula One Grand Prix and the World Series’ first night-time race was an exclusive interview with Panasonic-Toyota F1 Racing Team’s lead driver Jarno Trulli.

Of course he was deluged with a barrage of sharp questions coming from the Philippine media contingent ranging from “what he usually eats to keep fit” coming from health buff and totally vegetarian Tessa Salazar to a direct “how much are you paid to race” question from Al “Sir Paul” Mendoza.

The answers to questions regarding the track and night racing were to me more telling about his true feelings about racing in Singapore, which is, “it’s not as safe as the other circuits and compounded further by being a night-time race.”

I think the loads of drama that unfolded during the race can bear witness to this personal observation. Those who were not lucky enough to make it to this milestone of a F1 race, but intently watched it on television shared the same observation. Also, despite the media hype saying that the circuit has 3 to 4 corners for possible sensational passes, the Italian race driver (only two Italians currently racing in this year’s series, the other one is Giancano Fisichela), when asked about passing opportunities quickly replied that the only place to pass is on the pit lane – and that’s tantamount to regretfully saying there is none.

Really and truly, if it were not for the “comical” if not “surreal” error in the “Prancing Horse” pit, and with passing a real luxury like that in Monaco, the Singapore Grand Prix would most probably be a boring “pole to finish line” (banderang tapos) win for Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, except probably for the numerous crashes behind him.

And that makes Singapore really lucky – the unexpected pit fiasco and the rains coming a day after the race – made the first ever night race in Formula One history something to remember.

But it was indeed a memorable trip for the invited motoring media. Our good friend and Toyota Motor Philippines first vice president for marketing Danny Isla failed to make it to Singapore due to a subsequent trip to Japan but TMP vp Raymond Rodriguez (you’ll see more of him when the Lexus premier brand comes alive in the country) and the ever-efficient and pretty Elijah Marcial more than made up for the absence of our dear friend “Sir John”.

Our last night in Singapore saw us celebrating the 4th place finish of Toyota’s Timo Glock. It was actually a dual celebration as the second placer, German racer Nico Roseberg of the Williams Team won on a Toyota engine.

Going back to our hotel that night left us with “a bad taste in the mouth” about Singapore’s hospitality though. The “Living Room” bar at the Marriotts Hotel where we chose to celebrate had a manager who decided to sent us the bill to be immediately paid and for us to go when he felt like. He claimed that the seats we were occupying were previously reserved for by his friends. And this was without prior notice when our bunch came in. Well, it was a good thing a compromise was reached and that was for us to give a few seats to the new comers and a display of Pinoy machismo was averted. Good thing, after all as one of our guides announced in jest, “Singapore is a fine country – you get fined for this and you get fined for that.” I wonder how much fine (or lashes) we had to pay for starting a fight.

Thanks to Toyota Motor Philippines for the privilege of being part of the trip.

PGA Cars have been quite busy nowadays

Business tycoon Robert Coyiuto, Jr. and his high-end automobile distributorship, PGA Cars have been continuously up and about lately.

A few weeks back saw the graduation of the first batch of Porsche-ready Service Mechatronics from the Porsche Training and Recruitment Center Asia in cooperation with PGA Cars, Inc. and the Coyiuto Foundation. The graduates shall be providing the worldwide Porsche Center service network with world-class after-service that can support Porsche’s growth in vehicle sales and increasing demand for quality service.

If you remember, 10 months ago a number of pre-screened poor but deserving Don Bosco students were presented to the media just before they started their rigorous training in Porsche automobile servicing – a joint venture of Porsche, Robert Coyiuto, Jr and Don Bosco.

Well, Robert’s dream of wanting to come up with a meaningful way of helping poor Filipinos improve their technological skills and capabilities has come to reality. Way to go, my friend.

Now, just a few days ago, PGA Cars presented to the motoring media the next generation of the 911 series.

Adding to its already many claims to fame, the new series 911, which comes in 3.6 and 3.8 liters, is introducing for the first time of direct fuel injection on a Porsche sports car together with the optional double-clutch gearbox Porsche-Doppelkupplung for seamless gear shifts.

A Porsche, aside from being talked about should be seen up close and test driven for optimum appreciation. The 911s are on display right now at the PGA Cars Showroom in EDSA. Take a look.

TV viewing treats

Tomorrow, Thursday at 10 o’clock in the evening, you may want to dial up your TV sets to Sky Cable’s Channel 13, Home Shopping Network for this week’s edition of Auto Focus – the Philippine Motor Show on Television for a full hour dedicated to the automobile and the auto industry.

Philippine television’s premier auto-TV magazine shall feature Suzuki’s initial sedan offering to the local auto market, the Suzuki SX4. The Q&A segment shall address queries from viewers regarding the newly-launched Dodge Journey with resource person; CATS Motors’ marketing services lead man Bobby Shaw obliging while the recently-held Ford Escape Ride & Drive adventure in Solana, Batangas is this week’s special feature.

Just in case you miss Auto Focus tomorrow, you still have a chance to have an hour-long of entertaining and highly informative viewing on Friday at 10:30 pm on Solar Sports, Channel 32 of Global-Destiny cable TV.

Now for the loyal viewers of Motoring Today, you can watch the “motoring authority on Philippine television” either on Saturday morning at 11 o’clock on NBN Channel 4 or Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock on Solar Sports.

On the Bike World segment of this week’s episode, tips for motorcycle riders on how to safely ride on wet roads shall be dished out while the portion featuring “frequently asked questions about the automobile” shall dwell on the catalytic converter. The motor sports fans shall be treated on the Race Weekend portion with a recently-held moto race that saw F1 champion Michael Schumaccer racing in the Nurburgring circuit for the 2008 DTM race. A special feature comes out on this week’s Showcase, which are the highlights of the Motoring Media’s Mitsubishi Montero Sport Test Drive in Thailand.

Great show to watch, don’t miss them.

Motoring Tip of the Week

How many times have you seen drivers signaling to turn while simultaneously while making the turn? Of course there are those idiots who just suddenly make a turn without even signaling that they would.

The rule of thumb is to make known your intention to make a turn way before actually making the turn. You can either use your vehicle’s signal lights or do the universal hand signal, which is to extend your left hand to the left before making a left turn or bending the extended left hand by the elbow at 45 degrees with your hand pointing upward for a right turn. (For countries with right-hand drive vehicles, it’s the reverse).

Now, what is very important to remember is that making the signal to turn only relays the message to other drivers of your intention to make a turn and whereto and does not in any way give you the right of way.

Happy Motoring!!!

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