Formula for success

It was one of those lazy Saturday mornings where I would normally need a commercial grade backhoe to get out of bed. It’s not that I have anything against weekend mornings; it’s mostly the Friday and Saturday nights before it that I have issues with. Painfully, and somewhat skilfully though, I still managed to peel myself off my sheets, throw on the darkest pair of sunglasses and head down to the parking lot behind the SMX convention center, just beside the Mall of Asia.

With my brain still switched on to autopilot, I headed for the hospitality tent and sniffed out the strongest legally brewed coffee this side of the southern hemisphere. But before the caffeine had managed to seep through my bloodstream, I felt a sudden jolt.

It wasn’t exactly a commercial grade backhoe, but something far more brutal... And I’m not talking about the coffee, either.

There, bathing in the soft morning light, was something more powerful than caffeine and ginseng. They call it the TRS Formula Ford racing machine. Now that on its own is already a pretty awesome sight in itself – but what really got my day kick-started was seeing the line of my media colleagues standing next to it. Suiting up.

It took a minute or so to put two and two together, but sure enough, instead of just the normal fanfare of taking pictures etc, I see my peers actually climbing into the cockpit and lighting up those Goodyears just behind them as they made their way around a makeshift track that was dotted with orange cones. Apparently it was written on the invite that we were really meant to drive this single-seater, but you just didn’t really believe it. Seriously now – who would be crazy enough to let a bunch of frustrated motoring hacks loose in a Formula car? In a public car park.

Well that would be Jeanette and JP Tuason. The same two people who have been secretly cooking up this bold plan for the last 6 years or so to develop a Philippine-based Asian Formula series to fill in the massive void between local karting and the now defunct, and prohibitively expensive Asian Formula 3 series. Think about it. If you wanted to take motorsports seriously, you would race go karts from age 10 or so, up until you become karter of the year. Then what?

If you are like Michelle Bumgarner, Mateo Guidicelli or Gabby de la Merced (all former graduates of TRS) you would have to fork out for something like Formula Mazda, or Formula BMW and compete with regional drivers who slide into their cockpits so much more prepared than you could ever be. Not because they are more gifted, but just because they have better foundations and experience. It would be like skipping high school and going from grade 7 straight to college.

Despite the awesome talent we have here, the results have rarely been as flattering. Tyson Sy, once considered our greatest hope of a Filipino F1 driver, could have probably had a much better season in Formula BMW back in 04 had he spent a year or two driving something like a Formula Ford locally and honing his skills gradually instead of making the massive jump from karting straight to Formula BMW and Asian Formula 3. He still did extremely well, and managed to catch the attention of BMW F1’s team principal, Dr. Mario Theissen, but you could only wonder how much better it might have turned out had he had another stepping stone in between.

And that is the whole idea behind the TRS Formula Ford series. It was a plan fuelled by a disturbing love of motor sports and deep national pride. It was a plan to give Filipino drivers a chance to compete with the best of the best in the region in equal machinery and hopefully graduate to the next level. It involved delicate negotiations with their UK partners, Spirit Racing, and a firm commitment from Ford Philippines, as well as Goodyear and Standard Insurance just to name a few.

“The idea here is to make the transition from go-karts to Formula racing as inexpensive as possible,” JP tells me as his crew checks the tire pressures and fiddles with the front wing. “As a matter of fact, there are some people already spending more on karting than what it would cost to run in the TRS Formula Ford series,” he trails off as he helps one of the media drivers strap in.

Finally, my name is called out. The Formula Ford I’m using comes with a 1.8-liter Focus engine that pumps out 140hp directly to those Eagle F1s behind me, and is fitted to a 5-speed sequential gearbox. These, I’m told, will be the same ones used to race in a one-make (or a Formula) series and should be as easy to maintain as a go-kart.

I climb in slowly, extending my legs fully until I feel the pedals. It’s extremely tight in the cockpit, but all the vital bits are within easy reach. The car barks into life and sends a pleasant shiver down the length of my body.

I’ve been warned that the gearbox is quite tricky, and it doesn’t help that my hand just barely fits around the lever. I ease of reasonably slowly, but it doesn’t take me long to start abusing the hospitality. Each gear feels brutal and is relentless all the way up to the redline, even if I can only hit second around this short course. The pull under full acceleration is almost violent and feels magnified by the coarseness of the uneven brick parking lot surface that filters straight through the steering and the floor boards, making you feel that you are being dragged across on a flat sheet of metal.

It is so direct that you feel like just another component in it. Every input has an equal and immediate corresponding reaction. The throttle response is so crisp that it made it quite tricky in the damp portions of the track. It’s the kind of car you want to housebreak. It’s got all the character of an open wheeler, but it just needs a firm hand to keep it in line. I lose it around the make shift hairpin, so rather than bathe in the awkwardness, I just keep it planted and start doing donuts like that was my plan all along.

The Ford engine is such a willing accomplice. I have raced the Ford Focus Cup cars before and have always admired the kind of punishment they can take. This engine, especially in 1.8 form, delivers the power beautifully. The torque curve is quite linear with no sharp peaks that can cause some nasty surprises as you get on the gas early coming out of the corners, although I would love a tighter steering ratio. This thing has the turning circle of the Glorietta 4.

I would be lying to you if I said it was easy or fun to drive. But under some expert hands, on a proper track, this thing could really fly. I had a chance to try out the 1.6 liter version on Subic International Raceway last year and I still occasionally find myself smiling randomly. It is the kind of thing that you can extract so much from, and that is all the fun. In a car park, however, it’s kind of like watching STAR WARS on a 14-inch television. But at least we had a taste of it.

As the day wound up with the Race of Champions and the awarding for the C! top driver challenge, I heard words like crazy, nuts, bold and ambitious being thrown around. Funny, but if that was meant to discourage the TRS team, I have yet to meet a successful person that was safe, sane, and insecure. You want crazy? Wait ’til TRS release their first ever Christmas album next week with a representative from almost all the motoring press, as well as Goodyear and Standard insurance representative singing one song each. Now that is nuts, and could single-handedly cause more damage to the motoring industry than anything Wall Street could throw at it.