My 10 years of STAR Motoring

EDITOR’S NOTE: In keeping with our theme and seeing as to how today we celebrate The Philippine STAR’s 24th anniversary, we thought it apt to give you a glimpse of just how far we’ve gone in giving you the best and most relevant motoring news week in and week out – by featuring one of our old reliables. Manny de los Reyes has been with The STAR’s motoring team for close to ten years. That’s right loyal reader, you’ve been reading about Manny’s exploits in the automotive world for a decade now. We asked him to briefly share the highlights of his ten years in The STAR (And though he was too modest to say it here, I will always credit Manny for coming up with the idea for Backseat Driver, the column we all share…). Here’s what he came up with…

MANILA, Philippines – When Philippine STAR motoring editor Dong Magsajo asked me how long I’ve been writing for the paper and I told him it was going to be ten years this August, he thought it was a nice round number and told me to write about it.

Looking back at those ten years brought back a flood of memories. Most of my work involved testing a lot of cars – and I mean a lot – and that was singularly what made this kind of work truly special for this diehard car nut.

I’ve been crazy about cars since I was a young boy, and I can recall every single car that I’ve tested for the last ten years right down to how the engine sounded or the interior smelled.

But it wasn’t just the cars that made the last decade extra special. Writing about cars inevitably leads one to meet the most interesting people in the car industry – including of course my fellow journalists, many of whom have become like family to me.

Equally memorable are the press trips, local and abroad, that I have taken over the years. And it’s not just the trips, per se, but the unique and exciting activities we experience.

Here then are some of my “priceless” STAR moments of the last ten years:

Writing about my first live F1 race in Melbourne in 2000. It was just my second international press trip of my then-five-year-old journalistic career, having started writing for a local car magazine, Automotion, back in 1995. I remember breaking into a sprint as we were walking across the parking lot when I heard the ear-splitting wail of the cars during Saturday morning pre-qualifying practice. The sound was so intoxicating that my legs instinctively brought me to the stands as fast as they could carry me.

Driving a BMW on European roads – at 230 kph on the autobahn in Munich in 2001 behind the wheel of the then-new 7-series. And on the beautiful roads of exotic Sardinia, Italy in 2003 for the world debut of the 5-series.

Visiting the Chevrolet Corvette’s manufacturing plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 2003, seeing the fabulous plastic bodies and the glorious 5.7-liter V8s in their naked glory – and then seeing the complete cars rolling off the assembly line, gorgeous Coke-bottle curves and all.

Driving the Corvette at the legendary “Black Lake” in GM’s Milford Proving Ground in Detroit, also in 2003 – and scaring the daylights out of an unfortunate GM engineer who accompanied me when we went sideways. Black Lake is the world’s largest asphalt test track where one can spin a car ten times and not hit anything. We were simulating driving on ice with the traction and stability control off.

Seeing the latest in robotics applied to car manufacturing and witnessing actual crash tests of over a dozen car makes at their top-secret no-cameras-allowed manufacturing and testing facilities.

Driving futuristic hybrid, hydrogen, fuel cell and electric cars from just about every major car manufacturer from Japan, Korea, Europe and America.

Interviewing car industry icons like Renault-Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn, Porsche’s Wendelin Wiedeking, GM’s Rick Wagoner, and many other corporate heads and chief designers.

Interviewing F1 driver Jarno Trulli at the Toyota office in Singapore, which overlooked the race track, in 2008. And ambush-interviewing then-McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen at the paddock after Saturday practice for the 2001 Malaysian GP. This was after I stepped out of McLaren’s private dining area where David Coulthard and Ron Dennis were having a snack at a table right next to ours. I was a media delegate of McLaren partner Tag Heuer then.

Being at the first night Grand Prix in Singapore in 2008. The atmosphere was literally electric; the whole experience, surreal.

Driving on actual race tracks, from Carmona Circuit in Cavite to Subic International Raceway to Batangas Racing Circuit in a variety of cars (including the latest C6 Corvette); driving a Yokohama-equipped Lancer Evo and even racing a go-kart against fellow Asian journalists at Prince Bira racetrack in Pattaya, Thailand (finishing 7th out of 43 drivers); and testing on F1 tracks like Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia behind the wheel of several high-performance cars and Barcelona Circuit in Spain for the European launch of the Fiat Stilo hot hatch (which even had a Michael Schumacher edition).

Pushing Porsche 911s and Boxsters to – and beyond – their limits at a Porsche Driving Clinic at Clark. More than that, setting fastest time in the post-clinic competition, equalling the time of the German instructor in the process.

Visiting the incredibly impressive automotive museums of Ford, BMW, Honda and GM, among others.

Attending the eye-popping motor shows in Detroit, Tokyo, Melbourne, Shanghai, Singapore, and Bangkok.

Driving – and riding through – the beautiful streets of Seoul, Korea (for Kia and Hyundai, including Busan and Jeju Island for the latter), Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (with Isuzu), San Jose to San Francisco, California (via the picturesque Highway 1 in a variety of Chevrolets, Cadillacs, and Pontiacs), and South Carolina to North Carolina and back in a BMW X6.

And of course, all the test cars I’ve driven from little known Wooling and Dong Feng of China to virtually every Japanese, American, Korean, and European car make – both on local streets and abroad – their prices ranging from close to that of a second-hand car to more than 12 million bucks.

It was truly a memorable 10 years, which all bodes well for another decade – and more – of covering this truly wonderful beat. As the saying goes, love your job and you’ll never have to work another day in your life.