Time with David Coulthard

EDITOR’S NOTE: Generally, men who love fast cars are just as enamored with timepieces (We are, for sure!). As fate would have it, The Philippine STAR has partnered with the Lucerne Group to bring into the country one of the best ambassadors of both fast cars and fine timepieces, respected Formula One veteran David Coulthard. What better venue, then, to give a sneak peek into the thoughts of DC on both of our passions than The Philippine STAR’s own Business Motoring Section? DC will be in town next week to launch a very special edition of TW Steel. The following piece is the result of an exclusive interview care of our very own Formula One nut, James Deakin…

MANILA, Philippines - It’s five o’clock in the afternoon at the paddock in Monza. Qualifying is done and dusted and the drivers are slowly emerging from their debriefing rooms where the engineers have spent the last two hours extracting every last terabyte of information from their brains. Most of the big names make a bee line for their private trailers for a little “me” time. But not David Coulthard.

DC, as he is respectfully referred to, heads over to our scheduled meeting smack bang on our agreed time. He looks as sharp as he does on the grid. If there’s any fatigue or frayed nerves, he’s not showing any traces of it.

He talks about a sport that he has not only been extremely successful in, but one that some would be willing to argue that he has helped shape over the last seventeen years. There’s such passion laced through every word, you almost think he gave birth to it.

He spent fourteen years as an active driver, chocking up 13 wins, 62 podiums and 535 career points back in a day when the value of a point was similar to the dollar to peso exchange rates of the Seventies. In other words, two and a half times more valuable, perhaps more, considering there was a time they only awarded the top six or eight drivers.

As a well-known watch connoisseur, I ask him about his collection. He is very vague about numbers or models, but tells me there’s enough to never fear running out of time. Our meeting is brief, but productive, and I leave him with one final thought. Would you like to design your own watch, I say, half serious. “Now that’s a thought,” he says with a broad smile on that famously broad chin.

That was five years ago almost to the day, and funnily enough, next Monday, DC will be visiting Manila for the very first time to introduce us to his personal creation, the TW Steel David Coulthard Special Edition Watch.

As an exclusive partner to his trip, The Philippine STAR was able to grab a few private questions in with DC just before the Singapore GP, which will be staged this weekend. Here are some highlights…

Philippine STAR: So, David, did you have a hand in the design, materials or components of this special edition TW Steel watch?

David Coulthard: The components were picked using the TW Steel standards and my input was on the color and style of the watch. I wanted something which was instantly recognizable as being different without being a color that would not travel well. I am enjoying working with the company as their pace of development is ideally suited to racing where from concept to manufacture the process has to be optimized.

PS: What did you think a watch needed to have to embody your image?

DC: I travel constantly so keeping an eye on the time is very important to me, the watch needed to be able to suit different dress occasions as I prefer to travel as light as possible so rarely take a second watch. It also had to be easy to operate and reset for the many different time zones I work in.

PS: Jenson, Fernando and Alan McNish have all come here before and had a blast. Have any of them (or other drivers) ever shared stories about their Manila trips before?

DC: Unfortunately, no.

PS: Lastly, fearless predictions for the Singapore GP?

DC: Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari once again battling hard for the three podium positions.

David Coulthard will be at the opening of Le Temps at Resorts World Manila on the evening of Monday, September 26 for the official launch of the TW Steel David Coulthard Special Edition Watch.