Taming the feisty beast

In my opinion, one of the most unforgettable scenes in James Cameron’s  epic 3D science-fiction movie Avatar is the part where Jake Sully, in his Avatar form, set out to capture his dragon beast so he could tame it and ultimately form the mutual bond between master and dragon that would last the creature’s lifetime. And while our motoring section has not yet delved into organic and fictional forms of transportation, I remembered this scene because I think it is very similar in dynamics with acquiring one’s own performance car—you must learn to tame the powerful beast before you can truly ride it.

The car enthusiast’s classic mistake is to simply overcome the financial barrier and acquire himself an extremely robust car—without ensuring the proper, specialized training. Then again I’m not even sure if we’ve had this type of training—how to handle a high-performance car or supercar—available in these parts in the past. Nevertheless one thing is for certain: It is a huge safety compromise to put the exceptional power of a high-performance car in the hands of an inexperienced fan. The stories we have heard of the occasional fast-car-gone-out-of-control are enough to attest to its dangers.

It was very delightful news then when I heard that multi-awarded race car driver and founder of TRS (Tuason Racing School) JP Tuason had recently become the first Filipino BMW-certified M Driver Trainer. He now joins a handful of elite, M-certified trainers out of a pool of only 160 instructors all over the world, most of which are European.

“With the launch of the M cars here in the Philippines, we feel it is important for us to be able to give our customers the proper training and experiences on how to enjoy their BMW’s without limits,” said Asian Carmakers Co. President Maricar Parco. “We are very pleased to have the first Filipino BMW M-certified trainer in the person of JP Tuason. This certainly means our customers and BMW enthusiasts will have driving experiences to look forward to next year,” she added.

Tuason, with his successful motorsports career spanning a period of over two decades, was an obvious choice for BMW Philippines’ endorsement for the training. The cutthroat training program was held in BMW facilities in both Munich, Germany and Salzburg, Austria; and Tuason confesses it cost him an arm and a leg  (and maybe his other arm, too) to participate, but that he also sees it as a wise investment. He also spoke of the overwhelming pressure during the actual course, as it was both mentally and physically demanding. On top of the actual driving challenges, which already tested the limits of his expertise, they were also required to correctly solve problems in physics!

“The course was very hard!” remarked Tuason. “On the training roster were two BMW factory race car drivers, a Swedish rally driver, a formula car driver from Mexico, a German rally champion, an engineer who helped build the new M3, an AMG instructor and a Porsche instructor,” he explained, while trying to make us understand the top-class competitiveness of the program.

Oh, and not everyone who enrolled in the program, passed. In the first training cycle, only about half of them did! (insert extra cheers for JP here)

The BMW Driving Experience is an acclaimed driving program created by specialized instructors, designers and engineers to match certain skills and a specific driving environment with a particular BMW model. It offers basic safety training to M race experiences such as drifting and racetrack driving. Furthermore, training on special terrain such as snow and sand are also available in other countries.

As the only certified Filipino BMW M-driver/trainer, Tuason is now one of the elite few in Asia (and around the world) who can conduct BMW Driving Experiences and who can certify driving enthusiasts joining them. The availability of which is perfectly good news, as it is now an ideal opportunity for Filipino enthusiasts to learn how to tame and safely exploit the inner powers of their BMW monsters!

For more information, you may email [email protected].