Start the fun

Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s—when I was but a lad—I always dreamed of being a race car driver. As ambitious as that sounds, it was a lot easier back then; costs were lower, people shared parts, and thanks to the crowds that regularly showed up, sponsors had deep pockets.

But things changed. Aside from rising gas prices, safety issues forced the races to move to closed circuits in Subic and Batangas––which of course was a very good thing––but it came at a price. As it was no longer as accessible to the crowds, media started slowly losing interest, sponsors started tightening up, which in turn made costs more and more prohibitive.

Racing continued, of course, and produced some fantastic champions, like the Ramirez brothers, Jojo Silverio, JP Tuason, Carlos Anton, Jody Coseteng and scores of others that just won’t fit on this page, but the trade-off was that the sport had lost the stepping stone to breed future ones. Even though it was for the best, gone were the days when any nobody could jump in a mildly modified Starlet or an Escort and race similar cars around subdivisions like BF Homes or Greenhills to see if they had what it took to get to the next level.

Basically, any newbie who wanted to scratch the itch would need to cough up about a million bucks for a car (up to 2 million in the case of Group 1 in PTCC) spend around 150,000-180,000 pesos a weekend to run it, hire mechanics, a pit crew, a race engineer of some sort, stock spare parts, buy a trailer to cart the car around to other tracks, and still have absolutely no guarantee that they would be in anyway competitive.

Now although you could still enter Group 3 PTCC for under a million bucks a season, or join the increasingly popular Circuit Showdown series for even less, this situation created a stigma that racing was elitist and inaccessible, which frightened off new talent and sponsors.

What the sport needed was a stepping stone again; an affordable, controlled series that pitted driver against driver, not sponsor against sponsor. Something that gave up-and-coming drivers equal machinery, not only in the cars but in PR and marketing. And who better to do that than Toyota.

On October 12, Toyota will officially launch their Vios Cup in Clark International Speedway with an exhibition race made up of five celebrities and seven crazy motoring journalists. As risky as that is, the idea is to get some much-needed publicity for this subsidized grassroots series where talent can be mined, polished, then exported to the next level, all in the hope that we could one day bring Philippine motorsports back to its heyday.

It’s an ambitious undertaking that could only be pulled off by the number one car company in the country. Just imagine the amount of Marlon Stockingers, Stefano Marcelos and Michelle Bumgarners there are out there that just need a stage where they can shine. Or in this case, a podium.  And nothing can bring that out better than a level playing field.

To get the wheels turning, Toyota is even subsidizing 25 percent of the cost of the Cup car.  The Group 3-ready race car begins its life as an 812,000-peso 1.5-liter manual transmission Vios G, stripped down to the metal, fitted with 700,000 pesos worth of TRD modifications including a racing roll cage, a free-flow exhaust and aero kit, an OMP steering wheel and racing seat with a six point racing harness as well as lightweight Rota wheels and Yokohama Neovas. It will be sold for under 1.2 million pesos.

As this is designed to cultivate talent, it is only open to those who have never held a racing license and comes complete with advanced driver and race training from Tuason Racing School. All parameters will be controlled to keep the costs capped and the challenge focused on the drivers, which Toyota are eyeing to be a grid of 35 by the season opener next year.

So back to that demolition, err, sorry, exhibition race. Come October 12, I will line up along with my colleagues from the motoring press to create Philippine motorsport history in the Clark International Speedway as we inaugurate the first ever Vios Cup in the country. Representing Top Gear Philippines will be their new team publisher, Jeff Reyes; Vince Pornelos, a.k.a. the Porn, races for Autoindustriya.com; Inigo Bulletin drives for Manila Bulletin; Botchi Santos for Inquirer; Brian Afuang buckles up for Manila Times;, Aris Ilagan steers for Balita, while Rhian Ramos, Phoemela Baranda, Jinno Rufino, Aljur Abrenica and Fabio Ide make up the celebrity team.

There will be a fireworks display (on the track, not in the sky) and a free concert with Ely Buendia and the Oktaves, Spongecola, The Zombettes, and DJ Ace Ramos as well as Toyota car shows, driving exhibitions and even kiddie activities––the biggest of which will be me finally living out that dream.

Ladies and gentlemen, start the fun.