Too many horses, too little brains

For sometime now I have been concerned about the fact that many sports cars and luxury vehicles today have too many “horses” or horsepower, while their owner/drivers don’t have the skills and experience to be driving such powerful machines. I don’t mean to be rude, but the fact is many high-end vehicles now available in the Philippines are being sold to people whose only real qualifications to own these cars is that they can afford them, and that’s all they care about.

Sadly, the end result is that the owner-drivers either end up killing people with their rockets on four wheels, or they end up parking their cars on long-term basis, because they can’t fully enjoy and thus appreciate their expensive and powerful vehicles.

Off hand, I know of an actor whose Nissan Skyline GTR flipped on a curve doing 150 kilometers killing his assistant. I know of a customs broker who crashed his Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution at approximately the same speed against a steel barrier, rolled his SUV around ten times until what remained was a flattened clump of metal. Then there was the Audi with a very inexperienced young driver that slammed into a concrete barrier killing himself and a companion. Finally, there was this Jaguar with four passengers that got smashed between two buses along the Macarthur highway in Tarlac, killing three of the four passengers. The speedometer at time of impact also read 150 kph.

In all four incidents none of the drivers had proper training or sufficient experience in handling high performance vehicles. They were all everyday average non-professional greenies, who had no inclination that the cars they were driving had high tech equipment, equivalent to having an electronic co-pilot on board that would step in if it sensed something irregular was going on. People who don’t know and don’t realize this when it happens ultimately end up struggling with the vehicle and getting into an accident.

Two Saturdays ago, I chanced upon three idiots on Porsches and one moron on a Lamborghini, doing more than 150 kph on the SLEX driving on the emergency and right lanes. As a car restorer and owner of an old Porsche, these idiots are the prime example of people with too much money, but too little brains. Unfortunately, because their cars are probably gray market imports, the local distributors have no say, unlike what Porsche Germany did when they denied a very young Boris Becker ownership of an early model because he was considered “too young.” 

I have always suggested that anyone who wants to buy a high performance car should undergo a seminar or proper training so that they know what their dealing with, what they can do with their cars, and what they should not attempt to do on the streets. Obviously there is God and he must have appreciated my concern.

Last Tuesday evening, I was invited to a dinner presentation hosted by officers of the Asian Carmakers Co. where they introduced “Instructor #156,” who recently passed a grueling and emotionally draining two-month certification process as a BMW M Driver Trainer. “Instructor #156” Jean Pierre may have a French sounding name, but he is Filipino in looks and size, and he is the first Filipino ever to be certified as a BMW Driver Trainer.

What is significant about this is that for the first time two motoring related organizations have recognized the importance of providing the correct technical training for buyers and owners of high performance vehicles. “Instructor #156” took it upon himself to spend a huge chunk of cash of his own money to stay in Munich, Germany and Salzburg, Austria to undergo a two-stage competitive training program under the direct supervision of the leading BMW experts in auto engineering and European racing. 

But not everyone with cash gets into the program. For starters, you need to be endorsed by the regional bosses of BMW per region who will then endorse you to the German program directors who will then screen all applicants and choose only 20 for stage 1. Ultimately 10 or less will make it to stage 2 which does not happen on a regular basis, especially if they don’t get the minimum number of passing students.

In the case of “Instructor # 156” everything came together when the Tuason Racing School sat down with officers of the Asian Carmakers Co. (ACC) two years ago and mapped out a strategy of endorsing a Filipino candidate for the program. It took two years to get one Filipino into the program, but Jean Pierre still had to go to “school” to study the lessons, take the tests and spend two months learning and competing with German engineers, European race car drivers and top instructors from all over the world. It was so competitive that to fail could effectively stunt your career. On the other hand, there are only some 162 or so certified BMW instructors worldwide and only a handful in the Asian region.

So now we have “Instructor # 156” who can evaluate any driver who wants to be behind high performance cars, particularly the BMW M series. This will no longer be about becoming a better driver, but actual competency relative to the technology, design and performance of the vehicles which is what many manufacturers should be introducing as part of their marketing and road safety advocacies. 

According to a statement issued by ACC president Maricar Parco: “With the launch of the (BMW) M cars here in the Philippines, we feel it is important for us to be able to give our customers the proper training and experience on how to enjoy their BMW’s without limits.” She added “We are very pleased to have the first Filipino BMW M certified trainer in the person of JP Tuason.”

Because of my experience being trained under JP Tuason, I know for a fact that he always means business and he would rather flunk a student, lose a customer than put up with any stupid conduct at the track, in the classroom or inside a vehicle. Considering the degree of difficulty and the stiff price he had to pay to be certified, I think it would be safe to assume that the people who train under him will be better qualified and responsible drivers than the three idiots and one moron who are a serious threat to our lives on the SLEX. Perhaps the people at MATES/SLEX can check their CCTVs and track them down at Burgos Circle where they congregate.