One of Formula V1’s main goal’s is to develop Filipino driving talent for international competition–and that competition also makes its way to the local grid! Joining us for the final round of the 2019 Giti-Formula V1 Challenge is Rich Pham from Vietnam!
The 53-year old racer is the chairman of Pocari Sweat in Vietnam and has ample race experience in Formula Ford, Formula Renault, and touring cars. Currently affiliated with BlackArts Racing Team, he has a simple reason for joining the top tier of Philippine motorsports ladder: “I heard about these incredible cars and want to try them and race in the Philippines. I just want to have fun!”
We can all agree that’s why we love racing! In fact, he loves it so much that he owns three race cars, “A 1988 Honda Civic I race in the Asia Classics in Sepang, a Caterham with a supercharged R1 engine, and a SLC with a 650hp LS7 engine. For personal use in vietnam I have a 2005 Landcruiser.”
We wish Pham good luck as he battles for a share of the double points during the final round at CIS on October 19-20!
The second leg of the Vios Racing Festival kicked off at Clark International Speedway last August 31 and the weekend was full of the action-packed racing that we’ve come to expect from the one-make series.
Aside from the assorted activities and entertainment that had been setup around the track complex, the sleek Toyota GR Supra made another much-awaited public appearance to excite the crowds ahead of the opening Race 4.
photo from Toyota Motor Philippines FB
During the action, Growl Thule Racing’s Red Diwa finally grabbed first-place in Saturday’s kick-off race after a string of runner-up podium finishes in the Sporting Class’s first three heats. He was followed by John Dizon of Toyota Marilao – Obengers in second, and Eggy Ong of JBT Racing/Toyota San Fernando in third.
Race 5 in the top tier saw Eggy Ong move up to first, while Marc Soong of Toyota Balintawak-Obengers and Clive Fermin of Toyota Cebu rounded out the top three. In one of the most heart-stopping moments of the day, a last-minute collision between John Dizon and Troy Montero saw them literally flying over the finish line in Race 5! The result still counted for Montero, who claimed another first place finish in the Celebrity Division in the most unorthodox manner, but it took both competitors out of the running for the final race of the day. Race 5 also saw female racing favorite; Elysse Menorca grab her first top finish for Toyota North Edsa-Obengers in the Promotional Class.
The dry conditions here didn’t last for too long!
The skies opened up and soaked the track for the final Race 6 and the tricky conditions caused numerous drivers struggle to stay on track. Marc Soong and the reigning points leader Lord Seno, of Toyota Cebu, both saw DNF’s in a race which had almost half of its duration occur under safety car conditions. Eggy Ong maintained his composure to clinch first place ahead of Red Diwa, while Clive Fermin took home third-place once again. In the Promotional Class, Menorca finished first once again, followed by Francis Adriano of Toyota San Jose Del Monte-Obengers, and Julian Tang of Toyota Otis-Obengers–gaining her ground in the class points which saw her at second after July’s first leg.
Congrats to all the winners!
The Autocross Challenge also took place on a rain-slicked
track as it rounded off the day’s competition, making things tricky as drivers
did their best to coax their cars around the course.
The points table still looks tight as no driver was able to
create clear daylight ahead of the pack due to an an eventful and wet race
weekend. Things will have to be settled when The Vios Racing Festival returns
to Clark International Speedway on November 8-9!
The newly-revamped waku doki action of the Vios Racing Festival returns to Clark International Speedway on August 31! And once again, Formula V1 racer and Vios Cup veteran, Red Diwa is suiting up for Growl-Thule Racing in the Vios Circuit Championship’s marquee Sporting Class.
The final order during Diwa’s best race!
Finishing 3rd and 2nd in his last three races (with a close 4th in the final heat) Diwa is surely gunning for more podium spots and the top finish that has eluded him so far. We wish him luck and safe driving!
The 2019 Vios Racing Festival gates open at 9AM!
Growl Corporation is one of the largest developers and distributors of first-class OEM in-dash Audio, Video and Navigation (AVN) systems. Our product, the Growl Audio Head Unit is customized for different car models.
Thule Sport & Cargo Systems, on the other hand, is exclusively distributed by Tow & Stow Industries, Inc. They are an importer, distributor, and manufacturer of vehicle towing products such as hitch receivers (TOTALHITCH™ brand), trailers (TOTALTRAILERS™ brand) and accessories.
DLSZ students and Muntinlupa PUV drivers at the Filinvest Tent last Aug. 24
A United Nations-recognized training program, Ford Philippines’s DSFL began in 2008 and has successfully trained over 23,000 Filipino drivers to date in a combination of both classroom and hands-on lessons.
The great thing about Ford’s road safety advocacy is that they want everyone to join in to make the roads a better place–not just Ford owners! This year the DSFL aims to cover 2,500 participants ranging from student drivers, PUV drivers (such as jeepney, bus, and school bus drivers), fleet companies, and call center employees from Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao–continuing the program’s expansion to the two major island groups in 2017.
Distinguished guests at the 2019 Ford Driving Skills for Life Launch at Filinvest Tent: JP Tuason, PK Umashankar, David Guison, Bianca Gonzales, EJ Francisco, and Herbert Haber
“One of our commitments at Ford is to help promote and improve road safety in the country. Our aim every year is to increase driver safety awareness with the DSFL, practicing the proper skills required of anybody who gets behind the wheel and ensuring that drivers and their passengers get to their destinations safely all the time,” shares EJ Francisco, director for Communications, Ford Philippines.
The program tackles recent developments such as distracted driving as well as timeless tips in fuel-efficient driving and driving in special conditions. DSFL also aims to eliminate accidents, altercations, and traffic by tackling their root causes: teaching students proper road courtest, safe driving, and traffic rules and regulations.
Established in Ford’s home country back in 2003, Ford Philippines has worked together with long-term partners Tuason Racing to bring the program to our shores. We hope to see you at the next Driving Skills for Life events this year!
Got plans this long weekend? How about the next? Because we recommend heading to CIS for the second leg of the Vios Racing Festival!
Aside from the racing goodness of the Circuit Championship and Autocross Challenge, you can also go celeb-spotting for photo ops and meet and greets. As for us, we’re looking forward to meeting the GR Supra once again–we have a feeling it’ll be back for safety car duties.
Toyota is also providing a free shuttle service from Clark for all of us! It leaves from the SM City Clark Public Transport Terminal every hour starting at 10AM. See you on August 31!
CIS and BRC aren’t exactly two of the world’s most photogenic tracks, but don’t let that stop you from trying to capture some beautiful frames. So, when we saw Nickey’s work from the second round of the Giti-Formula V1 Challenge, we just had to ask how he went about capturing these images!
“Hi, I’m Nickey Jones Bautista, known as Nickoy, and photography is my passion. I shoot motorsports/automotive, fine art landscapes, and street photography. During the weekdays, my fiancé and I run a stainless steel business and photography studio.”
From the first corner of the track, in case you were wondering
Where did you get the practice to reach your level of skill? “Before I started motorsports photography, I was a race car driver as well. So every time I had free time on the track, I would practice my panning since I always brought my camera with me. I stopped last 2015 before I went to New Zealand. While I was there, I was able to cover the Leadfoot Festival. It’s like the Goodwood Festival of NZ. Some of the competitors there were Mad Mike, Alister McRae, etc.
But for a non-racer who’s an aspiring motorsports photographer, I suggest that they can practice on a normal roadside with any moving vehicle or object with a different pace.”
Do you have specific shots in mind that you look for or are the photos mostly spur of the moment things? “None, actually. Though I always anticipate the burst of mixed emotions before, during, and after the race.”
Makes you wonder what words are being exchanged!
Do you shoot a lot and discard a lot or do you believe in shooting less but more carefully? Take a lot and discard a lot. If you may notice in my albums, I only upload a max of 30 photos or less, depending on how I would tell the story to the viewers. And when uploading, my photos are all arranged in a specific order–as if I’m telling a short story through a series of photos.
Curation is the key to make shots like these tell a story
Do you have a gear setup that you prepare for racedays? “I use Nikon bodies and lenses–a D810 and D4 and 24-120mm, 70-200mm, and 500mm lenses. I don’t have a [specific] technical setup. I just make sure I have my wide lens and telephoto lens with me all the time.”
Best vantage points at CIS for a rookie photographer? “For starters, I suggest shooting from the grandstand. But, for me, every place on the track is a good vantage point, it’s up to the photographer on how to make the photo look interesting.”
Always keep a lookout for interesting shots off-track too. “We were on our way to grab lunch when this caught my eye. It’s not everyday you see a car with broken windshield, so I took time to shoot it.”
Check out Nickoy’s motorsports/automotive/street work at @nickoy.photo and his fine art landscapes at @nickoybautista
It’s no secret that Raymond Ronquillo has a garage to die for, but have you ever wondered which cars in the collection are his personal favorites? The Frontrow Racing Team driver tells us that it happens to be a pair of very wide exotics!
Bulls on parade! photo by @1nati.hd
What’s the story behind the cars? It’s been my dream ever since I was still a kid to have these kinds of cars. The Gallardo was from Dubai, I imported the car in 2015. I got Ferrari 458 Italia from Derek Ramsey, he traded it to me to get a newer 458 Spider.
What inspired the widebody conversions? It was 2017 when Keith Bryan Haw and I started to look at the projects of Liberty Walk from Japan, if you go to @libertywalkkato you can check out his supercar projects and other cars that he made the kits from scratch and they really look awesome!
And way back in 1995 I already really loved wide cars and wide bodykits, so we built the two cars with the following details.
Bodiykits by Liberty Walk Japan @libertywalkkato Wheels by DPE Wheels USA @dpewheels Air suspension by Car Porn Racing @hailtothe_king Paint by Alex Restoration and Jworks Unlimited @alexisip @jworks_unlimited Interior by Leather Plus All other parts were supplied by Import Hookup @kbh_kbh
What are the pros and cons of modifying cars for you? Modding and making the car look different is really my passion, I love building cars with the right parts and right connections to get and buy them.
The pros of modding cars is that it makes my heart pump! You can say it’s happiness that money can buy, ha ha!
As for the cons of modding, if you’re planning to sell the car later, you can’t reimburse all the parts that you put with the next buyer–even if you put the best parts! But, at least I’m happy, ha ha! Everyday is a memorable drive for me, especially when we do breakfast every Sunday morning with my car guy friends!
We could create five installments of this series from his garage alone!
One of the main highlights of the Formula V1 car is that it is a localized and cost-effective formula car–thus providing a sustainable step-up for Philippine motorsports.
The other highlight would be its truly analog nature, with no driver aids, that puts the emphasis on individual skill–and this raw driving feel is what a trio of stars experienced firsthand in the first ever Giti-Formula V1 Level Up Challenge!
With P50,000 to be donated to their charity of choice on the line, TV host Jinno Rufino, actress and presenter Phoemela Baranda, and radio personality Sam YG took to Clark International Speedway to see who would be the fastest in the Formula V1.
Being Vios Cup veterans, the trio would be following the path of drivers in the one-make series who have also leveled up into the highest form of Philippine racing. To guide them, current Formula V1 racers Dominic Roque and Gaby Dela Merced served as coaches: Dominic for Jinno and Phoem, while Gaby paired up with Sam.
With their competitive natures on full display, stay tuned for the Giti-Formula V1 Level Up Challenge’s first episode on September 20 during Sportscenter Philippines on ESPN5! The full schedule is as follows, make sure to catch Sportscenter on these dates!
September 20 – Episode 1
September 21 – Episode 2
September 22 – Episode 3
September 27 – Episode 4
September 28 – Episode 5
September 29 – Episode 6
October 4 – Episode 7
October 5 – Episode 8
We’ll also be releasing the episodes right here on the brand-new tuasonracing.com alongside all our Formula V1 news, racer lifestyle stories, tech tips, and other content! So even if you can’t catch it live on TV, you’ll still be able to watch to find out who was the best at trash talking! And more importantly: who pulled off the best time in the slalom to be crowned the Level Up Challenge winner?
If your dad is a car guy, then you’ve probably been waiting for that same glorious moment as Raffy Rabe while growing up: when he finally hands you the keys to drive his pride and joy. For the Phoenix Pulse Racing Team’s Young Driver, that long awaited car was his father’s S14.
Photo by The Scene Media
What’s the car? The car is a 1998 Nissan Silvia S14 or the 200SX, since that was the name when it was released here. There was only about 70 units which were released in the Philippines, luckily my dad was able to get one. It was priced about under a million, around P850-900k pesos, and you still see the local units selling at the same price since theres a high demand for the car–with only 70 units released here, you can say it’s pretty rare.
The proof is in the plates. Photo by Erwin Tan
Tell us more about the S14’s history Aside from the desirable original LHD configuration, all of the local units had a SR20DET which was a 2.0L 4-cylinder DOHC turbocharged engine. What was special about that was the engine was different from the USDM cars because they had an N/A KA24 engine–so the PHDM version definitely had a better engine.
My dad was the first owner of the car since 1998 and used it in circuit racing and drag racing but, unusually, it was never used in any drifting events. He was part of the original “ClubSilviaPh” group when it was first founded and the Cobalt Green S14 got the nickname “The Green Goblin” since it had a very similar color with the Green Goblin from the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film.
What kind of shape was it in when you got it? Before I got the car it had been sitting for about two years without being started! So when my dad handed it to me in 2017, I had to look for a shop who would be able to get the car from my house and restore it to its former glory! That shop was Tomato Garage and I will forever be thankful for them because without Richard Gopez the car wouldn’t be working until now.
After getting it running I placed a lot of mods and upgrades because I wanted a bit more power than the stock turbo, so I upgraded it with a Tomei M7960 turbo which is capable of around 400whp–which is more than enough for me. I gave the car back to Francisco Blanco of Autoplus to get it tuned and the final numbers were 330whp and 327wtq. I would also like to thank Autoplus for supplying me with all their services such as giving the car some 300v love!
We think Rabe’s future child is going to wait for this one too! Photo by Erwin Tan
What’s it like living with a two-decade old car? I’ve only put around 8k kms on after my dad’s 92k kms and I would be lying if I said it’s easy to maintain a 21 year old car–because honestly it isn’t.
The car broke down on me a couple of times. I had a lot of problems with the car specifically with the S14’s cooling system–a lot of overheating and problems with the A/C which made me look like a basang sisiw coming out of the car a lot of times. The biggest nightmare was probably when the car had no A/C and it was overheating while I was in heavy NLEX traffic and I had to get home to Alabang! Thankfully, there was no traffic after Bocaue so I was able to get home safely without warping the head gasket.
Another major thing was when the original automatic transmission started to slide and it broke down in the middle of the road because it couldn’t handle the power anymore. I had no choice to convert it into a manual transmission. I had to wait a couple of hours in order to get the car towed home. I brought it to DMF for the conversion and the best thing about it was that they finished the full conversion in one day! Thats pretty fast and I was really shocked that they were able to do it that fast!
Mod list time! Good thing I never had to rebuild the engine myself since my dad did that a couple of years back because of oil starvation–so it has forged internals capable of about 500-550 horsepower!
Photo by Speed GT-R
HKS Forged Pistons
JUN Forged Connecting Rods
Tomei M7960 turbo
Tomei Metal Head Gasket
Tomei 740cc Injectors
Turbosmart External wastegate
Blitz Blow off Valve
Nismo Oil Cap
Cusco Oil Catch Can
Sard Fuel Pressure Regulator
Adaptronic Standalone Ecu
Aftermarket Headers
Megan Racing Exhaust
HKS Intercooler
Koyo Radiator
Tuned by Francisco Blanco of Autoplus
Transmission:
SR20DET 5-speed Manual Transmission
Competition Clutch Stage 3
Circuit Sports Short Shifter
Suspension:
Tein Flex Coilovers
Cusco Front Strut Bar
Nismo Rear Strut Bar
Nismo Power Brace
Front Adjustable Tie rod
Rear Adjustable Tie rod
Rear Adjustable Camber arm
Photo by Otosthetics
Wheels and Tires:
Prodrive GC10-E (Forged) 18×8.5 and 18×9.5
Achilles 123s 235/40/R1818 and 265/35/R18
Brakes:
Dixcel Slotted Front Rotors
Steel Braided Brake lines
Project Mu Brake Pads
Exterior:
VIS Invader Carbon Fiber Hood
JDM kouki wing
Stock Kit
Interior:
Omori Boost Gauge
Personal Steering wheel
Apexi Turbo timer
ARC Titan Shift Knob
Photo by 2Ner Magazine
One of the special parts is an ARC shift knob that I bought from Hazardboy, the Prodrive GC10-E’s which my dad got from Excellar Enterprise, and lastly, the stock body kit. Because comparing it to every other S14 here in the PH, most of them have aftermarket kits.
Most memorable drive with the car? My most memorable drive with the car was probably when I first got the car and drove it. I has a really different feeling comparing it to my BRZ or M2. Especially when I changed it to a manual transmission and put a bigger turbo, the experience was so delighting because as a kid the S14 was one of the cars that I always wanted to drive.
The power delivery of the car feels so raw. No computer aids, traction control or whatever–just an old school JDM sports car that wants to give you a memorable drive. That’s why even if the car breaks down a lot I never thought about selling the car because it has something that keeps me hooked!
L-R: “Enzo” and Milo Ventimiglia in Twentieth Century Fox’s, THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN
So while Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is also showing right now, that franchise isn’t really about cars as much as macho men punching each other. Good thing, The Art of Racing in the Rain is also out this week then.
Movies for car guys are pretty rare–we’ve had Rush, Senna, and that Netflix F1 documentary series we guess–so we aren’t missing this one. The fact that it’s also a dog movie just makes it easier to convince someone to watch with you, because everyone loves dogs.
Denny Swift is a racecar driver who picks up a young pup and names him Enzo after none other than Enzo Ferrari, of course. We then witness him life through the eyes of the extremely wise dog (voiced by Kevin Costner!) who also ends up sharing his owner’s love for driving cars fast. Cue drama!
Mmm, look at those GT-spec cars in the trailer!
Since we’ve actually read the book the film was based on, we can tell you that racing is indeed an integral part of the plot and not just something cool for Milo Ventimiglia to be. The novel’s author, Garth Stein, was also an actual driver and HPDE instructor too, so it’s legit.
And also it ends sadly, like how many dog movies inevitably are, so prepare the tissues!
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