Toyota Vios One-Make Racing Series: For love of cars and motorsports

By Botchi Santos February 12,2014

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. president Michinobu Sugata addresses the big crowd and the participants at Clark Speedway.

With close to 80,000 cars sold in 2013, Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) has blazed a new trail by organizing the first-ever one-make racing series with the Vios One Make Race Series, or Vios Cup in short. The Vios Cup was organized to prove that Toyota is not just a faceless, cold behemoth that churns out cars and makes money.

 

With Akio Toyoda, chair of the Toyota group, having said that the global industry as a whole needs to inject fun, excitement and passion back into cars, TMP followed suit and organized an event to allow everyone’s common passion for cars to shine.

 

The exhibition race held last Jan. 25 was meant to showcase many things. First and foremost was a gathering of car-passionate enthusiasts; second was the performance and reliability of the Vios Cup cars, the only one of its kind in the Philippines built under the supervision of TRD Japan, with full FIA-spec, professional-grade touring car racing and safety equipment. Last but not least, Toyota showed the Philippines that they knew how to organize a well-attended, fun-filled event for everyone—enthusiasts, aficionados and non-car enthusiasts alike—as the event also featured a music festival featuring DJs, Spongecola and Ely Buendia, a reverse bungee jump stand and go-kart track, among other things.

 

Invites for celebs, journos

 

The author, driving car No. 5, negotiates a corner during the race.

Toyota invited five celebrities and seven media journalists to participate in the race: celebrity host and model Phoemela Baranda; actress Rhian Ramos; matinee idol Aljur Abrenica, a native of Pampanga; Brazilian-Japanese model and actor Fabio Ide and sports newscaster Jinno Rufino. James Deakin, formerly of C! Magazine and now editor of motoring news and advocacy site jamesdeakin.ph; Vince Pornellos, editor in chief of Autoindustriya; Iñigo Roces, motoring editor of Manila Bulletin; Brian Afuang, motoring editor of The Manila Times; Aris Ilagan, also of Manila Bulletin; Jeff Reyes, Top Gear Magazine’s publisher;  and finally me, your Skid Marks columnist, made up the media pool of racers.

 

Tuason Racing School (TRS) trained all of us for three months prior to the race, improving our skills and teaching us new knowledge on race craft. Rhian in particular was impressive: At the start of the training season, Rhian hardly knew how to race. TRS slowly but surely taught Rhian how to drive, bringing her time from 2 minutes during the very first session to 1:18s on race day. I started out at 1:28 and by race day was able to lap the Clark International Speedway’s short course in 1:16s. To put things in perspective, Vince, James and Jeff were able to lap in the low 1:15s and even did a few high 1:14s during practice. Still a ways off for me, but I’m happy nonetheless.

 

Race day had never held so much glamour in the Philippine motorsport setting. There were thousands of people on track, hundreds of cars lining up to participate in the activities and throngs of curious onlookers who decided to join in the fun. There were also glamorous foreign models and umbrella girls, hundreds of cameras clicking away simultaneously and, of course, the Vios Cup Car resplendent in all her glory as a full-on, FIA-certified race car.

 

Star of the show

 

The all-new Vios was the real star of the show, featuring full TRD Vios Cup livery in red, white and silver-grey, a stripped interior, TRD-spec race suspension made by TEIN, a beefy 12-point TRD roll cage that exceeds the latest FIA requirements, a TRD two-way LSD, TRD sports clutch and lightweight flywheel, and TRD aero kit plus OMP seats, steering wheel and pedals. ROTA Wheels provided the lightweight alloy wheels and Yokohama provided the ADVAN Neova ADO8 ultrahigh-performance summer tires, being TRD’s global tire partner for its own one-make racing series.

 

The Vios Cup exhibition race had all the trimmings of a true major motoring event.

Various representatives from TRD Japan and TRD Thailand were present as observers, as well as those from ROTA Wheels headed by Michael Donovan Rojas. Representatives from Yokohama Japan were also present to observe the first-ever Vios Cup.

 

On a side note, the event also marked TMP’s debut as an authorized and official distributor of TRD products, TRD being a separate legal entity operating under Toyota Motor globally. TRD is also a completely separate and higher brand than TRD Sportivo, which is a subsidiary of TRD specifically for Thailand and other Asean markets. During race day, TRD goods were being sold as well.

 

Macau GP-style race

 

The race itself was held Macau GP style: two heats with the overall podium finishers determined by the combined results of the two heats. Vince drove brilliantly, taking first place on both heats. Pole-sitter Phoemela cracked under pressure and the extreme heat, resulting in a 15-second jump-start penalty. Jinno was handed down a 30-second penalty for contact during the race with Brian. On the other hand, James was unable to keep up the pace as Jeff overtook him in Heat 1 under questionable circumstances, but the FIA stewards deemed the passing maneuver, which had Jeff put two wheels into the dirt, as perfectly legal on Turn 2’s 90-degree Acacia corner.

 

Slide-and-dice battle

 

Meanwhile, I started out in eighth position, but lost a spot to Aris who got me underbraking in the high-speed Turn 1 and pulled away. Dropping to ninth place, I enjoyed an epic slice-and-dice battle with Fabio, which saw us switching places six times in the last four laps of Heat 1. On Heat 2, with penalties being awarded, I found myself gaining a spot, with Phoemela starting ahead of me now. I could see the physical exhaustion was taking its toll on Phoemela, and so at the start, she was late getting off the grid, which allowed me a slight advantage into Turn 1’s braking point. I slid inside of her, closed the door on her slowly but surely, and gained another position.

 

This was how the race went for me, although I could see Phoemela gaining on the in-field technical section, but fade away from sight at the faster, high-speed sections, particularly through the chicanes and on the dangerous high-speed last corner, a treacherous left-hand sweeper taken flat-out in third gear. She was definitely the better driver, but she lacked the physical strength and stamina to compete under the intense 45+ degree Celsius heat we experienced inside the Vios Cup Cars flat out for 20 minutes.

 

Yet at the end, Phoemela still took top spot in the celebrity division, followed by Jinno and Fabio, who again had a track mishap as he, Rhian and Aljur figured in a three-car incident on Heat 2. In the media division, Vince took the top spot, while Jeff and James rounded out the podium. I finished dead-last in the media division. Nonetheless, I still felt like a winner.

 

And that’s how Toyota wants the Vios Cup to be: make everyone feel like a winner, fueling passion for cars and motorsports. The pits were crawling with fans of the celebrities as well as car enthusiasts and potential Vios Cup Car customers. There were lots of photo ops, even for lowly scribes like me; special mention to Aljur’s battalion of fans who knew nothing about racing, but were happy to be there to see their idol race and be physically close to him.

 

Outside of the racetrack, Toyota invited car clubs to participate in a track day with simple track tuition provided by TRS. From Toyota 86s (and a few Subaru BR-Zs), MR2s, Altis, Corolla and Vios cars went round and round the track with some equally exciting on-track action. Even TMP president Michinobu Sugata couldn’t contain his excitement, beaming from ear to ear, when he saw everyone having fun and, most tellingly, took to the track himself in a Toyota 86! Props indeed for arguably the most powerful car company president in the motoring industry!

 

Sherwin Lim, Toyota’s vice president for marketing services, said that this was the template for all future Vios Cup race weekends: a full-on festival with activities to suit the entire family; music, merchandising, food, track days and meets for car clubs, and of course, close, intense and fun-filled racing. With nine confirmed Vios Cup Cars sold already and a further 13 serious buyers under negotiation, the future looks bright indeed for the Vios Cup. Yet again, TMP blazes a new trail, delving into motorsports, and igniting anew the passion for cars and motorsports!

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