Rally ‘round the D-Max
Iwas fortunate to have been given the opportunity to join a Rally Driving Immersion Program with other members of the motoring media. The immersion program was organized by media colleague Anjo Perez, himself an accomplished racer. It was held last July 28 in Pradera Verde Estate in Lubao, Pampanga.
It was my first time to experience rally driving. I consider myself lucky because the immersion program happened at the same time as Round 8 of the Philippine Rallycross Series, which allowed me to race on the same course with experienced rally drivers (but not at the same time).
Rally driving is an extremely challenging and competitive motorsport. Participants don’t race wheel to wheel with other competitors but instead take to the track individually to get the best time among other competitors in its class. Making things more complicated are the variable weather conditions, which in our case,
was a downpour. With rains being frequent in the second half of the year, it’s expected that the racetrack will be very challenging when it rains, making the competition and the driving even more exhilarating.
The track setup was deceptively easy, but what made it difficult technically were the muddy conditions of the track. It rained very hard the previous night, flooding the course and resulting in a very soft, thick, and slippery track. What made it yet more challenging was that the mud on the hairpin turns were the softest, thickest, and slipperiest. Achieving proper traction was the biggest challenge during our race. Even original-equipment all-terrain tires had difficulty getting proper traction. Under these circumstances, mud-oriented all-terrain tires would be best suited to maneuver swiftly through the track.
I raced the Isuzu D-Max 3.0 LS 4x4 and joined the Utility Vehicle (UV) class. The D-Max race truck was prepped with Black Rhino alloy wheels, Nitto tires, PIAA lights and wipers, Würth tools and cleaners, and Ichiro motor oil. The pickup truck powered mightily through the muddy track. The D-Max 4x4 didn’t have trouble on the course, delivering competitive lap times against more powerful competitors in the UV class. The off-road Nitto tires helped the D-Max gain traction while the very effective PIAA wipers cleared the windshield after every water/mud crossing. The Philippine Rallycross Series Round 8 was organized by PHRX, headed by Olson Camacho, Eggay Quesada, and Ronnie Trinidad. The group has been reviving rally racing in the Philippines since 2015.
The series is aimed at reviving and developing grassroots motorsports, specifically rallycross. The race format is a closed course track environment stretching to a maximum length of three kilometers. It has a 3-run format where the slowest time is dropped and the two best runs are combined to get the official time. In each race day, there are two rounds—a daylight stage and a night stage.
The rallycross series offers six different divisions or classes: Class 1 at 1300cc and below, Class 2 at 1301cc to 1600cc, Class 3 at 1601cc up to 1800cc, Class 4 at 1801cc and above, and 4WD (four-wheel drive), open class, and UV (Utility Vehicle) class. The champion of Class 2 will be the recipient of the Golden Wheel Award trophy while the Class 3 champion will be awarded Driver of the Year by the Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP).
The requirements to join the Philippine Rallycross Series are simple: just your car and a helmet. No roll bar is needed. Each person who is willing to race can join a maximum of three classes. A fee of P2,000 is required to participate in a class that includes the three aforementioned heats.
Rallycross racing is one of the very affordable motorsports in the country and is an amazing way to experience racing and controlling a highperformance machine that, in some ways, is barely even in control—yet still remain utterly safe.