December 4 "D" Day

December 4 2011 was a special date. There were two special events for me. One is that its my dad's birthday and the other was the Philippine Endurance Cup. Yes, Its my first time to attend such a race, 6 hours non stop race to be specific. I'm one of the 6 drivers for the FM2 bracket but before sharing the details on the event itself, i'll share the preparation first.

Initially MLPh MSC only intend to join the event on one specific bracket - RP Class. The only limiter are the tires and anything and everything can be done on the car. "All out" bracket.

MSC looked for an ex taxi and converted it into a race car by changing the engine from a carburated 1300 cc SOHC 8 valve to an EFI 2000cc DOHC 12 valve engine. (4g13 to 4g63). The engine was the same engine Tammy has. The race car found sponsors for the paint, chassis work, suspension. The engine though was transplanted by the team. Thanks to BA Autoworks, Walter Lights and Sounds, HotBits Suspension, Jywell Autoglass and for all the people who spent their time putting the car together Jun Alavaro, Don Andaya, Lewy Manio, Patrick Sison, Jed Berones, Philip Velasco, those are the people i knew worked with the car. if i forgot somebody, message me and i will update this.

2 weeks before "D" Day, MSC invited all the potential drivers for a qualifying. They chose the drivers based on repeatability. 12 drivers were vying for 6 slots. We used Philip's 2006 Lancer called Black wing as the qualifying car. i drove for 3 laps. 2'18", then 2'16", then 2'15". I was able to clock in the fastest time for Black wing for that day. Unfortunately that was not the objective of the qualifying, so I was not picked for race car. Lewy, Walter, Ivan, Edwin, Chris and Patrick were chosen for the Race class and so, that was the end of qualifying. Jun, me, Don, Mark, Philip, Richard was not cut.

Picture this, black wing raced through BRC all day so as to choose the drivers for the race car. It literally ran for almost 6 hours without any problems. We joked Philip about running black wing on the PEC (Philippine Endurance Cup), and Ipe liked the idea and said "i'll think about it". after 5 minutes of the whole team influencing Ipe, by saying some remarks that all the 6 drivers would give 5K each for BW's preparation for PEC. Finally Ipe agreed. Black Wing will run on PEC FM2 class. (below 160 hp, doors should be intact and with AC)

and that's how all the 12 drivers get to drive for MLPH.