THE Vios Cup is on, and motor sports fans will lap it up anew today and tomorrow (April 28 and 29) as they watch another unique edition of the annual car races at Clark International Speedway in Angeles, Pampanga.
The beauty of it all is, as usual, admission is free. So, there is no reason why mom and dad won’t tag along their kids. It’s another family fun time, indeed!
Started in 2014 as a brainchild by Mitsonobu “The Rocker” Sugata, the former Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) president, the two-day event gathers once more some of the hottest names from the silver screen trying their best to both outrace and outwit each other on board their now-iconic Vios reengineered solely for circuit racing.
Also in attendance anew are the country’s foremost race enthusiasts like Andres Calma, the son of the country’s legendary one-time best basketball point guard, Hector Calma. Like in its three previous stagings, a number of Toyota’s biggest dealerships are fielding in their top riders and practically, totally focused on winning like grimly determined Formula One demigods out to claim a prestige-laden podium finish.
Since I have also witnessed all the previous events, including that one in Cebu in 2015—and I was thoroughly thrilled each time—I will be right there where the action is again.
I yell at times at the top of my lungs as I watch them zoom ahead, rivaling the roar of engines from the grid all the way to the finish line. But, of course, not to be missed is the gathering of the so-called GIs, aka Grupo Impertinentes, on the eve of the races—led no less by Satoru Suzuki, the calm and modest TMP president. With Suzuki-san I am sure are TMP hotshots like Jose Ariel Arias, Jing Atienza, Sherwin ChuaLim, Rommel Gutierrez and Carlo Ablaza.
Jade “Big J” Sison will surely be on hand as our young mother hen—minus Jigo Vidanes, who has moved to a new planet totally detached from the car world. Still, you will be missed, Jigo.
Likewise, I will clink glasses with such dear motoring buddies like Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa, Top Gear Astig Vernon “Sean” Sarne and single-malt specialist Brent Co, among others. But will Danny “Sir John” Isla, an original, make it? The founding Lexus president is still in New Zealand as I was writing this.
Anyways, see you all at Clark. Here’s to a roaring weekend at the racing circuit.
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As ‘perennial as the grass’
NEWS came out this week that cameras by Metro Manila Chairman Tim Orbos will snap at plate numbers of buses in the hopes of singling out “colorum” (not franchised) vehicles plying the metropolis.
Nice move.
Quick identifications of errant buses would make for easy apprehensions of violators.
But the colorum scourge has been with us for the longest time. It is as “perennial as the grass”.
When you talk of heavy traffic at Edsa, buses always come into play. They are a major cause of gridlocks; many of them are colorums.
Officials tasked to catch these illegal conveyances know which buses are colorum for the longest time, too. Their inability to apprehend is also as perennial as the grass.
Truth is, we’ve always known who the violators are for the longest time. But they always go scot-free, are allowed to do business unmolested. You and I know the reason.
Truth is, we’ve always known who the implementers of the law against colorum buses are for the longest time. But they always look the other way, for one peso—err reason—or another.
“Digongminator” will catch up with them soon. I am pretty sure of that. The luster of Digongminator will never diminish for as long as “D” lives.
Corruption can’t be totally licked, I know. Violators are as perennial as the grass. They may not vanish, but they will perish—if not wholesale, in bulk.
I am with Orbos in his mission to rid Edsa and the metropolis of traffic snarls. He may have had flaws. But aren’t most greenhorns like that—prone to rookie jitters?
A keen student, Orbos is slowly but surely learning the ropes.
For all you know, the metropolis might soon be free of smoke belchers as well. With robust support from Digongminator, Orbos can’t miss a beat. I am watching. With eagle eyes.
PEE STOP Here’s a glass to Jing Atienza, who was recently promoted to senior vice president of TMP. Previously, he was president of Toyota Makati Dealership after Sonny Guerrero was permanently posted as head honcho at Toyota Technology School in Santa Rosa. Jose Ariel Arias is now Toyota Makati president besides being a TMP senior vice president for sales and marketing. Bests!