The 2017 Philippine Endurance Challenge
It was an eventful weekend in the Philippine Endurance Challenge two weekends ago in Clark International Speedway in Pampanga, with our Cebuano team winning in all the categories that we entered, specifically bagging 2nd place in the highly competitive Factory Modified 1 class, a clean sweep of 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Factory Modified 2, 1st and 2nd in Factory Modified 3 amongst thirty three cars and over a hundred highly rated drivers.
After years of writing about my adventures in motor racing, I decided to let an equally qualified teammate share his experiences, the racing doctor, Clive Fermin.
Enduring the Challenge
The Road to the Philippine
Endurance Challenge
As I passed the 100-meter mark hitting 180 kph, I then lightly tapped the brakes , entering the first turn of Clark International Speedway, I heel and toed my way into this fast uphill corner , shifted to third and felt the car sit on its right side. This sequence repeats a hundred times over the next 2 hours in what would be the start of my stint in the Philippine Endurance Challenge. The Philippine Endurance Challenge is an 8-hour test of man and machine held every year at the famed Clark International Speedway. This year, the event has attracted a staggering 114 drivers with 33 cars on the starting grid, with one goal, making the most number of laps after 8 hours. Our Team, Team Cebu-MR-Federal pooled our resources and built , prepped and begged our sponsors, our friends ,and our wives to field 3 cars , a Honda EG and two Vios Cup Cars radio codenamed M.Bait , Barney and Friday the 13th. I was designated to pilot Friday together with Cebuano teammates Norris See, Markku Suarez and our adopted Canadian racer from Palawan, Brian Currie, who is trying his best to be a Cebuano.
The corkscrew is perhaps the slowest corner, I found myself behind two Factory Modified 1 cars battling for position , cars two classes higher than mine, full bore, light weight machines , the cars three-wheeling as tires struggling for grip. I lined my car perfectly at the corkscrew, executing a perfect sequence around the series of "esses" leading to a short straight. These two faster cars were offline, battling each other; they gave my little Cup Car enough momentum to overtake one of them at the next corner! Such a marvelous feeling!
Two months ago , my teammate/driving coach Lord Seno and I flew to Clark Speedway for a one on one tutorial , I just couldn't find that extra second I needed to be running at the front of the grid in my class in the Vios Cup. As the day went by we alternated between tracktime and lap telemetry studies. That day, we shared the track with a group running a couple of Modified Toyota 86's. These were beautifully set-up'd and modified. But surprisingly, they couldn't keep up with us in our cars, in spite having double our horsepower. They came over and introduced themselves, went over to our cars, and couldn't believe we had nothing like theirs. That day I had something they didn't have, a driving coach who was analyzing each corner of my lap and trying to extract the best time possible. I believe the fastest and cheapest way to make your car faster is to become a faster driver.
I'm supposed to be running my own race, keeping to the team's pre-agreed lap times. The objective is to run as fast as possible while preserving the car.The two previous co-drivers Brian Curie and Markku Suarez had both taken good care of the car during their stints, sticking to the pre-agreed lap times and executing perfect pit stops and driver swaps. The ball was now with me to stick to those same lap times, so I can hand a near as perfect car as possible to Norris See for the last stint.
And then it happened , at my one hour mark , my teammate , driving our FM1 entry M.Bait, came barreling down and overtook me on the hairpin following a short straight–it was tight. I could sense his car on my right and heard his tires struggle under braking. I saw a flash of red in the driver's seat . Bobby Pangilinan in his red helmet !
I could imagine Bobby , sitting there, probably with a silly grin on his face , as he overtook me. That moment, I have to confess, everything went red! They call it the red mist. It happens during intense moments of madness and anger, when all logical thoughts are rejected. This is a relatively rare but unwelcomed occurrence, in race car drivers, it happens when your teammate is faster than you.
All reasoning went out the window as I gave chase, I was asking my little Cup Car to take on an Honda EG with 50WHP more than it had. My littleVios Cup Car gave it everything she had, fighting like a wounded lion. As I approached the famous Acacia corner, I was very close to the EG's rear bumper. I braked as late as I could, heel and toeing to third then to second, perfect rev matching. The car was squirming under braking, I hit the berm on the left and felt the car two-wheeling, its two left wheels up in the air, the right tires clawing for grip, and I almost had him there.
Meanwhile Mark Laxa, our pit boss , was frantic on the radio , " We are not racing bobby ! "please maintain laptimes ! " I responded by turning down the volume of the radio, sorry Mark. For a few laps I stuck with Bobby, once in a while showing him my nose, just to tell him I'm still here. I set my fastest lap of the race during those laps, a 2:28 second lap, in a car heavy with fuel. Good enough to put me and the car in the top 100 fastest lap times of Clark Speedway, results they've been recording since 2014. I was 61st fastest since 2014, not at all bad for a Vios Cup Car with less than 100 horses on the wheels.
Entering the last turn at 140kph in third, I was inches from Bobby's rear bumper again, both cars entered a fourwheel drift out of the corner, as I shifted to fourth and the car accelerated away from the corner, I saw myself smile. I decided to stop playing with Bobby, or was it Bobby just playing around with me while preserving his car. I turned the volume of the radio up, apologized to my pit boss and reported I still had about a quarter of fuel left in my tank, good for about 10 more laps.
Too soon, my two-hour stint was almost done , I radioed the pit I had fuel for 2 or 3 laps more and asked them to let Norris See prepare , he will be driving the last very important stint, he is bringing a battered , less than perfect car home to the finish line. I tried to sip one more drop from my one liter hydration bag, but it was empty, post-race I lost one kilogram even with my one liter hydration bag.
As I entered the pitlane strictly adhering to the 30kph speed limit, it seemed to take forever, I radioed my appreciation to the pit crew for the awesome job they did.
Suddenly I found myself in prayer. It's surprising sometimes, how He chooses when to talk to you. I was thanking Him for the opportunity He gave me, thanking Him for the people he has brought into my life. As I got out of the car , and strapped Norris See in. I quickly went to the paddock , I found a quiet corner, kept my helmet on, and cried…and prayed … now I understand why the great AyrtonSenna said, "the helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood."
Clive Roland Fermin MD
For reference: http://9tro.com/media/events/motorsports/2017-philippine-endurance-challenge-8-oras-ng-pilipinas
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