Scratching the itch

Despite coming off a record breaking year for automotive sales, thanks in part to the impressive purchasing power of an emerging middle class, sadly, it seems that driving around in a beautiful car in this country still feels a bit like being the only woman in a male prison. Just ask PNoy.

Call it crab mentality, social insensitivity or just plain old jealousy, but publicly owning a proper sports or luxury car in the Philippines has become like keeping a mistress. For some it’s the cost, for some its the stigma or moral dilemma, for others it’s the lack of any decent place to use them, but the common thread here is that we can all agree that it is becoming more and more prohibitive. Essentially, what used to be once referred to as a hot chick magnet has now become a lifestyle check magnet.

Thankfully there are still ways for car lovers to scratch their itch without opening up a national wound.

Red Rock travel, the country’s leading motor sports travel agency, has teamed up with some of the world’s most exclusive brands like AMG and Porsche to allow adrenaline starved enthusiasts to experience all the rush of high performance driving without the guilt, cost, or complications of ownership. Whether it be spiraling down the corkscrew of Laguna Seca in a 450 horsepower C63 AMG, or banking a 500hp 911 Turbo on the Karussell of the historic Nürburgring Nordschleife, Red Rock Travel has tailored driving holidays to whet even the most ferocious appetites.

And unsurprisingly, it is proving to be a big hit among the gear heads. I mean let’s face it, even if you could afford your own Porsche, and you could live with all the heat that tags along with it, it’s another thing entirely to rape your own car around a race track all day and still expect it to respect you in the morning. With the AMG or Porsche driving academy, you do the deed with their cars, their fuel, and their tires; it’s like getting the milk without buying the whole cow. Okay, so there are better analogies out there, but you know what I mean. Besides, this is still a family newspaper.

I’ve had the privilege of attending various academies over the years with various brands, and I can quite comfortably tell you that these rank up among the very best driving experiences in the world. The AMG driver training, for example, is a mechanical orgy of power and performance that aims to teach drivers how to squeeze out every last drop of potential from their hand-built engines and tailored suspensions; and contrary to public perception, is not exclusive to Mercedes Benz or AMG owners.

The Porsche driving experience currently being offered by Red Rock is held at the Nurburgring and has got to be top of any self respecting car nut’s bucket list. Here you can expect to learn the nuances of the world’s most demanding and enigmatic racing circuits behind the wheel of an equally intoxicating car.

Packages are available upon request, of course, and accommodation and meals for the event are usually included, as is the unlimited use of AMG and Porsche vehicles. These are events for grown ups that refuse to grow up. None of this patronizing crap you get in some driving schools – this is balls-out, throttle-to-the-firewall, when-in-doubt-go-flat-out type of driving exercises that can smoke up a good set of rubber faster than you could finish a cigarette.

The AMG experience is the only driving event in the world that I have been to where participants are allowed to drive themselves around the high-speed bowl. I have been to more than a few driving clinics, and have been around a speed bowl many times, but always as a jealous passenger.

These courses are different; they are dedicated to giving each participant a thorough understanding of the physics of driving and knowing the limitations of the car, driver and conditions. AMG believes that the only way to do that is behind the wheel. No amount of theory could duplicate the feeling of entering a banked curve at 230 km/h and watching the horizon through your windshield start tilting 33 degrees. You begin to appreciate the speed. You respect it. And can finally understand why two men dedicated their lives to engineering a car that could really handle it, or why a travel agency has finally decided to market it.

Here are a couple of comments on Ray Butch Gamboa’s “Yes, we have all the traffic laws” from last week…

What is needed is the fair and equal implementation of ALL the laws in our land. No more, no less. No one can be above the law... if our “honorable” lawmakers, judiciaries, PNP and military can understand this, then maybe there is some hope yet. – Bruks_pt

Our traffic laws are quite good. They can be compared to a glossy and impressive vehicle’s specs sheet (brochure). But the actual implementation is like garbage, like a dirty toilet paper. And also, who’s going to implement such laws? I see a lot of traffic enforcers and policemen on streets who are the leading violators. In the so-called Tiger City alone, their police motorcycles DO NOT have license plates, just the name of the congressman who… err… owns them. Are they exempted from LTO registration? By the way, I see a lot of “NBI 75” plates on the streets that don’t have the regular license plates (on the vehicles’ front). Was the NBI ignorant on the rules of putting these kinds of plates on vehicles? Just asking... – kersmcpherson