Vios Cup thriller at Clark Speedway set

 

By Al S. Mendoza

 

RENE So was thrilled no end while I was having dinner with him this week, animatedly discoursing on the topic at hand.

Occasion was the launch of the Toyota Vios Cup at the Revolving 100, the famed restaurant in the sky found on the 33rd floor of a towering Eastwood edifice in Libis, Quezon City.

In our table with Rene, among others, were Toyota vice chair Alfred Ty, Toyota top salesman Jun Santos, Toyota VPs Jose Ariel T. Arias, Jing Atienza and Sherwin Chua Lim, and Toyota president Michonobu “The Rocker” Sugata.

A dear friend of mine for decades now, Rene revealed he has under his wings two gentlemen for the Vios Cup of contrasting personalities but with the same passion: car racing.

“I have Charlie to carry the Toyota La Union banner and Brian for Toyota Dagupan in the coming Vios Cup,” Rene said.  “One is a national figure (Charlie) and the other from simple folk (Brian).”

Charlie is the son of Danding Cojuangco, a former congressman and governor of Tarlac.  Charlie is the brother of former Pangasinan congressman Mark.

“I thought I would get Cong Mark but when Charlie heard about my plan, Charlie volunteered himself to be my racer,” said Rene.   “How can I say no?  Charlie is also a dear, dear friend of mine.”

And how did Brian (Go) become his second driver?

“I wanted a pure racing enthusiast from our local racers in Dagupan,” said Rene.  “And Brian perfectly fits the bill.”

While Charlie is from high society, Brian comes from a family of modest businessmen from Dagupan and Calasiao.

Jade B. Sison, the lovely and masterful emcee for the night, could only flash that winsome smile of hers when she heard Rene speak of his wards.

In his youth, Charlie had Ramon S. Ang as his navigator in a car race I covered in the ’70s.  Today, RSA is President of both San Miguel Corp. and Philippine Airlines.

Charlie and Brian are among 29 entries in the Vios Cup blasting off May 24 at Clark Speedway in Angeles City.

I salute Toyota’s bold move to go into car racing once more if only to perk up interest in motorsport, which had been virtually dormant in the country for years now.

“I give credit to Mr. Sugata,” said Alfred Ty.  “This is his brainchild.”

All 29 Vios race cars have been souped up to conform to international racing standards, with safety as first priority.

All 29 drivers had undergone serious and formal training under expert racing mentors, some even coming from Japan.

After May 24, two more legs are on tap.  Leg winners will receive trophies and cash prizes.  After three legs, the overall champ pockets no less than P100,000.

Each participant needs to buy a Vios transformed into a racing unit at a little over P1 million to qualify.

“The unit is equipped with all the features of a virtual racing car,” Rene said.

Open to the public, I can’t wait to see this novelty race roar off couple weeks or so from today.

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