BATANGAS RACING CIRCUIT.....

A Very Wet Track.....





A Japanese Sounding Name But is a Brazilian....





"Awesome Car Dude!"....





The Top Three on The First Corner.....





Full Speed Ahead!.....





"Drats! Spoiled Again!".....





Winner's Circle





To my surprise, people at the club buzzed and asked President Gigi to organize a trip going to Batangas when we met at Greenbelt Onstage One to shoot the dress rehearsal for "Tuesdays With Morrie".

"Do you want to go to Batangas next Saturday?" someone asked me. "Where in Batangas are we going?" I asked back. "To the Batangas Racing Circuit. Let's watch the races of the ongoing Asian Formula 3 Racing Series."

It didn't take me that long to give a favorable answer. The AF3 is like watching a Formula 1 race, it being similar to F1 but on a lower level tier and scale. I wanted to hear the sound of engines running around the race track like a swarm of bees and feel the excitement of watching such a race. And having Lian, Bless and Buboy for company in a trip is something I look forward to every time. With all the logistics in place and those involved amenable to it, all was set.

It was amazing! The trip went okay. Our journey to Batangas was pleasurable but the falling rain almost dampened our vigor to shoot. All of us didn't want our cameras to get soaked. It's a good thing I had a towel with me to protect my camera from being exposed to the raindrops although a plastic bag can give better protection. We were at the top part of the grandstand to give us a better view of the action. It was still rainy and foggy. There were talks that the final race might be postponed. The race was delayed because the organizers were closely inspecting the tracks, whether or not it was fit to have the race cars run on a slick track.

Eventually, the final race was given the go signal to start. And even in the slippery track, the guys went all out to upstage one another, trying to get the advantage to be in the lead. And because of the wet track, it provided a more entertaining race as a slide which made the front runner lose his brakes and into a tailspin made the underdog who was in fifth place at the starting position win the match. Another car got stalled, perhaps had engine trouble, as the dejected driver climbed out of his car and left it at the side of the track.

Unlike at Subic when we had a chance to meet Gaby dela Merced, this time, we didn't meet any race car driver. They were mostly foreigners and not one was a Filipino. Gone were the days when AF3 was ruled by Filipino drivers with Tyson Sy, Bong Pastrana, Gaby and I think even Michelle Bumgarner who at one time was the Female Karter of the year in the Philippines raced against each other under different teams.

We had so much fun. Entertaining ourselves with talks about our experiences, gossip about people we all knew and eating in a restaurant with sumptuous local cuisine of Bulalo Soup and Beef Karekare made our journey back to Manila a stress free one, even if we seem to be in a depressing traffic jam!

It has always been a pleasure to go out with these group of people. Until the next road trip guys!

A DAY OFF THE SUBIC INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY.....

Gaby dela Merced Takes Time To Be With Us.....
(Thanks Bless for this pic.)





Gaby's Stock Racing Car.....





The Grand Daddy Of Car Racing, Pocholo Ramirez.....





The Backdrop Of The Race Track.....





A Panning Shot.....





After The Race.....






I haven't been to a racetrack to watch, or even to shoot pictures for that matter. I didn't follow car racing that much. I remember one of the agency nurses that I worked with in London, Josie, who claimed of having a boyfriend who works in the embassy (I forgot which foreign embassy) at that time. The guy was into car racing and whenever the Formula 1 season began, he would buy tickets for two people and would pick the races held in Germany or France for him and Josie to go to. One can say that because of the way Josie told me what one experiences when watching a car race LIVE, I decided to head to the pub and watch the race unfold one Sunday evening. It was the closest experience that I can get to seeing it LIVE! And I watched with an open mind. The battling for position at the start of the race; the planning of what kind of tactics during the race to employ; the maneuvering of the cars by the drivers against one another, the chaos at the pit lanes; the "eeeeooooooong" sound of the cars as it runs and the addicting smell of petrol; I must say that I was hooked from that time on.

Locally, the only person I knew who was a race car driver during my youth was Dante Silverio and Pocholo Ramirez. Mike Poetenciano (whose family owns BLTB) and Jody Coseteng were names I often read in the sports pages around the 80's. Now, the most prominent name is Tyson Sy. I was also surprised to find out that female drivers abound too. Pia Boren, Michelle Bumgarner and Gaby de la Merced are like the Danica Patrick (she races with the big boys at the Indy Car Races in the USA) of Pinoy car racing, the lone female driver in a male dominated sport in their respective events.

When FPPF posted a contest about car racing, sponsored by the Miata Racing Club, my club mates and I went to the Subic International Speedway to shoot one Saturday morning. It was my first taste of being in a racetrack. And we sort of decided to practice our panning skills too since the cars run at such faster speeds than the vehicles that run at Roxas Boulevard! At some point, I saw some recognizable faces and was more interested in meeting them, to get to know them. In the end, we were more concentrated in taking pictures of other subjects rather than the cars! When it was time to go home, I was happy. Although it wasn't really a Formula One car racing but a stock car racing, it was still great fun!!!