By Andre Palma
Inquirer
IN A PERFECT world, each human being should have a personal, unrestricted means of transport. For the sake of limiting this argument let us leave out bicycles, skateboards, motorcycles and beanie hats with propellers. Come on, this is a motoring column and the author does not claim any expertise or liking for anything other than automobiles after all.
With that out of the way, the “one person one car” dream is really bordering on idealistic. Even if we are able to dig into our pockets for an automobile, there is the issue of the vehicle reduction scheme.
However much you want to use your car seven days a week for the 52 weeks of every year, the last digit on your plate number will doom you to a carless day out of every seven. So in order to drive every day without fear of a traffic ticket, one actually needs a second car.
Reliability and comfort
Some of you might ask why not make the second car one’s project vehicle? The truth of the matter is simple. Any vehicle we use to commute is an example of compromise. Reliability and comfort take precedence over all other considerations in a daily drive. Not yet convinced? You obviously haven’t driven a stripped-out car without insulation or air conditioning and a competition clutch to a mall, through holiday traffic, have you?
This brings us to the idea of the third car, the toy car, the subject of much debate over countless cases of pilsen — the ultimate window into any enthusiast’s soul.
Think of third cars as flights of automotive fancy.
Our topic for this week and the most personally familiar third car project is the dedicated Sunday racer. Using the term “race car” for these projects would be pure misrepresentation, plain and simple. Let’s face it, as a Third World nation, and without a well established motor sports industry, most of the competition vehicles in the Philippines today are wrought in home garages or at the friendly neighborhood talyer.
Therein lies the beauty of this predicament: that building your cottage industry racer will be a deeply personal, hands-on experience. Satisfaction, mind you, is another matter altogether.
A critical thing to have
First select a warhorse that isn’t ready just yet for the glue factory. Then proceed to the simplest first step, stripping down your would-be steed of unnecessary items. Bin things like extra seats, the insulating materials, power windows, speakers and possibly the interior trim like the dashboard and the door sidings. Omitting the air conditioning and the radio is also an option, but sanity is a critical thing to have when one drives competitively, please remember that. This is a tropical country with atrocious traffic after all.
Not only does this trimming save about a hundred kilos of weight, but the less you leave on a dedicated racer the fewer things will break. Remember that every peso counts when calculating the running costs of your slalom, autocross, run what you bring, or hill climb project.
After this ritual evisceration in the name of the gods of racing, comes installing the necessary safety equipment in your speedster to be. Typically, roll cages, bucket seats, four point belts and fire-fighting equipment are ideal but there are some amateur series out there that will let you run with much less. Just make sure your life insurance is paid up.
The final step
The final step, and often one that never finishes, is the development of your garage racer. While budget is the ultimate gauge of how far one can modify a vehicle for competition, a little creativity and a level head will go quite a way. Scour the Internet for backyard modifications that barely cost anything. Use limited resources to improve tires, suspension and brakes, in that very order, over a financially acceptable period of time.
In the end, you may never build a Formula One car, but just how many cars has Herr Schumacher built with his own two hands and driven in competition? Knowing that they had something to do in the preparation of even the simplest of racers is a huge source of satisfaction for many weekend motorsport warriors. Some of them even win behind the wheels of their backyard projects. Ask yourself how you’d feel in their driving boots.
