Tessa Salazar of the Philippine Daily Inquirer files this report.

Excerpt:

Philippine racing legend Pocholo Ramirez died at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday after a long battle with cancer.

He was 76.

Ramirez earned driver of the year awards six times. In 2000, he was the Blaze Super Saloon Champion at the age of 68.

Even after being diagnosed with urinary bladder cancer two and a half years ago, he still competed in local races. Up until he was 75, Ramirez would still be seen behind the wheel competing with racers less than half his age.

Some fans of the racing legend have expressed their condolences.

FOR the first time, a team of Filipinos have completed the longest race in North America, the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by the U.S. Air Force.

Gaby Dela Merced, Robbie Montinola and Angelo Barretto co-drove the Team Castrol-STR BMW M3 to a 6th place finish in class and a 12th place finish overall, out of 68 racecars.

After qualifying 3rd place in class, the team started the race off strong and developed a solid pace to keep the car intact for the 25-hour race.

Driver changes went flawless, pit stops were excellent and the Team Castrol-STR strategy was working well. Only one unscheduled pit stop was made during the first half of the race and all the drivers drove great stints. As the race reached darkness, thick fog began to roll in and the race was stopped due to the dangerous conditions. The race resumed around 5 a.m. and it became an all out sprint to the finish.

“The fog was unfortunate, we had a strong car at night with very capable drivers and I felt we would pull away during the dark,” said Montinola. “Overall, the car was great and the Team Castrol-STR crew did an amazing job. It was a close race to the finish and I believe we can win next year.” [Read the rest of this entry »]

By Erika Tapalla
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE–Six months and 13 grand prix races separate this island-state from its inaugural Formula One hosting duties, and preparations are in full swing as Singapore expects to finish its first-ever city circuit by June.

From September 26 to 28, Singapore will play host country to the Formula One Singtel Singapore Grand Prix, the first fully lit night race in FIA Formula One World Championship history. Thus, heavy construction must be done in order to accommodate the needs of the participating constructors, drivers and spectators.

The main challenge Singapore faces is illuminating the night race on a street circuit. The lighting system needs to be powerful enough to simulate daytime conditions and for drivers to see the road clearly. At the same time, good lighting is needed by the spectators and cameras.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Tim Collings
Agence France-Presse

SAO PAULO, Brazil–Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 Formula One drivers world championship here Sunday for Ferrari when he produced a flawless run to victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The ‘ice-man’ from Finland drove superbly to grab the 15th win of his career and his sixth this year ahead of his Ferrari team-mate and local hero Felipe Massa.

Defending double drivers world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain finished third in his McLaren and ended up sharing second place in the drivers’ title race with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Inquirer

LONATO, ITALY–Young karting ace Jean Stefano Marcelo overcame a bent chassis and a start far down the final grid to finish 10th in a field of 96 in the 2007 ROK World Cup at the South Garda Karting Track over the weekend.

The 14-year-old Filipino thus became the first Southeast Asian to land in the top 10 of the ROK Senior class in the world’s toughest karting competition.

Marcelo completed the final 20-lap race in 15 minutes and 15.747 seconds, highlighting his rally with a best lap time of 44.847 seconds which threatened the 44.811 seconds posted by eventual champion Emanuele Pagani of Italy.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Agence France-Presse

LONDON–British rally driver Colin McRae and two children — including his five-year-old son — were among the four passengers killed in a helicopter crash this weekend in Scotland, police said Sunday.

Strathclyde Police confirmed that the 39-year-old driver, his son Johnny, and two family friends were killed in the incident in Lanark, Scotland, on Saturday afternoon.

“We believe that the group were just returning from a visit to the nearby village of Quarter around 1605 hours (1505 GMT) yesterday, when it appears that the helicopter got into difficulty and crashed within the grounds of Mr McRae’s family home,” Chief Superintendent Tim Love said in a statement.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–From ardent cheerer to champion car racer.

That’s the amazing transformation Karen Navarrete-Anton underwent in just one week recently.

Karen, a Polynesian Dance School owner who used to cheer whenever her multi-titled racer-husband Carlos Anton is competing, found she also has the knack for competition driving when she emerged overall champion in the Marlboro Red Racing Competition at the Ferrari-owned Varano race track in Italy.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Mike Sy
INQUIRER.net

LAST weekend, I took a trip to Macau with my family and, on a rainy Sunday, when I was supposed to travel with them by ferry to Hong Kong, I was prevented from leaving by Macau immigration because I could not show them my stamped departure card (unfortunately, my wife misplaced it) and also forgot to bring my valid passport (my wife accidentally brought an expired one and left the valid one at our hotel). After telling them to go ahead without me (yipee!), I checked my city map to see how to get to the Macau Grand Prix Museum. I was happy to find that it was just a short five-minute walk from my hotel.

The museum, which opened in 1993 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Macau Grand Prix, is an avid racing fan’s dream with various car and motorcycle displays, pictures and other memorabilia. There is also an F1 simulator to test your skills in a Formula 1 car.

The grand prix itself was a stepping stone for many racing drivers, and it was amazing to see how many of the famous names from Formula 1 and MotoGP began their fledgling careers by competing in the Macau Grand Prix. The list included Michael and Ralf Schumacher, Takuma Sato, David Coulthard, Mikka Hakkinen, Ayrton Senna and Jenson Button to name a few. From MotoGP, I saw the name of former world champion Kevin Schwantz.

[Read the rest of this entry »]