Asian V8 Championship Kicks Off In The Philippines

Automology's Philippine correspondent, Harold Ledda, attends his first V8 racing and emerges with eardrums intact...just barely.

The Asian V8 Championship Series (AV8C), a motorsports competition for stock car race drivers from the Asia-Pacific, held its first tournament racing series on 5 to 6 April 2014 at the Clark International Speedway in Pampanga, Philippines. The tournament was organised by the Philippine Formula Autosports Foundation with the grandiose dream of making the Philippines the hub for NASCAR racing in Asia. Drivers from Australia, Japan, Macau, Italy, USA and the Philippines participated in this inaugural race. The overall winner of the tournament will compete at the NASCAR Whelen Series and in the K&N Pro NASCAR Series.

A team of engineers and mechanics put together eight late model NASCARs in time for the race. Each one, identical in every way, is basically a steel chassis with a powerful 450hp V8 engine bolted upfront, with big fat sticky slicks all around and a driver's seat in the middle. No fancy electronics, no traction control, not even an ECU; but strap a ‘crazy’ driver into each one of these equally mental machines and these are the perfect ingredients for the recently kicked-off, great wheel-to-wheel racing.

The amazing speed and deafening sounds of the V8s driven by ‘insane’ drivers thrilled the thousands of people in the crowd, most of whom were seeing V8s racing for the first time, including this author. There were the usual car breakdowns on the track and the running to safety by the drivers. Pro-class race was completed on the morning of 6 April (Sunday) and Open-class race in the afternoon. Each race entailed seven to eight rounds around the well-designed Clark International Speedway racetrack.

The Leg 1 winners of the Pro-class 1 race were the Pastor Brothers: 

First Place: ENZO PASTOR (Philippines)

Total Time: 17.43.914

Best lap time: 2.06.528 on lap #2

Second Place: DON PASTOR (USA)

Total Time: 18.00.250

Best lap time: 2.06.024 on lap #2

The Leg 1 winners of the Pro-class 2 race were:

First Place: JOHN BURDON (Australia)

Total Time: 17.43.118

Best lap time: 2.06.969 on lap #2

Second Place: DON PASTOR (USA)

Total Time: 18.00.657

Best lap time: 2.06.118 on lap #2

The Leg 1 winners of the OPEN-class 1 race were:

First Place: MARRINI STEFANO (Italy)

Total Time: 19.09.082

Best lap time: 2.13.660 on lap #4

Second Place: JOE MERZI (Macau)

Total Time: 19.16,351

Best lap time: 2.14.990 on lap# 1

The Leg 1 winners of the OPEN-class 2 race were:

First Place: KUNIHIRO IWATSUKI (Japan)

Total Time: 18.01.657

Best lap time: 2.08.969 on lap #7

Second Place: DON PASTOR (USA)

Total Time: 18.02.118

Best lap time: 2.13.344 on lap #4

X-1R Performance Lubricants, a Certified Space Technology Product and NASA Hall of Fame Awardee, was one of the sponsors for this tournament. X-1R is currently being evaluated for accreditation by NASCAR Headquarters in North Carolina.