Track Focus – CV Offroad Track
The Philippines is not a country that springs to mind when one thinks of 1:8 Offroad racing but this weekend it will welcome some of the sport’s biggest names as they travel to Manila to complete in the Philippine Masters. Now in its seventh year, the event has slowly grown each year but 2017 is certainly a year that should put it on the international calendar with the entry boasting 3 World Champions including the reigning champion David Ronnefalk. First organised in 2011 by Dogbone RC, the country’s Mugen & Serpent distributor, the race moved to the current CV Offroad Track in 2014 where it started to enjoy an increasing profile. With the Quezon City RC Car Club bringing in Scotty Ernst as an announcer for their first year of hosting the race, aiming to get international attention from such a move, things have just grown ever since. With 2015 marking the first year of US star Adam Drake and Aussie Kyle McBride competing, this year they are joined by Ronnefalk, Ty Tessmann, Atsushi Hara, Richard Saxton with even HB Racing designer Torrance Deguzman coming out of international retirement to race. Such a strong entry marks out the Philippine Masters as Asia’s main annual buggy event, a fact QCRCCC, which this year celebrates its 20th year since founding are proud of and keen to develop further.
Such is the international scale of this year’s Masters, when one of the local racers who is an airline pilot approached Philippine Airlines to support the event, the country’s flag carrier had no hesitation in coming onboard as one the race’s main sponsors. Attracting drivers from 14 countries, one of the big selling points of the Philippine Masters is that in addition to taking part in the race, drivers have the opportunity to enjoy the country’s tourism. This is something Ronnefalk will do after the race when he travels to Palawan for a few days which has been named as the best island in the world by a number of travel magazines.
As a facility, the track and pits cover an area of 2,500 square meters. Built in 2009, in preparation for its ever increasing Master’s entry it has had its pit area more than doubled in size this year. Originally built more as a 1:10 Offroad track, it has evolved in to a 1:8 layout with club races attracting around 30 entries. In terms of key events apart from the Masters, the track is the location for the Philippine Nationals which is a multi round championship with all races held at CV Offroad Track. One of the country’s top racers, Edward Sio was responsible for this year’s Masters layout. One key feature of the track surface is the use of molasses to bind the dirt and reduce the dust with a built in watering system also helping to maintain the surface.
With the race marking his first visit to the Philippines, Ronnefalk said , ‘the facility is great and the people here are super friendly. I really enjoy coming to Asia now to race and it is becoming an important market’. In terms of the track, the HB Racing driver said, ‘the layout is cool. It is pretty challenging on the left side but overall it’s not difficult to learn’. Asked his favourite feature, he said, ‘I like the roller double into the left side of the track because its a place you can make up a lot of time or lose a lot’. He added, ‘It is small compared to European tracks but its still fast and has high grip so I think it will make for good racing’.
Also on his first trip to the country, being one of the first drivers to arrive and admitting the venue far exceeded his expectations, Hara said, ‘overall its a really nice layout with a good balance and high grip. It is not too difficult but the left side jumps combination is challenging’. With 1:8 nitro, eBuggy and Truggy making up the race schedule, the Japanese driver feels the track may be ‘a little too tight for truggy’.
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