Tamaraw untamed

1 of 4

The iconic workhorse might just get its own race series

IT’S AN EXTREMELY hot day that greets us at the Villar City. The mercury is up, along with the sun, and the occasional gust of wind serves to simultaneously bless and curse us with coolness and clouds of dust. Depending on who you ask, this might be just be perfect setting for a cinematic showdown of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup.

But aside from the actual race, the event is a chance for Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) to flex its portfolio, affiliated brands, and partners — not to mention offer great acquisition deals to the public — on top of a smorgasbord of entertainment, food, and lifestyle items.

And, as in the last few stagings stretching back to the previous season, TMP makes the next-generation Tamaraw a part of the festivities. It’s no secret, of course, that the come-backing, iconic workhorse figures prominently in Toyota’s business here. Leadership has also consistently made mention of how sales of the Tamaraw will also, ultimately, benefit the local economy, as it is locally assembled at TMP’s Santa Rosa, Laguna facility.

In between races, other Toyota and Lexus vehicles have their turns at the circuit — a 2.4-kilometer-long makeshift with 14 turns — including two hairpins and six chicanes. But there is also a side show that arguably takes the lion’s share of the limelight: A drag race of two flatbed Tamaraws. It is more of a show-off than a showdown, to be honest; a glimpse into what may be.

Based off the Tamaraw Dropside LWB Diesel manual transmission, the so-called Tamaraw Racing Concept is almost indistinguishable from the showroom variety, but its pedestrian looks can be deceiving. The “developmental project” with third-party conversion partner Autoplus Sports Center is aimed at “exploring the motorsports usage of the Tamaraw,” according to Luis Gono of Autoplus. “Of course, it’s known to be an everyday, commercial vehicle to get your stuff from point A to point B. But it also comes with a very powerful 2.4-liter turbodiesel engine. It’s also rear-wheel drive, and this variant is a manual.”

He continues in an interview with “Velocity” on the sidelines of the event, “It’s a very interesting recipe, and for this weekend, we have a very simple setup. We want to do the upgrades slowly.” The Tamaraw Racing Concept, reports Mr. Gono, gets an intake, and intercooler, and HKS exhaust. In addition, vehicle’s ECU has been remapped.

The result is a bump in output: From a stock power of 125whp to 130whp (147hp to 153hp), the Tamaraw Racing Concept now puts out 180whp (211hp). The torque is also significantly raised by “almost double” at 460Nm.

Says Mr. Gono with a smile, “It’s a very fun car to drive, like it’s a totally different experience because you don’t have any weight in the rear. When you drive it on the circuit, it tends to get a little light and loose in the rear. We want to continue developing — adding upgrades to the engine, suspension, maybe to the bodywork so we can have wider tires front and rear, slightly better brakes. Hopefully, we will drop a lot of jaws with what the car can do.”

Joins TMP Assistant Vice-President Andy Ty, “This will be a step-by-step process, but we’re very happy with our collaboration with Autoplus thus far. We will see how we can develop the Tamaraw further and what is its maximum potential and then we will research and adjust from there. Hopefully, for Race Weekend 3, we can show the next steps.”

So, are we going to see the Tamaraw getting its own one-make race? “Potentially,” Mr. Ty enthuses. “That’s what we’re studying. Of course, the Vios has been an integral part of our Vios Cup/TGR Philippine Cup, but we want to see where the Tamaraw can place in terms of this.”

He concludes by saying that if the Tamaraw’s performance can set a standard like the Vios experience, then great. “We want to come close to that as much as we can.”