Land Rover flexes muscle as 3rd Pampanga Off-road Challenge goes international
MANILA, Philippines—On-road or off-road, Pinoys always have a penchant for anything and everything good on wheels. For the 4×4 off-road market, it is very much the same. Off-road enthusiasts were able to race their hearts out on a very technical and challenging six-stage race course as Land Rover Philippines (LRPhils) Motors, Inc., the exclusive distributor of Land Rover vehicles in the Philippines, recently sponsored the 3rd Pampanga Off-Road Challenge at the SM City Pampanga open grounds in San Fernando, Pampanga.
PINOYS always have a penchant for anything and everything good on wheels.
LR Phils. supports Philippine motor sports through its participation in 4×4 off-road competitions held locally and internationally. Running under Team Land Rover Philippines, it is the first local automotive distributor to provide a competitor team in international off-road races as well. Team Land Rover Philippines finished first runnerup in the recent Rainforest Challenge (RFC) in Johor Bahru Malaysia 2010, touted as the Formula One in off-road racing. The team bested over 35 international teams using a Land Rover Defender 90.
The Pampanga Off-Road Challenge, which had RFC founder Luis Wee as guest of honor, was organized by the Pampanga Off-Road Club Inc. (Porci) and is now considered the biggest off-road competition in the country.
With a closed track of over one hectare of raw land provided by SM City Pampanga, the competition drew over two dozen participants simultaneously competing in six different special stages.
OFF-ROAD competitions often mean a lot of mud wrestling.
The Defender 90 features a permanent four-wheel drive system with the center differential distributing torque evenly between front and rear axles to give optimum all-weather performance on and off-road. With its independent coil spring suspension, it provides excellent axle articulation to maintain wheel-to-ground contact. The vehicle makes full use of the power and torque of its 2.4L diesel engine even in the most extreme surfaces.
The dirt and obstacle track featured an RFC Special Stage designed according to the standard RFC prologue race format. “We are very excited to witness firsthand the Philippine off-roading scene and to meet so many local 4×4 enthusiasts, all very passionate about off-road racing,” said Wee. “We hope that by giving the participants a taste of the RFC, we can get a glimpse of how we can set the stage for the first international invitational RFC in the Philippines in the near future,” he added.
LAND Rover's Defender 90. Photos by Alvin Uy
“We are extremely proud with the performance of our Defender 90 and our team has shown the world that Filipinos are worthy contenders in off-roading,” said Marc Soong, LRPhils. executive director. “They were simply brilliant, and to think that our Defender is one of the least modified and one of the only pure vehicles that is 100 percent Land Rover!”
COMPETITORS are made to go through all kinds of obstacles.
Team Land Rover Philippines also participated in past RFC events including the 2010 and 2009 China-Sanya International RFC where they bagged five awards including overall champion in the Electric Winch Category. Land Rovers live up to their tagline—“Best 4 x 4 x Far!” often send as bumper stickers of Land Rovers all over the world, as all Land Rover vehicles use full-time 4×4 platforms and are off-road ready even in stock form.
