Back to the story, I asked my buddy, let’s call him Mark, to go watch at Clark. Also suffering from the need-for-speed itch, he got prepared in under 20 seconds and asked me back what am I waiting for? Oh and get this, he owns an SR20DE powered owner jeep, smoked a lot of hond… other cars. By the way, SR20DE/T engines are referred to as Baby Godzillas. So off we go, departed at around 9 am, with Mark on the passenger seat as the navigator, we left the smoker owner sleeping in the garage and took the A31 cefiro to economize on fuel. Well, taking 2 vehicles is a bit heavy on the pocket fuelwise. We are just going to watch anyways, not race.

We fueled up at our favorite gas station who pumps out the cheapest gas in the area and before we knew it, we were entering the NLEX toll gate from Mindanao Avenue. I could barely control the urge to floor the gas pedal when I saw the spectacularly enticing, clean, wide, smooth asphalt that lay before us after passing the toll gate. Gas is expensive, gas is expensive… was my motivating phrase to control the urge. We started to look for vehicles to draft from. We kept switching from cars, SUVs, vans, and trucks as we built up speed and each of them slowed down. We stuck with each vehicle travelling fast enough but not sacrificing fuel economy. Everytime a faster vehicle passed by, we switched to drafting it until it slows down or another passes by. In the middle of the Bulacan stretch (I did not notice where we were exactly and I am not familiar with NLEX either), we were already drafting at around 100 kph on my speedometer. You can feel the wind resistance’s effect rise when you get out of the draft.

Then this Mercedes SUV came along, an older version of the Brabus I think, who was running faster than the one we are currently drafting. I decided to draft it instead quickly changing lanes. The driver got irked somehow of my quick lane-change and very close tail gating that the SUV pulled away so quickly and left us clear out of the draft.

I just sat there for a second and tried to think if it was really enough to offend him with my maneuver. I was just trying to save fuel by tail-gating him, I mean drafting. And we were left there admiring his incredible acceleration rate. From my past experiences, only 3.6 liter gas fed engines can accelerate like that. Then in a flash, like a sudden poke from behind, it dawned on me, he wants to play “catch up if you can!” Backed up by an ego the size of a 30-wheeler “road-train” truck, I downshifted 2 gears down, floored the gas pedal, released the clutch at 5500 rpm and away we go! I let the blow-off valve (BOV) rip on the upshift, released the clutch before the rpm went down below 4500, and the SUV’s acceleration seemed to slow maintaining the considerable lead. 30 seconds into the run, I was reminded by my navigator to let the turbo breathe by releasing the gas pedal for a millisecond, it let loose a startling loud mix of a hiss and a boom which sounded like a blood curdling scream of an extremely pissed monster (sounds like Godzilla?!?). This is the closest I can describe it, with adrenaline disrupting the delicate senses. At almost 7000 rpm, blow-off valve rips again, simultaneous with 5th gear upshift. With no more gear left, I took quick alternating gaze on the road ahead and my gauge cluster, taking mental notes of the distance of the SUV and the vehicles up ahead, estimating all of their speed in relation to ours. I flashed a glimpse at the speedometer which now quickly passed 175 kph. When I returned my attention to the road ahead, the 2 lanes were blocked by vehicles up ahead and we are closing in incredibly fast, with the SUV now only 2 meters ahead on the other lane. I quickly slammed on the brakes just enough for a controlled threshold skid, too much wheel lock and we will make the headlines next day. Blow-off valve released a very disappointed scream when I released the gas pedal. While maintaining a controlled, high rate of deceleration on skid threshold, I noticed the SUV’s brake light illuminate, and see him glide uncontrollably towards the center of the highway effectively occupying 2 lanes. Thanks to his antilock braking system (ABS), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), traction control system (TCS), emergency brake assist (EBA), electronic stability control (ESC) and whatever alphabet noodle soup combinations installed on those expensive SUVs, the driver was able to control his pretty quick deceleration. As for me, I do not have any noodle soup combinations on my car, but I have GOD watching over me, plus the skills he gave me, is what I faithfully believe can safely stop any car I drive.

After slowing down and waiting for the blockers to open up, he proceeded to overtake past the blockers and we followed suit. This time, the SUV maintained a steady 100 kph. From my point of view, the driver is still gathering his wits that got scattered during the panic braking. I pulled up beside and took a glance at the driver but the window was tinted. I think I poked him again by pulling up beside him because as soon as I looked at the driver’s window, he sped up again. Wanna clearly see who’s fast and who will be furious eh!?

Here we go again! Find out who wins on Part 4….

Drafting??? Is there a misspelling here? Should the “a” be an “i”?? There is no error here typographical or otherwise, ladies and gents. According to Webster’s successor, Wiki said “Drafting or slipstreaming is a technique where two vehicles or objects align in a close group reducing the overall effect of drag.” This effectively reduces the power needed to push the drafting car through the air so you do not have to step hard on the gas pedal just to maintain speed. The lead vehicle’s slipstream will tend to pull the drafter along. I will leave it at that, considering the thorough explanation is a bit technical (aerodynamics is a one-semester major subject in my college course).

But wait, there is a catch! Drafting requires that the drafter maintain a very close distance from the lead vehicle, about less than 3 meters behind and closer gives better drafting pull, with the lead vehicle going at 60 kilometers per. This is NOT safe. A fair warning to newbie drivers: do not draft, or you will end up paying with your life and/or limbs. Expert drivers (not professionals, newbies can be professional drivers in 5 months but still lack the expert skills) can tell and wisely decide if they can draft, or if their car can draft safely.

A hint for easier and safer (safer??) drafting: choose a lead vehicle which is wide and tall but fast enough to produce a big draft, usually vans and buses. The larger they are the larger the area of the draft, so you do not have to follow so close. But (another warning!) buses tend to stop anytime anywhere with outrageous deceleration rate, so be careful, or you will end up being scraped off the behind of a bus. Better yet, do not risk it altogether, if you do not want to pay for additional gas, just stay home. Warning to all concerned: drafting is highly discouraged by this writer and is discussed here for purely academic purposes only.

Enough with the lecture and back to the story, on to Part 3….

It was a lazy sunday morning. It felt lazy due to a disappointment the night before . . . a carefully planned, supposedly spectacular, and outrageously wild boys night out that did not happen because of a weak link in the group. Anyways, I woke up that morning, looked at my watch and it indicated that its way past early and nothing has been planned for the rest of the day. I was not about to let the day pass without something to scratch my already itching feet. With almost maximum effort exerted, I searched within my blurry memory of what is supposed to be up for today . . .

Then I remembered that I can go to Daranak Falls and swim and lounge and frolic in the cool waters temporarily chiding the tremendously hot and humid weather for the rest of the day. It was just less than 30 minutes away. Then I remembered that there is a drift competition and an OSP drag meet at Clark set for today. Wow, a chance to quench my need for speed at NLEX and get to watch sideways and straight track action . . . the sweet stench of burnt rubber and howling engines in the air. Time is running and it is not slowing down, I had to decide quick if I want to make it early and enjoy the rest of the day.

The swimming excursion will cost minimal compared to the Clark run. What the heck, I am itching to run the NLEX for like forever, since the car has yet to run this north route after Godzilla’s installation (the turbocharged Nissan RB engine family is nicknamed Godzilla, with RB20DET as the smallest and the RB26DETT as the biggest and most powerful factory built). This is the time for the long-awaited-but-cannot-do run at the northerly long stretch of road. So what if it cost fuel? It is the price to pay to scratch the need-for-speed itch. To save as much fuel, step light on the gas pedal and do drafting.

Drafting??? Is there a misspelling here? Find out on Part 2 of the blog!