Last saturday Feb 14, 2009, the Miata Club was invited by Mazda Philippines, as a special guest to join them in celebrating this important event.
Among the clubmembers who came with their Miata (16 miatas !!!) were:
1. Jomari Cortez
2. Rey Reyes
3. Reggie Mendiola
4. Chito Santiago
5. Norman Castillo
6. Danny Sadian
7. Winston Llamas
8. Collins Yap with Ningning
9. Ding Bernabe with Edith
10. Gino Reyes
11. Ven Rojas with Joy
12. Jojo Ozaeta
13. Carlo Ablaza
14. Marlon Mercado
15. Tristan Calixto with Ellen
16. Chito Frondoso
Other members who were also there were:
17. Ting Joson
18. Renan Acosta
19. Joey Bernardez
20. Allan Lavarro with Libby
21. Rommy David
We were asked to be there by 1:00pm so we agreed to meet at noon and have lunch at BROTHERS BURGER (BB) at High Street at the Fort. JOMARI and I arrived at BB together, to see REGGIE and REY already hugging two empty tables for MCP . Prez CHITO S, TRISTAN, TING, GINO and NORMAN followed after. Many others had lunch elsewhere but were all on time to join the convoy to the site. We assembled our cars just outside the parking lot and then Prez CHITO S led our pack to arrive at the Mazda grounds.
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We had a nice long convoy as we came in, and we were immediately ushered in to the display grounds to park beside our Mazda brothers from the MAZDA3 and MAZDATECH Clubs. Our hosts did not waste time in handing out our entry forms to participate in the funawards and to give out the Mazda caps in the familiar Mazda light blue color. Mazda had a nice big tent for us with plenty of chairs to sit around and a big table to hold all the high tech Nikons and Canons our camera club had carried. We had full waiter service from LA TASCA pouring endless cups of coffee with pate served on crackers. Also served was Peking duck with hoisin sauce and handrolled in a wrapper.
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Our hosts led by PRUDZ CASTILLO, the recently installed Brand Manager for Mazda, did not waste time in making us feel at home, and giving us a quick rundown on the afternoon's events. We were also welcomed by RICK BAKER, the big boss of FORD PHILIPPINES, who couldnt help but admire our newly released JINBA ITTAI teeshirts, designed and produced by REGGIE. We all remember RICK when he hosted our Miata club for an exclusive sneak preview and all-day test drive of the new MX5 held at the Ayala Greenfields early last year. We were also introduced to STEVEN TAN, the VP for Marketing and Sales for Mazda. STEVEN is from Malaysia and arrived in the Philippines about six months ago. He told me that he was assigned in Thailand for 8 years and is looking forward to a wonderful stay here. He was quite pleased to see how active our club is, and specially with our support to Mazda's activities.
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Mazda had a compact but well planned event for the weekend. They had all their current models on display, they even had body painters to plant the Mazda Logo on your arm. WINSTON and COLLLINS showed the skilled artists our club logo and challenged them to paint it on their arms. What turned out were remarkable handpainted copies of our Miata club logo in its full chevron shape . Also available were instant photo prints where we had a fun time posing with our Miata smiles. As usual, many beautiful models were around to complement the cars. Our members led by COLLINS did not waste time in having their pictures taken with the pretty lasses in their cute Mazda outfits. He says he needs to have pictures taken with the ladies to show proof of attendance and participation in all major miata club events, like this one, and more importantly he said, ... to encourage others to participate more actively.
At around 3pm, Mazda called everyone in to formally launch the event and to welcome their guests. The Miata club, the Mazdatech club, and the Mazda3 club were honored with a plaque of appreciation for participating in the anniversary. Our very own prez CHITO S gave a few words to congratulate Mazda Philippines, and to thank them for making us a part of their celebration
After that, we then moved on to the drifting event. Two Mazda BT50s race-tuned pickup trucks were lined up to show the crowd that drifting can also be done with trucks. The guys from Arthur Tuason racing school were on hand to wow the crowd with their drifting skills. It had already rained a bit and so the trucks couldn't drift in the way the crowd had expected them to. Despite that , the media and the rest of the crowd enjoyed and marveled at the way the trucks could drift on puddles of water. When the rains got stronger, drifting took a recess, and Emcee MO TWISTER conducted "bring-me" contests to award some special Mazda tokens. No one could come up with a Mazda owner's manual but a few guys raced to him to bring their Mazda keychains. Aside from that, there was a trivia contest too. The crowd was asked how long does the RHT of the MX5 take to open or close. Someone from the crowd guessed with the correct answer but i was disappointed that he was not someone from the Miata club.
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After several minutes of fun and games, the rains had stopped and the ground was nearly dry. Drifting exhibition then resumed and this time a lot more rubber went up in smoke as the BT50s ran circles around the orange pylons. After the media had finished their turn, our miata club members had a chance for a drift ride. COLLINS and WINSTON each had their turns, while all that action were documented on both stills and video by the ever so ready Miata Camera club guys.
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The highlight of the burnout exhibition was when FRANCISCO ( we all know him from AUTOPLUS) redlined the engine of one BT50 to the limit while in gear. The front tires stayed firm to the ground, while the rear tires were spinning wild and bits of rubber were spraying to the rear like sawdust spewing from a circular saw as it cuts through lumber. The right rear tire was the first to give up and blow up, and was immediately followed by the left tire.. He did not kill the engine till all that was left were two rear tires that looked like they were run flat for ten kilometers at 100kph. FRANCISCO ended his stunt by pointing to the beaten tires, and saying in his distinct hispanic accent... " .... NOW THAT'S POWER..!!!...."
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After that drifting show, we moved on back to wait for the awards. With everyone back in the tent, PRUDZ started the awards by thanking once again the participants from the three Mazda clubs for coming. The Miata club took home the following awards:
Favorite MIATA MX5 Award ---- Marlon Mercado (with his gleaming black miata)
Odometer Award ----- GINO Reyes (most number of 5's )
Best in Stock ------ CHITO Frondoso
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By 6pm, I had to leave right after, but many others stayed on for the live concert by popular band SIDE A. What a perfect valentine treat it was for our Valentine couples TRISTAN and ELLEN, COLLINS and NINGNING, DING and EDITH, and VEN and JOY. On hand to look after their heartbeats, was their designated surgeon RENAN. Also celebrating Valentines night on the other side of High Street were JOEYBER, REGGIE, CARLO, MARLON, with another Valentine couple ALLAN and LIBBY. VEN told me that he and his Valentine Gang stayed on till way after midnight.
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We wish to thank all our members who represented our club to this important MAZDA anniversary. Thanks to WINSTON for helping me gather participants with his text campaign. Congrats to Prez Chito for another succesful Miata club event. Congratulations again to Mazda Philippines on its 5th anniversary. Thanks to Mazda for great celebration, and for treating Miataclub to a unique valentine experience. Thanks to the camera guys for the great pictures.
Thanks also to Mazda for tipping us off in advance about the special weekend-only discount of Php 200T from the MX5 sticker price of Php 2.0M. We hope some of our members grabbed this hard-to-resist offer.
P.S.
the Retractable Hard Top (RHT) of the new MX5 takes only 12 seconds to open or close.
Chito Frondoso
February 14, 2009
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