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Hot Cars, Cool Culture at the Auto Summit 2008

The Auto Summit 2008, the most anticipated car show of the South, was held once again last week from June 21 to 29. This year the show took place in Festival Mall’s carousel court and mini-trade hall and proved to be bigger, with even more participants and events: the last two days of the car show featured the sound-off audio competition of bass and clarity levels.

One of the most notable participants this year was Tuason Racing School, with a plum spot in the middle of the exhibition. The Tuason Racing School is a familiar name to car junkies and gearheads: it’s the most respected and well-known racing school in the Philippines. Tuason Racing School (or TRS) brought out their new race car, a Ford Focus TDCi (diesel) and their Formula 3 open-wheel race car. They also had a Go Kart on display. Another notable feature was their Gran Turismo driving simulator, complete with race seat and driving gear. They opened the simulator to everyone, and the TRS staff also coached participants on the basics of racing. I had a lot of fun in that simulator!

Also exhibited was an array of drift, drag, and street cars. Brian Revilla’s orange Nissan 180SX drift car was on display together with the Autoline / PR Autosport show cars. There was also a pink Honda Civic drag car. Next to the TRS section was a Ferrari 355 Spider in all its glory. The main area was littered with lots of mildly modified cars. My favorite vehicle on display, though, was tiny but packed a lot of punch: a Vespa scooter with a sidecar.

A surprising participant parked in the carousel area was a Brown Toyota Tamaraw FX that had been extremely modified to the point that only its exterior still resembled its base car. The interior of this Tamaraw had been modified completely: the dash had been moved almost to the middle of the vehicle, and the whole interior was full of I.C.E (In-Car-Entertainment) goodies. A Toyota Fortuner on display also showed its full audio setup done by Kid Audio.

No car show would be complete without the car manufacturers unveiling their latest vehicles to the public. Here brands like Isuzu, Kia, Cherry, Ford, BMW, and Mitsubishi showed their new offerings to the masses. Notable new cars on display were the orange Ford Focus sedan from the Ford camp, the black Mazda Miata and the very gorgeous and handsome new Mitsubishi Lancer EX.

A trip to the mini trade hall revealed even more cars to be found. This side of the show was my favorite, because it featured some very nice old school cars. A Porsche Spyder held the place of pride in the middle of the mini trade hall. Two restored Volkswagen Beetles were off to the side, which I adored (because of my recently acquired VW Beetle!) and three very cute Mini Coopers. Okay… one of them wasn’t really cute—perhaps the better term would be aggressive. The white and red Minis were fine examples of how to build or restore a Mini, but the orange one was definitely an extreme Mini—it had a full roll cage, single lock race wheels with tires, and even a modified engine, which I believe is turbo’ed. This Mini means business.

Also in the mini trade hall were more new cars from car manufacturers and vendor’s booths were you could buy all sorts of auto paraphernalia—keychains, shirts, stickers, and accessories.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures and hope to see you at next year’s car show!

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