One of the best amateur motorsport events is back this year to give budding circuit racing enthusiasts another chance at elevating their skills and experience.
The Full Throttle Weekend is a two-day motorsport weekend that is composed of two amateur racing series — Touge Battle on the first day and The Clubman Racing Series on Day 2.
Series organizer E.Z. Ligaya said: “FTW is a place for fun and friends. We want to keep our races light and fun and maintain an atmosphere where everyone encourages each other and looks out for each other. What we always say to our racers is ‘All of you arrived on track as friends, so let’s all do our best to be gentlemen and also go home as friends.’”
The organizers see FTW as sort of a fun time at the track, away from all the seriousness of competitive racing. It is the best venue for honing skills, gaining friends, tuning cars and setups, and gaining more experience. Newbies and professionals alike flock to FTW to just have fun. There is a certain amount of friendly competition of course, as faster lap times and better racing lines go hand-in-hand with circuit racing.
FTW also has what it calls the ELITE 100; a list of a hundred fastest lap times by the top participants, all in production cars (nope, no open wheelers and open cockpit cars here). The list is by race course, as FTW runs events at both the Batangas Racing Circuit and Clark International Speedway. It serves as a leaderboard of sorts, and a way for individuals to challenge themselves.
Day 1 Races — TOUGE BATTLE
The FTW Touge Battle is heavily inspired by Japanese Touge racing where there are only two cars involved at a time, and no overtaking is allowed. Cars are matched up in earlier runs to achieve a tight pairing. There is a lead car with a 4-second headstart, whose objective is to achieve at least a 0.05-second gap on the chase car. Meanwhile, the chase car wins if it reduces the gap by at least 0.05 seconds.
This makes the runs interesting, as drivers don’t have to focus on overtaking as a means of winning. Instead, they can focus on proper racing lines, proper braking, and effective driving.
“We consider TOUGE BATTLE to be the easiest and safest way to start circuit racing due to its unique format. Where else can you find a race where overtaking is not allowed? Without overtaking involved, drivers can purely focus on their driving skill and the no-overtaking rule instantly removes any dirty driving to protect a driver’s lead or to overtake your opponent,” Ligaya said.
Day 2 Races — CLUBMAN RACING SERIES
The Clubman Racing Series is an amateur racing series that caters to more competitive racers who are looking for a bigger challenge by racing with a grid. As it is technically a beginner space, the organizers apply the “gentleman’s racing” ethic.
“We don’t actually give awards for winners here. (There’s) No dirty driving, no blocking. Pure gentleman’s racing where drivers go above and beyond to share and show track etiquette, and not have any contact at all with their competition on the track,” according to E.Z.
As of the moment, three groups run on day 2, the Historic Mini Racers Philippines which is a race for period correct Mini Coopers, the ETCCPH or European Touring Car Championship Philippines composed of European cars, and the SLTD or Sick Leave Track Days, a group of racers who’ve decided to move up from Touge Battle and race each other grid style.
The race schedules for this year happen mostly in BRC, with the event running on the following weekend dates this 2023: 18 to 19 March, 29 to 30 April, and 15-16 July. After that, FTW moves to CIS on 7 to 8 October.
To find out more about FTW, follow them at https://www.facebook.com/FullThrottleWeekend.