A few days ago, I received an invite from a dear friend for a media event which involved something that was once a huge part of my childhood, Mini 4WD racing.
The event was held at the Brickyard, a hub for all things Mini 4WD. They sell kits, upgrade parts, and more. They even have their own race track in which you can try out your machine, for free by the way. Several members of the media were in attendance, all were given kits to build, in preparation for a friendly tournament.
Honestly, I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore fan of the hobby. Yes, I did watch some episodes of the Anime, and I also had my own original kit (Fire Stinger, because I didn’t know that there were a lot of types of chassis back then), but I never joined any of the big tournaments. Still, I found it as a fun and interesting activity.
Building the kit I had brought back so many memories, especially when I was building my first kit back then. Thankfully, I didn’t run into any hiccups, except for 1 extra screw which I didn’t know where to put.
When the time came for me to race, I was so excited, and serious, as they said. I won a couple of times, but in the end, well, some things just aren’t for me I guess. But nonetheless, I didn’t attend to win anyway, but to have fun, which I think is what this hobby is all about anyway.
The event was a great time off from all of the tech-related activities, especially since me and a bunch of media friends just came back from a trip to Taiwan to cover Computex 2019.
Apart from the tournament, the owner of Brickyard, Mr. Ferdie Kahn, also gladly welcomed the participants, and also revealed a fun fact – Tamiya is proudly made in Cebu, Philippines, by Filipinos. He also talked about how the hobby continues to captivate a large community, even in the age of social media.
The Brickyard and Lil’s Hobby Center will be hosting the Tamiya Mini 4WD Asia Challenge on June 20 to 23, in which some 250 to 300 competitors from 10 countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, etc., will be battling it out to see who reigns supreme. The winner will be competing in Japan in November for the World Championships.
But alas, there was one final surprise – the Dyipne, a limited edition Mini 4WD kit will be released, a Philippine cultural icon, and a testament of just how Tamiya values the Philippines as one of its most important partners. It will be available exclusively from the Brickyard, located at the 3rd level of Glorietta 2 in Makati City, starting June 6, 2019. It will be priced at around PhP700 to PhP750.
“Mini-4WD car tuning and racing are very social activities and it is equally challenging. At the Brickyard, you tune your car with so many different options and we give you the opportunity to see your car perform at our world class tracks. You customize your car over and over until you are satisfied with its performance. You are involved for hours in the activity. Then take it a step further and join our races and put your car through the ultimate challenge. The exciting aspect of this hobby is that it has no boundaries, its inclusive and it is hours of fun.”
– Mr. Ferdie Khan, Owner of the Brickyard
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
