GAC Empow conquers Batangas Racing Circuit

GAC Motor Philippines invited Philkotse to a track day session at the Batangas Racing Circuit (BRC). There, we got to put the GAC Empow compact sedan to its paces on what is deemed as “the home of Philippine Motorsport.” 

The top-spec GAC Empow GE (left) and the GB (right)

Before going over how the car did on the track, however, GAC arranged some fun driving activities involving the Empow GB and the top-spec GB while under the watchful eye of motorsports veteran George Ramirez and his team. 

First off was a traction test which was done by putting the car through a slippery path simulated by a long stretch of tarp soaked with soapy water. During this test, the Empow’s active traction system sent an appropriate amount of power to individual wheels keeping the vehicle straight despite the slippery surface. This was then finished off by the sudden introduction of traction as the slippery stretch of tarp ended. The car dealt with this smoothly and cleanly, with no jerky sensations at all. 

GAC Empow GB tackling the traction test

For the first on-hand driving experience, participants were then given the opportunity to pilot either the Empow GB or GE through a braking test and a slalom course. Immediately, one thing we noticed was the GAC sedan’s punchy acceleration. This is thanks to its peppy 1.5-liter gasoline four-banger which delivers 174 horsepower and 270 Nm of torque. More importantly, the sedan also demonstrated heaps of stopping courtesy of its front and rear disc brakes.

The highlight of the track day event though was the full lap runs of the 3.70 kilometer-long BRC. Of note, this course is a fair bit more technical compared to the Clark International Speedway, according to Ramirez. It features fast corners, with some having intimidating banked turns. 

Getting ready to show off its braking power

Despite that, the Empow managed to conquer the track smoothly. Throughout the course, the car maintained stability with not a single sound coming out from its wheels. This is important to note because squealing tires are taken as a sign when one is approaching the limits of traction. All the more surprising is the fact that the Empow units the participants were piloting were using basic road tires. 

Granted, there are plenty of other vehicles that are faster around BRC than the Empow. More often than not, however, those are either heavily modified or are pricier models that are flat-out sports cars. The Empow in turn, shows a great balance between sportiness and day-to-day comfort.

Mind you, we took on BRC with the Empow’s air-conditioning fully turned on (it was a hot day) but no power loss was apparent. These were also fully stock cars that one can buy straight from GAC, meaning they had all the niceties typical of modern cars. Regardless, it felt as if it wasn’t bogged down by the weight of all of those features. 

The GAC Empow GE

In fact, its seven-speed dual-clutch transmission was very responsive and reliably provided the right gear on the challenging track. The car’s steering was also very straightforward and it pointed the car immediately to where you wanted it to go. 

The Empow even took on the fast but curvy 13th BRC corner with minimal body roll. The only thing barring the Empow from going faster around the track was the driver (the writer), who had no prior racing experience except for a few stints on autocross. But thankfully, Ramirez provided the right amount of instruction to make the run fairly competent. 

Now the best part of this is, the GAC Empow only starts at Php 1,225,000. The particular variants we got to drive on BRC were the mid-spec GB and the top-spec GE which are priced at Php 1,305,000 and Php 1,348,000 respectively.  

Getting ready for a few laps around BRC

Those are surprisingly affordable price tags considering what the sedan can do. So suffice it to say, a car buyer who’s looking for a ride that can kick butt on race tracks whilst being able to function as a plush daily should not sleep on this GAC sedan. 

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