AS part of Caltex’s Fuel Power Challenge, race car driver Natasha Chang drove a 1991 Honda Civic powered with Caltex with Techron up a mountain in Thailand in six minutes! setting a new Guinness World Records title for the “Fastest Ascent of Doi Chang Mountain Road by Car”.
Chang beat television host, KC Montero, during the challenge which was aired as a two-part series - “Records Rides” on National Geographic with Caltex as the sole presenting partner.
“The car is close to 30 years old. The fuel efficiency is what was important to me. As a racer and as someone with experience with the car, we tuned the car with Caltex as it was not originally used in the vehicle. When we put the new fuel to tune, I could hear the sound of the engine. It was a completely different engine and completely different sound.
“We took a very ordinary car to complete such a feat, to show the power of the fuel and the Caltex team,” Chang said at an event to celebrate the record-breaking feat at One World Hotel on July 8, 2019.
Describing the experience on March 14, 2019, as the “most memorable moment of her life and career”, Chang said she did not have a smooth ride on her first attempt. Adding that she crashed the car in a village on her way up and needed three hours to repair the car, for the second attempt.
At the event, Chevron Malaysia Limited’s country chairman Shahid Ahmed said using Caltex with Techron is the right fuel because it can make an ordinary car, extraordinary. He said Chang and Montero used ordinary cars with Caltex with Techron as fuel, and it made a difference to their cars.
Shahid said with the Caltex challenge, they wanted to demonstrate the product and its power and deliver it, in a way that consumers would find inspiring and challenging.
“Clearly, with Chang, we were able to demonstrate that and set a world record, at the same time,” he said.
Chevron’s product engineering manager, Asia Pacific, Greg Engeler said Techron keeps the engine clean so that it can perform at its best. He said both the cars used Caltex with Techron and that having the right fuel in the wheel was absolutely critical.
“Caltex with Techron” is specially formulated to clean and protect engines. The Guinness World Records title achievement helps demonstrate how a clean engine powered by Techron can function at its most optimum, which includes delivering maximum power to your wheels. This is the same fuel that our customers can experience at their neighbourhood Caltex stations to power their everyday drive,” he said.
Datuk Hans Isaac, who is the celebrity partner of Caltex Malaysia, said he will attempt to drive up to Cameron Highlands in the national car, the 1985 Proton Saga, but added that the initiative is still in the planning stage.
