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Car clubbers: From skidding out to reaching out
Prancing horses: Ferraris drive in a convoy around the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta
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Prancing horses: Ferraris drive in a convoy around the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)
Car owners join community clubs to share their passion for various makes, models and even specific colors of vehicles.
Club members build their bond through various activities, from hangouts at public places to overseas trips.
However, driving together on a tour is the most common activity, which is not only fun but gives the members a sense of togetherness.
“While I enjoy driving, I can feel the companionship from other tour mates. We help each other out when we have problems,” says Chandra Atje, a member of a Peugeot club.
Joining an out-of-town tour is costly for Arifin, but he chooses to accept the invitations often. He owns a car service garage and wants to build good relationships with potential customers.
In contrast to Arifin’s pragmatism, Chandra seems to have inherited his passion — and his car — from his grandfather.
“It was in 1996. Grandpa gave his car to my father but my father complained about the hard brakes so he gave it to me. I learned about its mechanical setup and have since become fond of the car,” he said.
His first drive-together experience was a tour of Surakarta, Central Java, in 2009, which was seven years after Peugeot Club Indonesia (PCI) was founded.
In 2010, PCI was renamed Communication Forum of Peugeot Indonesia (FKPI), which Chandra now chairs.
The forum now supervises some 50 clubs with members totaling about 1,000.
Car clubs have been mushrooming. Not only the make or the model but even the color of the vehicles can unify owners.
One color-based community is White Car Indonesia. Established in 2013, it now has over 3,000 members.
A tour combined with a social outreach program is also part of the Ferrari Owners Club Indonesia (FOCI) program.
The members donated a sum of money to a number of orphanages and nursing homes in Surabaya, East Java, while they tried out the newly-completed Transjava toll road in March.
FOCI was established in 2002 and now has about 150 members, most of them are Jakarta based with others residing in Surabaya and Batam.
“The organization serves as a unifying place for those with shared passion and experience,” FOCI president Hanan Supangkat says.
Owning a Ferrari is a dream for some, but just taking a ride in one may have been a dream come true for cancer patients from Yayasan Kasih Anak Kanker Indonesia (YKAKI) when FOCI members, mostly business people and entrepreneurs, extended financial aid in February in an event where the kids took rides in the “prancing horses”.
Other foundations who benefitted from FOCI’s charity program include Yayasan Kemala Bhayangkari, Yayasan Keraton Yogyakarta, Yayasan Keraton Solo, YCAB, YOAI, Yayasan Media Amal Islami, Yayasan Kasih Mandiri Bersinar, Yayasan Fizar and Garda Satwa Indonesia.
The list looks reasonable to the members who have overseas tours on the club’s agenda.
They held a Southeast Asian tour in 2015 and European tour last year, in which they visited the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy.
