It was close to 5pm by the time we made it to the sprawling carpark F at Kallang. It seemed eeriely quiet, and there was no 'sprinting' to be seen or heard.

Due to a scheduling snafu, we completely missed the Sprint and Supersprint events.

Oh horror of horrors! What in the world could we feature if we had missed the title event?

Thankfully, the cars for the 'autostyling' (which car looks the best) and 'sound challenge' (which car's got the loudest, sharpest, bassiest In-Car Entertainment systems) were still on show. There were some familiar faces, and even more familiar cars, all basking in the afternoon sun.

We found out later from the organisers, MPT Motor Trading, that there had been more than 80 entries for both the Sprint and Supersprint event. This was a slight dip over last year's numbers, but was made up for in terms of a more varied field that included a Volkswagen Golf and MINI Cooper S, apart from the usual Mitsubishi EVOs, Subaru WRXs and Honda Civics.

Still, the big winners were usual suspects like Lester Wong and Eddie Ng, who took three and seven awards respectively.

Soon after we arrived, we noticed that a crowd that had gathered under the main tent. Lo and behold, it was a battle to find MPT's very own queen of race queens.

Like all pageants, everyone has an opinion about the contestants, and I'd have to say that this bunch of contestants didn't generate half as much heat as the blazing sun outside. Still, eager-beaver photographers snapped away in the humid afternoon weather.

AsiaOne Motoring sat down with our favourite contestant for the day, Wendy Tow (say 'Tao') for a quick chat on this whole race queen business.

Name: Wendy Tow
Age: 20
Occupation: Events executive

In case you think the typical local race queen is 'ah lian' whose boyfriends drives a souped-up car, this Ngee Ann Polytechnic Mass Comm alumnus is just the opposite. Speaking in perfect english without any hint of a fake accent throughout our chat, Wendy comes across as the girl-next-door every mum wants her son to marry. And she's single too!

When quizzed about the reason for her taking part in this contest, she said matter-of-factly that it was just "For fun, for the experience."

Given she's now in a race queen competition, we found out to our amusement that this 20-year-old has a phobia of driving. She can strike a pose next to any car, but won't get behind the wheel. Wendy revealed to us that she has a deep-seated fear that she'll start mowing people down in if she ever starts driving.

So if you ever see her driving... run!

Here's what Wendy thinks are 3 key attributes a good race queen needs to have:

1) Legs that will endure hours of standing in the world's least comfortable boots.

2) Memorising "1,000 ways to pose next to a car: A guidebook for racequeens"

3) Being able to smile all day, which is important, but having the temperament to deal with the 'cheeky things' that guys that's just as crucial.

MPT's next round of Sprints & Supersprints will take place on Sunday, the 20th of May at Kallang Carpark F.

Check out the vodcast of Wendy and the cars on show