March 7, 2024

2024 TITC Chassis Focus Index

Last weekend thanks to the support of Hobbywing, Red RC made a return to the TITC for the 20-edition of this legendary Bangkok race.  The biggest one yet, it has truly become the most significant annual electric Touring Car race in the World.  It was extremely positive for the category to see so much manufacturer support for the race.  Of all the major car brands, only Schumacher had no official team presence but here’s hoping the British manufacturer gives us the opportunity to see Michal Orlowski take on the challenging RC Addict track conditions for the first time next year.  Such was the quality of the field, the B-Main was full of World Championship Finalist drivers and it was great to see six different manufacturers represented in the A-Main of Modified.  Call us old school, but putting the iconic Tamiya logo in our results graphic was a nostalgic moment.  In another positive for electric touring car we had three new cars at the race.  We had the latest prototype from Yokomo, the Japanese brand going for a name change as the BD name is dropped in favour of MS for Master Speed.  Nicolas Lee did try to get us permission for a chassis focus but we couldn’t get it across the line.  Kyosho had two prototypes of what is expected to be their TF8.  That news generated massive excitement, so much so Kyosho requested we take down the story we ran on their return to the category.  Finally Ryan Maker debuted his exciting new SP1 that will see him realise the dream of his RC Maker brand becoming a fully fledged car manufacturer.  While both RC Maker and Kyosho allowed us to look at their new creations, we were not granted permission to photograph them for a Chassis Focus which we fully understand given the cars’ designs are still to be fully finalised.  Over the event we did however photograph 12 cars from seven different manufacturers and we have compiled them all here in our latest Chassis Focus index.

 

Alexander Hagberg (2nd Overall) – Xray X4 ’24

Jilles Groskamp – Infinity IF4 II TE

Marc Rheinard (3rd Overall) – Awesomatix A800R

Ronald Volker (Top Qualifer) – Mugen Seiki MTC2R

Kato Kouki – Infinity IF14 TE

Akio Sobue – Axon TC10/3

Bruno Coelho (Champion) – Xray X4 ’24

Souta Goto – Tamiya TRF 421

Naoto Matsukura – Infinity IF14 TE

Lucas Urbain – Awesomatix A800R

Atsushi Hara – Xpress XQ11 “Hara Edition”

 

Open Brushless

Simon Lauter (Top Qualifier & Champion) – Awesomatix A800R

 


March 3, 2024

Chassis Focus – Simon Lauter (Awesomatix)

Chassis – Awesomatix A800R
ESC – Hobbywing G2S Pro XR10
Motor – Hobbywing G4 Bandit 13.5t
Battery – Nosram 6100mah
Tires (handout) – Sweep
Radio/Servo – Sanwa M17/  MKS HBL575 SL
Body – Xtreme Speciale

Image Gallery


March 3, 2024

Lauter gives Awesomatix 4th consecutive TITC Open Brushless win

Simon Lauter executed the perfect TITC race debut by taking the win in the Bangkok race’s biggest class Open Brushless realising a fourth consecutive win for his chassis sponsor Awesomatix.  Having secured the overall TQ at RC Addict over the Xray of Adam Izsay, it took all three A-Mains to decide the overall winner with some intense and at times aggressive driving with even the crowd getting involved in expressing their disappointment for a lack of respect being shown by drivers.  In A1, Izsay armed with new tyres would take the win ahead of Lauter after late contact from the Hungarian robbed the Top Qualifier of what was looking like a well defended win.  In A2, Lauter capitalised on new tyres to take a convincing win by over 3-seconds from team-mate Louis Kretschmer as Izsay dropped down to 4th.  With all to play for in A3, it was again advantage Izsay as he had new tyres.  While the German again tried to defend from the front, Izsay made contact with him again ruining Lauter’s race and earning Izsay a Stop & Go penalty.  With Kretschmer taking the third win, Lauter’s A2 winning time would give him the Title ahead of his fellow countryman with Izsay completing the podium.  With an unwritten TITC rule that the winner of the Open Brushless can’t race the category again, Lauter has already confirmed his intentions to return to the TITC in 12 months time and step up to the Modified class.

Summing up his win, following a friendly chat with Izsay about their fraught battles in the finals, Lauter said, ‘I am super happy to win as this was the goal coming here.’  An important win for his electronics sponsor Hobbywing, given the open nature of the boosted class, he continued, ‘People usually talk about fights on the track but this time it really was a fight.  I think the heat got to us but I am just happy it ended well for me and as you can see me and Adam are still talking.’  On the battle going to A3, the European Pro Stock Champion said, ‘Adam had the upper hand on tyre strategy for the last one.  He knew it and we knew it, so my goal was to keep the door shut and it paid off in the end.’  Asked what he thought of his first TITC he replied, ‘It’s super hard but I am looking forward to coming back and trying Modified here.  This is what I race already in ETS.  I want to thank the whole team especially Max (Machler) as team manager here.  Unfortunately Tim (Wahl) had to go home early and I want to send good regarding to him and his dad.  I have to thank him for the car.  He gave me the car I won with’.

View our event image gallery here.


March 3, 2024

Chassis Focus – Alexander Hagberg (Xray)

Chassis – Xray X4 ’24
ESC – Hobbywing XR10 G2S
Motor   Hobbywing G3 4.5T
Battery – Nosram 6500
Tires (handout) – Sweep
Radio/Servo – Sanwa M17 / Sawna PGS-LH2
Body – Xtreme Twister

Image Gallery


March 3, 2024

Chassis Focus – Jilles Groskamp (Infinity)

Chassis – Infinity IF14 II TE
ESC – Orca OE1 Mark II
Motor – Orca Modtreme 2 4.5T
Battery – Orca 6090mah
Tires (handout) – Sweep
Radio/Servo – Sanwa EXZES ZZ / JG Racing JG-TC1
Body – Xtreme Speciale

Image Gallery

 


March 3, 2024

Chassis Focus – Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix)

Chassis – Awesomatix A800R
ESC – Orca OE1
Motor – Orca Modtreme 2 4.5T
Battery – Orca 6090mah
Tires (handout) – Sweep
Radio/Servo – FlySky Noble Pro / Power HD S15
Body – Xtreme Speciale UL

Image Gallery