November 22, 2019

Chassis Focus – Meen Vejrak

Chassis – Infinity IF8
Engine – Maxima Racing 20
Fuel – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/Power HD
Body – Xtreme Super Diablo

Remarks – Meen Vejrak is doing double duties this weekend, also running at the sharp end in electric touring, but it is in Nitro where he is performing his best, topping the opening 2 qualifiers today. His first time running the stock Infinity chassis, which was selected by his Maxima team, he feels it is more consistent and has more traction than previous cars he has tried but has similar steering to its competitors. His engine is the Racing 20 from Maxima, an OS based motor that has more torque than its predecessors.

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November 22, 2019

Meen Vejrak takes the opening SIGP Nitro qualifier

Meen Vejrak has taken the opening round of qualifying for 1/8th Nitro at the ARC International Raceway in Xiamen. The Maxima team driver ended the 4 minute run 1.5 seconds in front of top seed Kim Ki Heung from Korea. Behind the leading pair it was Gary Huang for Xray in 3rd, while Motor King took 4th with Matrix front man Cristian Boni completing the top 5. Vejrak commented that when he initially put his car down, the former 1/10th Nitro WC running an Infinity chassis this weekend, it had no steering but an adjustment to the rear toe-in and his car was much better. Happy to make a clean run, Meen felt that his Maxima engine was a little rich at the start but pushing it harder it meant it cleared out and he could put in a good run.

Topping seeding last night Kim Ki Heung was pleased with his run, having completed a clean 4 minutes. The Shepherd driver was another to feel the grip lower than last night and will change his car with the aim to find more rear traction for Q2.

Gary Huang took 3rd for the round but wasn’t so happy with the setting of his Max engine, it being set a bit too lean during the heat. Happy with the performance of his Xray chassis he will consult with his mechanic Gavin Kwok on the direction to go for the early evening 2nd qualifier.

Shanghai based Motor King, running an OS powered Mugen in Nitro, said his car was very stable and with no traffic during his qualifier he could finish the round in 4th. Saying that his car was understeering slightly he will make a change to the front spring for the final run of the day which he predicts will be the rocket round, a driver’s fastest run time counting towards their final qualifying position.

Claiming the first round of qualifying in the 1/8th GT class, Serpent driver Felix Law was over 2 seconds clear of Maxima driver Paphon Chanyasak, who is also running a Serpent chassis this weekend. Fai Ho would end the round in 3rd, followed by fellow Hong Kong driver Ali Lee in 4th.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

November 21, 2019

Chassis Focus – Merlin Depta

Chassis – Serpent 989
Engine – OS Speed R2103 Euro Klaus Lechner
Fuel – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Xtreme Super Diablo

Remarks – Merlin Depta is having his first outing with the new Serpent 989 and he has equipped it with a number of interesting option parts. First up is the thicker 2.5mm radio plate for more consistent handling, then there is the prototype hard coated 2-speed gearbox carrier, while up front there is prototype steering arm levers for improved steering. From his McFly brand there is a side mounted carbon plate with tungsten weight to better balance the car as he uses low profile servos and he is also using a carbon throttle lever that he produced. In terms of setup he said the basis is ok andhe is playing around with springs and trying different things alongside team mate Jeff Hamon to more quickly find out the best direction for setup.

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November 21, 2019

Kim Ki Heung heads the Nitro class at SIGP

Korean driver Kim Ki Heung has completed practice for the 1/8th scale Nitro class in Xiamen as the top seed going into qualifying. The Shepherd driver came through from the 2nd fastest heat, beating out a whole host of international names in both rounds of controlled practice to make his intentions known going into qualifying. Behind it was World Championship finalist Jeff Hamon in 2nd, some 6 tenths back with his Serpent, while Maxima team mates Meen Vejrak and Charlee P were 3rd and 4th. Having spent 2 days here in China to test ahead of today’s official action, Kim declared himself happy with his OS powered Velox and said that he is a fan of the track layout that the organisers have used for the event.

Serpent driver Jeff Hamon ended the seeding practice in 2nd overall, the faster 2nd round taking place in cooler conditions which he said while faster the run was still a bit messy. Having only had 2 runs today he said the rear of his 989 was a little too ‘taily’ during the 4 minute session which he thinks can be fixed by running more gurney. Needing still to improve the car to close the gap to Kim, the Australian said ‘I feel like I know what to change’, Jeff running a different shock setup for CP2 which was not better and so he will revert to his original shock package and instead look for an alternate way to find the grip he is looking for.

In 3rd place was Meen Vejrak, the Maxima driver saying he used his 2nd run today to test 2nd run tires because at the majority of events you must always use new tires each run, which isn’t the case here at the SIGP. While he was able to put in a faster 3-lap run, over the entire run he felt he couldn’t go any faster and so it was no real improvement over a new set of handout Matrix tires. Another to say he is looking for more forward traction the former World Champion believed that it was maybe too cold now and that is why the grip was hard to come by. For Q1 tomorrow, Meen will continue to make some small changes as he looks to find those extra tenths to close the gap.

Charlee P ended the day 4th, the Maxima powered driver using both runs to work on his engine choice, with CP1 not netting the desired result but the Thai driver declaring himself happy with the engine his team selected for CP2. Now with the engine choice clear Charlee will work on the setup of his IF8, the Maxima team using Infinity chassis’ this weekend, and he too will look for more traction as he has found the car too loose for his liking.

In the GT class, it was another Maxima driver Paphon Chanyasak driving a Serpent chassis who set the pace under the floor lights ahead of Felix Law, also running the Cobra GT in 2nd. Ali Lee was 3rd with Fai Ho in 4th and Ma Haoran completing the top 5 heading into qualifying.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

November 21, 2019

Track Focus – ARC International Raceway

Track Name – Xiamen ARC International Raceway
Host – 3-Circles
Country – China
Location – Xiamen
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Asphalt

Hosting their annual SIGP international onroad race at their impressive facility in Xiamen, China, Sunpadow parent company 3-Circles have once again attracted a solid entry for their flagship race. Now in their 4th year, the offroad section of the compound hosted the 2017 IFMAR Offroad EP Worlds and each year the dirt track is the venue for the offroad version of the SIGP, usually run in March. Located next to the company’s battery factory, the facility along with its huge three level driver stand was built 5 years ago with not much changing in that time, with the airconditioned pit cabins, covered pit space, lunch room and the ‘media room’ all still present in the area behind the track.

Asked his feelings on the onroad track this weekend, current touring car World Champion Bruno Coelho said ‘I like the track, it has an open layout, we are more used to running on technical tracks’.  With the track sugar watered every morning he commented that the traction was medium but that overall it was fun to run on. In free practice prior to official running getting underway today both Nitro onroad and EP touring cars shared the track throughout the day but now EP runs in the morning while Nitro in the afternoon and some drivers have commented that this has caused the traction to drop off slightly. With drivers in all classes getting 2 controlled practice runs today, tomorrow will kick off with the first qualifying runs for all classes, each driver getting 4 chances prio t,o moving on to finals which will begin on Saturday.

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