Chassis – Team Associated RC8 4.1
Engine – O.S. Ongaro Edition
Fuel – Merlin
Tires – Hotrace Sahara
Radio/Servos – Sanwa M17 / Sanwa XRII (Steering) | XBII (Throttle)
Body – JConcepts S15
Remarks – Adrian is running World Champion Davide Ongaro’s ONG brand shock caps and rear wing button.
Chassis – Sworkz S35-4 EVO
Engine – O.S. Adam Drake AD3
Fuel – Merlin
Tires – Proline Electron M4
Radio/Servos – FlySky Noble 4 / ProTek RC 170SBL
Body – Kit
Remarks – Jason is running RC Project Shock Caps as well as the Italian brands front Shock Tower.
Day 1 of qualifying at the Asian Buggy Championships season finale in Indonesia closed with Naoto Matsukura hitting the top of the time sheets. With Infinity team-mate Kouki Kato taking Q1 as Matsukura found himself P7 after a costly last lap mistake, the No.2 seed made amends in the second of the 5-planned qualifiers to post the fastest 5-minute run so far ahead of the Sworkz of Christian Wolhuter, the young Aussie another driver to benefit from eliminating driver errors. Despite improving his Q1 time by 1-second Kato found himself P3 with the Japanese Champion feeling he didn’t have the right tyres for the condition of the last run of the day. A close 2nd to Kato in the opening qualifier, Jason Nugroho would run the fourth fastest time despite suspected radio problems. Seeding fourth fastest but not having a good Q1 attempt, Kyosho’s Rama Tribudiman completed the Top 5 with his second effort.
Changing to a softer compound tyre for Q2 having struggled with a low grip in the first round, Matsukura said he was much happier with his buggy which now had more steering and overall traction. With this resulting in him being able to get his fastest lap back down in to the 40-seconds, the Japanese driver feels there is potential for better to come as the run contained this two mistakes over the 5-minutes. Looking to Q3, he said, ‘I think the first run in the morning will be a little dusty cause they water the track but we will start with the same car set-up and tyres’.
‘No mistakes this time, driver did ok this time, I’m very happy’, was Wolhunter’s reaction to finishing just 3/10ths off Matsukura. He continued, ‘I ran the exact same set-up just without the mistakes and I was able to keep consistent. It was a good battle between us two, unfortunate that I just couldn’t get there but I am very happy with the result’. Looking to Day 2 of qualifying the 18-year-old said, ‘I’m happy with the set-up as it is now and I don’t think we need to make too many more adjustments on the car, it is just about still getting to know the track and the conditions and how they change over the day. Q2 was a positive finish to today so I’m looking forward to the three rounds tomorrow.’
Describing his Q2 performance Kato sad, ‘It was good driving but the car is still a little bit loose in the rear so maybe tomorrow I change something.’ Asked if it was the change of track conditions or something else he replied, ‘I changed the car in the settings and it was not good so tomorrow I will change tyres.’ Influenced by his team-mate Matsukara going to a softer tyres and topping Q2, he will run the same softer compound as Matsukura for the 3rd of the 5 rounds.
Summing up his drive to P4 for the second of the 5 rounds, Nugroho said, ‘That was not great.’ The Jarkata driver continued, ‘As soon as I came out of the pit for the warm-up there was something wrong with my radio or steering servo. I though it was maybe interference with poles (in the driver stand structure) but I lost steering and had to bring my car in and we reset the connection. After that I moved to the left side of the drivers stand to be safe but the view was completely different and I had to readjust where I brake, how I turn, the line I choose so I was just trying hard to keep up the pace and not make any mistakes.’ Having had similar problem yesterday causing him to change both the steering servo and the receiver in his car, the Sworkz driver will now try to change the steering control module on his transmitter for Saturday’s second day of qualifying adding ‘hopefully tomorrow will go well.’
Chassis – Infinity IFB8
Engine – O.S Speed 05
Fuel – Merlin
Tires – Hotrace Sahara
Radio/Servos – Futaba 10PX / Futaba CB701
Body – Kit
Remarks – Naoto is running the same buggy as he used at the recent World Championship in Spain.
Having set the pace in seeding practice, Kouki Kato carried that form into qualifying to TQ the opening round at the season finale of the Asian Buggy Championships in Indonesia, but only just. While putting together a perfect error few 5-minute run, the Infinity driver didn’t have the same outright pace as the morning with local Sworkz driver Jason Nugroho coming to within 0.1 of a second of denying him the top spot. With visiting drivers still finding their way in terms of how the track conditions change over the day, another local to open qualifying with a strong showing was track owner & builder Adrian Wicaksono who took his Team Associated to third ahead young Australian Christian Wolhunter.
‘A good consistent 5-minute run but I need more pace’, was how Kato summed up Q1. Over a second off on his best lap time compared to when he topped seeding in the morning, the 18-year-old Japanese driver felt he lacked the traction to push his IFB8 and for the day’s second and final qualifier he plans to make the switch from the Hotrace’s Bangkok tyre to their Sahara bar tyre. With Infinity leading a 1-2 in seeding, while Kato stayed top in Q1, team-mate Naoto Matsukura could only manage P7 as he had a costly crash on his final lap losing over 8-seconds.
Reacting to his P2, Nugroho said, ‘I wasn’t expecting that much pace due to the track conditions’. The 24-year-old, who set the fastest lap of Q1 as the only one to run 40-seconds, continued, ‘I was close but hit a pipe and in the dust was all over the place and just lost it by that much, just 0.1 seconds! Congrats to Kato for the first TQ’. Expecting the track will be more challenge for Q2, he said he hopes he can drive around the conditions and stay ‘nice and neat.’ Planning to leave his Drake O.S powered buggy’s set-up unchanged for the second qualifier he will also continue with his choice of Proline Electron M4 tyres.
With his track building efforts proving a hit with visiting drivers, racers from 12 different nations making the trip to Jakarta, Wicaksono put his P3 down to consistency rather that outright pace. He said, ‘My single lap time was off the top guys but I think I kept it consistent and made zero mistakes and that is why I got third’. Running Hotrace Sahara Supersoft he said, ‘It is more dusty than usual with the amount of racers we have for this race so maybe for Q2 I will use a small pin tyre’. Asked about changes to his buggy set-up he said. ‘I plan to keep the car the same but the engine needs a better tune, the bottom end was a little rich in that one’. One of three track in Jakarta, asked about the West Side Raceway build Wicaksono explained that the dirt used here was brought in from a different part of the country. With a lot less tyre wear racing on this red dirt it also handles rain better. Getting his inspiration for the layout from Supercross and the Philippine Masters track build, he is pleased with the reaction to his natural clay layout and is happy that each round is giving drivers a new challenge to contend with which he feels is how offroad should be.
Chasing another podium to round out his 2024 Asian Buggy Championship campaign, Wolhunter was ruing a mistake in Q1. He explained, ‘The set-up on the car was very good. We changed the rear diff and raised the rear arms up one and that made it easier to drive and more consistent. Race wise it went really well until I had a 7-second crash that kind of sucked so to get a 4th with such a crash is pretty good, I just need to do better on the driving next time’.
Kouki Kato is the Top Seed at the season finale of the Asian Buggy Championships, the Japanese driver leading an Infinity 1-2 in Indonesia from fellow countryman Naoto Matsukura. Racing on the completely natural dirt West Side Raceway track which is proving a big hit with the visiting drivers, Kato set the fastest two consecutive laps in the single seeding round. The only driver to dip into the 40-second lap times, Kato ended up almost 1-second quicker than Matsukura over the 2-laps. A regular in the Asian Buggy Championships finishing on the podium at the previous round in Brisbane, Sworkz driver Christian Wolhuter opened his third race of the current season with a Top 3 time. Just 3/10th back on the Australian, Indonesia’s own Rama Tribudiman took his Kyosho to fourth fastest time, the local racer saying afterwards that the traction is completely different to what he used as a result of the large entry who have made the trip to Jakarta this weekend so bring a close to the second season of Scotty Ernst’s Asian Buggy Championships.
Asked about his seeding run, reigning Japanese 1:8 Offroad National Champion Kato summed it up as, ‘Better’. He explained, ‘yesterday in practice we tried a number of different set-ups and for today we combined the best bits and now it works better’. Asked about the track layout and surface he said, ‘It is very interesting (the layout) to drive. The grip is also good & stable and the surface is very smooth, it is quite similar to what we have in Japan.’ Planning no changes to his IFB8 for Q1, 5 rounds of qualifying on the schedule for drivers, Kato also said tyre wear is very low and he plans to continue on the same set of Hotrace Bangkok Soft tyres he ran in seeding. On a busy program of racing currently having contested the recent 1:8 Offroad World Championship in Spain before travelling to Singapore last weekend to race 1:8 Onroad at the Singapore Open and now back to Buggy here in Indonesia, asked if he had any issues switching back & forth he said the adjustment between the two very different disciplines was ‘no problem’.
Matsukura described his seeding as having gone ‘OK’, feeling he had a much better car in practice yesterday. He explained, ‘today there is low traction so the car was a little bit pushing. The track was a little different but we also changed the set-up so I think for qualifying we will go back to yesterday’s set-up’. Like his team-mate, this being his third consecutive race in as many weekends, the multiple Onroad World Champion said he is enjoying the West Side Raceway track a lot more than Worlds track. He said, ‘It is more fun for the jumps, this track is not as big but the jumps are not straight, they have more angle which makes it more fun.’
Changing diff oils on his buggy for seeding thinking it would give it more rotation with running bar tyres, Wolhuter said, ‘now that the track is a little bit dustier it’s too loose in the rear and hard to hang on to.’ Planning to go back up to a slightly thicker oil in the rear and keep the front and centre the same, ‘hopefully it will give us a little bit more drive and the ability to keep consistent.’ Asked his thought on the track, the recently turned 18-year-old said, ‘the track is fun, I’ve never driven on something this big before, the biggest jumps I probably ever experienced and I do like the natural clay. I am used to the oiled tracks so it’s great being on natural dirt again.’
Pleased to open his home track’s first international race with P4 in seeding, asked about his run Tribudiman, who lives just 10-minutes away, said, ‘This is our first time to have an event this big at the track so the track is actually quite different in terms of grip and I need to adjust. The track is very natural with no chemicals or anything so with the amount of cars running, also today it is quite hot, it is getting very dusty. Every run I am trying different tyres’. The 36-year-old confirmed he used Proline Electron M4 to set his seeding time.
