Practice gets underway in Pattaya

Formula 1 commentators always say that TV does not reflect the true elevation and spectacle of the famous Eau Rouge corner at Spa-Francorchamps and nothing could be more true about the beautifully presented track here in Pattaya, Thailand.  The 13th running of the IFMAR 1:8 Off Road World Championships this is the most competitive world title fight yet for a class that is enjoying huge popularity around the world.  Ask any of the international off road paddock regulars who they see as being the winning come Sunday and they all struggle to pick a shortlist let alone who the one person they see as being crowned champion.

On the schedule for the opening day of the championships are two untimed 15-minute practice run. With the top drivers first out on track there was some tense moments for a number of the drivers after the official event bus got lost on the way from the hotel to the track eventually arriving just 10 minutes before the Group 1 went out on track.

In that top group was defending champion Atsushi Hara.  Essentially a home race for the now Thailand based racer, the Hot Bodies driver looks very relaxed ahead of the event and declared that everything went well in the opening practice.  Pitting in the Hot Bodies cabin alongside the team’s other finalists from 2008, Ty Tessmann and Jesse Robbers, Hara said the track felt a little loose in the beginning due to the fresh oiling of the surface but by the end of the session he was pleased with the feeling of his OS powered D8. Together with Robbers, Hara is running a prototype Hot Bodies shell with aerodynamics becoming more and more important in off road as the speeds of the buggies increase.  The former electric Touring Car World Champion has done a lot of work with different rear wing set-ups in pre-event testing saying its starting to play a bigger role in the overall feeling of the car.  Differing slightly from his team-mates in that he runs Pro-Line tyres and bodyshells, 17-year-old Tessmann said everything felt good during his first run.

Top Qualifier at the last World Championship but having to settle for the runners-up spot behind Hara, Mike Truhe together with Adam Drake heads the Losi challenge. Truhe ran a different set-up to that used on previous visits to the Pattaya track but said afterwards it was hard to tell if it was the track or the set-up that was at play in the opening practice. The American said he runs the set-up a lot back home and feels it should work here too.  Planning to run it again in the second practice he can easily revert to the set-up used here previously which he knows works well.  Drake said it was hard to gauge anything from the opening run as the track had a lot of marbles on it but watching other drivers running later on he said it already looked a lot better and he was confident they have a package that is up to the job.

Heading the Mugen challenge is the third of the podium finishers from 2008 Renaud Savoya.  The current European Champion, a title he has held for the last three years, said after his first practice that he was happy enough for the moment.  Running a standard kit chassis which he built up just after his move to the US three weeks ago, he said the MBX-6 was easy to drive but admitted the lack of the extra lightening work normally seen on his cars did effect the feeling. Finding the traction similar to his last visit to the Pattaya track he plans to focus on getting a good tyre set-up.

The most successful manufacturer in the history of 1:8 Off Road with seven World titles Kyosho have three off road World Champions as part of their big factory effort here.  For 2006 Champion Mark Pavidis the event did not get off to a good start and he lost valuable track time when he broke a front arm on his MP9 on the opening lap of practice.  Kyosho team-manager Joe Pillars, who is also pit man for 2007 1:10 off road World Champion Jared Tebo, said the track was much improved since they had come here for testing thanks to greater elevation in the jumps.  Reigning US Champion Tebo ran a set-up very similar to that used in pre-event practice and was happy to run the full 15-minutes without any issues. Currently enjoying a very strong winning run back in the US, Cody King also reported his opening practice as good.  Pillars said the final preparation to the track surface had made a major difference to tyre wear with Tebo’s AKA tyres still looking like new after the run.

The other of the big manufacturers here in force is Team Associated with 7 official factory drivers present.  Off those the team is pinning its hopes on Ryan Maifield, Ryan Cavalieri and Robert Battle, all of whom made the final last time round.  Team Manager Brent Thielke, who is also pit man for Maifield, said his driver looked comfortable in the first run with them just making a few adjustments to the ride height during the session.  Cavalieri, who runs Team Orion engines in his RC8B, wasn’t happy with his first run as he didn’t like the feeling of the 5-port engine, the extra power not suiting his driving style.  Having run 3-port engines here previously he will switch back for the second practice.

View the event photo gallery here.