Tadahiko remains fastest as brother Yuya tops Q4

Serpent’s Tadahiko Sahashi remains at the top of the qualifying time sheets in Japan with the latest round of qualifying again failing to see any change within the desired Top 14 direct Semi Final qualifying order.  While Tadahiko only completed 20-laps as he worked on engine tuning, it was his brother Yuya who was fastest from Jilles Groskamp and Shinnosuke Yokoyama, with a time that was a full lap off the current TQ pace.  The biggest mover of the round was Team Shepherd’s Oliver Mack setting the fifth fastest time for the round who jumped from sitting 42nd to 25th in the standings.

Once again due to the warm conditions the majority of drivers used the qualifier to test with a view to the Semi finals which should run at a similar time of the day.  Yuya used his run to test a different bodyshell.  Switching from Protoform’s R18 to a Blitz he said the change made his ZAC tyres come in a lot quicker and he plans to run it again in the days final qualifier to build up further tyres data.

Groskamp described the conditions of the day’s second qualifier as ‘slippery’.  Happy with his pace given the warm track he ran a different Maxima engine as well as evaluating a Protoform R18 for the conditions.  The Electric Touring Car World Champion said the clutch was set too aggressive for the low traction with wind also causing him some issues.  With the wind at the Keitune Racing Speedway having picked up since the morning’s qualifier, he said the gusts pushed the car offline.  This made it hard to drive as the braking and turning in points were effected by the wind making it hard to run consistent laps.  Adjusting his line one lap he said if the wind died down for the next lap he would end up turning-in and braking too early.  Not expecting the track to be any quicker in Q5 he said he will use the 10-minutes of track time to test a number of things for the Semi-Finals.

Behind Groskamp, HB’s Michihiro Takayasu set the fourth fastest time for the round and is currently the best placed R8 sitting 11th overall with team-mate Teemu Leino one position shy of the Semi-finals with two round of qualifying remaining, the last of which will take place in the morning.

An event that has been surrounded by rumours due to 9-time World Champion Lamberto Collari’s decision not to attend the event and then the no show of reigning World Champion Robert Pietsch due to illness, it was good to get some clarification from Novarossi on the matter.  Malick Diop who is here to represent the long standing World Champion engine manufacturer Novarossi said that they are just as disappointed as fans of 1:8 by the absence of these two great racers along with a number of well known Italian drivers adding to clarify that Novarossi had nothing to do with the respective decisions of the drivers.

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Qualifying times after Round 4

1. Tadahiko Sahashi – Serpent/Picco – 36/10:03.890
2. Takaaki Shimo – Mugen/OS – 36/10:04.329
3. Jilles Groskamp – Shepherd/Maxima – 36/10:04.734
4. Meen Vejrak – KM Racing/OS – 36/10:07.327
5. Takehiro Terauchi – Mugen/Novarossi – 36/10:09.267
6. Yuya Sahashi – Serpent/Picco – 36/10:11.281
7. Shinnosuke Yokoyama – Mugen/OS – 36/10:14.258
8. Raiola Carmine – Xray/Max – 35/10:03.414
9. Keisuke Fukuda – KM Racing/Picco – 35/10:04.124
10.Adrien Bertin – KM Racing/Orion – 35/10:05.162
11.Michihiro Takayasu – HB/OS – 35/10:06.236
12.Syoki Takahata – Kyosho/OS – 35/10:06.292
13.Charlee Phutiyotin – KM Racing/OS – 35/10:06.586
14.Kazuya Yuruki – Mugen/OS – 35/10:06.895

Top 14 will directly qualify into the Semi-Finals

Manufacturer Statistics

IFMAR have released the official manufacturer statistics for this year’s 1:8 Onroad World Championship, the sport oldest and longest running category. In terms of equipment being used by the 97 racers taking part in the Japanese event it is the host nation that is the most popular choice in the four main categories of chassis, engine, tyres and fuel.

Defending Champions Mugen make up over half the field here at the Keitune Racing Speedway with 49 MRX-5 chassis’ in use.  Currently fastest with 4 of the 6 scheduled rounds of qualifying complete, Serpent are the second most popular brand with 17 of their 977’s being raced.  European Champions Team Shepherd are next up with 10 drivers followed by KM Racing who are represented by 8 drivers including the only former World Champion in the event Adrien Bertin.  Welcomed new comers to the Formula 1 class of RC racing, HB have come to the event with four R8 chassis. One interesting car is that of French racer Maxime Tenet called the J-Max which was created together with his friend Adrien Bertin before he signed for KM Racing.

In terms of power it is OS Speed who are the No.1 choice with 43 drivers counting on the Japanese made engine. A total of 11 different engine brands are in use this week with reigning World Champions Novarossi the second most popular with 15 drivers. Based on an OS engine, the hand tuned Maxima engines are next up with 9 users followed by Picco with 7 drivers including the two Sahashi brothers.

This year’s World is the first to see the use of controlled tyres with five brands signing up with IFMAR to have their foam available to drivers. ZAC Project is by far the best represented with 66 drivers counting on them to keep their cars stuck to the track. Italian brand Matrix are the No.2 choice with 12 racers followed by Ulti, the tyre brand of top Japanese racer Masao Tanaka with 9 users, one of which is Tanaka himself. Italian brands Hot Race and Contact, winners in Miami, are the other supplier with 6 and 4 users respectively.

In terms of fuel Cosmo, which is part of a main stream Japanese petrol company whose fuel stations can been seen on the drive to the track, is being used by over half the drivers.  Thailand’s Maxima, which is being used by the majority of the European racers here in Chiba, is the second largest supplier with 32 drivers.  Like the tyres the fuel is controlled with drivers getting their respective choice of the four brands of fuel in the same area as they get their tyres.

Bug found in timing software – Q3 Update

Having based our report from Q3 on the official timing sheets issued to us by Race Control, it has since transpired a bug in the timing software issued an incorrect result.  The error was brought to our attention by our friend Cesar Salvadori of Salvadori Racing Modelismo in Brazil who on reading our report went and analysised the individual laps times of Hideki Iriguchi.  Posting on the Red RC Facebook page that his average lap time made it impossible to do a 36-lap we in turn brought it to the attention of race officials.  On investigation the matter, they have found a bug in the software issued Iriguchi with two extra laps for reasons unknown.  The incorrect time originally put the Japanese driver who works at ZAC Project 8th fastest.  Race officials are currently in contact with the software developers to try and discover what caused the pretty significant bug.  Having been pushed out of the Top 10 by the false result KM Racing’s Adrien Bertin is now back holding the 10th fastest at the end of Q3.

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Qualifying times after Round 3

1. Tadahiko Sahashi – Serpent/Picco – 36/10:03.890
2. Takaaki Shimo – Mugen/OS – 36/10:04.329
3. Jilles Groskamp – Shepherd/Maxima – 36/10:04.734
4. Meen Vejrak – KM Racing/OS – 36/10:07.327
5. Takehiro Terauchi – Mugen/Novarossi – 36/10:09.267
6. Yuya Sahashi – Serpent/Picco – 36/10:11.281
7. Shinnosuke Yokoyama – Mugen/OS – 36/10:14.258
8. Raiola Carmine – Xray/Max – 35/10:03.414
9.Keisuke Fukuda – KM Racing/Picco – 35/10:04.124
10.Adrien Bertin – KM Racing/Orion – 35/10:05.162

Updated following discovery of timing software glitch.

No improvements in Q3, Iriguchi fastest

As predicted by the main title contender themselves yesterday following the evening’s Q2 rocket round, this morning’s third qualifier so no improvements in times for the leading drivers.  A sunny start to Day 4 of the 1:8 Onroad World Championships, track conditions meant only two drivers did 36-lap runs with Mugen driver Hideki Iriguchi the surprise pace setter from current provisional TQ holder Tadahiko Sahashi. Having ended Day 1 of qualifying in 27th fastest, a change to the downstops on his OS powered MRX-5 gave Iriguchi a car he was much happier with.  Running in the 6th of the 10 qualifying groups, 10 being the fastest group, it was an early start for the Japanese driver as a change of running order meant Heat 6 was first up.  Making the most of the cooler conditions of the 07:00 starting run, his time of 36/10:15.597 was good enough to move into 8th fastest ahead of Italian National Champion Raiola Carmine and Miami runner-up Keisuke Fukuda.

The round saw a lot of incidents from top drivers.  While Tadahiko Sahashi put in a clean run, those sitting behind him in the current qualification standings all made contact with the track barriers and came off worst.  Two minutes into the top heat Jilles Groskamp launched his Shepherd into the catch fencing resulting in a front spring popping off the Velox V8 along with a broken rear wheel.  Then a minute and a half later Pre Worlds winner Takaaki Shimo, who sits 2nd fastest in front of Groskamp, had an off with his Mugen taking a very heavy impact to the rear putting him out.  Fourth fastest overall, KM Racing’s Meen Vejrak got off to the worst possible start as he lost a rear wheel off his K8.  Getting going again the Thai driver was still having issues with his engine but he too eventually broke the car too with an off.

Running in the second fastest heat and after a tough two rounds of qualifying yesterday, Atsushi Hara looked to be on target for a Top 10 time until with 3-minutes remaining he made a mistake which resulted in him retiring with damage to the rear end of his Mugen.

With temperatures rising Q4 is expected to become an extra test session for the top drivers however a few big names dont yet have that luxury and still need to salvage a time even if the track is slower.

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