November 24, 2019

SIGP 1/8th Nitro Main final line-up complete

The first semi final (even) for the 1/8th scale class produced quite some drama as we lost two of our race favourites as an early crash and some later problems for Kim Ki Heung saw him finish down in 7th, while Meen Vejrak went out of the early lead having lost the back pressure tubing after his first stop, only rejoining later with a new one fitted having lost nearly 4 minutes. That semi final was won by Xray driver Gary Huang, who had been pressuring the Thai driver hard until their first stop. Infinity driver Ray Poon would finish in 2nd some 2 laps down on the leader, with Rocket Zhang piloting a Serpent a lap further down in 3rd. Chui Kai Leung was the last of the automatic bump ups in 4th.

In the second semi final it was a lot more straight forward with Serpent driver Merlin Depta taking victory by 6 seconds over Motor King who was just less than a second ahead of pole man Charlee P at the end of the 30 minute main. Italian driver Marco Vanni was the last automatic qualifier from this semi final but as it was a faster semi than the first, 5th place Hay Lai will take the last bump up spot to complete the 9 drivers that will join top qualifier Jeff Hamon in the 45 minute A-main final.

View the complete event results here.

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November 24, 2019

Chassis Focus – Kim Ki Heung

Chassis – Shepherd Velox V8.2
Engine – OS R21 Euro
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/SRT
Body – Xtreme Diablo

Remarks – Korean Shepherd driver Kim Ki Heung has been impressing many this weekend, battling it out at the front of the field with his Velox V8.2. Running it in fairly standard spec, he has decided to use the harder suspension parts and new front shock tower. In terms of setup, using his base setting from Korea where he says the traction is  higher than in Xiamen, he has made the front track width wider while the rear track was made narrower.

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November 23, 2019

Jeff Hamon is Nitro Top qualifier in China

With EP now over, attention turns back to Nitro, which will run through the rest of Saturday and all through Sunday. With the nitro action again taking place under flood lights it was the perfect conditions to set a fast time but drama in the fastest heat as the car of Meen Vejrak, who was on TQ pace, start to spew smoke out the rear of the bodyshell for about 2 laps before going off at the end of the straight and going on fire. A dragging battery cable seemingly the culprit but the car is completely destroyed from both the fire and the impact. This misfortune allowed Jeff Hamon to take over at the front and claim the TQ spot ahead of another Thai Maxima driver Charlee P, with top seed Kim Ki Heung in 3rd, Motor King in 4th and Meen Vejrak with his Q2 time giving him P5 for tomorrow’s 45 minute A-main. Jeff felt he had a slipping clutch throughout his run but said it stayed consistent for the entire run. Happy with a change he made to softer springs, he thinks for the final the car is easy to drive and apart from setting the clutch properly will work out strategy closer to the race time.

Charlee P was very happy with his car and Maxima engine but complained that the organisers would run the qualifying under flood lights as ‘its too dark for me’. Needing some serious focus to not make a mistake in the 4 minute run, if the race is run under lights tomorrow it could be very difficult for 45 minutes. Asked about tire strategy, the Thai driver said he can make about 20 minutes on a set of tires so will consult with his team about the best strategy for the main.

Ranked first after controlled practice and being consistently in the top 2 in all qualifying runs yesterday, Kim Ki Heung was a little disappointed with 3rd in the rocket round qualifier. Admitting to setting his engine incorrectly, this caused a mismatch with his clutch setting and so cost him time. Continuing to be happy with his Shepherd car, looking to tomorrow he feels there will be no problems and is confident for the final that he will only need to stop once for tires.

Driving a Mugen chassis in Nitro, a driver we are more accustomed to seeing running Yokomo in EP touring, Motor King finished up in 4th place. The Shanghai based driver, who was only 1 tenth down on Kim, was pleased with his Q3 run and for the main final tomorrow will make a decision on any setup changes closer to the time of the final.

Meen Vejrak will start from 5th, thanks to his run in last night’s Q2 run, but the talking point was not where he qualified but what happened to him in Q3. Asked about the fire in his Maxima powered Infinity chassis, the former 200mm World Champion said when it was happening he wasn’t sure what the problem was but said with the smoke pouring out of the back it looked cool, ‘just like Formula 1’. Less ‘cool’ was when the car failed to respond at the end of the straight and ploughed into the track wall and went on fire, helped by the fuel tank rupturing. For tomorrow the Thai driver said he will borrow another car from a friend and try his best to get a good result.

Taking the top spot in the GT class and making it a double TQ for Serpent in the Nitro classes, Felix Law was the top qualifier using his Q1 time. Also failing to improve in Q3, 2nd placed starter Paphon Chanyasak also had to rely on his Q1 run to take 2nd, having problems in the last run that saw him fail to finish. One to improve in Q3 though was Chinese driver Ma Haoran who will start from 3rd, the Xray driver outqualifying Hong Kong veteran Fai Ho who ended up in 4th with Italian Gimar driver Natanaele Senesi improving to complete the top 5.

View the complete event results here.

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November 23, 2019

Coelho & Quek are SIGP Champions

Bruno Coelho has taken the overall win in the Modified class at the 2019 SIGP in Xiamen, China. The Xray driver took his 2nd win in A2 to complete the perfect weekend and claim the SIGP title and with it the 20,000 RMB prize money. Never really challenged in the deciding second A-main, it was Akio Sobue who took the runner up spot ahead of Dominic Quek and Meen Vejrak, but in A3 it was the Thai driver that took the win, as Coelho started from the back of the grid, with Akio finishing in 2nd, the result meaning that Vejrak would finish 2nd overall with Sobue completing the podium. Asked about the deciding A2, Coelho said it was a very similar race to A1 with the time spent waiting on the grid the only reason for concern forcing the World Champion to be quite cautious on the opening lap. Once up to speed he could pull a gap to Sobue and once control the race.

Having had a difficult A2, deciding to run used tires, Meen said he struggled for the first 3 laps before the Sweep control tire came up to temperature. At that stage it was too much to ask to catch those ahead especially when combined with the drop in performance but he could get up to 4th after Nicholas Lee spun ahead of him on the last lap which let him through. In the 3rd and final A-main it was a different story as the Thai driver would start in what was effectively 2nd and from the start he was applying a lot of pressure on the Japanese driver forcing a mistake from Sobue on lap 8 that put him through to the lead. The win combined with his 3rd place in A1 meant that he was tied on points with Sobue but his 1st place finish in A3 gave the Yokomo driver the tie break and with it the runner up spot.

Another to run on old tires for A2 to save a fresh pair for A3, Sobue looked set for his plan to work before losing the back of the car on a curb in the centre section of the track which allowed Vejrak passed. Regaining his momentum the Infinity driver closed on and tried to pass the ‘Meen Machine’ on the right side hairpin making slight contact but he was not able to make it stick. Continuing to pressure the leader, Akio’s race would finally come undone when he lost the back once again, this time coming onto the main straight which allowed Meen to break clear at the front and his team mate Viktor Wilck to close up and put pressure on him. The OneTen Series champion was able to remain calm and bring the car home in 2nd to give him the final podium spot.

Winner here last year, Viktor Wilck could only manage fourth this time around as he lacked the ultimate pace of the leading trio, his 3rd position in A3 boosting his overall points score significantly and giving him the 4th spot, just ahead of the driver who replaced him at Serpent, Yugo Nagashima in 5th.

In the Hobbywing Stock class it was an exciting battle between the Xray of Dominic Quek and the Awesomatix of Max Machler. With the German taking the win in A1, it was Quek who resisted the pressure in A2 to win to set up an epic showdown in A3. Unfortunately the pair got into each other on the opening lap of the deciding final and with Quek trying to wait for Machler, Max got caught up on the curb and was dead last at the end of the first lap. Stick King was the early leader but Quek was on a mission and managed to catch the Hong Kong driver and make a pass for the lead with two laps to go while Machler could only recover to 3rd. Dominic would take the overall win ahead of Max with Stick King completing the podium, just ahead of Salton Dong in 4th and Jindong Bai in 5th.

View the complete event results here.

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