Mächler takes opening qualifier in New York

Max Mächler has capped off the first day of competitive action at the Montech New York Grand Prix by taking the opening round of AbsoluteHobbyz 1:12 Modified qualifying.  Third fastest in seeding, the 1:12 Spec World Champion took his Awesomatix to the fastest time around at the 360V2 track ahead of Xray’s Keven Hebert and top seed Kemp Anderson, the German’s advantage at the end of the 8-minute run 2.2-seconds.  Owner of the track and the man behind the Montech NYGP, which is now in its sixth edition, Donny Lia would post a P4 run for the round ahead of the CRC of Andrew Knapp and Prodigy of Josh Cyrul.  Mächler would complete a TQ double by also taking the eXcelerate 13.5 1:12 class first round ahead of Steven McNichols.

Admitting the being out front for 8-minutes felt like an eternity, Mächler summed up his 1:12 Mod TQ run with, ‘It was crazy and totally expected’.  He continued, ‘Thanks to Kemp for the whole set-up and everything because as you know I normally do Stock and just Modified for fun sometimes so I came here and he gave me the full set-up before and I copy when he sauces his tyres because it is quite different to Stock so I am following his lead and it worked out this run.  I think he got his car a bit too edgy this time and mine was easy to drive from my side at least.’  On the run he said, ‘After 6-minutes it felt like OK we could stop now, cause 2 more minutes is hard to manage but it worked out somehow.’  Looking to tomorrow second qualifier he said, ‘I will not change anything, I will try to stick with the same program, just reset and double check everything.  There is still room to improve because I have some lap times in between that are like shotgun so I try to get this more consistent.  Maybe will do a small change on the speedo and do a bit more drag brake which will help me because the Stock driver always overshot the corners so with a bit more drag brake it should help me to stop a bit earlier.  That is the only thing I plan to do, car wise no change’.

Summing up his run the second fastest time Hebert said, ‘I drove a really good race but the car just didn’t have the pace.  The car was too hard to drive, I went too soft with the front spring and the car was just not super easy to drive.  I just drove the best I could with what I had and it was a good run but just not enough.’  Looking to tomorrow’s second of four qualifiers, the ROAR National Champion said, ‘I will go back to the front stiffer spring and I’ll have to think about other changes to make trying to learn the car a little bit more.  It didn’t keep corner speed in the sweepers where I was struggling the most so I need to fix that and think about some other changes to do for the morning.’

Asked about his Q1 effort, Anderson said, ‘the car was good after but the first 15-laps it was hooking in the sweeper and I think it was because the body was ticking.’  Asked if he changed bodyshell he replied, ‘No same body, I went softer springs so maybe the car was rolling more in the sweeper that run than before and it was just hitting on the tyres.  After I got sorted out I caught up to Keven but just could get passed him to improve my position.’  Also the Top Seed in the Speedzone Modified Touring Car class, Anderson would maintain his form and TQ the opening round with Hebert again his closest challenger.

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Anderson top seed at Montech NYGP

Kemp Anderson is the Top Seed at the Montech NYGP, the Awesomatix driver fastest in both Modified 1:12 and Touring Car after the two seeding rounds.  The 6th running of the event at 360v2 in New Rochelle, New York, the US driver topped the AbsoluteHobbyz Modified 1:12 class from the Xray of Keven Hebert, the Canadian having set the pace in the first seeding round and unable to improve in SP2.  Making a return trip to the NYGP having missed last year’s edition, Max Mächler would complete the Top 3.  Based off drivers’ fastest 3-consecutive laps, New Yorker John Themelis would take his Excelerate RC Prodigy 12 to the fourth fastest time ahead of Josh Cyrul, the veteran US racer also at the controls of his newest design project.  In the Speedzone Modified Touring Car class it was a similar story with Hebert taking the first round before Anderson upped the pace in the second one, the gap between the two rivals 2/10ths of a second.

Commenting on his 1:12 car’s performance in seeding, Anderson said, ‘It was good, I made a couple of changes for the second seeding round and it was good but I stripped a spur (gear) so I’ll have to replace that.’  He continued, ‘I am still trying to find more steering but overall it feels pretty balanced and not too hard to drive’.  Asked about changes for Q1, four rounds of rocket round qualify on the schedule, he said, ‘I’ll change something else and replace the spur and see what we can do.’  On his Touring Car performance he said, ‘I made another change that time to get more steering in the 180s and it helped quite a bit there, the car overall feels pretty good.’  Asked about track consistency between runs, the 22-year-old said, ‘It pretty good.  This morning after the track sat overnight it got a little tacky but now it’s back to feeling how it did at the end of the day yesterday.’

Reacting to his seeding performance, Hebert said, ‘It was a good first seeding.  I was able to top the run by surprise because I haven’t had much time on the car yet.  It was a good start for sure as we only came out with this car 2-weeks ago.  I tested a little bit over the summer but I still need to fine-tune the set-up so every run I am trying something new to find what I like.’  Aiming to get a little more rear traction for SP2 as half way through the first run he lost a lot of rear grip, asked if he achieved that he replied, ‘Not quite, car didn’t have enough steering.  (The set-up change) wasn’t the right direction so I need to back it down and go back to the set-up I had in Seeding 1 and also make another change to get better steering’.  On his touring car, he said, ‘I just needed a little more steering still.  I left the car the same as I didn’t have time to change it so now I am going to make some other change for Q1, I am going to make a shock oil change.’

Summing up his seeding attempt Mächler said, ‘It was pretty interesting.  It’s big fun out there but hard to manage for a Stock guy but it’s fun with 3.5 turn over here and boost & turbo.  I’m enjoying it.’  Asked if he has been doing much to the car in terms of set-up the German replied, ‘Actually no, I had a start set-up from Kemp and it feels pretty decent.  I am right there with hot laps but it’s hard to manage consistent laps because it is very easy to overshoot and then you are directly losing 3, 4 tenths.  The car is plenty fine, the driver needs more experience and practice’.  Opting not to race Touring Car due to the upcoming World Championship, the 1:12 Spec World Champion is also racing in the eXcelerate 13.5 1:12 class in which he is seeded second fastest behind the similar car of NYGP host Donny Lia.  He said, ‘It’s going fine.  I am testing something different every run with the car just to get more knowledge with the new car on this carpet.’

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MonTech New York Grand Prix – Preview

This weekend the 360V2 track plays host to the sixth edition of the annual MonTech New York Grand Prix where 2023 IFMAR 1:12 World Championship Top Qualifier Kemp Anderson heads the entry.  The nearest thing RC will get to having a race in Time Square, the track just a 20-minute train ride from the centre of the City That Never Sleeps, the Montech NYGP is the vision of long time 1:12 racer Donny Lia.  RedRC first got to know Lia when he was a leading contender at the 2014 1:12 World Championship in Florida where he would qualify third behind Top Qualifier & defending Champion Naoto Matsukura and Marc Rheinard who would go on to take the win.  Rheinard would later also become a Montech NYGP Champion in Mod Touring Car at the 18,000 square feet 360v2 venue with other previous international visitors including Ronald Volker, Alexander Hagberg and David Spashett.  Having attracted almost 300 entries at its peak until Covid broke that momentum, Lia is keen to build the race back up to its former levels.  Although the proximity of this year’s IFMAR ISTC World Championship in California has ruled out a number of factory entries this year, with Anderson, Xray’s Keven Hebert and 1:12 Spec World Champion Max Machler among the entry an exciting weekend of racing is expected on a track which is proving a big hit with racers.

One of the expected contenders for a Mod double this year, racing both 1:12 & Touring Car,  Kemp Anderson is a big fan of the race stating, ‘I’ve been to every NYGP Donny has had, I think 2018 was the first one.  Donny always puts on a good race, it’s one of my favourite races of the year.  You also get great food, you’ve New York city down the road, it’s a great atmosphere for sure and a top notch facility.’  Asked about the track, the factory Awesomatix said, ‘This is the biggest indoor track in America, and the grip is always good here.  This year’s layout is very close to last year, the two 180s in the centre of the track make it that you have to work on the car set-up a lot to make it turn in there and still be stable everywhere else, I like it.  It made for good racing last year.’

Another regular of the NYGP, Snowbirds Champion Hebert stated, ‘I believe I have been to all of them’ before continuing, ‘I think the Worlds really hurt the race entry this year, still it’s always good racing here, it’s a nice facility, you got lots of room, the track is nice and it’s the race that kicks off the carpet season over here.  It’s good to be here for sure’.  Chasing his first NYGP title, having run a number of practice runs in Thursday’s day of open practice, asked his thoughts on the 2024 layout he replied, ‘It’s almost identical to last year although it seems like it is a little bit faster, we are going faster lap times.  Overall it’s the same layout, I think they just shortened the sweeper a little bit.  It’s a good layout for sure.’  A layout Lia came up last year and which racer liked, they are trying to keep it now as the NYGP layout.  One driver to take in the famous sights of New York City after setting up his pit area yesterday, taking the train into Time Square last night with other members of the Canadian contingent attending the race, Hebert added, ‘This is one of the biggest indoor tracks we have, the footprint is definitely the biggest but the sweeper rounded like that we kind of lose a little bit the length off it but it’s considered a big track.’

Racing here two years ago, taking a win in Spec Touring Car, asked his thoughts on the new layout Machler said, ‘it has a great flow, no stupid chicanes so it should make for great racing.’  With the track running CRC Fast track black carpet which is down about a year and a half, the German added, ‘You can build up a really good flow when driving especially in 1:12.  Clearly some guys like a chicane for 1:12 but I am more a fan of an open layout.  It’s quite fun here so I really enjoy this race.’  Entered for the Spec class at the Touring Car World Championships next month, Machler has opted to not run his A800R this year and instead will focus on a 1:12 double racing bot in Mod and 13.5T SuperStock.

Summing up his event with, ‘it’s the closest you’ll get to racing and seeing New York City in one trip – it’s a 20-25 minute train ride and you are there, Lia’s own RC story started with racing 1:12 as a kid with his father.  While he would go on to race in various NASCAR series over a 20-year period, he said RC ‘was a hobby I never got out of’.  Determined to build the race back up after Covid, he explain, ‘this year the Touring Car Worlds kind of hurt us in being able to attract a lot of the international guys because they have already been taking so many trips over here so to add another trip and the time frame didn’t make sense but we are hopeful next year we can bring in more guys from around the World and grow the event in to something special.’  With the track layout covering an area of 105 X 48 feet, 360V2 (the original 360 having been located in Long Island) is also home to Fordham Hobbies whose store serves local racers who get to use the facility twice a week, once mid week and once at the weekend, however there are plans to make it a full time track and store.

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