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Track Focus – Fengtai Sports Center
Track Name – Fengtai Sports Center
Host – Car Modelling Association of China
Country – China
Location – Beijing Fengtai
Direction – Clockwise
Surface – ETS Carpet
RC Racing’s biggest prize is to be decided in the world’s biggest economy for the first time as China plays host to the 18th running of the 1:12 IFMAR World Championships. Held in the Fengtai district of Beijing, the indoor race, which will be followed later in the week by the outdoor Electric Touring World Championships, is taking place at the Fengtai Sports Centre. Built originally to house the softball stadium used during Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, the centre is also home to the Fengtai Science, Technology and Sports building in which the Car Modelling Association of China have built an superbly presented temporary carpet track. Such is the level of organisation for the Fengtai government funded running of the World Championships there is a staff of 30, half of whom are volunteers, to look after the 56 entries which is actually a 25% increase on the entries for the last 1:12 World Championship which were held in the USA.
Under the guidance of the Race Director Max Lim, the 6-day build has resulted in a meticulously detailed track that covers and area 30 metres wide by 24m deep. Positioned 4 metres in front of the driver stand, the layout was penned by Lim who said much of the track’s influence was based on driver feedback who favoured ‘a more technical’ layout. Using ETS black carpet, which they had brought in especially from the Netherlands, Lim said the considerable depth of the track has allowed the layout to also be ‘really fast’. As a structure, the track sits 15 centimetres off the ground with each square metre of the track standing on 4 feet. As lane dividers the track uses locally made plastic box piping which has been screwed into place. Cut to 1-metre lengths Lim said this allows for quick & easy replacement should they get damaged by cars, him adding ‘we used this material so it takes the impact rather than breaking the cars’. With the hall having 5 rows of sky lights providing natural light, this also presented a shadowing problem. With the addition of banks of lights not a option as the building’s roof is not certified for the weight load, two star shaped light balloons hang above the track instead. With two 2kw bulbs in each they provide a well defused light.
Giving his first impression of the track, reigning World Champion Marc Rheinard described it as, ‘a pretty nice track and it’s a good size’. With the early fastest lap times in the region of late 12-seconds, the German continued, ‘the layout is tricky, there are many chicanes and everyone is crashing. I think consistency is the focus rather than being fastest over a lap because every time you crash you risk tweaking the car’. Thinking further ahead, he concluded, ‘its missing some passing points for the finals’.
Image Gallery
Video – Main Final
2016 200mm Worlds Winning Car
Dominic Greiner
Serpent 748 Natrix – Novarossi – Hotrace (handout) – Runner Time – SRC – Sanwa
Greiner deserving World Champion after faultless race
Dominic Greiner is the new Nitro Touring Car World Champion. Widely regarding one of the world’s fastest 200mm drivers the German finally took the sport’s biggest prize heading a Serpent 1-2 in Gubbio, Italy. Starting 3rd on the grid, he quickly made the race his own with a faultless drive eventually crossing the line one lap up on his rivals for a much deserved win. With Top Qualifier Dario Balestri’s race lasting just 9 laps due to diff failure, Super Pole winner Alessio Mazzeo would briefly take over the lead when the problem sent his fellow countryman’s Capricorn on the grass with only 2-minutes on the clock. Staying out front for 2-laps, Alessio couldn’t match the pace of his team-mate and once Greiner went to the front the attention of the race was on who would fill the podium. With less than 10-minutes to go, that would be decided in an epic three way battle between crowd favourite Mazzeo, Simon Kurzbuch and Bruno Coelho. On the last lap it looked like Mazzeo would throw away 2nd but while Kurzbuch would get him into the corner the Italian had better traction to the line snatching the runner-up spot by 6/100ths of a second and sending the large attendance into a frenzy. Covering a race distance of 209 laps of the fast Miniautodromo Internazionale M.Rosati track, a bad last lap would result in Coelho missing the podium by 1.7-seconds. The best non-European finisher Takaaki Shimo would complete the Top 5 with only one car failing to finish the race.
A driver who has strived so hard to be No.1 and always regarded anything else as a failure by his own standards, Greiner’s raw emotion of becoming World Champion showed just how much he wanted it. Roaring with the joy & relief as he crossed the finish line, the 2014 Top Qualifier and podium finisher was overcome by the win. Commenting on the race having no time to let the fact settle in as a stream of people looked to get a selfie with the new World Champion, he said, ‘What should I say, everything was perfect’. He continued, ‘we trained so hard the last few months for this. We practiced hundreds of tyre changes and fuel stops to make sure we had it right’. Giving an overview of the event, he said, ‘the week started very good but then we struggled a bit in the heat but in the end we found the perfect set-up’. In the race he said ‘after the first tyre stop at that point I could drive just 90% to make it safe’. Opting to run less camber for the final he said while making the car slightly slower it was ‘better for the long run’ as it meant less tyre wear. With mechanic Thomas Günsel seen by many as the key to turning Greiner from being one of the fastest drivers into also a race winner, Greiner himself acknowledging his input over the last two years. He said, ‘Thomas is the best help I can have. This is not only my thing its a team win’. Also thanking Daniele Ielasi for his help in the pits and also with his Novarossi engines, Greiner said the 1-2 for the 748 today was down to ‘good team work all round’.
‘An amazing race. Today maybe 700 people cheer for me, what an amazing sensation’, was Mazzeo’s reaction to finishing on the podium on his World Championship final debut. Asked about his final lap which had the Italian crowd biting the nails, the popular 24-year-old said, ‘my heart, I just did my best and I’m so happy with second’. Asked for an overview of the final, he started by saying, ‘I’m sorry for Dario, he is one of the best’. He continued, ‘For my car they were not good conditions, it was hard to drive because of the temperature. The strategy for the race was good but I made a mistake by myself and lost time. Dominic got first and I got second so I’m happy’.
Kurzbuch summed up his podium finish with, ‘It was a super good race. What Bruno, Mazzeo and me showed here was amazing’. The reigning 1:8 World Champion felt time lost during the first of his two tyres stops cost him a chance at the win – all the front runners stopped on 20 and 40-minutes for a complete four tyres change. ‘We lost a bit of time in the pits when we dropped a wheel nut’. Failing to stay in the nut spinner, the Shepherd driver added, ‘you win together & you lose together but we never gave up’. He continued, ‘my brother was shouting at me to push as hard as I can and we were able to come back in the race and we won third place’. Team Shepherd’s sole representative in the final, he concluded, ‘we showed the car is good and put on a great race so I’m happy’.
‘For sure an amazing final. After 1-hour three drivers are still fighting for second’, was Coelho’s summary of the race. The Xray driver continued, ‘OK we did not win but it was still amazing, I don’t see this like a fourth place’. Offering his congratulating to Greiner he said the new World Champion ‘was stronger than us and could pull away at the beginning’. Commenting on the performance of his Max powered NT1, the Portuguese driver who goes to China next week as one of the favourites for the Electric Touring Car World title said, ‘Everything was perfect, the car, the engine, tyre stops’.
Commenting on his retirement, having made the final for the first time since 2008 in Portugal, Balestri said, ‘the first time after 3-years’ a reference to his rear diff failure adding ‘and today it broke after 7 laps’. Having fitted a new diff to his Tesla powered LAB CO3 in preparation for the 60-minute final, the Italian said, ‘After four laps I knew I had a problem as the car was strange’, it shooting out of the lead and onto the grass 4-laps later.
Elsewhere 2010 Top Qualifier Robert Pietsch said his ‘race was done after 3-minutes’. The factory Mugen/Picco driver would suffer with his engine going lean and while he would pit for tuning the ‘plug was already broken’. Rejoining the race to finish 8th, the 2011 1:8 World Champion said ‘I’m really disappointed as my lap times were really competitive’, only Kurzbuch setting a faster lap time in the race. For 2012 World Champion Meen Vejrak, who had been battling with Kurzbuch early on, a flame out as his Capricorn was released from it’s first refuelling would end the Thai driver’s challenge, him eventually classified 9th.
View complete event results here.
View the event image gallery here.
Grid set for 7th Nitro Touring WC decider
The 10 drivers that will battle it out for the honours of becoming the Nitro Touring Car World Champion is decided with the line-up including one former champion in Meen Vejrak, the 2012 Champion coming through the second of the two 30-minute Semi finals. The seventh running of the World Championship, where for the first time two drivers directly qualified for the final, joining Top Qualifier Dario Balestri and Super Pole winner Alessio Mazzeo are only two 2014 Finalists in Vejrak and Dominic Greiner. The 2014 Top Qualifier, Greiner would book his place in the 1-hour final with a win over Bruno Coelho and Carmine Riola in the first encounter. In the second, Simon Kurzbuch controlled the race throughout to book the 1:8 World Champions first 1:10 Final start. The Shepherd driver would take a comfortable win over 2010 Top Qualifier Robert Pietsch with Vejrak seeing off a last lap charge from Takaaki Shimo to complete the Top 3. Shimo would still make the final, together with Semi B fourth place finisher Kyle Branson, the British driver surviving a last lap spin to claim the last spot with the second fastest time of the non Top 3 finishers. Dramas for those that didn’t progress include a flame-out during his tyre stop for Team Infinity’s Jilles Groskamp. The 2012 Electric Touring Car World Champion said afterwards, ‘unbelievable, the bad luck continues. I felt I was driving a controlled race’. Team-mate and 2012 Top Qualifier Teemu Leino would crash out of his Semi while battling for second spot.
Summing up booking a place in the Main, having been the only direct qualifier in 2014, Geiner said, ‘everything was perfect’. The German continued ‘I made a good start and could pull a gap and then after the first stop I could drive to save the tyres’. Pitting one lap later than his rivals giving him a clear pitlane, he said this was intentional for that reason. The only one of the Top 3 to change all four tyres, the stop came just after the half way mark with former World Champion Daniele Ielasi on hand to assist his regular pitman Thomas Günsel for ‘a perfect stop’. Looking to the final, the Bangkok podium finisher said in terms of the car he would change nothing but planned to check over his Novarossi engine describing it as feeling a ‘bit strange’ during the Semi.
‘Finally no bad luck for Xray’, a reference to team-mate & reigning champion Alexander Hagberg being crashed into while leading his 1/8 final which ended his campaign, was Coelho’s first reaction to the race. The Portuguese driver, who changed only his outside tyres during his second fuel stop said, ‘my car was a little difficult after 10-minutes’. Asked if only changing 2 tyres was the right decision, he said ‘it got the job done’. Taking the lead of the race after Greiner came for his longer 4-tyre stop, the reigning European Champion said, ‘at 5-minutes to go I opened for Greiner. It made no sense to block, we were both bumping up and its a long race so the starting position is not important’. Asked about tyres for the final, he replied ‘I can’t say’.
Set to start 5th on the grid, Kurzbuch said, ‘we reached our first goal, and now that we are in the final we will go all in’. Commenting on his Semi, which he started from pole having qualified second overall, he said, ‘my pit crew did a fantastic job and that meant I just drove my own race’. Stopping for just a fresh set of outside tyres on his Velox V10, he said ‘the car was maybe a bit too loose so we will change it for the final so I can push harder’.
Having missed out on the Worlds final the last two times, 2010 Top Qualifier Pietsch said, ‘the car was super good but I made mistakes which dropped me back from Simon’. Going for the same strategy as his 1:8 rival in changing just his outside tyres, the Mugen designer felt he had a quicker car than Kurzbuch saying ‘I’m happy I was able to close again to him’ after the earlier mistakes. Describing his Picco powered MTX6 as ‘super comfortable’, for the final he said ‘it is now up to me to drive it’.
View complete event results here.
View the event image gallery here.