Levanen pulls off big surprise

Juho Levanen pulled off a big surprise in the final free practice for the 1:12 Worlds here in Thailand when he recorded a blistering fastest lap time of 12.347 at the controls of his Associated RC12R5. The Finn has been running in the Top 10 all morning in terms of lap times and seemed to surprise himself in the third as he became the first driver to top title favourite Hara who produced a 12.470 lap.

Asked where he had found his extra pace from, the Associated factory driver wasn’t sure but admitted the car was only good for four minutes, after which grip became a big problem. The Finn will play around with tire additives for the first of the two controlled practice runs later today.

Completing the Top 3 for free practice was Naoto Matsukura. The young Japanese star, who Hara yesterday told us he rated very highly, has his car dialled in now and is starting to show why he is back to back Japanese Champion. Jilles Groskamp is fourth fastest on lap times and is much happier with his CRC now having tried specially produced CRC tyres in the third run. The Dutch driver is confident that over 8 minutes he is really in good shape.  Hideo Kitazawa and Teemu Leino, who failed to improve his lap time in FP3, completed the top 6.

There were some concerns raised about bodyshells and the use of trim strips but after checking the rules race officials here in Bangkok have clarified that they may be used, even if not supplied with body, once they do not exceed the maximum permitted height. Elsewhere emerging young British talent Elliot Harper, who currently leads the BRCA 1:12 National Championship, is finding driving on asphalt a very different experience to carpet. The Xray driver says tyres are critical but he doesn’t have the right one hence he finds himself 25th fastest in terms of lap times, a full second off the pace.

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Team Orion Vortex Race Special ESC

Oscar Jansen from Team Orion showed us some new products coming out from the Swiss company including the new metal geared servo, which we profiled a few weeks ago. Also on display for the first time is the company’s new electronic speed controller, made in close collaboration between Team Orion and Japanese company KO Propo. Suitable for use with 4 turn motors without the heatsink, it can be used with the most powerful types of motors when the heat sink and cooling fan is mounted. Available very soon.

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Leino closes in on Hara

As expected the laps time for the second free practice of the 1:12 World Championship improved but the big surprise was the pace of Teemu Leino and the new Xray XII.  Atsushi Hara once again topped the lap charts with an improved time of 12.639 but making a huge leap forward was Leino. Having been 3/10th of a second off the pace of the pre-event favourite, he is now just 4/100th off thanks to a simple change of body.

Hara found 3/10th to remain the fastest of the 58 runners competing here in Thailand for 1:12 scale World Championship honours. The Japanese ace said that track conditions had made it a lot faster and his car now had good traction but the balance still needed fine tuning.

Changing from a Speed 8 to a Speed 12 bodyshell seemed to work well for Leino. The Finn said the car didn’t feel any better but there was a big difference in the end to his lap times. Another Xray driver to find a chunk of time was American ace Paul Lemieux. The RC America driver pretty much changed everything on his car for run 2 which transformed the XII. A different T-Bar, front springs, tyres and change of additive allowed the US Touring Car Champion to run a 12.899 lap time putting him 6th on the time sheets.

Hideo Kitazawa lost ground to fellow Hot Bodies driver Hara in the second run, producing the third fastest lap time with a 12.759. Marc Rheinard (12.820) managed to go faster than his Tamiya Touring Car team-mate Jilles Groskamp (12.865) in the second practice but the German thinks his Hot Bodies may be tweaked and hopes this might explain his lack of pace compared with Hara. Andy Moore who was expected to be Hara’s toughest challenger for the 1:12 scale title suffered radio interference and so had to pull up during the run.

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Hara heads opening practice

The cars have finally hit the track here in Thailand marking the start of the 2008 IFMAR World Championships and as predicted it was Atsushi Hara and his Hot Bodies that posted the fastest lap time from fellow Cyclone 12X driver Hideo Kitazawa. Hara produced a best lap time of 12.931 compared with Kitazawa’s 12.964 despite reporting his car as being a little twitchy. Planning some small changes for the next outing, the Japanese ace said track conditions this morning were not very good, as a result of yesterday’s rain, but that it should improve during the day.

Running a new prototype speedo from Futaba, set for a release early next year, Kitazawa said his car was lacking a little on rear grip but was confident he could match the pace of Hara. Jilles Groskamp was the only other driver to break in to the 12 second lap times despite not finishing his run after a problem with his front steering which was caused by a loose screw. Having spent all day yesterday building a brand new CRC chassis for the event the Dutch driver was surprised at how good the car felt first time out.

Fourth fastest in terms of lap times, with a 13.118, was young Yokomo star Naoto Matsukura followed by Marc Rheinard and Andy Moore. European 1:12 Champion Rheinard (13.125) is suffering with an understeering which is resulting in it being ‘edgy’ to drive. The German will soften the front springs in an attempt to improve the feel of the car but will also change the T-Bar on his Cyclone 12X. Moore (13.194) also suffered similar handling finding his car very aggressive on turn in. The current Touring Car World Champion, who chunked a tyre during the run, will run a softer front end which should settle the car.

1:12 scale debutants Xray had a promising first run with flying Finn Teemu Leino producing the seventh fastest lap time (13.270) at the controls of the prototype XII. Leino reported the run as being OK but said on asphalt the key factor was going to be having the right tyres. Completing the Top 10 it was Surikan, Hupo Honigl and Juho Levanan.

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