Chassis Name – Kyosho V-One R4
Engine – OS Speed 12XZ Spec III
Tires – Zac Project
Radio/Servos – Futaba
Remarks – Shimo is running the latest V-One R4 chassis in the same configuration as used to win this year’s Japanese nationals with no new parts for this race.
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In the first round of controlled timed practice at the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championships in Thailand it was HB’s Atsushi Hara who was fastest from team-mate Teemu Leino with KM Racing’s Dario Balestri completing the Top 3. Fastest in free practice Capricorn’s Jilles Groskamp set the 11th fastest time but once again the Dutch ace was using the track time to work on a set-up for the finals.
Bettering Groskamp’s free practice pace by .133 over three consecutive laps, Hara ran HPI silver springs for the first of today’s three scheduled runs with his long time mechanic Masayuki Miura also fitting a larger holed piston to the shocks. While the result was a faster time, the Japanese star said he did not like the feeling of the new piston which made the handling more nervous. A much more overcast day than yesterday when rain interrupted the third round of practice, Hara who has for the past number of years lived in Bangkok said he thinks there is a good chance of rain later today and with this in mind and the clouds making for a cooler track he will revert to his ‘Happy Hour’ set-up for the second controlled practice.
Leino, who yesterday bent the chassis on his LRP powered example of the R10, said with the new chassis plate fitted the car was much better today. The Finn also ran one of his good race engines which he said was a big improvement of the previous unit he was running. Planning to try a different shock set-up for CP2 he said he wants to try to get a different feeling from the car which he added still has room for improvement in terms of the overall set-up. Setting the fourth fastest time the third of the factory HB line-up Andy Moore reverted back to a set-up very similar to what he was running on the opening day of practice and immediately found better pace. The nitro novice said over the 10-minutes of the run his Maxima powered R10 changes too much developing understeer and so for the next round he will try a different front tyre and additive.
Behind Moore 2010 World Championship runner-up Takehiro Terauchi set the fifth fastest time, the Japanese driver once again being fastest Mugen having ended free practice with the 5th quickest time. Mugen designer and 2010 Top Qualifier Robert Pietsch who was only 14th fastest yesterday took his Novarossi powered MTX5 to the 10th fastest time.
Having only managed the 23rd fastest time in free practice, Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg made a huge step forward this morning taking his Max powered NT1 to the sixth fastest time. The Swede said the run didn’t feel any faster than yesterday but the switch to softer springs made a big difference to his lap times. Describing the car as ‘a bit edgy at the start’ of the run and hoping to further improve it for CP2 he thinks over the full 10-minutes which the qualifiers are all about they a lot closer to the pace. With many drivers describing the conditions here at RC Addict as ‘strange’ Hagberg added that how quickly the track conditions change from run to run makes deciding on set-up very tricky. Team-mate and former European Champion Dirk Wischnewski made it two Xray’s in the Top 10 posting the 9th fastest time.
Running large diameter tyres on his Maxima powered LAB C-02, electric Touring Car World Champion Jilles Groskamp said he was now happy that he had a set-up suitable for finals and now he will rebuild his car in preparation for qualifying which starts tomorrow including transferring the brake over from his spare car. Having done a lot of runs on big tyres while others have chased pace over 3-consecutive laps, in CP1 he managed better laps time that he managed in all his pre-event testing with large tyres so he was confident that he can now switch his attentions back to qualifying set-up for the all important Top 4, who directly qualify for the 60-minute title deciding Main.
One of the few team’s who did not come to test ahead of this year’s World Championships, Serpent said today they made a lot of progress. Fastest of the S747 drivers with the 13th fastest time Mark Green said considering their lack of track time he was very happy with his CP1 run and that of the rest of the team. Having chased the track on the first day of practice he said that was a mistake but since yesterday they have gotten better with each run and now the have a good base set-up allowing them now to switch their attentions to just some fine tuning and the preparation of the tyres. Getting closer to the pace the British National Champion said the closer you get the harder it gets to find time but he said the team have worked really closely together and considering their rivals experience as well as the knowlegde that Groskamp and Hara have of the track he feels they had done well to get to where they are now but added he hopes the can improve further over the final two practice runs.
Serpent team-mate Paolo Morganti, who is battling hard with jetlag with there being a 12 hour time difference between here and home, said he ended up changing his 747 completely to what he uses back home and then slowly returned to it as he has got his head around the track conditions. Setting the 25th fastest time in CP1, Morganti was the fastest of the three US drivers competing in Thailand, US National Champion Paul Lemieux posted the 38th while JJ Wang suffered a run away car early in his group. Running softer dampening than what he would race with in the US he said tyres were now his biggest challenge but he said he will just continue to work away at it along with Green and Michael Salven. Serpent designer Salven said he ran a similar set-up to Green in CP1 and while it was better he said he needs to fine tune it to suit his own driving style.
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Chassis Name – HB R10
Engine – OS Speed 12XZ Spec III
Tires – Zac Project
Radio/Servos – Futaba
Remarks – HB/HPI are debuting the all new R10 here at the Worlds in Bangkok on a track where it has seen a lot of its development work done. Following the opening round of controlled practice the car is sitting in 1st, 2nd and 4th.
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Chassis Name – KM Racing H-K1 Evo2
Engine – Novarossi Keep On 12-3L
Tires – Zac Project
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/Savox
Remarks – For this race KM have introduced a centrally mounted steering servo mount. Similar to those appearing in electric touring cars, the servo mount is only attached to the chassis at the centre point of the chassis thus removing any potential tweak allowing the plate to flex more evenly.
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At the end of the second day of the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, it was Capricorn’s Jilles Groskamp who in the final round of Free Practice jumped to the top of the time sheets ahead of arch rival Atsushi Hara who was unable to better his best three consecutive laps set earlier in the day in FP2. With FP3 interrupted by heavy rain causing a long delay to proceedings, the penultimate qualifier resumed on a dry track however the traction built up over the previous runs was washed away with Team Xray’s Surikarn C the only leading driver to be able to improve on his previous best.
Run under flood lights and in much cooler conditions than earlier in the day Groskamp posted a best time of 45.206 in FP4 bettering Hara’s fastest time of 45.314. Having used the first three practice runs to test set-up and tyre size with a view to the finals, for the closing run of the day the now Thai based Dutch driver reverted to his qualifying set-up for last free practice round jumping ahead of Hara on the final lap as he threw his car down the pitlane entry. With the loop positioned in the hairpin in front of the drivers stand, driving in the pit allows for more corners speed and a better third lap.
Commenting on the feeling of his Maxima powered LAB-CO2 Groskamp said the grip didn’t feel as high most likely as a result of the rain but he was still almost the same pace as he was yesterday when he took the opening day’s action. Having been 15 driver groups for free practice the electric touring car World Champion said he struggled a little with his position on the drivers stand in the final practice being too far to the right but added that tomorrow with only 10 drivers per heat there will be more room and he will be able to resume his normal spot. A moral strike topping the free practice, Groskamp said he plans to use tomorrow’s three controlled practices to gather as much information as possible in terms of a set-up for the finals. He will also use each run to try each of his three race engines ahead of qualifying.
Although unable to improve on his earlier time, Hara tested different springs in his final run. Finding his HB R10 very easy to drive he thought it felt too slow but the timing showed that car had improved pace only he didn’t manage to pull together the 3-laps. Trying Ride Yellow springs and HPI Silver springs on the front he said the Ride springs where perfect for the ‘Happy Hour’ cool conditions while the HPI versions which made the car more aggressive where the better option for the other times when track conditions are warmer.
Just less than 2/10th of a seconds off Groskamp’s pace, double former European Champion Dario Balestri ended the day setting the 3rd fastest time with his Novarossi powered KM Racing K-H1 unable to improve on his second run of the day. Having switched to a softer rear diff the Italian said his car was ‘very good’ but unfortunately he didn’t get to record a time as his personal transponder failed to register with the timing system. Team-mate Meen V ended the day 6th fastest and like Balestri could not better the time he set in FP2. Thailand’s top international racer he said he needs to find more steering something he hopes to achieve by playing with the anti roll bars.
Unable to better his FP1 time, Teemu Leino dropped from being third in the morning to fourth fastest. The Finn who is a former European Nitro Championship Top Qualifier, said his HB R10 was working well until it traction rolled and hit the ‘Wall of death’ at the end of the main straight. The heavy impact resulted in a bent chassis plate with he will replace for tomorrow.
17-year-old local racer Chavit Sirigupta was the second biggest improver in FP4 behind Groskamp. The local took his Maxima powered Mugen to the 7th fastest time ahead of factory Capricorn driver Francesco Tironi after switching to a harder front and rear diff set-up on his MTX5.
Elsewhere Robert Pietsch improved slightly to the 14th fastest time with a 45.668 but said he used too much additive on his front tyres. Playing around with moving the position of weights on the car he was responsible for designing he said after moving the middle chassis weight forward during the run it started to work well by the end of the run. Having played around with weights in his earlier runs today the German said it was ‘crazy how moving them around effects the car’ at this track.
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