February 22, 2025

Q4 Update – A clean sweep for Orlowski

Michal Orlowski has completed a clean sweep of qualifying at the TITC, the Schumacher driver making it four from four in the final qualifier at RC Addict in Bangkok.  Having already secured the overall TQ in yesterday’s penultimate round of qualifying, the TITC Rookie once again had the edge on defending Champion Bruno Coelho, although for a time it was Marc Rheinard who was setting the pace until a mistake.  Dropping the Awesomatix driver to P3 for the round, overall this is the same order they will line-up to decide the winner of the 21st edition of the iconic race.

February 22, 2025

Sparbier takes Open Brushless TQ at TITC

Mugen Seiki’s Soren Sparbier is the Top Qualifier in the Open Brushless class at the TITC, the German taking the fourth & final qualifier of the Bangkok race’s largest class.  With the opening three rounds of qualifying producing three different winners, it was all to play for in Q4 with Sparbier, who was fastest in yesterday’s third round, leading them away in the decider.  From the front, the 18-year-old would edge out a 1.4-second advantage to top the round from Q1 winner Lukas Ellerbrock and Q2 winner Olivier Bultynck P3, this the order they will line up for the finals.  Runner-up last year, Xray’s Adam Iszay starts P4 the first of the A-Main being run this evening at the Infinity RC Addict track.

Reacting to his TQ, this the German’s first time attending the TITC, Sparbier said ‘I’m so happy, the car was really good.  I hope we can continue this way.’   Asked about any changes to his car for the later in the day than usual final qualifier, he replied, ‘I don’t know, Robert (Pietsch) looks after the set-up and I drive it and that’s worked well so far.’   The designer of the soon to be released MTC-3, Pietsch explained, ‘Soren started the event with the old car just to get used to the track and we figured out the set-up for the new one and then 2-days to go he started with the new one and it has been working everytime well.  We just did some small changes, we are still working the ride height a little bit but basically the set-up is the same no matter the time of day of the run.  We will leave it unchanged for A1.’

Having to start the final qualifier at the back of the pack due to his car destroying crash in Q3, Ellerbrock summed up his effort with, ‘It was alright.  I had a bit of bad luck because I was starting in the back after I crashed into the standing car in Q3.  Lap 1 someone spun in front of me and cost me approximately 7 to 8/10ths, the car was good, I am driving a different car than yesterday because the other one was destroyed.  I think midway in the run I had one spin which again cost me a second so that was the time gone.’   On his car setup he said, ‘The qualifier was pretty late in the day (compared to previous rounds) so we didn’t really know the conditions but I think the car felt pretty much the same as the other car.’  Looking to the finals the 27-year-old said, ‘We will go with he same again and put a lot of pressure on Soren, I think we are equal or maybe I am a little bit faster so I think I can definitely put some pressure on him because I would say the car behind is always the faster one and I just hope for a gap.’

View our event image gallery here.

February 22, 2025

The TITC inside line with Salton Dong – Day 2

While it was officially only Day 2 of racing at the TITC, for Hobbywing’s Salton Dong today (Friday) marked his seventh day in Thailand supporting drivers at the famous Bangkok race.  With the bulk of his heavy work done earlier in the week in terms of testing and getting optimal ESC & motor settings dialled in for racing, catching up with Salton for a run down of what he got up to today would led to him to shedding some interesting light on driver’s motor habits and the playing of mind games with motor timing.  In terms of dealing with any issues today, it was a massive crash in the top seeded heat third round qualifier of Open Brushless that had Salton busy at his work station located in the centre of the pits here at RC Addict.  With Game Mongkolphan’s Xpress coming to an unexpected sudden stop on track, unfortunately there was no time for first on the scene Lukas Ellerbrock to react leading to a massive impact that left both cars heavily damaged.  The aftermath gave the Awesomatix team 5-hours of work to completely rebuild Ellerbrock’s car for tomorrow’s final qualifier in which the overall TQ is still up for grabs.  With both drivers involved running Hobbywing, the crash triggered Salton into action to assess the electrics of both cars, in particular the motors.

Salton explained, ‘In a big crash like this we check everything.  With the ESC if there is no physical damage or no short circuit it will be fine but the motor is a physical part of the car so it is very important to check every part is not bent or not broken inside’.  He continued, ‘After getting the motor out of the car we look for any visual damage and manually rotate the rotor, if it feels normal we need to open it to further check if it has broken the magnet inside.  When we open the can we check the rotor, its physical state, the surface, everything.  If it is good we put it aside and then check the front end bell and the rear end bell to see if these are bent, then if everything is OK we put it back together and plug it into the Tunalyzer to test the rotation.  We then also compare the data with the motor’s standard data.  We will have a basic benchmark for each type of motor so if there is a big difference that means there is something wrong’.  Salton is keen to highlight this is something regular customers can also do themselves.  ‘If they buy a new motor they can initially record the amp draw and the rpm to save it for future comparison and after some runs, if like the motor has overheated several times the magnets might be fading, if they are the KV will increase and the amp will go down, so this is a tip to try.’

Asked what is the most common reason for a motor to deteriorate, Salton replied, ‘If they are looked after they will have a very long life.’  Following that up then with the question, does he feel racers do look after them, he laughed and replied with, ‘most drivers just give their motors to me to check over.’  On the differences between Modified and Stock drivers attitude to motors he said, ‘because Modified has more power than is needed motor maintenance is overlooked where as in Stock you are chasing marginal gains so there is a need to keep motors well maintained and for that reason they get more attention from Stock drivers.’  Highlighting how important it is for Modified drivers to regular check their motors he said, ‘We found when rebuilding modified drivers’ motors the wear is much more than Stock because of the very high RPM.  Normally the rotor shafts will show signs of wear, this is because of the super high RPM and this is why we have some basic rules on the FDR (final drive ratio) because we know the bearings highest RPM limit so we need to keep the motor in that RPM limit.  If the gear ratio is too high, the RPM will also be high and over the limit.’

Being very diplomatic and not disclosing any names when asked which team drivers do better or worse when it comes to looking after their motors, he did say, ‘Modified guys I think they need to be careful, they need to actually rebuild their motors often because we always think ah brushless motors are zero maintenance and you can use them a long time but actually it’s not like a real electric car that you don’t need to go to the service.  The bearing inside the motor usually has a max limit of 70,000 rpm but now in Modified Touring Car our motors are easily over 70,000 rpm so its already on the limit so that is why the shaft is sometimes wearing because it is rotating in the bearing and slipping.’

Asking Salton what is the most common thing customers come to him for, he said it is usually to do with setting the timing on the motor as many don’t feel confident in getting it right when it can be very critical.  This led him on to a point about having the fastest car on the straight not being the key to being fast.  ‘Lots of drivers will see a faster car on the straight and this gets into their head.  Then they come to us saying my car is not fast enough but actually this (outright speed) is not the only thing to being faster, the 5-minute average is the most important.  Our data is basically collected by team drivers.  They test it over lots of 5-minutes and overall we will find a balance on the perfect timing and also for different batteries and different driving style they will also bring different results.  So when a car passes you on the straight maybe it’s just one lap but it is the 5-minutes that counts.’  There are rumours that some drivers have played this mind game in testing here at the TITC, running 3-laps before pitting for a fresh battery for a second go at 3-laps to try get an impressive time on the board.  Salton said in many case when they have turned up the speed on motors, many drivers return to get it reduced again because while the lap time might go down it compromises their overall performance as it drops off over the run.

February 21, 2025

JQ at the TITC – Day 2

Day 2 of the TITC is in the books and Invisible Speed’s Joseph Quagraine is back with more of his thoughts on touring car racing and his experience of driving all the top cars, well sort of.  Take it away JQ…….

3 rounds of qualifying are now done.  I have been learning a lot, and successfully applied some ideas for myself, Pekko, and a few of the top fast guys.  Today I want to highlight something often overlooked, and actually the most important thing: Driving.  I have driven most top driver’s cars.  I go on the right side balcony with my radio, and pretend do drive their cars.  The people who have seen laughed at me, but that’s normal. I’m used to being laughed at, as well as occasionally doing things better than others, and some things for the first time before anyone else. Those things often go hand in hand.

Driving their cars, I can really ”feel” the difference in driving style, and see how their cars are handling. Here are a few highlights:

Akio Sobue – Axon: He is the smoothest of the top guys. He had one of the lower top speeds around the track, but also one of the highest minimum speeds.  Driving his car felt very doable which is an interesting experience if you ever try it.  He maintains a steady speed without braking or accelerating throughout the center double apex right and left onto front straight, while many other drivers clearly accelerate and brake there.  His driving is all about maintaining momentum, even continuing the right hander further on the left side of the track, opening up the following left hander so he can carry more speed through it. Driving style + line choice + car setup = success. Right now 5-5 in qualifying, but he has more to give based on his practice runs.

Hayato Ishioka – Axon: I was not able to drive his car.  This guy is so aggressive with everything, steering inputs, braking and accelerating.  I was not able to do anything.  Yet 3-6 and solid A Final.  Opposite of his team mate.

Bruno Coelho – Infinity: Bruno was close to Sobue, but not as smooth, harder acceleration and braking, and more open lines.  I don’t know why, but it’s as if he is avoiding the curbs and white line.  I don’t know if it is because his car doesn’t allow him to do that so he is playing it safe, or some other reason. If your setup is a bit off, driving over the curbs can result in a spin.  Bruno also had some quite early braking points, which is only a point to make because it is a mistake many drivers including me make, braking too late. 2-2 for 2nd at the moment.

Michal Orlowski – Schumacher: Michal’s driving was not doable for me.  It wasn’t as crazy as Hayato’s, but it very clearly required extreme levels of precision.  Michal drove very fast in very straight lines, and braking points were vital, using curbs a lot, turning quite sharply, and making the track quite pointy.  He would even drift slightly at times.  Distinctly different from Sobue and Coelho, a mix of smoothness and aggression, requiring a high level of skill as well as a personal setup. (More about that after the race).  1-1 for TQ, managing to TQ even when setup was a bit off, and having the mental presence to know when the last lap was in Q3 to launch over the line.  Maybe that was the difference…

February 21, 2025

Chassis Focus – Atsushi Hara (RC Maker)

Chassis – RC Maker SP1 ‘Hara Edition’
ESC – Cayote Crest X
Motor – Cayote Modi 4.5T
Battery – Cayote 6300mah
Tires (handout) – Sweep
Radio/Servo – Sanwa M17s / Power HD GTS-2
Body – Xtreme Speciale

Note – While Atsushi’s SP1 is physically a standard car, visually it is anything but having recieved an anodising make-over in his signature purple colour.  Organised by Hara’s sponsor Zero Tribe, who are the RC Maker distributor in Japan, they had original SP1 parts anodised in Hars’s famous colour for this one off ‘Hara Edition’ special.

Image Gallery

February 21, 2025

Video – Qualifying Round 3

Action from Round 3 of Modified Touring Car qualifying at the 2025 TITC at RC Addict, Bangkok.

View full results here.