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| Race report by Alex Hagberg |
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| One of the largest races in Asia, the Thailand International Touring Car Championships, also referred to as the TITC, was held at the great RC Addict facilities in Bangkok, Thailand. The race was run during the weekend of 21-24 of February in 2013. More than 300 entries from all over Asia, but mostly from the South East region, came to Bangkok for this big event. Most of the big teams arrived already weeks in advance, and most other races came to the track already the weekend prior to the actual event, making the track and pits really crowded! |
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| The importance of the event was really emphasized by the energy and money spent by big teams. Some teams decided to buy hundreds of sets of tires for their team drivers just for pre-event testing. Not to mention that three world class drivers call the RC Addict their home track. As there is no electric world championships in 2013, the TITC was referred to by many as the 2013 "worlds" as all the top drivers attended. The open brushless class was very competitive as well with strong local Thai drivers racing against competition from neighbour countries. The massive entry count of 180 made the open brushless stock class the biggest at the event. Except for that and Modified, racers could also compete in F1, FF, and Non-Boost touring car classes. |
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| Team XRAY was represented at the race by myself from Europe, as well as Surikarn Chaidajsuriya and Paphon Chanyasak from Thailand. In the stock class, we had two strong Thai drivers who competed for the win, Natee Tirapipattanakul and Kittipong, both locals at RC Addict. Not to forget PY James from Singapore who is always a force to be reckoned with at big Asian events. |
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| Since I wanted to be competitive as possible at this event, I travelled to Bangkok many days prior to the race in order to test and prepare as much as I could. When I arrived, two weeks prior to the start of controlled practice, I found that many of the big teams were already present, and already putting in plenty of track time. I started testig many different set-up configurations. In the end I found that, the standard chassis and topdeck in combination with the graphite arms would prove to be a good starting point. As the days progressed, I tried different springs, dampings and steering geometry settings. In the end I did use a 2.5 linear front spring and a progressive 2.5-2.8 rear spring which gave the car better turn-in in the high speed sweeper. As for the damping, I have found that the 3 hole shock piston instead of 4, which we normally use on carpet, seems to make the car easier to drive and more consistent for asphalt tracks. |
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| I also like to use softer anti-roll bars both front and rear compared to carpet. Less ackerman shims freed up the car and made it easier to drive on corner entry. Step by step, I was finding a better balanced set-up for this track. It was particularly difficult with the changing track conditions, as the morning runs would always be more slippery than those in the early and late afternoon. The difference was so big, that even some set-up changes were needed to cope with them. Not to forget that, the difference between new and old tires once again was very big, which again made tire strategies important in qualifying, when to use the three sets of new tires. |
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| As the race eventually started, we soon found that the top 10-15 drivers were going to be very close. Everyone had practiced a lot and it really showed, as level was as high as any worlds event. It soon became clear that it was the local drivers who had done their homework the best, as they were the most consistent over all conditions. In controlled practice, I found that my car a had a bit more understeer than in open practice, but I could not really understand why. I was a bit off the pace but still within that elusive top 10. |
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| In qualifying I drove three clean runs which eventually only would put me 11th overall in the standings. I had the speedo shut down on me in one of the runs on new tires, which of course, also set me back a little. For some reason I could not find the pace again which I had previous in the week in open practice. The car had significantly less high speed steering. I am still wondering why. Maybe I did something different with the tires previously which I weren't aware of. I hope to find the problem soon. In the end, myself and Surikarn C. qualified 11th and 12th, both narrowingly missing out on the A-main. Paphon was unlucky with technical problems and back markers who took him out. He would start in the last final, after finishing only one round of qualifying. However, he showed a strong pace. We felt that with some small changes to our set-ups, we might have been more competitive. We have to learn for next time. |
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| In the Open Brushless stock class, all drivers had to use the controlled ORCA RX2 13.5T motor, which also was limited by its KV measurement. Drivers were trying to squeeze out as much power as possible from their boosted speed controllers, as well setting up their cars for maximum corner speed at this high speed circuit. In open and heat practice, it was Natee from Thailand who set the pace with his XRAY T4. However, in qualifying, he narrowly missed out on the overall TQ to Nicholas Lee from Singapore. XRAY T4 driver PY James, also from Singapore, eventually developed a really strong package at the end of qualifying to take Q5, which put him 3rd on the grid for the finals. Kittipong R. from Thailand and Chan Chau Man from Hong Kong also made the main final with their XRAY T4 cars. |
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| The finals were all very close affairs. In A2, PY was challenging Nicholas for the win, but was eventually penalized for a tough move coming onto the straightaway on the very last lap. PY showed great pace and possibly had the quickest car in the final. In A3, he stayed calm to secure himself 2nd place overall. Natee was unlucky to finish only 4th overall after some unfortunate collisions in A2 and A3 finals. In the end, XRAY T4 finished 2nd, 4th, 8th and 10th overall. Not bad at this highly competitive event! |
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| Top 10 Open Brushless class: |
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1. Nicholas Lee
2. PY James - XRAY T4
3. Araya Ingwethwongsa
4. Natee Tirapipattanakul - XRAY T4
5. Sizheng Dong
6. Kriengsak S.
7. Zhang Fang Zhou
8. Kittipong R. - XRAY T4
9. Azri Amri HJ Jalaluddin
10. Chan Chau Man - XRAY T4
Overall, the TITC is an increasingly big event in Asia with a very high level of racing. The atmosphere is friendly and the XRAY drivers were all very happy! I look forward to meet everyone again next year! |
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