After yesterday’s soothing introduction to the Asia Contest the mood amongst the pits was buoyant with an air of expectation, the BittyDesign guys Davide & Stefano arriving yesterday afternoon saw the track surroundings plastered with banners of the race sponsors. Naturally BittyDesign themselves along with their Thair distributor RC Pro and complimentary brands ProCircuit, JQ Products and a few NeoBuggy banners even!
Yesterday the track closed for maintenance at 3PM which allowed racers a bit of time to regroup, work on their cars and time for a quick dip in the pool. Perhaps even a fair few venturing out for a walk along a street – experiencing some of the… colourful delights that Pattaya uniquely offers once the sun has set, stories the next morning of mixed fortune ranging from the epic to the disastrous in a Cup-ful of occasions…
“continued to bake to a crispy Crème brûlée under the hot Thai sun”
Back to the action at hand, 4 rounds of 10mins untimed practice today ending with one 15 min round of timed practice using the fastest three consecutive laps to seed for qualifying on Saturday. As the day progressed the track where the molasses had been applied continued to bake to a crispy Crème brûlée under the hot Thai sun. One of the major obstacles for drivers is flat landing the car – placing a huge amount of stress on the internals. The six pack has taken a bit of a beating, one only a few occasions did we see the odd car attempt the ‘orbit in space’ combo of quad – double, the most normal line hug the inside and triple landing wide for a single double – its rare to see even the best drivers make it through here unscathed for a whole 10 mins.
ASIA Contest Friday Photos
Fast guys – the usual suspects which wasn’t quite revealed until the last round of the day which was timed unlike the previous four practices, however that wasn’t the case for Atsushi Hara who suffered a break and only recorded a slow time which will surely put a bit of a downer before qualifying kicks off tomorrow. Stay tuned for an ‘Under the Hood’ edition with Hara-san and fast locals Meen V & Charlee P.
Pacesetter during practice was the Japanese driver Wataru Takashiro who knows this track well having taken 3rd at the 2012 FEMCAs held at Pattaya last year, Chavit S from Thailand 2nd, Jason Dyckhoff 3rd, Mongkolpan L 4th, Greg Degani 5th, David Simms 6th, Napatree Kaewjunun 7th, Yael Zurfluh 8th, Dai Hiroki 9th and Akarachai Boontham 10th, oh and Fredrick Cederberg 11th. See the results below. (notables: 21, The Cup, 25, Meen V, 28 Charlee P, 64 Kenji Osaka, 65 Shaun Howe, 68 Atsushi Hara)
Wataru Takashiro – Practice pacesetter
Atsushi Hara – specialist round Pattaya shows them how its done with a few laps in practice.
More ASIA Contest videos
With the sun slowly setting over day one of the ASIA Contest a surprise from Charlie & the organisers – free Sushi and a beer provided for all the racers – not to mention the huge BittyDesign blowup dome, doubling as a showcase of products and belting out tunes all day long. These details have helped to transform what started out as a race into an event with excitement, great atmosphere and enjoyment.
P3 man Aussie Dyckhoff’s aluminium recycling bin
Come lunchtime track owner and all round great guy Charlie recommended us to try one of his favourites – Mango and Coconut rice, tasted great! What other track owner would all of a sudden spray you cheekily with a water pistol when you lease suspect it! It all translates into PRC being one of the absolute great venues for Offroad RC Racing.
ASIA Contest Friday Photos
