The last weekend in April sees us back at one of the strongholds of RC racing in Asia – the PRC track in Pattaya, Thailand – hosts this weekend to the first ASIA Contest by BittyDesign. This is the third time coverting an event in Pattaya and whilst other interests take centre stage when the sun goes down, during the day the track is the main if not only topic of interest.
Links: Thursday practice photos | Video Playlist
Famed for its sometimes brutal unforgiving layouts – testing man and machine to both it’s limits for the ASIA Contest the layout according to regulars feels like a departure from the typical PRC style – some describing it as ‘onroad with a few bumps’. It should be noted that the track is in fine condition, countless man hours, sweat and scary fences have gone into this layout, the result however doesn’t seem to be setting the world alight amongst the drivers. The track is high grip but very hard on tyres, a set lasting maybe 10mins, given the amount of running, drivers are simply turning laps on slicks, saving tyres for when it really matters.
The straight is the same as before, winding up the hill, but rather than go 180 degrees at the top, we now continue the full length of the back – cars reaching their ultimate top speed potential and a massive 8 secs on on power, it might not sound like a lot but next time you’re at the track, time how long your straight is… A lot of track is covered in a very short space of time. The majority of corners are off camber presenting a challenge along with a couple of jumps which lack downsides, however the dominant feature of the track is the six-pack curved jump section – more of an obstacle meets ultimate cage fight according to the Aussie crew. Getting it right makes you feel hero-like, get it wrong and you case a jump or end up barrelling into the outside fence or risking a lower arm in the inside fence.
Understandably drivers are trying a variety of different approaches and the take off and landing are taking a severe beating, today’s practice saw the PRC crew lay down molasses last night and the track closes as they prepare it for Friday practice and racing on the weekend.
We caught up with former World Champion Atsushi Hara who shared his opinion on some of the track details including managing to do the 8 sec marathon straight – banker – straight only a handful of times without lifting, but telling us that it felt great when he got the line and speed perfect, catching a car almost 2sec infront. Hara is one of the high-profile favourites for this weekend’s event which also boasts several fast Thai drivers – Meen V, Charlee P, the Aussie Kyosho mafia of Panic, Ryan and Jones not forgetting Jacob ‘the Cup’ Wilson, and Wataru Takashiro – Japanese driver who finished 3rd at the FEMCA event here last year.
Thursday Photo gallery
Hara opted against practicing today having run much of yesterday and simply admitting he didn’t have enough steel chassis plates and tyres to run all day long even going on to say that the track is so abrasive that it wears out the steel tips, a few drivers likening the track to sandpaper!
A few laps with Australia’s Ben Panic
And a few laps with JQ Products’ Robert Gustafsson