ARC-ORCA VXX TQ and takes podium in AsiaRC New Taipei City Invitational Race 2013

With an effort to promote and to create more public awareness of the RC hobby in Taiwai, the New Taipei City government along with AsiaRC  has put up a great event in the newly-built race track in the New Taipei City Park. Race organizer invited international drivers to the event including Shimo (Japan), JJ Wang (USA) for the 1/8 Nitro, and Takashi Kato (Japan) and P.Y.Tang (Singapore) for the 1/10 Electric.

Event consists of 1/8 On-Road Nitro and 1/10 On-Road Electric class promoted by the government and through the media, recorded about 130 entries. The event also attracted many RC manufacturers exhibiting their latest product.

P.Y.Tang traveled to the event and reported his race below.

"I was invited by Titan RC to the event and I am happy to be able to contribute and support the RC community and promote RC racing in Taiwan. It was also nice to be able to test the ARC R10 2013 provided by ARC, which current racing season ending soon in September 2013 keeping my options open.

Arrived in Taipei on Tuesday 8/6, I headed straight to the track hoping to get some practise hearing the track is amazing and very big with a long straight about 80m followed by a 10-15m sweeper, and a mixed technical in-field. The track located in a city park was built and maintain by the government.

Using the new ORCA VXX speedo with ORCA TX 4.5T, it was a big test to setup for 5-minute run under a weather of almost 40degC. Track temperature was about 70-80degC. Speedo detected the motor running at 89k RPM but temperature was manageable with 2 fans. The tires were not controlled, but to maximize testing time, I chose the Ride RE34 preglued and setup from there. Blitz WRX also worked better than Blitz TSX which was a bit more nervous. Practise on Day1 went okay understanding the car, but there are about 1-1.5 seconds to improve to match the local top drivers.

Day2 started at 9am, and the weather was already at 35degC at the track! Suffering from severe understeer, I changed to a front gear diff, and setting up for more on-power steering to tackle for the middle S-bend. The VXX speedo worked well and setup up to the max! I was able to match around the 21s lap consistently, which the track record should be nearer to the 20s lap, so more work to be done.

Day3 had a more relaxing half day, or should I say not so relaxing. International drivers and local Taiwanese top drivers invited to the event were to do an interview session to the media and government official to promote RC Racing. After the press conference, I was back at the track for more practise. As usual weather was still hovering between 37-40degC. Setup was still quite good, maintaining traction and power for the 5-minute run, but I need to re-oil all bearings after every run to minimize risk of overheating. Still on a front gear diff but slighyly thicker rear diff oil, car felt much better with laptimes hitting closer to 20.5s. By Day4 of practising, I was quite comfortable with the car and managing around 20.2s laptime hoping to produce the same pace during the race.



Saturday started too early in the morning around 7am, as the sun rises at about 6am in Taiwan! Control practice started off the race, I was in 4th suffering from understeer, most probably from more cars running on the track.

Top 12 Control Practice (1:10 Electric):

After some minor changes on prepping the tires, my car felt better in Q1. Q2 was a much better run on a TQ pace but a small contact with a backmarker lost too much precious seconds settling 2nd fastest time. Q3 was quite a disaster when a huge sand storm blew over the track just before the start, creating lower traction for the first 5-6 laps. Unable to improve the time, I was in 2nd with local driver Wei sitting in TQ position. Just about to end the day, the organizer informed the drivers that there will be a another qualifying run on Sunday morning as the Q1 result was scrapped due to AMB issues. With high hopes to better my timing, I rebuild my car and the only setup I changed was the 19mm steering brace instead of 20mm alu brace. Setting fastest pace at 20.177s in Q4, I was able to TQ, 2.5 seconds ahead of Takashi Kato.

Qualifying Standings A-Main (1:10 Electric):

Final Leg 1 was not so smooth, while leading, there was an unfortunate contact from Takashi Kato on Lap 5 after the S-bend allowing 2 cars to pass. Already lost precious time, I was not able to catch up to the leaders and finished 4th in Leg 1. Wei, Ron and Takashi finished top 3.

Final Leg 2 was much better, after solving a belt issue from Leg 1, I was able to pull away and lead for the win. Ron Chen and Wei finished in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Again, not a good run in Leg 3, I was leading until lap 2 when I got in contact with Ron Chen from Taiwan and flipped. Another contact again midway, I was in 6th and was out of contention. A little confused the way my car handled but found out that the front anti-roll bar was not installed, affecting the corner speed and handling. Leg 3 went to Takashi Kato, 2nd Ron Chen and 3rd Wei.

Top 5 Final Standings:
1. Takashi Kato - 4pts
2. Wei - ARC R10 2013 - BLITZ WRX - 4pts
3. Ron Chen - ARC R10 2013 - ORCA VXX/ORCA TX/ORCA INFINITE - BLITZ WRX - 4pts
4. P.Y.Tang - ARC R10 2013 - ORCA VXX/ORCA TX/ORCA INFINITE - BLITZ WRX - 5pts
5. Daryl Thong - XRAY T4 - ORCA VXX/ORCA TX/ORCA INFINITE - BLITZ WRX

Overall it was a great experience, and happy that I was able to contribute to the RC community in Taiwan.
Congratulations to the 6 ARC R10 in 1/10 Modify A-Main, TQ, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and the 8 Blitz driver in the A-Main."

More photos of the event can be found here