AOC: Hebert and LeMieux among overnight TQs, few surprises near top with one round to go

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Like many carpet races, the RCI V2 round of the AOC uses rocket round qualifying - taking each driver’s fastest of four heats to determine the main events. Just because the track may improve doesn’t mean each driver will improve as well - traffic, driving performance, and luck all play a role. Some of the fastest drivers in their respective classes here in Shanghai this week were disappointed not to find themselves higher on the charts heading into Friday evening, with just one round left to go tomorrow before the finals.

13.5 Blinky Touring Car

Each of the top three racers recorded their fastest times in the first round, and overnight TQ Eric Anderson had an easy explanation. “You start trying harder in the later rounds, and you make mistakes,” said Anderson, who just tried to record a solid run his first time on the clock. The XRAY driver hasn’t had to worry about chasing the track conditions - he’s running pretty much the same setup from his home track.

A young Canadian driver who moved to China with his family a few years ago, Mihnea Lupu has only been racing electric for about a year - and he had the second fastest time on Friday. “The car was great - working better that I expected it to, and I’m really happy with it. I just had a clean run in the first round, but made too many driving errors in the other two even though the car was working better.” Lupu had hoped to make the A-Main and do well, but didn’t know what to expect from the other drivers.

“It’s very high grip, but I found a good setting today and my car is very good,” said Jae Ho Yu, who wanted to thank Nicholas Lee, Andreas Myberg, and JJ Wang for supporting him this weekend. “I think I have a chance to improve tomorrow, maybe to second,” he said.

13.5 Blinky 1/12th Scale

Eric Anderson far exceeded his expectations by carrying the TQ after three rounds, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows in the 13.5 Blinky 1/12th Scale division. “My car was actually really good, I just drove like an idiot. The traction was really high this last round and made my car feel really twitchy,” said Anderson, whose best time came in the second round. Even though the track was better in round three, his luck wasn’t - he said, “I crashed a bunch and had trouble with traffic - some of these guys don’t like getting passed very much.” Anderson didn’t know what to expect when he made the trip to Shanghai, but potentially earning TQ wasn’t part of the plans. “I would’ve been happy coming over here and making the A-Main,” he said.

Heng made no changes to his car after practice yesterday, other than going to smaller diameter tires which he felt made the car easier to drive. “I had a perfect run in the second round,” said the local driver, who added, “I had no expectations - just wanted to have fun!”

Hiro Nakatani had the third fastest time despite needing more power. The HiroFactory owner is running his company’s prototype HRF12X chassis, which he said has performed very well since arriving here at RCI V2.

Modified 1/12th Scale

“My car was pretty good,” said Keven Hébert, “I’ve been playing with tires and found something I like better, and it gave me more overall grip.” Even though he had a 4-5 second crash in the third round, he improved his previous TQ time. “The car was just that much better,” he said.

“When Andreas (Myberg) arrived, everything went down!” said a laughing JJ Wang. An electrical issue before the start of the second round sent his car crashing into walls uncontrollably before it was wrangled by a turn marshal, but it required a complete rebuild - and he didn’t have time to set it up before the third round. Still, Wang’s spectacular first round time has him sitting second overall after three rounds.

“It got better at the end of the day, but it wasn’t spectacular,” said Rick Hohwart, who was frustrated with how his car handled the undulating surface of the carpet. “On the bumps it’s just horrible, I don’t know what to do. Especially on the straightaway - I might just have to take a different line. In the infield there are a couple of sections where if you hit it wrong, you lose the car,” said the former national champion. Hohwart tried different springs and ride height in today’s three rounds, thinking that the car was bouncing - but the changes didn’t seem to affect the issue, and he doesn’t want to compromise the balance of the chassis through the smoother areas. “Being careful to avoid the bumps is probably the best solution at this stage,” said Hohwart.

Formula 1

HiroFactory founder Hiro Nakatani was happy with both his driving performance as well as his car, the HRF10X conversion for the Tamiya F1 platform fitted this weekend with a prototype narrow front suspension setup and preproduction differential assembly.

The local racer known as “Stick King” for his choice of transmitter had his fastest run of the day with a 21.5-turn motor despite the rules allowing racers to go as low as 17.5-turns. “I can drive every corner on power,” he said. Stick King wasn’t surprised at how fast Nakatani was on Friday, saying he’s a top-level Japanese driver and one of his top rivals at races across Asia. “I’m always fighting with him,” he said.

RC Magazine editor Tsutomu Arakawa drove his prototype Kawada car for the first time yesterday, and found much more speed in the third round after changing the position of the chassis ballast and swapping to a different motor. “It was okay today,” said Arakawa, “but in the last round it was a lot better.”

13.5 Boosted Touring Car

Daryl Thong believed that some of his closest competitors were capable of running very fast laps, but his TQ run today came down to consistency. “That thing is really, really good,” said Thong of his Serpent car, “I found a really good setup a couple days ago and just focused on putting in consistent laps.” Thong installed extra hard composite arms and knuckles for the third round as the traction improved, and plans no changes going into the final qualifying round.

Yaowei Guo said his car was very good, with plenty of steering but also remaining very stable. “Tomorrow, I will try to push for TQ,” said Guo, “and I expect to TQ. I’m serious!” Meanwhile, JJ Wang laughed in the background.

The top seed after practice, Eric Anderson was third fastest on Friday but not at all happy with how his car progressed throughout the first three qualifying rounds. “It was horrible,” he said, “and that last round was the worst since I got here. Now I’m making wholesale changes.”

Modified Touring Car

“It got good as the grip came up and keeps getting better and better,” said Paul LeMieux of his XRAY car. He made “quite a few changes” to his chassis today, but didn’t disclose what adjustments he made. “I’m not sure if it’s ready for LiveRC,” he said, ”The car was a little bit better in the third round. I don’t know if I drove better, but the car was really good.”

“The car is good,” said JJ Wang, who added, “The track has been changing a lot, but the car is good enough - it’s just up to me to drive better.” Clearly concerned with the constant existence of Andreas Myberg at the track, JJ pointed at him and said, “and that guy needs to leave.”

“The car was good, but I made some mistakes driving and also with maintenance stuff,” said Hayato Matsuzaki, who forgot to tighten a wheel nut in the third round and lost a tire. “The track has been getting better, but I haven’t been able to make a good time,” said the Japanese driver, who plans on adjusting his Yokomo car for tomorrow.

There will be one final round in the morning, and track conditions could throw the drivers for a loop - will it be the “rocket round” that completely turns the qualifying order upside down? Or will the grip level drop and leave those on the outside of the A-Main struggling for every tenth of a second? We’ll find out in less than 12 hours!