The two new Nissan GT-R R35s have caused a big storm this year in Thailand Super Series (TSS) and have become instant hits with the fans. They’re a real development work in progress though and there will be more ‘updates’ for the next race.
While there will be more technical changes there will also be a driver change as Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich has been drafted in to replace Khun Naoya Yamano, the Japanese pilot unable to commit to Buriram and Bangsaen. Khun Jakthong in fact had his first run in the car at Bira Circuit last week, bedding himself into the cockpit while the team evaluated the fresh improvements made under the skin.
Four weeks ago Innovation Motorsport driver Khun Michael Freeman was in Japan to give a shakedown test to the Knights Sports Mazda RX-8 that he will race in Super Car Class 2-GTM at Bangsaen in December. At the Macau Grand Prix next month the same RX-8 will be run by Knights Sports and driven by Khun Tatsuya Tanigawa for a second consecutive year.
Then it will be shipped to Thailand where Innovation Motorsport will enter the sensational at Bangsaen for Khun Michael. The RX-8 has just had its final test before leaving Japan for Macau – and it has been revealed in its striking livery for Bangsaen for the first time.
A very familiar name in TSS, B-Quik Racing recently spread its wings and took its first step onto the international motorsport stage when it contested this year’s MMER Sepang 12 Hours, which was held at the end of August.
No small task as this endurance race is certainly one of the toughest and most prestigious in Asia. But lead driver Khun Henk J. Kiks reckons that the recent rise in overall professional standards across every aspect of TSS has also helped his team raise itself to the levels required to achieve the success it did first time out in this international competition.
Meanwhile the history books will record that Khun Daychapon Toyingcharoen became the first ever ‘Super Eco’ champion after he won three of the six races and claimed two of the three helpings of points for pole position last year to take the title by a reasonably comfortable margin of 19.5 points. But that only tells half the story – and it’s a story that perfectly plays out the ambitions of the new Super Eco concept.
New driver and upgrades for Nissan GT-R project
The two new Nissan GT-R R35s being run in Super Car Class 2-GTM this year by the NSports-Yokohama-Project Mu Thailand team have drawn a heck of a lot of attention from the fans – and they have been dubbed ‘Godzilla’ in the paddock. The two racecars certainly live up to the name, big, bulging, and sinisterly aggressive; they’re clad in matte-carbon ‘body armour’ and have more vents, ducts and aero appendages than anyone else.
While they’re certainly a work in progress the GT-Rs are already locked in the fight for the podium steps – in fact on their race debut in Sepang back in May Khun Traitanit Chimtawan firmly planted the #87 entry into the podium positions during the opening race. The Thai star, who came out of a hiatus to drive one of the new GT-Rs, has looked at right at home behind the wheel. His aggressive natural racing style in wielding the big beast around Sepang and Bira with a real flourish has extracted the ‘max’ out of it.
Japanese star driver Khun Naoya Yamano piloted the other GT-R during the opening two TSS rounds; he has a long association with the Thai team. However he has other engagements that clash with the upcoming races at Buriram and Bangsaen – so that means a new face has been drafted in to drive the #99 car.
And it’s a very familiar face to the TSS paddock, Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich, who has in recent seasons been competing in Super 2000 with a highly modified Toyota Altis. He will step into Khun Naoya’s seat for the final two rounds of the year. However at the same time he will keep racing the #3 Altis in Super 2000 so he’s set to have very busy weekends.
Khun Jakthong enjoyed his first run in the #99 GT-R last Thursday at Bira Circuit – a test which was two pronged, firstly to get him used to the car and also to evaluate some updates, as Team Owner Khun Thongchai Kittisiriprasert explained. “The car is the same as last time but we [have] removed the ABS system to manual and we test a new suspension kit,” he said.
The two GT-Rs have been built by the NSports-Yokohama-Project Mu Thailand team from standard road going examples and that means there is still a lot of ‘production car DNA’ within them, the team now reasoning that the stock ABS just isn’t up to the extreme demands of the racetrack. “Normally we use ABS but this isn’t like a racing ABS so we try to remove it,” Khun Thongchai added.
Behind the wheel for the first time, Khun Jakthong quickly settled into the #99 GT-R. He explained how the drive had come together. “We had [discussed] about doing races while in Sepang and one day [Khun Thongchai] called me and said can you drive in TSS as Yamano has another race around the world. So I come to drive, it’s good to drive the car in Thailand first.”
Khun Jakthong is clear that his main task will be to help the GT-R’s ongoing develop programme, this after all is one of the few racecars in Super Car to have been built locally, Khun Thongchai eschewing the current trend to buy ‘turnkey’ racecars from Europe and rather he has started this project almost from scratch. “Now it’s quite new, we still try to develop to finish, even now there are many problems as the car is very high technology, so we just try to develop now,” notes the new driver.
There is a new data engineer working with the team and he’s been helping Khun Jakthong get used to the car. “We just talk before we come about settings as [Khun Thongchai] has a new person to set up the car so he calls me to see what I want, what I need and my style so we just work on that,” Khun Jakthong says. “So today we are testing and adjusting, so we try to four or five lap [runs at a time and] then change the setup, adjust, many things to do.”
He’s impressed by the car but admits that the development process will take some time. “The car is very powerful, but the problem is the car is heavy so it’s heavy on the cornering,” notes Khun Jakthong. “So right now we need a few times testing, we will take time.”
The team was happy with the progress made at Bira Circuit – every time they get on track they make another step in the right direction. “The new suspension seems like it works really well,” said Khun Thongchai. “Today we found that [the car] works well without the ABS so in a couple of weeks we will test again.”
Khun Thongchai also says that plans to remove the four-wheel-drive in order to help reduce weight have been ditched for the moment, the benefits they have adjudged will be outweighed by the negatives. “For the next race both cars will be four wheel drive, [the supplier] has finished the transmission for the two wheel drive, but the car has high horsepower so we keep the [4WD] transmission now,” he says, before adding that they will strip down and work further on the transmission system before Buriram in order to cure the driveshaft problems they had at the last round.
For Khun Jakthong this is a step up from the Altis he regularly drives in Super 2000, but he’s certainly got past experience racing more powerful cars and has a clear benchmark for the GT-R. “A few years ago, maybe seven years ago, I drive a [Mazda] RX-7 with maybe 485 horsepower,” he says. “It was very powerful for that time, I think the power is nearly the same as with the rotary when the power comes in it’s very quick. I think the [GT-R] is much, much better, but the power feeling is nearly the same.”
Buriram should suit the GT-Rs much more than Bira did and the lower temperatures to be found in the North East of Thailand in early November should also help their cooling issues. Combine all that with the further development work coupled with the ambition of the team and drivers to turn these cars into winners and the Japanese machines could well spring a surprise or two.
Dressed up for a double date
Four weeks ago Innovation Motorsport driver Khun Michael Freeman was in Japan to give a shakedown test to the Knights Sports Mazda RX-8 that he will race in Super Car Class 2-GTM at Bangsaen. The car, then running in body-in-white, is now set to depart from Japan for a high-profile end of season two-race programme that is a unique joint private venture between Japan’s Knight Sports and Thailand’s Innovation Motorsports.
At the Macau Grand Prix next month the RX-8 will run by Knights Sports and driven by Khun Tatsuya Tanigawa for a second year. Then it will be shipped to Thailand where Innovation Motorsport will run the car at Bangsaen for Khun Michael.
On Monday Khun Tatsuya undertook a second and final test of the car prior to its shipping to Macau. There were a few new updates under the skin as Khun Tatsuya told TSS after the latest test. “The car is improved,” he said. “[New] gear ratios, engine mapping and [body] colour since the first test.”
The test, which took place at Fuji International Speedway, was also an opportunity for a first look at the striking new livery the RX-8 will carry in Bangsaen. The car now features the official Mazda ‘Soul Red’ colour with black lower sections and that closely follows the finish of the factory-supported Mazda2s that Innovation Motorsport run in Super Production for Khun Michael and his teammate Khun Pete Thongchua.
Khun Tatsuya drove this car on the streets of Macau last year so he’s very well qualified to offer an opinion on the changes that have been made by the Knights Sport team. And he reckons the RX-8 has been improved. “I think that acceleration is better than last year,” he said. “The handling is always good.”
The car will also carry large decals reading ‘SkyActiv Technology’ to promote the Japanese brand’s latest cutting-edge developments that improve fuel consumption and increase engine output, while Khun Tatsuya also believes that it should provide Khun Michael a great platform to work from. “I think that at the race of Bangsaen the [RX-8 will be] one of the fast cars.”
Success on the international stage for B-Quik Racing
Already a very familiar team name in TSS, B-Quik Racing recently spread its black and yellow wings and took its first step onto the international motorsport stage when it contested this year’s MMER Sepang 12 Hours, which was held at the end of August. No small task as this endurance race is one of the toughest and most prestigious in Asia.
B-Quik Racing has come a long way since it was first formed in 2010 and then a year later joined Super Car’s now-discontinued Super Retro category with a supercharged Porsche 944. After running a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup in Super Car for the last two seasons (2012-13) the team raised its game by plumping for Audi’s R8 Cup as the backbone for its ambitious new 2014 campaign in Super Car Class 2-GTM.
B-Quik Racing is part of B-Quik Co. Ltd., the leading automobile aftermarket servicing chain here, and, usefully, that gives the race team a vast talent pool of skilled and disciplined mechanics and technicians to drawn upon. As #1 driver and company CEO, Khun Henk J. Kiks has mentioned many times in the past that everyone wants to work on the race team.
For B-Quik this is primarily an internal programme and particular it provides training for staff to a technical skill level that is well beyond the outlets. At the same time the fundamentals of perfect teamwork and coping with highly pressurised situations all provide exemplary training that filters throughout the company.
The team has a mix of permanent technicians and ones that are training and then moving on within the company and that means many of the mechanics who are changing the racecars’ wheels in the pitlane at the weekends go onto become store managers or assistants managers, taking that invaluable experience with them.
From a zero base B-Quik Racing has quickly grown into a full race team operation fighting for the podium positions in TSS – the leading motorsport competition in Thailand – and that meant by the start of 2014 Khun Henk was certain that a very solid platform was now in place to reach for the sky and for B-Quik Racing take part in its first international endurance race.
The Dutchman also believes that the growth in stature and professionalism of TSS since its launch last year has been invaluable in assisting B-Quik Racing’s own highly ambitious growth plans – that the two have in fact gone hand in hand. “The confidence we have been building up by participating in and supporting TSS allowed us to have a serious look at participating in endurance racing,” says Khun Henk.
“We know the car, but going into a 12 hour race was a step up in terms of preparation,” he continued. “The foundation we have built in TSS as far as technical skills and organisation has helped us a lot.”
Methodical preparation and step-by-step learning have been at the heart of B-Quik Racing’s continual rise in standards. The team put an awful lot of effort into preparing for the MMER Sepang 12 Hours. For a team that has never contested races of more than 40-minute duration or even carried out a pitstop – the demands of a non-stop 12 hour race, refueling, having three drivers in the car and even the unique challenge of night racing as well as having to change red hot brake pads and discs, are all a very big step to take for the first time. But each one was approached with care and precision. Each box was checked and ticked off.
Even when the carefully planned script was ripped up after the R8’s chassis required changing following an incident at Bira Circuit during the last TSS round in July and a new one was flown over from Germany direct to Sepang Circuit and the car rebuilt in the final 10 days before the race, all that work taking place 1,500 kms from their well equipped workshops, the B-Quik team members applied themselves perfectly to the race against time and it was a huge credit that the R8 was able to set the fastest pace in the GTC class come the race.
The race itself was a real adventure for B-Quik. The team was forced to keep digging deep and bouncing back after hitting a series of setbacks while showing steel and determination to successfully fight their way to the flag. In the end it worked out much better than had been expected, runners up in GTC and a trip up to the podium. That arduous 12 hours when the famous race flung everything it could fling at them and they rose about it all, Henk reckons, has lifted the Bangkok based team to a new level. It’s going to set them up nicely for their next racing date when TSS rock up at Buriram at the start of November.
“What we’ve learned in the endurance race we will bring back into our TSS efforts,” he says. “And let’s hope that next year more TSS teams will participate in the MMER so that we can wave the Thailand flag again on the podium. TSS efforts in making racing more professional in Thailand gives all involved a very strong platform to make racing bigger inside and outside of Thailand.”
It was certainly a weekend for the B-Quik Racing history books. Two newcomers to the team, Switzerland’s Khun Dario Garcia and Australia’s Khun Daniel Bilski, joined Khun Henk in the cockpit. The former driver actually retired from racing five years ago but was tempted to return for this challenge and it really would be a big challenge for Khun Dario as, apart from the obvious ‘rustiness’, he had never been to Sepang Circuit, never driven in hot and humid conditions before or even raced a GT type car as almost all his career had been spent in single-seaters. Khun Daniel, meanwhile, brought experience of Audi’s R8 LMS Cup as well as Asian racing, so his input in setup direction would be invaluable. So, all in all, a good mix of three competent, safe and of course quick amateur drivers to keep things steady inside the cockpit.
The race was eventful to say the least and while the #26 car demonstrated that it could consistently set the fastest pace in the GTC class for the whole 12 hours, irrespective of changing track conditions and inexperience of night driving, it was forced to constantly battle back into contention following issues. However the team rose to and overcame every challenge that the race threw at them.
For the Saturday midday start Khun Daniel was in the #26 car for the first stint and by lap 5 he was impressively into the lead and beginning to edge out a gap over the next car. After 50 minutes the team took its first knock as the Australian was clipped on the right hand rear corner by a lapping GT3 car which tipped him into a spin and caused an off track moment. That necessitated an unscheduled early pitstop as the damage was checked out by the mechanics while grass and gravel was also removed from the wheel well.
Khun Henk was in the cockpit for the second stint but as the Dutchman left the pits it was with a deficit of a couple of minutes due to the extended stop and that dropped the #26 car to the back of the GTC field. He then dug deep, piled on the pressure, posted the fastest laptimes amongst the top five runners and fought his was back to P1 over the next hour and a quarter before handing over to Khun Dario. The Swiss driver continued to apply pressure as a cushion was now built up at the front. However a trip into the gravel for Dario cost several more minutes as the ‘Bumblebee’ was towed out.
That put the #26 car almost three laps off the lead, although still comfortably in P2. The drivers responded over the next hour and a half to claw that lap track position back and finally the #26 car moved into the race lead once again. The ability of all three drivers to consistently turn in pace setting lap times amongst the GTC field certainly was a real platform build on.
With everything now running like clockwork for B-Quik Racing, the race crossed the halfway mark and darkness enveloped Sepang while the three drivers continued to post the fastest laptimes. The pace was there and things were looking very promising.
Then suddenly the team was on the back foot again. One of the rear light units failed – it’s mandatory that they’re fully operational during a night race – and the crew set about tackling the problem during one of the routine pitstops. The electrical issue was traced through the wiring loom and repaired, but not before it cost a whopping 6 laps and that left the #26 car well adrift of the leader, although it returned to the track action still in P2.
The drivers dug in once again and pushed – all three on the limit through the darkness on what was now a slippery and slowing track. By the 10-hour mark they had clawed a couple of laps back but the deficit to the leader was just far too great.
During the final hour an oil warming light came into play and while the data indicated that it was most likely a faulty sensor the team backed off the pace as the car occupying P3 was almost 10 laps adrift of them by this point. Finally, with just half an hour remaining, the R8 went into ‘Safe Mode’. That involved another pit visit and a system reboot by the Audi technicians. It was real heart stopping moment. But then it was a smooth run to the checkered flag and a richly deserved P2.
“It’s a really fantastic result, especially as it’s our first time entering an endurance race,” said a delighted Khun Henk afterwards. “This is one of the toughest endurance races, probably in the world, it’s not a 24 hour race for sure but a 12 hour race in Sepang in the heat is very hard work and there are such big demands on the car and the crew and the tyres and despite that we finished on the podium first time out. It’s not an easy game endurance racing, there’s an awful lot of work to it and of course we had a lot of preparation to do. After what happened in Thailand [in July] we needed a new chassis for the car, which has been rebuilt by the B-Quik boys, and once the race got going there isn’t any respite, there’s lots of small stuff that needs to be sorted. I’m so incredibly proud of my boys that they can do all this. It’s the first time ever we have done pit stops and of course for B-Quik Racing it’s a good result, for the boys it’s good, so a great race for everyone.”
The next appointment for B-Quik Racing will be Race 5 & 6 of Thailand Super Series 2014, which will take place at the brand new Buriram United International Circuit on November 1-2. As usual Henk will be driving the #26 Audi R8 LMS Cup in Super Car Class 2-GTM.
“We expect to have the car back in Thailand in the next few days and will start preparing it for the next TSS event in Buriram,” added the Dutchman. “After the experiences gained with the car in terms of set up and technical we have high expectations for the remaining races this season in TSS.”
Realising the dream
The history books will record that Khun Daychapon Toyingcharoen became the first ever ‘Super Eco’ champion after he won three of the six races and claimed two of the three helpings of points dished out for pole position last year to take the title by a reasonably comfortable margin of 19.5 points. But that only tells half the story.
Super Eco really is the new buzzword in motorsport here; it’s the category that’s simply taking racing by storm – and that’s all after just five double-header events (three last year and two so far this year, with two more still to come).
The grids however have already reached bursting point this year – but if we rewind to the first ever race reserved for the new Thai-built ‘Eco Car’ generation, which was held a year last August at Bira Circuit, there were just three cars on the grid, two Suzuki Swifts and one Honda Brio.
One of that trio was the Krating Daeng liveried Swift of Khun Daychapon and he claimed two wins from the two races to set himself on course for the inaugural championship title which he wrapped up in style with another win, his third of the season, in Bangsaen.
Khun Daychapon ticks off another of the ‘Super Eco’ boxes, as last year he was making his circuit-racing debut. He’s a familiar face to Thai motorsport fans’, while his nickname – ‘Pond Injec’ – is equally well known; but the discipline where he became famous, is drifting, and so spectators are much more used to seeing him travelling sideways in a big, long and heavy sedan, not going forwards in a small, light and nimble hatchback. But as Khun Daychapon noted, the opportunity to try his hand at circuit racing in Super Eco was one he simply couldn’t turn down.
The first Super Eco champion was clearly delighted to have come through to win the inaugural title. “I’m happy and appreciate to be in first position because it was the first Eco Car race in Thailand.”
The final race of the Super Eco season saw the ‘Eco’ cars running as part of the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival – the biggest and most prestigious domestic motorsports’ extravaganza. It would also turn out to be his last weekend in Super Eco. “It was very challenging because no one could practice before,” Khun Daychapon notes. “It was fresh to everyone and it was the first time also.”
He was satisfied that he had chosen right when he picked the Swift as his ‘Eco Car’ mount, reckoning that it makes for an ideally balanced racecar. “It suits the track without needing big settings,” he says.
TSS, in pushing to make Super Eco the breeding ground for new race drivers, has restricted participation to RAAT ‘Class C’ licence level holders only. That means Khun Daychapon is now gone from Super Eco. But his unfolding story is really what the concept is all about – being the first rung on the circuit racing ladder. And so this year he’s jumped into another brand new category, Super Car Class 3-GTC. That’s a big rung to climb, but one he is capable of mastering.
In fact Khun Daychapon is setting a few records. He was on the grid for the first-ever Super Eco race last year – and then on the podium. This year he was on the grid for the first-ever Super Car Class 3-GTC race – and then on the podium. Both have started the same way, a small cluster of cars braving a new dawn. One year on and Super Eco is booming – expect the same story to unfold for Super Car Class 3-GTC by 2015.
For Khun Daychapon, although he’s one of the biggest drifting stars in Thailand, he still sees Super Eco as having provided him with the perfect platform from which to pursue a circuit racing stage of his career. “I’m glad to have been here and that I will get more friends in the races, so it makes the race more exciting and gives more varieties for the audience,” he says.
He’s also quick to recommend Super Eco to others in a similar position. “For the ones who [are] interested in joining circuit [racing], I think starting from Super Eco is a right choice because the cars don’t need big modifications, and you will gain a lot of basic [skills] from them. I [have] got new experiences and learned a lot of good circuit basics.”
Source. Racing Spirit
