Event Date: May 21-24 This is my second time attending the invitational class of the Reedy race of champions. I must say that this is one of the most exciting races ever. Because of its special 12 rounds of reedy style racing, it’s all about pure racing. This being the first time here at the Tamiya raceway, it was a difficult start for me as I was not familiar with the high curves and the straight-away being in front of me. The practice was very limited as we only got 4 rounds of practice. My car started off not too bad but I just had to keep driving so that I get used to the track. The last 2 rounds of practice was when we really tried different setups to keep up with the pace. My car was on pace but I was looking for more overall traction. The racing began the next day and I think that because everyone gets to start at different places on the grid each round, you need some luck. My first day was not that bad until I had one bad round so I knew I already used up one of my … [Read more...] about Reedy Race of Champions
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AOC Shanghai
This year's AOC Shanghai race at the world-famous RCI facility had 118 entries, a huge jump from the 2014 race. A date clash with the first ETS race in Europe prevented more racers from attending, however 22 Team HB racers attended, headed by Team HB driver JJ Wang, designer Haratune from Japan and Chasel Young from HPI China. 15 PRO5 drivers were present, and Team HB drivers finished on the podium in all classes, with the younger 9-15 year old racers showing some awesome potential! JJ Wang's race report: As always, AOC kicks off the season at RCI, my home track in Shanghai. This year the competition was much higher than the previous year. We had two world champions, Hayato Matzusaki from Yokomo and Surikarn C. from VBC. We also had multiple US national champions such as, Rick Howart and Keven Hebert from AE/Reedy, and also Paul Lemieux and Eric Anderson from Xray. We also had Nicholas Lee and Daryl from Singapore, and not forgetting Eric Epp from Protoform attending this … [Read more...] about AOC Shanghai
Hong Kong Charity Carpet Race
The past weekend I attended the The 5th Annual TWSF Hong Kong YCH Hospital Charity Carpet Race. It was held in a shopping mall with a temporary carpet track. With over 200 entries along with a busy schedule, it was a 2-day race. I arrived in Hong Kong on Friday night along with fellow HB teammate Rocket. The organizers were building the track so no practice was available. On Saturday morning, we had one round of practice but it was hard to set the car up because the carpet had no grip. The first day was also scheduled for four rounds of qualifying, so after the morning practice we went straight to Q1. I had a horrible start to qualifying with my car being under steer due to the lack of traction. I made some changes to the setup but the result of Q2 was the same. However, the good thing was that the traction was starting to shape up and the groove was starting to show. I was really struggling so after a little discussion with Hara-tune on Facebook, I went with a completely different … [Read more...] about Hong Kong Charity Carpet Race
The HB Pro5 China Launch
After months of anticipation, we finally were able to launch the Pro5 in Shanghai at RCI. Tatsuro Watanabe, owner of HB/HPI was also in China for this event, which saw more than 20 drivers from all over China attended. I was asked to give a detail presentation on the evolution of the Pro5 from the TCXX. The night before the launch event, I spent a lot of time taking the TCXX and Pro5 parts and laying it out on a piece of board to show the difference in design. I was very fortunate to be part of the design team and the development process. Pro5 pre-sold extremely well in China, and I hope it sells well after the launch. The Pro5 is a very competitive car! … [Read more...] about The HB Pro5 China Launch