[Mikko Nassi]

The results are on MyLaps HERE.

Race reports and views from competitors are welcome here .

How was the race organisation? Atmosphere? Competition?

[Mikko Nassi]

Having looked through the results some comments and questions:

• Congratulations to KartingAsia.com forum member Franco Reyes on his podium finish in Mini-ROK.
• Congratulations to all the other winners and podium finishers as well
• Looks like battles for the lead were limited only to the Junior categories?
• Junior ROK grid looked very close with the top-3 fastest laptimes within 3 thousandths!
• Did as many Thai drivers show up as expected or did two weekends back-to-back limit the numbers a bit?

[Alex Ritchie]

We had a fantastic 4 days in Saraburi. First of all, thank you to the AKOC organisers and Thai people for putting the show together.

My comments, in no particular order:

(i) Saraburi is now the best track for driving in South East Asia (including Macau). The designers apparently studied the top European tracks and put together a combination of their best corners in Saraburi. Fast corners, a hairpin, combination corners, elevation changes - Saraburi has them all. Marvellous.

(ii) The whole track is visible from the spectator area - every corner and straight. The race admin building and (small) grandstand is located on higher ground, so the track is in a natural stadium.

(iii) Food - lots of it - was available at trackside. Thai, Chinese, Western and Muslim cuisine - delicious and reasonably priced. Plus there was a stall selling kart stuff, from whole karts down to the small parts, suits, gloves, helmets, etc, etc. And a stall selling event souvenirs. Certainly created a carnival atmosphere.

(iv) Race organisation was excellent - one drivers' briefing every day and changes to schedule or regulations were sent to every driver. There was even a feedback survey when all the races were over! They are eager to learn and improve an already impressive event.

(v) For the Junior and Senior races all the classes were put together, so the fields were large and very competitive. The different combinations of driver skill, chassis and engines meant that there were little groups battling it out throughout the field.

As some Malaysian drivers commented, "in Sepang if you make a mistake you lose one position, here you lose 2 or 3!"

(vi) Technical scrutineering was lax, at least for the Juniors. I suppose that this is a consequence of allowing three different engines classes in one race. I suppose the attitude was "if you badly want to win use a KF3." It certainly did not bother us as we were treating it as a fun event and a learning experience.

(vii) Ryan did very well - 3rd overall in qualifying and 6th in the final (4th Rotax). Not bad for driving a rented kart with a cracked rib.

(viii) Will we return? Already booked our hotel and taxi driver for next year!

[javibenitez]

I'm javi benitez from the philippines.

ALEX, I was using a kf3 engine for the first time, yet my time wasn't as fast as nanin. I had problems tuning it. I was 3-4 tenths off the fastest guy which was nanin... Luckily i still won the race.

[Mikko Nassi]

I'm javi benitez from the philippines.

ALEX, I was using a kf3 engine for the first time, yet my time wasn't as fast as nanin. I had problems tuning it. I was 3-4 tenths off the fastest guy which was nanin... Luckily i still won the race.

Hey Javi! Congratulations on the win .

How is the KF3 to drive? Compared to say a Rotax and ROK?

Which KF3 btw?

(iv) Race organisation was excellent - one drivers' briefing every day and changes to schedule or regulations were sent to every driver. There was even a feedback survey when all the races were over! They are eager to learn and improve an already impressive event.

That's really good. Good organisation usually = more karters next time around.

(ii) The whole track is visible from the spectator area - every corner and straight. The race admin building and (small) grandstand is located on higher ground, so the track is in a natural stadium.

That's one tip I've seen for track builders - built it in a bowl to you can see all of the track from everywhere. Sounds like a really nice track.

[Mikko Nassi]

www.kartthai.com has posted pictures of the event here.

[Alex Ritchie]

Ryan just came back from the doctor - the good news is no cracked bones, just bad bruising. He should be fine for the next race...

Javi,

You drove excellently the whole weekend. The others put you under tremendous pressure but you kept cool. The Saraburi track is a tough and exciting one, so I am sure you gained a lot of experience. Congrats on your win.

[Aaron Lim]

First of all, I would like to say that the event in Thailand was fantastic. I will agree with Alex that this track is probably the best track we have in South East Asia if not Asia. The track layout is similar to what I raced in Europe and it really is a drivers circuit.

I'm sure everyone enjoyed themselves. And hopefully the no. of drivers will grow next year.

[javibenitez]

Hi Mikko,

Thank you. The KF3 has a really short throttle, so you have to be really patient with it. While the ROK, has quite a long throttle which makes you step on the gas more than the KF3.

Hi Alex,

Thank you too. I agree with you that the track is well built. The slipstreaming factor is big which makes the race exciting.

HOPE TO SEE YOU GUYS IN MACAU!

[deo1961]

Hi Mikko,

Thank you. The KF3 has a really short throttle, so you have to be really patient with it. While the ROK, has quite a long throttle which makes you step on the gas more than the KF3.

Hi Alex,

Thank you too. I agree with you that the track is well built. The slipstreaming factor is big which makes the race exciting.

HOPE TO SEE YOU GUYS IN MACAU!

Hi everyone
I'm Deo. Are you well after the race? I am so happy you guy liked the event and the track. I must say it was a fantastic race. Good drivers good race. Hope to see you all again next year in Thailand.

[Mike]

It was a race really worthwhile going to. The organization was extremely good and as participants we were made to feel welcome and treated with courtesy.

The racing was also excellent and while we were initially apprehensive about racing in a class where there were three different engines running, it in the end made for very good racing throughout.

We actually considered using a KF3 engine for the race to get familiar with the engine for Macau where we have been told there is going to be a strong KF3 field but decided against it at the last moment.

So Javi, congrats on driving a good race and I think that you are going to be well prepared for the Macau race in the KF3 class. Good strategy!

On that note, also congrats to all the drivers for their spirited, competitive and sporting racing

Nothing more needs to be said about the excellent track that has not been said.

Although, not techincally inclined, I noticed that they had removed the carburetor, cylinder head and measured the cylinder block during post race scrutineering.

My only complaint, if you could call it that, was the time it took for the result sheets to come out after every heat.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend and we will be back in sunny and windy Saraburi next year.

[kohtzing]

It looked like you guys had fun. Congrats to all the guys who finished on the podium!

I have a question. What is the 125 Open Sr class? Is that the same as TAGUSA Senior? Or is that 125 Shifters? I did see that the FR125 Rotax Seniors were scored separately. Most of the Rotax 125 Senior laptimes looked competitive to the the 125 Open Sr class.

[Mike]

Hi Kohtzing. Yes, it was great fun. I am not familiar with the TAGUSA class so I cannot give you more information on whether it was similar, however the class does not include shifters.

In the Open class, they were basically running KF2 engines from the various engine manufacturers.

I believe that the 125 Open class allows you to "race what you brung" as long as its a 125 CC engine so you could technically run the Open class with a Rotax 125 engine as well.

[kohtzing]

I did some research and it seems like the KF series engines are similar to TAG engines. I've seem some claims that KF2 engines produce as much as 38 horsepower. That's substantially more than Rotax FR125 and/or an IAME Leopard TAG engine.

[javibenitez]

It was a race really worthwhile going to. The organization was extremely good and as participants we were made to feel welcome and treated with courtesy.

The racing was also excellent and while we were initially apprehensive about racing in a class where there were three different engines running, it in the end made for very good racing throughout.

We actually considered using a KF3 engine for the race to get familiar with the engine for Macau where we have been told there is going to be a strong KF3 field but decided against it at the last moment.

So Javi, congrats on driving a good race and I think that you are going to be well prepared for the Macau race in the KF3 class. Good strategy!

On that note, also congrats to all the drivers for their spirited, competitive and sporting racing

Nothing more needs to be said about the excellent track that has not been said.

Although, not techincally inclined, I noticed that they had removed the carburetor, cylinder head and measured the cylinder block during post race scrutineering.

My only complaint, if you could call it that, was the time it took for the result sheets to come out after every heat.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend and we will be back in sunny and windy Saraburi next year.

Hey Mike,

I am preparing for Macau. =)) I just needed to practice the tuning before Macau, so i would be more prepared. In the race my tuning wasn't that good.

Anyway, i agree with you that the time sheets being released after every heat is indeed quite slow. =)