2012 Tamiya TCS Championships

Tony Phalen October 18, 2012 New RC Cars and Parts 41 Views

It’s that time of year again, the time when racers from around the country gather at the beautiful Tamiya track in Southern California to answer one simple question that has been bugging them all year long; Who gets that free trip to Japan?

Yes, I said free. This is part of Tamiya America’s Championship Series where anyone that has a Tamiya car can enter any number of classes, some of which are eligible for a free trip to Japan. Oh, and did I mention that the entry fee is…free? Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me!

THE PLACE
The Tamiya America track is located in Southern California up on the beautiful Aliso Viejo hillside. This track has been home to many major races, including the Reedy International Race of Champions and more currently the SpeedTech Grand Prix. While the main layout can’t be changed, slight alterations allow for fast, flowing action that has provided racers with years of exciting door-to-door action. There is even the legendary ‘kink’, a section of track that, if you get it wrong, can send you flying. This has been a do-or-die section for many-a-professional in past years.

THE ENTRIES
Tamiya knows how to throw a party and had close to 100 racers show up for a chance at victory, including drivers from other countries. Each driver was allowed to enter multiple classes, which this year included GT-1, GT-2, GT-3, GT-Spec, Mini, Formula 1 and 1/12-Scale. As usual, there was fierce competition in all of these classes as drivers fought for a spot on the podium.

THE RACE
The Tamiya track is open for practice every Saturday. With a Saturday practice fee of FREE, you can imagine the track was packed with any and all participants weeks prior to this weekend’s event.

Saturday saw the drivers arriving at 6:00am, getting their pits sorted out and preparing for a day of qualifying. Each driver had multiple attempts to make the coveted A Main, the place you needed to be for a chance at the big prize. Each heat was made up of 10 cars, with each driver on their own timed run (also known as IFMAR qualifying), so this gave everyone the exact same chance to do well without the stress of fighting for position on the track. At the end of the day, the top 10 drivers for each class were announced…this is the one time you really wanted to hear your name on the loudspeaker!

Sunday morning rolled around and again there were drivers waiting at the gate at 6:00am. By 8:00, everyone was set up and ready to hit the track. Since the GT-1, GT-2, Mini and Formula 1 classes were Japan-eligible classes, they ran a triple A-Main format, or three mains with a total of points to decide the winner. This means that even if you have one bad main event, you still have a chance to do well in the other two. Consistent driving rewards the victor, so everyone had to be on their game in ALL three mains for a shot at the title.

In GT-1, Rod Canare was the man to beat. He posted two wins in the first two mains to claim the top podium spot. Lee Passehl was his closest rival, posting a 2nd and 3rd, but winning the last A-Main would secure his overall 2nd spot. Juan Aveytia recovered from a bad A2 Main to claim the third and final podium spot.

In GT-2, pole-sitter Mihai Gutuescu had a tough time against Solomon Figues Jr. for the win. Mihai took A1, while Solomon took A2. In A3, Mihai held off the charging Figues and took the overall win by less than a second! Kelvin Khng rounded out the top three with his consistent performance.

Even though the drivers in GT-3 had a single main, that doesn’t mean it was an easy main. Third place qualifier Joshua Hill took advantage of a mistake by the leaders and took the overall win by 4 seconds. TQ Julian Wong would have to settle for second, but not after a good battle with Alan Mok. Mok ended up finishing third.

GT-Spec also ran a single A-Main, but it was Matthew Tolmasoff that ran away with it. He was the only driver to do 24 laps in the main, so that last lap was a pure victory lap. Fred Mcabuhay did 23 laps, finishing 2nd, with Hayato Makiuchi finishing 3rd with 22 laps.

The Mini guys were out in force at this year’s TCS, but Gordie Tam decided it was his year. He won the first two A-Mains to secure P1 on the podium, but not after an epic battle with 2nd place overall finisher Danny Egger. Gordie beat Danny in A2 by .2 of a second, one of the closest finishes of the day! Chuck Leslie qualified 3rd and took kept up a consistent pace to finish off the Top 3 podium.

The F1 class, with its killer looks and the release of their new F104 V2 car, saw quite a barrage of entries this year. Anthony Fung made the best of his TQ position and took the win in both A1 and A2, giving himself the overall victory. Mike Kennedy, whose car started off slow, but gained huge momentum after the first couple of laps, narrowly missed taking A2 by half a second. Mike would claim 2nd place in all three mains to secure a 2nd place overall. Fernando Jose, who qualified 5th, would put in some good runs (including a win in A3) to finish 3rd overall.

The final class was new to this year’s TCS. Tamiya also released their RM-01 chassis, a 1/12-scale car made to work in both indoor and outdoor conditions. With a total of 13 entries, this class is sure to only get bigger. Dave Berger was on point all weekend with his RM-01, and posted a fast TQ. His calm, smooth driving style gave him the win, but not without some close competition from Tom Kahl. Tom was less than three seconds behind at the buzzer…one mistake by Dave and it was over. Mike Kennedy rallied back from a mistake early to take 3rd overall.

A big thank you goes out to Tamiya and Fred Medel for once again putting on an excellent event. I always have such a great time while I’m there…maybe next year I’ll be entering!

FINAL RESULTS

TOP 3 – GT-1
1—Rod Canare
2—Lee Passehl
3—Juan Aveytia