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Analysis of a great race TITC 2018 final

The 2018 TITC has been another fantastic event with some great coverage from RedRc . It was great watching the finals unfold to the ...


The 2018 TITC has been another fantastic event with some great coverage from RedRc. It was great watching the finals unfold to the thrilling climax of the third final.

For those who have not been following the event, after the first two finals Akio Sobue, Alexander Hagberg and Marc Rheinard were all able to take the overall victory by claiming a win. It was poised to be a great race, but with Hagberg in second position behind his fellow X-Ray teammate Bruno he was favourite to claim the victory. So let’s see how the race unfolded.

As you can see it was a great race, full of incident and one of the closest victories yet (Three thousands of a second) for Akio and his Infinity IF14 (Click for our detailed review). For me it ranks up there with some of my favourite races that I have seen let me explain why.

Teamwork

The modified class of racing is regarded by most manufacturers and enthusiasts as the most important category to win to promote your brand. In reality at this level it is all about the ‘Team’ winning and not the individual.

This does change the dynamic of the racing as sometimes a driver can make sacrifices to help a team-mate. In this race Bruno Coelho makes no bones about letting Alexander through. It does go a little pear shaped as he is collected by Naoto Matsukura, however even for people not really into RC racing it shows a maturity in the sport.

Skill

Ok, so in reality this is a common factor with most A-finals up and down the country.  However the extra speed of the Mod racers reaching approx 70mph is always a great sight.

In this race Alexander and Akio are totally in a class of there own, despite the quality of their opponents. They break away from the rest of the field and Alexander holds his line superbly, not leaving the door open for Akio over the majority of the race. It is also interesting to see how Akio holds back a little after 3 minutes after his car slides briefly. Is it to monitor temperatures or is he just doing a mental reset to keep focused?

Strategy

Does Hagberg slow down over the last few laps to take it easy? or has Akio been holding back to look after his tyres before pushing hard in the last few laps for a final charge?

As you can see, Akio does seem to charge at Hagberg from lap 14 and makes up a fair bit of time. It is hard to know why Hagberg lost some pace, but it is clear that Akio definitely is making up some time.

Fair play?



Akio gets on the inside of the corner as Alexander closes the gap

They collide with only 3 corners to go!

Akio, desperate to claim the trophy came out of the collision better than Alex, but he lets him drive away before turning around the opposite way to ensure that there is a fair gap between them both.
I know it is what he should do, but we have all been there at a club night when much less is at stake and not seen this decency. So to see sportsmanlike behaviour from Akio is a great example.

Never give up!


After the collision it all seemed over for Akio. However he quickly recovered and importantly didn't give up the chance for victory. Despite the seemingly impossible gap he took a really aggressive set of lines through the final few corners, whilst Hagberg went wide. This hunger to win is something that everyone who loves racing loves to see, and this time it paid off, winning by 3 thousandths of a second!

Drama!

The result was contentious, even though I feel sorry for Hagberg I do think it was a fair result, although others seem to disagree. If Akio had taken the lead after the collision then it would be unfair in my opinion, but as he let Alexander resume the lead I personally think he deserved the win, although I am sure others will disagree. I'm sure it will be discussed more as info comes from those who were there.

Overall both drivers brought a lot of action to this race. Congratulations to Akio and commiserations to Alexander who was on great form all of the event and it was upsetting to see him lose it so close to the end of the race.  I'm already looking forward to the worlds this year despite there being no factory Tamiya team. Xray still need their first victory, Yokomo could be on the back foot without Yukijiro Umino working on their chassis and Infinity are on a charge. Cannot wait!

Pictures via LRP (link)
Video and grabs from RedRc (link)

Worlds 6603983797969631344

Post a Comment

  1. I think the issue that has been brought up, is the fact that Hagbergs car was not fully functional after the incident with the body tucked into the chassis not allowing him to attack the finish line as he wished. It’s a had call as Akio did the right thing after the incident. It’s a hard judgement! I think he had to go for it, that is rc racing. If I were Hagberg though I’d be very disappointed with the way it turned out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for this info, I since heard that his body was tucked. It does raise even more points for discussion.

      Delete

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