The rise of Thai motorsport moved up another gear last week as Racing Spirit Co. Ltd., promoter of Thailand Super Series (TSS), kicked off the designer tender process for its planned new world class level racetrack in Sri Racha.
The idyllic site, located smack in the middle of the ‘heartland’ of Thai motorsport, around 115 km south east of Bangkok and very close to major highway links, was chosen after a long and exhaustive search was conducted to find the ideal location. Last week five international track design agencies that responded to the formal tender visited the site and that all means the winning design will be chosen by the summer with construction of the circuit set to get underway towards the end of the year. This week we take an overview of the project and talk to team managing the tender process.
Meanwhile, last week also saw a new motorsport sensation unfolding. They’re easy words to bandy about but the reaction to the arrival of the first two cars destined for the inaugural ‘TCR Thailand’ has been nothing short of sensational.
Photos of the brace of ‘body in white’ racecars sitting in a crumbling, dusty freight yard in Lat Krabang in front of the 40-foot shipping container they had just been unloaded from after making the long journey from Italy zoomed round and round the Internet within minutes of being posted.
Finally, Toyota Team Thailand continues its long-term commitment to Thai motorsport as usual this year with a broadly similar programme to 2015 that will entail running six racecars in TSS split evenly across three classes.
The factory team has tweaked its racecar portfolio slightly and will run two of its well-proven 86 racecars in Super Car Class 2-GTM and a further two 86s in Super Car Class 3-GTC as well as a pair of Altis machines in Super 2000, with one seat in the latter programme going as usual to its latest Altis One Make Race champion.
Sky-high interest as new racetrack design tender opens
The process of selecting a design team to create the new Racing Spirit circuit in Sri Racha kicked off this week as the tender process commenced with a full inspection of the site by a number of interested design agencies.
Racing Spirit recently put out an official invitation to bid for the project, which envisions a brand new circuit developed to meet FIA Grade 2 and FIM Grade A homologation being built on a recently acquired 990 rai (394 acre) site in the Sri Racha area.
With TSS President Sontaya Kunplome demanding the circuit is positioned at the hub of Thailand’s motorsport ‘heartland’, the Bangkok-Chonburi-Pattaya corridor, after exhaustive consideration of a number of prospective sites, this one was chosen due to its excellent central location, ideal topography and geological structures (which notably includes elevation changes of 40 m) as well as the added benefit of the idyllic countryside that surrounds it. Most importantly in the brief was its geographical location that will allow it to reflect and serve the local community, returning real value, generating jobs and non-core business income, as well as national and international prestige to the area. The site, surrounded by vegetation filled hills, undulates and includes a reservoir as well as other natural features that will be enhanced and incorporated into the final layout.
Six design agencies responded to the tender and five of them took up last week’s invitation to visit the site, namely Apex, Driven International, Tilke, Dromo and Populous. Each is a global leader in international racetrack design and execution and each bring a different style and approach, meaning the final proposals should offer as wide an interpretation of the given brief as possible.
Racing Spirit’s senior management team, working in conjunction with Khun Mark Hughes of MRK 1 Consulting, Bahrain, who is a specialist in this field, is conducting the tender process.
The five design agencies have also been supplied with the results of extensive land surveys carried out recently on behalf of Racing Spirit, including full geological test results and other relevant information. All the teams reported their outline plans were already well advanced by the time of the site survey.
Racing Spirit management were delighted that all the design teams responded very enthusiastically after examining the site and believe there is huge scope to build a racetrack that can become global recognised for its challenges, unique footprint and excellence, providing both prestige and revenue for the local community. The design teams now have three weeks to submit their final plans before the April 21 deadline. Racing Spirit in conjunction with Khun Mark will then evaluate and choose a winning design with the process expected to be concluded by the end of June.
At the same time a tender for the construction has also been put out and this process will run in parallel with the design tender. Actual construction of the circuit is planned to start in October.
Guiding the design tender
The tendering process for the new racetrack is being overseen by Khun Mark Hughes of MRK 1 Consulting; he worked in conjunction with Racing Spirit to define the terms of the tender that was recently offered and he will review the submitted bids before presenting them to senior management. Then a winning offer will be chosen, the final decision resting with TSS President Sontaya Kunplome.
During the site inspection by prospective designers last week Khun Mark explained the process is being conducted to the very highest international standards; it’s going to be exhaustive and they will be able to find the best bid from every aspect. “The tendering process was very structured,” he says.
“A lot of aspiring track owners’ don’t go through quite such a structured tendering process,” he continues. “They might pick a track designer from their reputation or from their previous projects. But what we’ve done here is have a very open tender and we’ve targeted the top track designers in the world to come and visit the site and give us a concept proposal.”
The ambitions for the track are sky-high; Racing Spirit wants the designers to challenge themselves and the winning party to be actively involved in the wider development of the track and complex. “The tender is broken down into a number of different parts and the track designers will be very actively involved, very specifically in the track itself, but also in designing the specifications for the other facilities on the site,” says Khun Mark.
Certainly in Thailand this is an exciting and eagerly awaited racetrack project, but it appears that globally too it’s already grabbed attention. “The tender has been very well received, we’ve had a 100% response from everyone we’ve issued it to, they have all come back and said they will submit a proposal to us and the benefit to Racing Spirit is that they will get some really good quality bids, they’ll get a lot of ideas,” he says.
The site was chosen after an exhaustive search for an optimal location in terms of transport links as well as featuring the right topography and atmosphere and the feedback during the site inspection was all highly positive. “The track designers have all come to visit the site, which is fantastic,” says Khun Mark. “They’re very impressed with the site and we’re expecting the quality of the proposals that come back to be very, very high.”
With the site visit completed we now begin to move into the closing stages of the bidding process. Khun Mark says they’re pressing ahead and the strategy calls for actual construction of the track to start in around six month’s time, an ambitious but feasible timetable.
“In terms of timeframe, each of the designers has been asked to return their submission by April 21st,” he says. “I will then do a complete technical review of all of the submissions and the plan is to award a contract by about mid June and then it’s full steam ahead. We want to start construction around October this year so in parallel to the design RFP [Request For Proposal] we will also be doing a tender for the construction company at the same time to save some time in the process.”
Unprecedented excitement as first cars arrive for TCR Thailand
A new sensation. Easy words to bandy about but the reaction to the arrival of the first two cars destined for TCR Thailand has been nothing short of sensational. Photos of the brace of ‘body in white’ racecars sitting in a crumbling, dusty freight yard in Lat Krabang in front of the 40-foot shipping container they had just been unloaded from after making the long journey from Italy zoomed round and round the Internet within minutes of being posted.
In fact within just 48 hours the photos had racked up an unprecedented 18,000 shares and 800 comments. Quite simply no new racecar for many years has generated more interest in Thailand than the ‘Model Year 2016′ Honda Civic TCR ‘Step 2’. Only 2 cars have arrived but already it bodes well for the success of TCR Thailand, which will kick off with its first ever races next month.
The two cars were ordered by the TBN MK I Here team and the drivers, Khun Nattachak Hanjitkasem and Khun Wijak Lertprasertpakorn were on hand to take delivery. The former flew to Italy last month to test the Civic TCR and so he was already somewhat familiar with the striking new machine.
“It’s my second time to see the Civic TCR,” said Khun Nattachak. “So I think Mr. Wijak is more excited than me. I was really excited to see for the exterior I really like the widebody and the big rear wing. Inside J.A.S. has done a good job with a clean and well arranged cockpit.”
The arrival of the visually striking ‘Civic TCR’ racecars has certainly resonated with Thai motorsport fans and ‘under the skin’ it’s clearly an impressively specified machine. The heart of the MY2016 ‘Step 2’ version is a 2.0-litre turbocharged 4-cyl PU with around 330 hp and 400 Nm available. Composite ducting surrounds the engine water radiator and intercooler while the PU is hooked up to a Sadev 6-speed sequential gearbox. The suspension has been uprated for 2016 with Ohlins shocks while stopping power comes from 6-pot calipers and 378 mm discs at the front, complimented by 2-pot calipers and 261mm discs at the rear and it all sits on 18×10 O.Z. Racing wheels. Inside there is a composite seat, welded roll cage integrated dash and steering wheel with paddle shifters – this is clearly a car that’s meant to be driven in an exciting style. The whole package weighs in at 1260 kg (although it will be further subject to series BoP for the final weight).
The Civic TCR already has a championship win under its belt as Hong Kong driver Michael Choi won the inaugural TCR Asia Series title last year after claiming victory in both races that supported the Singapore Grand Prix and taking a further three podiums to romp away at the top of the points classification.
But in TCR International Series the J.A.S. built Civic TCR wasn’t able to fully get on terms with the SEAT Léon Cup Racer and that’s what the Italian company has been addressing over the winter – they expect to be pushing for every win this year. “The car is a little step forward from what we saw at the end of 2015,” J.A.S. engineer, Khun Giancarlo Bruno, who was responsible for developing the MY2016 car, dubbed the ‘Step 2’, told TCR media during the official series BoP test on 22-23 March.
Much work, as well as many testing kilometers, has gone into shaping up the revised package. “The engine is new and comes from the new series car, the Civic Type-R, which was introduced last year,” Khun Bruno continued. “Considering the new engine location at J.A.S. we decided to change the location of some of the parts, radiator and heat exchanger. We also changed the suspensions and in particular the front shock absorbers.”
While the car’s performance envelope has been pushed out, J.A.S. has ensured driveability hasn’t been diluted. “We tried to keep the car easy to manage, to set up and also to drive because these cars are for privateers and if the car gives confidence then it becomes easier to reach a higher level of performance,” says Khun Bruno.
The Italian engineer is very impressed by the TCR concept and its strength in depth coming from growing manufacturer interest meant they had to push hard with the ‘Step 2’ car. “There are many new cars and some arrived at the last minute and need a bit of time for development,” said Khun Bruno.
“But the fact that there are two, three, four new manufactures proves that the championship will be very interesting and that the level of competition will be very high,” he continues. “It is very interesting not only from a sporting point of view but also from a manufacturers point of view and that’s why they are so much involved. And additionally the national championships are booming. And that proves that the model of the championship is the right one.”
Last year in the TCR International Series the Civic TCR took six wins, three of those victories were notched up by Gianni Morbidelli and two by Kevin Gleason with the other going to Rob Huff. During the 2016 TCR International Series opener in Bahrain last weekend the new ‘Step 2’ Civic TCR made its racing debut and it certainly was once again the car up to challenge the SEATs for P1 with Morbidelli claiming the runners up spot in the first race.
In terms of getting on track in Thailand these are the first cars for what is a brand new series and that means it’s not quite as simple as turning the ignition switch and getting out to test, there’s quite a careful learning process – and a bit of thinking – to be undertaken first.
Khun Nattachak explains, “At the moment both cars are parked at Toyota TBN showroom, Latkrabang branch,” he says. “We do not know much about this car right now we will have to wait for race engineer to explain more about it. Also at the moment we cannot start up the engine due to special fuel that we do not have yet. This week we will have a team meeting for this year’s racing.”
Toyota tweaks its lineup for 2016
Toyota continues its long-term commitment to Thai motorsport as usual this year with a broadly similar programme to 2015 that will entail running six racecars in TSS that are split evenly across three classes.
During the 37th Bangkok International Motor Show Team Manager Khun Suttipong Smittachartch confirmed the 2016 car and driver lineup, which will see one car being switched from Super Car’s Class 2-GTM to Class 3-GTC as well as two brand new drivers for its Super 2000 entries.
“Toyota Team Thailand will participate in TSS in 2016 in Super Car Class 2 and Class 3,” Khun Suttipong said. “For Super Car Class 2 it will be Nattavude [Charoensukhawatana] and Nattapong [Horthongkum] in the same car and in Class 3 it will be me and Manat [Kulapalanont].
“In Super 2000 we have a newcomer from the Altis One Make Race, the champion Khun Thanakorn Buttawong will join in one car while the other we are still thinking about the driver,” he continued. “So it will be two cars for each category.”
That all makes for a very resilient lineup from a team that knows how to win – and is very used to on track success. Last year, however, proved tough for Toyota in TSS’s headline category, Super Car Class 2-GTM, as its self developed 86 racecars were handed their stiffest test yet from the ever growing influx of turnkey racing products such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche. The factory-run team dug in though and ground out podiums finishes.
Now the Toyota 86, a car that debuted in Super Car back in 2013, is very likely to be heading into its final racing season although Toyota is quietly confident that dynamic improvements made to the machine since the end of last season should put it much closer to the front running pace. Most notably the new suspension should address key issues while the series’ optimized BoP regulations are likely to help the coupe’s cause further. In Khun Nattavude and Khun Nattapong the team has two drivers that know exactly how to dig in and fight, squeeze out the max and deliver results.
The Team Manager reckons that their main task this year will be to wring just about everything they can out of the 86. “We modify and adjust the suspension, that’s all,” explained Khun Suttipong. “We have to use the 86 and make it more better and use it for one more year and think what we do then.”
He believes that they have extracted fresh gains from the Class 2-GTM 86 package but at the same time admits that everyone else is also improving, lap times are certain to continue to tumble this year. “Right now our testing is better than last year [and] the drivers are better compared to last year but many competitive drivers and many competitive cars like the Lamborghini are coming in but we will do our best, we believe in our drivers and the performance of the car better than last year so we have to challenge.”
Meanwhile in Class 3-GTC the arrival of Khun Manat to supplement Khun Suttipong could spring a surprise and the newcomer has to be a strong contender for the Drivers’ title. Khun Manat, last year was promoted from Super 2000 to run a third 86 in Class 2-GTM which means he has a year with the car behind him and it will in fact be the same machine adapted to run in Class 3-GTC so unquestionably the knowledge base is there.
Factor in Khun Suttipong’s excellent track record of delivering points scoring finishes in Class 3-GTC and it all means that Toyota has to be a very strong contender for the Teams’ title so long as a high level of reliability can be achieved.
In Super 2000 Khun Thanakorn, on his debut for the factory team, will race in the ‘entry level’ Class 2 and it will in fact be the third consecutive year that Toyota has handed this seat to one of its One Make Racing champion’s as the top prize.