The unique ‘Australian V8 Supercar’ Holden Commodore of Khun Craig Corliss has been a fixture at the business end of the action for the last couple of seasons and as it approaches a third year in Thailand Super Series (TSS), the driver has reached for the best to overhaul the machine and prepare it for the forthcoming season.
That’s because he’s shipped the car back to the Australian headquarters of Triple Eight Engineering, home of the Red Bull factory Holden Australian V8 Supercar team and six-time Drivers’ champion Khun Jaime Whincup. They also built the Holden so it’s in the best hands to be fully prepared to chase silverware when the new season kicks off in almost exactly two months time.
The Bangsaen Thailand Speed festival is booming and TSS is looking firmly at the event’s future. That means bigger international series are getting set to join the programme and the main step to allow this to happen will be attaining FIA circuit homologation.
That process shifted into top gear when Apex-KBR Circuit Designer Khun Simon Gardini visited the Speed Festival last December to observe and study the event in action and begin the process of evaluating the requirements, upgrades and additional changes, that will need to be enacted in order to reach FIA circuit homologation.
Finally, the ‘Thailand Super Series Champions Day 2014′ is quickly coming into view; it will take place in just three weeks time. The setting this year will be the famous Royal Bangkok Sports Club in the heart of the city.
It’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Bangkok and enshrined in the city’s rich history. TSS Vice President Khun Preeda Tantemsapya explains exactly why the location was chosen for this year’s prize giving.
Ever since 2010 the ‘Australian V8’ breed of racecars have been a permanent fixture in Super Car, thanks to the tireless efforts of Khun Craig Corliss. First the New Zealander turned up in a Ford Falcon V8, bagging wins and podiums, but for the start of the ‘TSS era’ in 2013 he upgraded to a Holden Commodore VE.
And it wasn’t just any old Commodore; it was a full factory racecar built by the world famous Triple Eight Engineering team and was in fact used as a test and development machine by multiple Australian V8 Champion Khun Jamie Whincup.
Khun Craig’s big and wild ‘V8’ racecars are always firm favourites with Thai race fans, while they also add a bit of extra diversity to the grid. The driver himself doesn’t do too much caution; put him behind the wheel of a racecar and you will always get 110% commitment. That’s earned him plenty of respect.
With two full seasons in TSS, plus further close-season racing in New Zealand, under its belt, the big orange racecar really needed some over winter repairs and upgrades, especially as it was hurriedly patched up early last November up after it suffered a big impact with the guardrails in Buriram.
Just like all the other outfits, the ‘Kiwi Racing Team’ has been forced to respond to the rapidly escalating professional standards in Super Car Class 2-GTM. Khun Craig certainly likes to think big, so he called up Triple Eight Engineering to send an engineer to support him last year for the closing races of the season in Buriram and Bangsaen.
Therefore it was entirely logical that the Holden factory team came yet further into the picture as Khun Craig started planning for the 2015 season. “The car has been shipped back to Triple Eight Engineering in Brisbane, Australia to do the upgrades that are needed,” he says.
The car couldn’t be in better hands either – the Holden has actually gone ‘home’, back to the team that originally built it from the ground up. “After the big impact at Buriram last year the car is being totally stripped and rebuilt like new, not too many big changes, but basic upgrades on the shocks, alignment, etc., as there has been no upgrades to the car since 2012,” Khun Craig adds. “The gearboxes will be rebuilt and all the parts crack tested also.”
The Kiwi Racing Team retained the standout ‘Day-Glo’ orange paint finish that came with the car (which reflected Triple Eight Engineering’s Australian V8 Championship sponsorship with Vodafone) for 2013 and 2014, but now that’s going. The new colour scheme however promises to be equally distinctive.
He also notes that as a foreign team with a car competing on two different continents during the year, racing is an expensive proposition. “Being an overseas team there are more costs associated with racing than for local teams,” explains Khun Craig. “We have shipping costs twice a year, the cost to keep the car in Thailand for six months and airfares for all the race crew, just to name a few. We have at least US$80,000 costs more than a local team.”
With two TSS seasons in the Holden now behind him and being well used to the unique characteristics of the big machine Khun Craig is also targeting to get more out of the car this year in specific areas. “Our main attention will focus on a better setup and cornering speed,” he says. “The locked diff makes it difficult to get sufficient power down on the turns and exit until the car is straight.”
A big racecar needs a big driver behind the wheel and certainly Khun Craig is the biggest driver in the paddock – and by some margin. He towers over his Super Car rivals, but that height advantage does lead to a significant weight disadvantage.
He reckons that problem is also being addressed over the close season. “The driver is on a weight loss programme to try and offset the weight disadvantage,” he says with a laugh. “Most other drivers in the class have a 40 to 50 kg weight advantage over me.” ‘Big’ Khun Craig promises that disadvantage has already come down and it will be whittled away further before the new TSS season kicks off in May.
Promising lady driver gets Mazda break
One of Thailand’s most promising young lady drivers, Khun Tachapan Vijittranon, is back in the spotlights as she’s picked up a coveted Mazda factory-supported drive with Innovation Motorsport. That’s the team that has ran the official Mazda2 programme in TSS’s hotly contested Super Production category for last year and is now in fact busy preparing for a third season.
Last year brought plenty of successful for Mazda. It was the second season of the programme and it saw a pair of Mazda2s driven by Australian Khun Michael Freeman and superstar Thai actor Khun Pete Thongchua finishing third and fifth overall in the Drivers’ championship respectively while Innovation Motorsport bagged the vice-champion’s place in the overall Teams’ standings.
The youngster is delighted to have been chosen. “I am very glad and excited to be picked by Mazda Thailand,” said Khun Tachapan. “It’s a new step and a big opportunity for me to learn new things and get to drive a good car with a good team.”
The Mazda2 racecars came on leaps and bounds throughout 2014 and by the last race weekend of the year, at Bangsaen, they were real front-runners. Fast-forward and those two cars were at Bira Circuit last month for her to undertake her first ‘official’ laps for the team.
Khun Tachapan’s first impressions of the team were very positive. “As a driver, I can tell that Innovation Motorsport is one of professional teams in Thailand,” she said. “I am really impressed about how they prepare the car and the way they manage the team, the way they connect with driver, it’s just really great.”
It’s hard to imagine that she’s still only 17 years, as she’s been a fixture on the car-racing scene for a few years now, but that’s probably down to the stir she has caused. A genuine karting prodigy, Khun Tachapan made her debut in racing cars at the age of 14 and instantly impressed, marking herself out as one to watch out for in the future. Driving a Honda Jazz she enjoyed a promising start to production car racing, including nabbing a pole position and then leading that race from the green lights up against proven and highly experienced opposition. It has to be also remembered that Khun Tachapan can only drive on the racetrack, she’s still too young to drive on the roads.
But after a bouncy start to car racing, which saw her grabbing a lot of headlines, her career stalled somewhat and last year she was virtually absent from the paddock. However her impressive debut in cars had earned her a brief test with Innovation Motorsport and, although that was no more than just been a few laps at the end of a Mazda track demonstration day, it was still enough to impress. The team subsequently kept a close eye on her progress.
Team Owner Khun Michael Freeman is keen to help promising young drivers in the future and with this fast young lady obviously able to resonate with marketing strategies at Mazda, Khun Tachapan has been signed for the new season. Innovation Motorsport is a sister company to RMA Group, which in turn owns the ‘Mazda City’ dealership chain, so the team is well aware of the potential of having a fast lady driver behind the wheel. “The demographics of Mazda2 owners is about 50% women owners,” Khun Michael says. “So Khun [Tachapan] fits very well.”
He also revealed that they have been keeping an eye on her career for a while now. “Two years ago we started looking at a long term plan to bring up some young drivers in an academy style programme,” Khun Michael said. “We knew Mazda’s global sponsorship of women in motorsport was coming up and she was pointed out to us and then in 2013 [Mazdaspeed chief] Tod Kaneko, [Mazda Sales Thailand Senior Engineering Project Manager] Gomi-san [Masahiko] and myself came to a race to look at her driving and we though she’s really got it.
“She looked quick and at that point we thought, yes she’s one for the future,” he continues. “After that we gave her a test in the car, she did good lap times and we looked at the data and it was really telling, her driving style was very good and very smooth so Mazda this year have decided to run her, but we can’t say at the moment whether it will be a diesel or gasoline car as we haven’t finalised what cars we will run, but Khun [Tachanan] will definitely be driving a full factory supported car.”
Indeed her racing mount remains unclear as yet, but she will driver in either the new (diesel) or old shape (petrol) Mazda2 in Super Production and either option should put her in a very strong position to fight for the podium.
Her first ‘official’ test with the team came last month at Bira Circuit and she was quickly into the groove trying out both the sedan and hatchback versions of the Mazda2 that the team ran in 2014.
So how did she rate the Mazda2 compared to the Jazz, a car that she knows inside out? “I really love it,” says Khun Tachapan. “It’s the first time I ever drive the Mazda2 and it’s pretty awesome to get to try new things, The car has so much grip and runs very good without any problems, the suspension is better than my old car the Jazz. I love them both but now I would choose the Mazda.”
She slotted in very well working with the team’s engineering staff and it looks like it’s going to be a promising step forward for this young lady driver who clearly has the talent to go a long way up the motorsport ladder in the future.
“As I told you before it’s my first time driving Mazda2 and also working with the team, so they teach me a lot of stuff, some of it I’ve never known before,” said Khun Tachapan. “The engineer Ross [Holder] is really nice and he helped me about the engine and driving and also the mechanics have helped me adjust the seat position and all the other stuff. They are really nice and I can’t wait to work with them for the whole of the season.”
Certainly Khun Michael has been impressed. “She’s very interested to learn and sees that it’s a great opportunity to join a factory team and there’s somewhere to go outside Thailand from this programme,” says the Australian. “Her attitude is fantastic, she’s on time, does what we tell her and listens and we think she’s got really good talent to work from.”
It can be argued that she hasn’t so far had the car under her to prove whether all the hype about her talent can actually be turned into meaningful results. Now though she has not only a capable car but also a solid, highly professional team behind her, so it’s going to be up to her to prove this year she can deliver on the promise and go a long way in motorsport.
She’s certainly aiming to prove that. “I would say I will try to be on the podium and up at the front as much as possible,” Khun Tachapan says. “I will try my best to improve myself and get used to the car as much as possible.” And she still can’t drive a road car yet.
Bangsaen gears up for FIA homologation
Last December’s eighth edition of the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival saw the street-racing extravaganza start to open the doors to its future. This was the second edition to be organised by Racing Spirit, it remains the headlining round of Thailand Super Series and it’s unquestionably the biggest and best-attended motorsport event in Thailand.
But the clear strategy looking forward is to put the ‘Speed Festival’ on the global map, turning it into an event that attains international stature and recognition.
The first – and most strategically important – step of this now unfolding ‘second generation’ timeline of Bangsaen will be attaining FIA circuit homologation. The ambitious target Racing Spirit has set for Bangsaen is to achieve FIA Grade 3 status (which would put the event on a par with Macau) albeit that might come via Grade 4 first. The plan though is to fully comply and achieve the first FIA homologation in time for this November’s ninth edition.
That plan of action kicked off in December when Apex-KBR Circuit Designer Khun Simon Gardini visited the Speed Festival to observe and study the event in action and begin the process of evaluating the requirements, upgrades and additional changes that will need to be enacted in order to reach FIA circuit homologation.
“I’m part of the Apex KBR street circuit team,” explained Khun Simon during the event. “We work together in designing street circuits around the world, most notably Singapore’s F1 circuit but also circuits in Korea, we did the F1 study here in Bangkok and the Adelaide street circuit that’s used for the Clipsal 500, so our team works closely with the FIA in producing licensed homologated circuits at all grade levels from Grade 1, which host Formula 1 events, down to grassroots level at Grade 4.
“Racing Spirit has come to us looking to further develop the circuit here by homologating for all the categories they want to run here and to have confidence in the safety arrangements around the circuit,” the Australian continued. “We’re here to try to take the first steps to get the circuit FIA homologated.”
It was Khun Simon’s first ever visit to the Speed Festival and he admitted that he’d been pleasantly surprised by what he’d seen within a couple of days. “The first impression to be honest is probably a more motorsport impression and that is that it’s got an unbelievable atmosphere,” he said.
“There are probably only a couple of street circuits I have ever seen that have got such a unique atmosphere in such a positive way, iconic places that wouldn’t immediately come to people’s minds unless they are motorsport fans, like Macau and obviously Monaco has that too,” he continued. “But certainly looking around here it’s such an obvious reflection of Thailand, so my first feeling is excitement about the venue itself.”
Khun Simon also believes that after seven editions, the overall structure and format is fully bedded in and the Speed Festival is ready to make a big stride forward. “You can see it’s been developed over several years having had racing here for eight, it’s great to see the organisers’ want to take the next step,” he noted. “But naturally whenever you take the next step there are a lot of things that are going to need to be looked at but there is a strong foundation here.
“There are a couple of areas where they will have to do some redesign work just to tune them up for homologation,” he continued. “The good thing though is the safety measures already include triple high guardrails and debris fencing. Some of that needs a tweak and certainly some other areas that need to be reconfigured.”
Understanding and adapting to the specifics of the location is the key to evolving the design of a street circuit, Khun Simon reckons. “I’ve always said that easiest thing about designing a street circuit is you can only put it where the roads are; the hardest thing about designing a street circuit is you can only put it where the roads are,” he said. “So street circuits are romantic and always are a reflection of making the best compromise of conditions without sacrificing safety so the balance of the excitement of street racing without the loss of safety.”
Khun Simon’s first impressions though are favourable, FIA homologation can certainly be attained for Bangsaen, although he admits everyone will have to be fully focused and committed. “I think it’s completely achievable to do, but this is a first step and there is certainly a lot of work to do,” he said. “There are certainly some narrow sections, but that’s often a feature of street circuits, it’s a matter of making sure that where they are is an acceptable area of the track in terms of safety.”
The Bangsaen Street Circuit is 3.7 km long and with the on track action wrapping up at dusk that meant Khun Simon, who during the day was able to observe the detailed functioning of the event from Race Control, was then able to walk the track over a couple of evenings, observing and studying every aspect, metre by metre, and making copious notes as well as taking photographs along the way. “I’m a great believer that the only way to do a really thorough inspection is to walk, which for me in this heat isn’t the easiest thing to do,” he said. “I’ve come during the event so have been walking the track in thirds.”
“My impression is that although the safety installations are in place already, they just need to be reconfigured or extended in a few locations, maybe some strengthening, while there are a couple of design elements of the track, such as runoffs that we would need look at and confirm with a formal simulation tool that will tell us whether something is safe or does not to meet FIA guidelines.
“I will follow up my walk around and inspection and the information that people have given me with a report back to the organisers which will be the first step in understanding what the changes or measures might be and therefore the costs and the programme and then take that forward with the actual solutions,” he continued. “Some of the solutions will be immediately apparent, for some we will need to run design tools to confirm what may be needed.”
With Racing Spirit keen to push towards achieving FIA homologation by November, everyone will have to smoothly work together. “My understanding of the plan is that they will work quite hard between now and the next event so that quite possibly homologation might be achieved,” Khun Simon notes.
He also explained the basic ‘roadmap’ towards FIA status for this unique street circuit. “It’s pretty much a two step process,” Khun Simon said. “With any circuit the first step is to draw up a plan, so in the case of here it’s about modifying the existing plan, and then submit that to the FIA Circuits’ Commission. So you submit the plan and they approve the plan itself and then you go ahead and do the work. Usually with a new circuit or one like this you will have an interim inspection just to get the lay of the land if nothing else but certainly then the next inspection will be done immediately prior to the event, usually a day or so before so if there are changes or defects there is time to fix them.”
“But generally the plan that’s submitted, if it’s done right and you correctly reflect that in what you build, then usually there aren’t many issues,” he continued. “It’s always hard though in a street circuit environment as it’s dynamic, for the rest of the year it’s public streets so new lighting or a new traffic island, that sort of thing, is an extra factor. So that’s where organisers need to work closely with the local authority to keep in step.”
TSS is pleased to announce that it will hold its ‘Champions Day 2014’ on 31 March at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club where the winners of the second season of Thailand’s leading motorsport championship will be honoured.
The setting will be the famous Royal Bangkok Sports Club in the heart of the city. It’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Bangkok and enshrined in the city’s rich history. It will form the perfect backdrop for the glamorous awards evening.
The Royal Bangkok Sports Club already has a tie in with TSS and Vice President Khun Preeda Tantemsapya explains why the location was chosen for this year’s prize giving ceremony. “We actually had our first meeting back in early 2013 when TSS was formed at the Sports Club and it’s a pretty nice place and good for the image of the series,” he said. “So we thought this is the perfect venue to hold our Champions Day this year.”
Khun Preeda says that as TSS continues to grow quickly in stature more people that ever before are expected to attend the Champions Day and the Royal Bangkok Sports Club has both capacity and flexibility. “We should have quite a turn out at the Champions Day,” he notes. “We expect a good attendance, and we will have dignitaries and the media joining us. We will also have an important new supplier to the series to introduce so this will be a perfect opportunity to present them to everyone.”
The exclusive Royal Bangkok Sports Club has been one of South East Asia’s leading sporting venues for more than a century; it’s also one of the most iconic and recognised landmarks in Bangkok. “The prestige of being right in the city center makes it perfect,” says Khun Preeda. “With all the schools in the area being shut at the time of the Champions Day and the ample parking we think it will be a convenient as well as excellent experience for everyone.”
Meanwhile, the ‘New Era’ of Thai motorsport has spawned an iconic new trophy that perfectly honours the TSS champions. Drawing inspiration from the heroic achievements of Thailand’s most successful ever racing driver, Prince Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh, the trophy reimagines his legendary ERA race car and will be awarded for a second year, this time to the champions of the 2014 season.
The same format unveiled at last November’s ‘Champions Day 2013’ will be continued as drivers and team managers step up to collect the award off the podium. TSS President Sontaya Kunplome will introduce the evening.