1994 2nd in Cyprus National Race

1998 Thai National Champion

Finally back on the podium again

The weekend was looking like something that just needed to be survived and then be as visible for the media as possible off the track, as on track, would likely not be very interesting.

The Subaru was not finished, and to be able to drive, I agreed with Tony to borrow his car, and enter the Supercar class with his Super 2000 Honda Civic EP3, competing against the GT2 and GT3 cars in the supercar class. A task that looked like climbing Everest…..

To save the car, I did not run in the practice sessions. Tony qualified the car on 2nd place in his class, but was complaining that the car would not turn in, in all right hand turns, and with 70% of the track being right hand turns this was not good news. I thought that he might have been overly sensitive, but as soon as I turned into the first right hand turn, it was just going straight, as my big 18” wheels likely made it a lot worse than the smaller wheels he had been on. I tried to do 2 laps, but it was lethal to drive, and I was very slow, putting the car in 14th and 17th place on the grid for each race, with the fastest time being a 1.13…….

On the last lap in the last corner, Tony felt that something was wrong with either the gearbox of the drive shaft, so the mechanics jacked up the car and ran through the gears, not finding any problems, and then took the car for a small spin pushing in trough 1st and 2nd gear, and did not find any problems. They then took out the drive shafts, and checked them and did not see any problems. I drive down the pit lane, in first gear, the accelerated out of the pits, until I reached the 3rd gear and found that it was now completely missing. On the grid it was discussed what to do, and we agreed to do one lap and drive into the pits, and fix the car for Sunday’s races. The gear box that broke, was a close ratio box, and with no spares we had to put a standard road going gear box in for Sunday’s races.

Tony, again came 2nd in the morning race and handed over the car to me for the afternoon race.

The car was prepared for me to drive, and it was looking like rain, so everybody was hoping for the rain to come, as that would likely be the only chance I would have to compete with the other cars, even thought they would have 6-700 HP and 4 wheel drive, and I love the rain, and that would even out the odds just a bit more. The rain just passed the track, with a few drops, but that was it, so when we drove out to the track, it was a dry track, and I just had to try and do my best. I started in 14th place, and was up into 12th place in the first corner, with a white Evo 9 behind me, and I pushed as hard as I could to keep him behind me and open up a gap in the slower more technical section, so I could keep him behind me on the straight, and I managed to do so for the first 3 laps, but on lap 4, he went passed me on the straight, with a last desperate try of Late braking I caught up 50 Meters and put the car alongside him trough the corner up the hill, but 650 HP at the wheels against 230, and 4 wheel drive against front wheel drive, it was a lost cause, and he flew passed me up the hill again.

I then tried to follow him for one lap to put some pressure on him, setting my fastest lap of the race in lap 5, but this was still not enough, and I slowed down a little, and just cruised home, hoping for other drivers to make mistakes, or have mechanical problems, and a few did, allowing me to end up 10th over all, and 3rd in class for all the Non turbo’ed cars.

For the first time, since the wet race at Bira at the start of the season, I was back on the podium, and that being in a totally underpowered car, so it was a very happy driver that celebrated with the other team members Sunday afternoon. The next race is now Bangsaen, and if we get the Subaru ready, we think we stand a good change to fight for the win there.

Round 1 & 2 in the Championship

We reached our goal to have the car ready and drivable for the 1st race meeting this year, but only just, and only because the people working on the car worked their hearts out to get ready on time. The last 4 days up to the race it was more or less a 24 hour operation to get it ready.

I was in Sa Khaew Thursday morning to set up the pit, register, and prepare for the race, but my car did not arrive until Friday morning at 7 Am.

Daeng sticker went straight to work on the car to get all the sponsor logos fitted, and to make it a little more presentable. The Guys went to work on fitted the seat so I at least was able to drive the car in the first Practice session which was on at 10.40 AM

We decided to do the session on radial tires, as we were so far from our goal that using slicks would make no difference, so we wanted to save them for later. I managed to do a few laps, before the cabin was filled up with smoke, from the engine room, so it was back in the pits.

It turned out to be a water hose that had come of, and water was hitting the exhaust, so after it was fixed, we started to do some more work on the car, while Daeng sticker continued to put the sticker kit on the car.

By 12.00 Noon we were out again for the second of 2 x 15 min test sessions, and this time, I managed to do 3 laps before the temperature soared and I had to stop.  We found that the Intercooler had air in the system, so once that was fixed I was ready to go out, but the session was over.
Now it was time for the 2 hot laps, I would get…….The fastest would give me the starting position for Saturday’s race, and the 2nd fastest would give me the starting position for Sunday’s race…….

We put the race tires on the car, and went out in a blaze to try and get a reasonable time, so we had something to work with. The car was now drivable, but coming out of the hairpin, I was not able to get the car into 2nd gear, and tried several times, before I managed to get it in gear, so that was the first of the 2 laps gone.

I pushed even harder on the 2nd lap to try and get a better time, but again, same problem happened, and I lost even more time on the second lap.

Another set of problems also showed up as this was the first time I had driven the car “in anger”, and the car just would not stop, as there was far too much bite in the rear brakes, compared to the front brakes.

The car also seemed to want to do its own thing, with me pointing the car straight, but the car darting from left to right, with both front and rear…….

After the session we all looked a bit down, but knew that we would have a better result once we got some more testing done. We all reminded our self that we came here to finish and get a few points, and to get some valuable information about the car and the set up.

We re-evaluated our goals, and decided that if we could just get the car into top 10, that would be great, considering how far from our goal we were. I said to them that if we could just get the car to drive straight, brake, and go into gear I would guarantee that the car would be in top 10.  The guys worked all evening, on the car, and kept making improvements on it.

Saturday went by with my team mates doing very well, and with ray taking is first victory in the Super 2000 Junior Class, in his first race in the class.

In the afternoon it was time, and I was now fired up, wanted to show the mechanics a good results after all the work they had put into the car over the last 2 months and especially the last 5 days.

I started from 14th place, and blitzed the start and after the first ½ lap I was in 7th place, and gaining on the drivers in 5th and 6th place, but on lap 2 the throttle body was stuck open, with the engine, going flat out all the time.

I almost flew of the track at the end, but managed to gain control, and tried everything to get it to release, but little did it help, and for the next 22 laps I drove in as high a gear as possible, to avoid the Turbo boost, and worked with the clutch and brake to get to the finish line, which I did, but in 9th place.

I was not a happy man, as I felt I could have finished on the podium, even with a car that was still handling like 2 shopping trolleys with a link in the middle.

After a long nights sleep, and additional work done to the car, we were ready for Sunday’s race, but the start in Sunday’s race would be a rolling start, so I decided to hold back, in the start, so I would not get any damage to the car.

Race 2:
The start went well, and I got into 12th place, and then took it steady for a few laps, and then started to push, I quickly moved up to 10th place, but then I was stuck behind 3 cars fighting, and every time, I tried to get past, I had problems getting into 4th gear, and lost my possibility, so after 4-5 laps like this, I decided to go for it on the straight, as I was closer than any of the other times, and I managed to pass all 3 under braking, and was now up into 7th place.

I now drove a very lonely race, and saw that I was keeping my distance to the cars in 4th, 5th and 6th, place, so I just cruised the rest of the race, in the hopes that I would save the engine, and make it home, and maybe somebody else would not make it back.

On the second last lap, the skyline of Khun Santi had a problem, and rolled to a standstill on the straight, so I knew I had moved up one more place, into 6th, and was quite happy with that.

All in all an okay weekend, considering the odds, as I went away with points in both races, and in both races finished better than our goal for the event.

Now its back to the drawing board, as we know that we need to do many things to be competitive for rounds 3 & 4, and if we need to have a change for the championship, we need to be right up there in top 4 for the next rounds at Bira.

The car is going in for a major rebuild, chassis wise, and also for a re-wamp of the engine, to get some more power in it. 

We will hopefully be testing some new parts at Bira soon, and will be working closely with our partners at KW suspension to improve on the handling of the car also.

Next rounds will be on 11th and 12th of July at Bira.

Preparations 6

With now 4 days to go before the last possibility of testing it is looking slightly possible that the car will be ready, but there is still a lot to do, so I am starting to believe that it will be ready for the race, but that we most likely will have to go to the first race meeting without having tested the car, so it will be very interesting to see if it holds together, and that will likely help to determine the outcome of the championship this year………….

Preparations 5

10 days to go and its coming down to the wire……..

This looks like it could be a photo finish, as the car is now being put together this week.

Khun Tawee finished the engine, transmission, and diff's etc…..

Don is ready to tune the Motec, after the wiring is done....

The KW suspension is ready to be installed, the brakes from Project Mu is ready to be installed…..

The seat is on its way from Australia and the 5 point harness is also on the way…..

Preparations 4

I just came back from the F1 race in Malaysia and passed the shop where my car is being built so, I stopped by to see how far they had come with the car. There are now only 23 days left for the first race in Sa Khaew and the car is still a long way from being finished, but once again, they maintain that it will be finished for testing on the 27th or 28th of April.

I can see a lot of things have happened, the brakes have arrived, the suspension has arrived the air jacks are arriving on Saturday, the new front bumper/spoiler is ready on Friday in a few days and the fenders are being put in place, so it really starting to take shape.

I collected the rims for the car from Raiden last week and they are now being used to take measurements for the fenders and bodywork in General.

On the engine side, I have now been able to get Khun Tawee to agree to build me the engines for Sa Khaew, so I am really confident that I will have a good engines to put in the car.

We all agreed that its most important that the car will be drivable, presentable and will be able to race in Sa Khaew and then we will look at making it lighter and faster and smarter for the 2nd race weekend later in the year.

Preparations 3

3 weeks have passed and we are now only about 30 some days away from the first race at Sa Khaew. The car is progressing well, but I am still not sure it will be ready in time, as there just seem to be so many things that still are to be done.

The past week, the work has been done to the front of the car and to the wheel housing and also the seat positioning, and there have been a few additions made to the roll cage.

Khun Jit is working flat out and is now soon at a stage where he needs the parts we have ordered before he can get any further with the car.

Report 4 will follow soon.

Bangkok MotorShow 2009

Both Ray and myself joined Lenso at their exhibition stand at the 2009 Bangkok Motorshow for a small interview on stage, about us using their Raiden Series Wheels for the 2008 and 2009 race season.

The Interest was huge from the people and I was overwhelmed the first time, when we handed out Lenso catalogues with Ray’s and my signature on it (Okay, it was likely more Ray’s signature they all wanted, than mine, but when we were more or less stormed on the stage, with hands everywhere, I was very surprised and frantically tried to hand then out fast enough, until I looked at Ray who slowed down and handed them out one by one and controlling the crowed).

Impressive, I have something to learn from there……

2nd Interview we did went better, with a lot more crowed control from my side and Ray was as always in control from the get go.

A great event and Lenso’s stand was very nice, and the Pretties they hand walking around on the stand, also created a lot of interest in their stand.

Preparations 2

A week has gone past, and we are getting closer and closer, and it all seems to be going too slow, but I am being reassured that the car will be ready on time, so I guess I will just have to hope for that to be true. Khun Jit is doing a good job, and the roll cage it now close to being complete. The fuel tank has arrived and for have the fittings and hose.

The brake system is arriving next week hopefully, and the KW race suspension should also be here within the next 10 days or so. SPL is working on the engine part, and I am being told that this is progressing as planed also.

The car will also be fitted with an Air jack system, which is currently on order, and should be ready for delivery in about 14 days or so. The ball joints for the undercarriage is being supplied next week. Khun Jit is currently working on extending the steering wheel 40 Cm further back, and is working on moving the seat further into the center part of the car to improve the weight distribution.

Next up-date will follow next week.

Preparations 1

The car has been stripped down for modifications and the roll cage is now going in the car and it's getting a full body weld. There is about 40 days left for the first race weekend and there is about 40 days left before the car is ready, so it’s a race against time.

Khun Jit who is preparing the body of the car is working flat out and during the inspection yesterday, we saw, that the still is a very long way to go.

Most of the parts have now been ordered, and will be ready in 2-3 weeks time, which hopefully will leave the mechanics with enough time to finish everything. The first of 2 x EJ25 engines have been purchased and is now waiting for the Stroker kit and a number of other race parts to be completed.

The sticker kit is completed and the race suit layout for 2009 is completed and is under fabrication. The Race Suspension is ready overseas, but will not be here before around the 10th of April.

What a weekend at Zhuhai !!!

I went with Sandy and his father to Zhuhai International Racing Circuit in China a few weeks ago to watch Sandy doing his first Test drive in a Formula BMW Car. I can only imagine how it must have felt for sandy’s father Martin, to stand in the pit lane at the pit wall, watching his 13 year old son come flying past at over 200 KMP on his first ever lap around the Circuit and in his First ever time in Formula race car.

For me it was very exiting but in a different way than Martin’s I think, but because I had been with Sandy since he was 4 years old and had been his mentor and race coach for the past 9 years and to see him in a formula BMW race car it was like seeing him Graduate.

For me, it was even more awesome on Saturday, when Christian and Renee Rommerswinkel showed up, as I have also been teaching them before here in Thailand and in China.

So suddenly I had all 3 students sitting in 3 Formula Race car in front of me in the pits, waiting to go out on the race track and “floor it”……. I was close to a small tear rolling from my eyes and I had the small hairs at my neck standing up, as I watched them leave the pits, one and one, and then seeing them race each other. 

On Sunday the excitement of being at such a great track for 3 days in a row, without driving became too much and I HAD TO RACE, so I got into a School type Formula Renault from ART’s Racing school and was out on track with the young ones.

My first session was slow and careful as I drove very safe, but I still felt it was very fast. However when I came in, I was the slowest of all 4 of us……..Lunch went past with the young drivers teasing their old coach and calling him grandpa…… !!!! Grandpa!!!!

That was it !!!!...NOBODY !!! calls me Grandpa….. I had to go out again.

I asked Art’s to increase the RPM limit as they others where driving in full race spec with 7000 RPM in the Formula Renault’s  and Sandy was driving with 9000 RPM’s in the Formula BMW car.

They agreed and raised my RPM limit to 6500 RPM and then I went out with them again and this time I pushed harder, with the exception or turn 14 where I still wanted to be safe, as I did not want to risk damage on the car - damage on my pride would be cheaper.  

I now lapped much faster and felt that I was much more competitive, but I could not brake as late at Turn 1 as Rodolfo Avila “my coach” wanted me to and I struggled with getting my foot on the accelerator as early as he wanted me too……

My best lap time was now a 1.45, which was 4 seconds faster than the first time, but still slower than both Christian and Sandy……..ughh only one conclusion, I taught them  well and I am getting old and I need more practice to be on speed with the “kids”.

After the last session I went trough the data with teacher “Rodolfo Avila”, who said it was much better but that he still wanted me to brake later at the end of the straight and then get on the throttle earlier.

I objected, and said “I just can’t see how I am suppose to brake later and still get from 6th to 2nd gear, without damaging the engine”… he replied “No, no, that is a 3rd gear corner you are taking it in 3rd gear” and I said no, in 2nd and he said impossible, as your mid corner speed is higher than the other guy doing a 1.42 lap…

We agreed to look at the data, as he can see when I shift, and he counted 6.5.4.3…..2 “shit” you actually do that corner in 2nd and still manage to go faster than the guy in 3rd, not bad, not bad at all. The same went for Turn 4, where I went into 2nd instead of 3rd like everybody else.

He smiled and said ”Not bad, not bad at all for a first time in the car, and ……with all the weight …. *smile*”. I guess he referred to me being about the double size and weight of him.

I had to come to a conclusion:

“I was not born to race open wheel cars, as I am simply too big for that”.

When they tried to fit me into the car, I ended up sitting on the floor with no cushion at the back, as I had too long legs and my helmet went up and blocked 50% of the air intake to the engine and last but not least the part that gets screwed in place at the top of the cockpit could not fit in because of my shoulders.

Touring cars are more for guys my size I think...

We have now finalized our race plans for the 2009 season and are now preparing and up-grading our race cars for the 2009 season.

We have a new team member in our team which I would like to say welcome too officially, this is Ray Macdonald who will be joining our team in 2009 and will be racing a Honda Civic EK9 in the Super 2000 Class. The Honda for Ray is now being up-graded to race in the Super 2000 class and is having a new KW-suspension fitted. In addition to this, the whole car is getting an overhaul and the engine management system will be controlled by a Motec M800. Ray will be racing in the Super 2000 Junior class

Tony Percy is now looking to sell his Toyota Yaris from 2008, which brought him many podium finishes in 2008 and has now take over the Honda Civic EP3 that I raced in 2008. The car is also getting several up-grades, including a New style LSD which is the first ever in Thailand and also a full BTCC style KW race-suspension. Tony will be racing in the Super 2000 AM Class.

Paul Kenny is continuing in the Super 1500 Production class with his Toyota Vios, but has also had a full up-grade on the suspension, as he will get a specially prepared KW race suspension for his car and in addition we will have a full 4 disc brake system installed in his car.   

Sandy Stuvik is now looking at getting into Formula BMW or other Formula Classes. Sandy won the Asian Karting Championship in 2008 and will in 2009 not be racing his kart, but has started a very streamlined testing and preparation program for the 2009-2010 Formula BMW scholarship day. He will be testing both Formula BMW’s and Formula Renault’s and will likely be getting special training days with the likes of Philippe Descombes, Alex Young, Jack Lemvard & James Grunwell.

As for my self Thomas Raldorf, I will be racing in the Supercar Class in a Subaru Impreza, which is currently being prepared for racing. The car will have a full KW race suspension and will be ready around mid April for testing. I am looking forward to this, as this is the fastest class in Thailand.

Thank you for all the Support in 2008

I would like to extend my thanks to all the people who supported me in the 2008 race season, as without them the season would not have been nearly as successful as it ended up being.

I guess the out come of the season, can be interpreted differently by people, depending on how you look at it. My own expectations for the season, was to be either 1st or 2nd in the Honda Pro Cup B-class and end in top 5 overall, as this was the first year in the 2000 cc class. In the Supercar Series in the Super 2000 class, I wanted to end up in top 3 in the B-class, and top 5 overall.

We ended up in 2nd over all and 1st in the B-class in the Honda Racing Fest Series, which later was converted into a 2nd place, due to mistakes from the race organizers.

In the Supercar Series, we ended up in 2nd in the B-class and 7th overall and considering all the mechanical problems we had during the season, I think we should be satisfied with this, knowing that when things were working we were in the top 3 all the time.

Now our focus turns to the 2009 season and what that will bring.

Once again thank you for all the valued Support in 2008, and a special thanks, to our sponsors:

• The Pizza company
• PTT
• Swensen’s
• Sizzler
• Xanita
• Jotun
• DSL
• Dacon Inspection Services Ltd
• Mermaid Offshore Services Ltd.