First Race Complete!

[fieldl]

Last weekend saw the first race for me in my Atom.
To recap I own a Qingdao Atom 3 manufactured in Qingdao, China.  With much help from Tom and Ariel UK I have been preparing for the first race of the season.  This year I'm racing in Class C in the Pan Delta Super Racing Festival in Zhuhai, China and hoping to get out in the Hong Kong Automobile Association Roadsports hosted at Guangzhou International Circuit.

First of all I needed to replace the seat as I'm too small and slender for the two seat plastic tub.  So working I order a Tillet B6F from Tom who ships to me in Hong Kong and then I ship to China.  This seemingly simple process takes nearly 3 months.  The fabrication shop then manufactures some brackets and viola one new seat.  I also put new belts in at the same time.  Much much better held in place properly for a change.



I also order a new set of wheels so I can switch between slicks and type R tyres.  There are two races over the weekend both lasting 10 laps.  A lot of mixed cars on the grid including a C63 AMG previously raced in Italian V8 Superstars, Caterhams, Ginetta's including one Supercharged G20, Evo's, Imprezzas, M3's and a Ferrari 360.

Sat on the grid:


Out on the track:


Was a great weekend and an Atom class one and two in Class C under two litre.  The class consisted of one other Atom, bike engined Caterhams, Honda Type-Rs and a few other saloons a bit further back. Overall I came second in class behind the other Atom and fifth overall in both races.

The competition:


This car has had a lot of money spent on the engine, in excess of 15k GBP and lets say its a bit quicker than mine. 
Watch this space.  It also has the radiators in the side pods to aid cooling, which is important in the weather out here.

The podium:


I'm racing to support Liberty Asia a charity in Hong Kong to help prevent Human Trafficking a real problem in the region. 
www.libertyasia.org

There's also some upgrades coming, including a full mapping with my new Hondata Flashpro, new battery and maybe some new sidepods for oil coolers.  New springs are also waiting at the track.

Video from Race 1: Pan Delta Spring 2013 Race 1
Video from International Motoring Network: Pan Delta Super Racing Festival 2013-Circuit Hero One

[TEHSTIG]

Looks like a great weekend! Love the video of you driving on track 

Congrats on the nice finish.

[Steve]

Loved the coverage. Looked like a nice series.

[wattie]

Brilliant stuff and congratulations, that was excellent. You Sir, can drive!

Really enjoyed watching those vids, great event.

Cheers Wattie

[speedmachine]

Looks great! Thanks for sharing!

Im not familiar with the name you called the Atom, is this a Chinese version? I thought those Chinese versions never made it to customers? As you say Tom is helping you, its most likely to be something else i dont know

[fieldl]

Not many of the Chinese cars were ever sold.  My car has had a new chassis and its number 9 two years after it was made when I think it was number 6 to give you some idea of how few they sold.  They were never allowed to be road registered so not exactly popular. 

Series is good, very mixed field which makes for some interesting racing.  Also some scary moments when cars double your weight come tanking past. 

Just need to go faster now and maybe hit an apex or two.  Looking forward to watching the Atom Cup in the UK as it should be very good indeed.  Hoping eventually there will be a car I can hire for an event or two back there!

[Richard Marler]

Congratulations on your result and thanks for posting the write-up and videos.

You can already hire a car to take part in Atom Cup races. PM me if you would like to know more.

[atomizer]

great video. I like the blindspot mirror you have ...sure can see them going or coming around you!

[speedmachine]

Just now watched the video, looks good and pretty fast indeed...nice to see you racing between all these completely different kinds of cars, seems pretty scary indeed when the Ferrari and BMW came past...the start is just awesome to see, this is a really strong point in these mixed races!

[MonsieurX]

Are you driving a 245 and your friend in blue a 300? I see how the other goes faster accelerating.

[meladdo]

Amazing effort on a very dusty dirty track - 100% commitment - 

[John Scherrer]

Re : The Blue Atom

He mentioned :-

This car has had a lot of money spent on the engine, in excess of 15k GBP and lets say its a bit quicker than mine.

[fieldl]

The track was dusty as one of the Evo's dumped it's oil on the warm up lap.  Despite my somewhat animated gestures he continued around the track until the inevitable happened.  Chinese marshals know sand is the answer and proceeded to throw half of Mongolia on the track.  What's hard to see in the video is the lack of vision going around T5-6 one of the hardest braking areas on the circuit.

I'm having an AEM wideband installed today then having the Hondata mapped next week.  To win I have to beat the blue car without spending that kind of cash.  Maybe new cams is as far as I go eventually.

I was running on Direzza R tyres whereas the blue car was on slicks, but that's not making him accelerate quicker. 
The fast moving traffic is the reason I needed to sort the mirrors out certainly helps with confidence in diving down the inside when you can see what's there.

[turbo911]

Great video well done >>>>