Otaku ME Mini 4WD Grand Prix 2019 - Championship Review
Tamiya hosts an annual international competition where delegates from all over the globe compete together in a Tamiya Mini4WD World Championship in Japan during the month of November. As Official Tamiya Distributor in UAE, we organized a series of monthly Race Stages for residents and locals, where the winners of each stage were entered into a Champion's race which concluded on the 5th of October 2019.
Qualified racers from the previous race stages include:
Jonnie Teodoro & Salve Santos - Stage One
Ryan Rey Gonzales & Joselito Bondoc - Stage Two
Ronald Dumpit & Mario Santos - Stage Three
Ryan Ortega & Jem Salas - Stage Four
Carlo Nogoy & JC Torres - Stage Five
John Dave Castillo & Christian David - Stage Six
Joselito Ong - Wild Card winner
The Track:
Fitting into the theme of the ultimate challenge, The track titled "Pioneer" would combine all the previous stage obstacles into one challenging course layout such as:
•Steep climbs and descents (From Stage One)
•Ramps and Jumps (From Stage Two)
•Flappers (from Stage Three)
•The Balancing Straight (From Stage Four)
•The Table Top Ramp (From Stage Five)
•The Rocking Straight (From Stage Six)
The Race:
In addition to the challenging course layout, participants of the championship race had various limitations set in place. They could only use one modified Mini 4WD car and Tamiya's power champ alkaline batteries.
The winding tracks and tight bends meant that the cars frequently flew off course. Each lap got more and more challenging due to the limited power supply of the batteries.
Tamiya's official rules stated that each racer had to survive nine laps continuously without any malfunctions, though re-races were commonly issued bringing down the number of laps to six, then three, and eventually one final do or die lap.
With the conclusion of the Otaku ME Mini 4WD Grand Prix 2019 main race stage Championship, We proudly present the winners as follows.
Winning the Championship and representing the UAE at the Japan World Finals will be none other than Carlo Nogoy.
His winning car:
Carlo used a combination of technical Mini 4WD parts that overall resulted in a car with a very stable and balanced set up yet powerful.
He utilized an MS Chassis for its direct gear transmission and weight balance, A lightweight Thunder Shot polycarbonate cowl.
Metal parts and dampers for weights which included both single and double Aluminum rollers with the added bonus of rubber o-rings that acted as brakes when cornering by generating friction.
High-Grade Carbon plates were also used to re-enforce the entire chassis.
Ronald Dumpit comes in as the 1st Runner up with Mario Santos closely behind as the 2nd Runner up.
They all have proven themselves with outstanding performances with the pursuit of the spirit of the Hobby, showcasing their talent and skills setting up and racing Tamiya Mini 4WD.
We at Otaku ME would also like to express our gratitude to all fellow contenders of the race stages for making this a highly successful series of events. We couldn't have done it without you. Keep Racing~