At the weekend I visited my first race circuit in Thailand to take a look at the multi-programme "Super Car Thailand" championship. Having spent much of my life working in professional racing series' across the world, mostly in Europe and the U.S. I am keen to check the local scene out. The circuit which grandly titles itself as the "Bira International Circuit" is around 120 km from Bangkok, a drive of one and a half hours or so on the new Chonburi motorway, and about 20 km (half an hour) from the busy seaside resort of Pattaya. As we approach the track the first thing I notice is one of the competitors car's out driving on the highway, well this is Thailand after all. A somewhat decayed facade greets our entry to the circuit which proudly displays its title on a faded wood blocking sign above the entrance, clucking hens with their chicks in tow are an obstacle to be negotiated at the main gate, while stopping to show passes seems to be a usual formality that is also bypassed here. The crowd in the circuit is pretty sparse to say the least and the standard of the racing cars is not very high. There seems to be a mixed bag with a couple of older vintage Porsche GT3 "Cup" cars being instantly recognisable while there seem to be some more-extreme 'sedan style' cars that look like they once plied their trade in the Japanese Super GT Series. The Porsche Cup cars are the only European interlopers into a grid that swarms with Japanese brand products. The pitboxes are very basic with no doors and in fact with no rear wall either they are just hollow shells; very high they are remiscent of the redundant boxes that line the pitlane at Sebring. Meanwhile safety marshals' and any sort of fire fighting equipment seems to be not in evidence in the pits. Particularly as the the attitude to smoking at this race is much more relaxed that even the Nurburgring 24 Hours (although the weather here is much better than one encounters at the German track) with people openly smoking on the pitwall. The circuit itself is reasonably interesting. 2.41 km long it has plenty of gradients and cambers, a pretty fast constant-radius Turn One which climbs up over a brow to drop down into a tight 180 degree bend. The are two back-to-back quick chicanes after a fast kink and then a double apex corner before the main straight. It means that the track is quite technical and getting on the right line is a must (particularly as the number of inexperienced drivers here means that there was a lot of dirt is thrown onto the track). There is virtually no run off anywhere, especially so at the final turn which is taken fast, and has to be negotiated with care. Pit-in is short but features a tight "S" to slow the cars down and has no run-off as paddock vehicles are backed up to the lane. In fact some paddock vehicles had spilled out and were parked in the run off area between the penultimate turn and pit-in! The racing was good though with widly various levels of ability on display - getting tight into the apex of Turn One which was key to a fast lap and defending position seemed wholly optional - and the small crowd was enthusiastic. Safety levels are minimal and although I prefered to watch where there was some protection this concept didn't seem to concern the spectators. A fun day though, enjoyable and all conducted without the levels of officiousness that are found at most European tracks.
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7:07Supercar Thailand R0und 3 @Bira Circuit.mp4 part 1by motorsportlives3,023 views
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