Renault V6 Asia Problems?

Hi,

I’ve heard a lot of negative information about these Renault V6 cars that will be running in Renault V6 Asia.

People have told me that they were unreliable when they ran in Europe (gearbox and torsion bar failures?).

Do they have slower corner speeds than a Formula Three car?

And also do you think they could be difficult to be resell them after their use in Asia.

Can anybody with experience with the cars please help me out?

So no one knows to much about these cars...?


I take that as a bad sign...

I thought the provisional calendar had a race at Sepang this past weekend? I take it that didn't happen then? The AFOS site hasn't had any news on the series for ages. Sounds ominously like yet another failed attempt to put the Renault V6 cars to use.

Sorry, I know nothing about the cars BTW.

Here is the technical information for the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup cars that raced in Europe back in 2003 and 2004. http://www.renault-sport.com/en/circuit/eurocup_v6/technique.php - As far as I know the cars are unchanged at the moment.

sepang is happening this coming weekend.

Do you have the current calendar? I'm probably looking in the wrong places, but I haven't found much mention of the series anywhere (the AFOS site calendar is showing the first round as Sepang 18th-19th March, different again to the earlier version I had saved).

no, i'm afraid i don't, i only know the first date from second hand information from involved engineers and what-have-you.

i believe karun chandhok has an involvement in at least one team running.

In answer to the original questions. Yes there were some reliability problems early on but I believe they were fixed. The apex speeds aren't brilliant and the do suffer in L/D ratio compared to an '04 Dallara F3.

Thanks folks,

What were some of the reliability problems that the cars had??

Yeah i'm not sure when the first round is either. Or has it already been? Hard to find accurate information about it.

If someone knows for sure, can they let me know.

Someone was telling me that they are having a test day(s) next week to try and sort out some of the problems with the cars - so they can hopefully be reliable intime for the first round (which i'm still not sure when it is).

Think it was in Malaysia - but don't quote me on that.

Thanks folks,

What were some of the reliability problems that the cars had??

Yeah i'm not sure when the first round is either. Or has it already been? Hard to find accurate information about it.

If someone knows for sure, can they let me know.


Know nothing about calendar, tecnically the problems about the Hydraulic system were fixed in the first two three rounds in 2003 after that it happened not more than in the present world series, the torsion bars are now protected by bump stops (front)and third element rear) so it goes a lot better even if you need to pay attention; the lack of speed was (is) caused indeed by a lack of downforce due to the poor design of the body aerodinamics; together with a very heavy and high CG engine.

thanks pimbopap,

So the cars have been around since 2003?? I didn't realise they where that old!

What have they done since then?

Do they run anywhere else in the world?

The cars only ever ran in competition in the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup from 2003-2004.

There were plans to use them elsewhere in various aborted series:
USA: Fran-Am V6 was planned for 2004
USA: Pan Am V6 was then planned for 2005
South Africa: Never had many details, but a national series was proposed for the country (for 2005?)
Italy: The V6 Pro Series was initially to replace the 3000 Pro Series for 2006. Apparently Renault blocked the championship for some reason.
Spain: After the Italian plan was abandoned, Renault looked into the possibility of a Spanish series.
GB: Around the same time Jonathan Palmer looked into buying the cars to replace the ageing Formula Palmer Audi chassis.

Back to Formula V6 Asia by Renault, there's now confirmation the first round will be at Sepang on May 13th-14th: http://www.afos.com/news_full_afos.php?id=1217

Ah ok, interesting - thanks

Do you think this latest attempt will be any different?

What were the reasons why the other atempts didn't see the light of day?



I can hardly believe they are still trying after so many failed attempts!! hehe

Hope they can get something going though, even if not this year.

I'm not too sure why the two American based attempts failed - presumably due to a shortage of teams/drivers that could afford to commit? There seemed to be a lot of interest in Pan-Am V6 when first announced, but I'm guessing it was ultimately too costly as they planned to race in both North and South America (while Fran-Am V6 would have been North America only). The Italian project was the other one that seemed to get closest to actually happening, but it sounds as though Renault pulled the plug (something to do with their relationship with series promoters Peroni?) - though I'm recalling that from translated reports... others on here may know some more concrete details.

It looks like the Asian series will at least make it to the racetrack, judging from the latest AFOS news release. But it's strange that they haven't released details of teams signing up etc. I suppose there is a gap in the Asian market for a high level single-seater series like this, as it's a logical addition to the successful Formula BMW and F.Renault 2000 championships. I hope it succeeds too.

It would be good if they could get the Asian Formula Three Championship to be successful.

Seems like the logical formula for the region - can get proven cars from Europe and Japan (at a resonable price).

And good for the drivers because they will drive the same cars when they progress to Europe or Japan.

Win-Win I would have thought

Guess everyone was right about the problems with Renault Asia V6.

Karun Chandhok of India dropped out with electrical failure.

“I honestly don’t know what happened. I was leading comfortably but when I tried to engage the clutch, something gave way and the engine died on me,” said a visibly disappointed Chandhok.

The time distance between 1st and 3rd was over 36 seconds....

and only 6 cars finished the race....
(the sixth car over 6 seconds off the pace)

a shame really...

Here are the race 1 + 2 results:

http://www.formula3.cc/content/view/9466/259/
http://www.formula3.cc/content/view/9467/259/

So Chandhok won the first race, with Mikola taking the second.

Pretty disappointing size of field - I wonder if it will get bigger in future rounds?

The farcical of the asia v6 renault has continued long after the chequered flag dropped last weekend.

Following the 20-lap Grand Race, the car of race winner Ananda Mikola was deemed by the Scrutineers to be in breach of the regulation preventing the use of bump stops.

The decision was taken to exclude Mikola from the results, but following an appeal from Team Eurasia on the grounds that the item specified in the regulations (a “bump stop”) and the one being used by the team (a “compression stop”) were two different components, the Stewards overturned the decision and reinstated Mikola as the winner.

This decision is now being appealed by Team Meritus and so the result remains under appeal until the outcome of a hearing scheduled for the near future.

They seem to be very unorganised! I haven't heard any positive news out of this category yet......

Hmm, as has been said before the grid is a little on the small side. Given time however I beleive this category will grow, already the series has a couple of fairly well known drivers in the form of Mikola and Chandok.

Yeah I agree that there is definitely room for a category like v6 or F3, but they need to do a proper job.

Otherwise Asian drivers will go straight to Europe out of go karts, or if they do a category like Asia v6 they will not be properly prepared for when they do go to Europe.

They need to get it right, and soon!

I heard 6 more cars will join for the next rounds in June, when the series support the Japan GT Malaysia round. That will make a 15 car grid. From what I know AFOS only have about 16 cars available anyway.

Yeah, I remember them saying that before the first round too!

Hope that it's true this time.

yup.........14 cars confirmed for round 3 in july. the next one at sepang in june should have 11.

Well I guess I was wrong when I said it couldn't get any worse for v6 Asia Renault, after their problematic round 1.

The second round this weekend had just 10 entries, and only 6 cars finished!!

I noticed that Mathew Haliday and Ananda Mikola qualified over four seconds off pole!!!

Something strange going on there....

10 entries? That really isnt good, these cars are still very very good and pretty quick and IMO deserve to be racing somewhere still.

I noticed that Mathew Haliday and Ananda Mikola qualified over four seconds off pole!!!

Something strange going on there....

This was down to a wet but drying track I believe - Halliday gambled on slicks, but the track didn't dry enough: http://www.afos.com/news_full_renault.php?id=1337

10 entries is very disappointing. Congratulations to Hamad Al Fardan on his win in race 1 though, he seems like a pretty quick driver. Would be interesting to see how fast he is in a more competitive series.

This was down to a wet but drying track I believe - Halliday gambled on slicks, but the track didn't dry enough: http://www.afos.com/news_full_renault.php?id=1337 (http://www.afos.com/news_full_renault.php?id=1337)

Are you unable to change tyres during a session?

I'm not aware of the rules for the category.

or did the team simply leave him out on slicks.....

I'm not sure, but surely they would allow teams to switch between slicks and wets during the session as conditions change? I'd guess the team changed to slicks for the final minutes, but found conditions were still too wet.

matt halliday has been the winner from the last race at the sepang circuit. he started in 7 for the qualify

If the Asian F3 Championship is only just getting by, what made anyone think something like this would work?

Especially since that particular car compnay that it's based on has very little, if any, exposure in SE Asia?

Yeah ya right, you'd think they would put all their effort into one series.

Hopefully they learn from their mistake.

I just read on th other post that the Asian F3 guys got 20,000 people their last race in China - that's a bit of a surprise. I've only been to AFOS events and they have never been that big!

Maybe China is starting to take to motorsport.

I noticed that Ananda Mikola didn't get any practice at all at Sepang last weekend.

A mechanic told me that there was something wrong with the ECU / paddleshift system.

Hopefully the FRenault asia v6 people can get it to work for the next round......

Anyone seen any results from the v6 asia renault at indonesia??

There are no times/results at the afos web site.

I heard there where only 7 cars entered, so maybe it was cancelled...

If anyone know, can they let me know.

Just read they decided to hold a race for v6 asia renault.

Heard there were a few mechanical failures though.

5 cars finished the second race!

Chandhok was in the top three when he had hydraulic failure - under the safety car.

Thats a shame, that's happened to him twice in 3 rounds now.

"results" can be found here:

http://www.afos.com/result_v6.php?id=Round%205%20and%206,%20Sentul,%20IndonesiaFormula%20V6%20AsiaFormula%20V6%20Asia#q

interesting to see only 6 cars qualified for the 2nd race.

Ananda Mikola didn't even get out for qualifying (both sessions!), but finished 2nd and 1st in the races - must be a pretty average field.

Not sure why they even bother, just makes themselves look bad.

Atleast the Asian F3 series put on decent races - that get big crowds and live tv.

interesting to see only 6 cars qualified for the 2nd race.

.

oops,they are following F1 style(knock two car in first two session),Race 2 (Grand Race)didn't get any quaiflu session

oops,they are following F1 style(knock two car in first two session),Race 2 (Grand Race)didn't get any quaiflu session

hehe - it looks like they incorporate the knock out system throughout the whole weekend - from practice to the final race!

5 finishes in the final race.....

Atleast the Asian F3 series put on decent races - that get big crowds and live tv.

:rofl: :rofl:

Atleast this Asian Formula Renault V-6 has good Asian racing driver. Trying to beat out the faults of someone else head I can say I know Chandok, Mikola, Haliday and the other guys. Asian F3 drivers are all strnage to me.
Tison Sy is the only driver I know from last year Rodolfo Avila season. All the others are strange to me. I never said Asian Formula Renault V-6 was perfect but Asian F3 is trash. All Asian single seaters are garbage. Europe is the motorsport quality land. Asia is good to play on Casinos, fabric T-****rts and to see GP Macau. Sorry but silence is golden for you mate.

:rofl: :rofl:

Atleast this Asian Formula Renault V-6 has good Asian racing driver. Trying to beat out the faults of someone else head I can say I know Chandok, Mikola, Haliday and the other guys. Asian F3 drivers are all strnage to me.
Tison Sy is the only driver I know from last year Rodolfo Avila season. All the others are strange to me. I never said Asian Formula Renault V-6 was perfect but Asian F3 is trash. All Asian single seaters are garbage. Europe is the motorsport quality land. Asia is good to play on Casinos, fabric T-****rts and to see GP Macau. Sorry but silence is golden for you mate.

Asian V6 Renault is trash

5 cars finish a race!!!! that IS trash

If you only know of Tyson Sy, you obviously don't follow the championship.....

V6 Renault will (and should) be dead next year - makes the drivers and teams look bad. Not to mention asian motorsport as a whole!

It's a nothing championship - the cars are used nowhere else in the world.

Unlike F3 - which gets Live TV, big crowds, larger fields, good teams, good engineers from Japan/Australia

And ofcourse the prizes of a drive at the Macau Grand Prix and TOMS tests. How good is that!

Asian F3 is trash too. Motorsport in Asia is trash!

I don't follow the championship because the drivers are ****. One foot dancing, one foot nailed and another in the track. And the new cars are the old Europe cars. Nothing in particular and everything in between this is what the championship mean to me.

The event scheduled to take place at Sentul on August 20th has been postponed due to unforeseen commercial reasons and rounds 10-12 of the Series will now be part of a five day event at the same circuit on Sept 20-24th. How good is that? :D Trash!~

At least Asian Formula Renault V-6 have drivers with reputation.

Atleast the drivers in Asian F3 can compete in a race without their cars breaking down! hehe

If they were established drivers the category wouldn't be doing its job - it's a junior/development category....

And the drivers in Asian F3 are up-and-comers (not 'as beens')

Imagine a potential sponsor watching a V6 Asia Renault race - there is no way that they would get involved (if they were smart), they would probably have a bad opinion of Asia Motorsport as a whole. The same can be said for potential drivers.

I agree Europe/UK is much more developed and better - but Asia needs to be able to provide good junior categories for its drivers wanting to progress to Europe/UK in the future. And also provide a category that helps European/UK drivers who cannot afford to do top-line championships in Europe/UK.

I believe Asian F3 is doing a very good job (although there is always room for improvement). LIve TV, big crowds, good teams, good engineers (many from jap f3), established category world-wide, macau gp prize, toms test in japan, etc, etc