HPI Racing - 2002 HPI Challenge World Finals

Foreword

Well, the weekend has reached its ultimate end - the races are over, the winners have been announced, the overseas drivers have arrived home, and the 2002 HPI Challenge World Finals is complete. Past HPI Challenge World Finals have always proven to have their share of triumphs, victories and heartbreaks, and each of this weekend's racers has their own story to tell.

The famous Mt. Fuji!

European Champions on the way!
The weekend started with the travels of racers from various parts of the world on November 6. Racers from Europe started their travels on November 6, meeting in Frankfurt, Germany and flying into Nagoya airport. Representing Europe were racers Alistair Penn of Scotland for Electric Sport, Nick Nikolakopoulos from Greece in the Electric Touring Expert class, Vegalas Papachristo, also of Greece in the Electric Touring Expert class, Werner Spannbruckner from Austria in Electric Touring Expert, Werner Puchas of Austria in Electric Touring Sports class, Atilla Svajda from Hungary for the Nitro class, and Kristoper Ritchie of Scotland for the Super Nitro class. All of these racers had won or placed in the top 10 at the HPI Challenge European Finals, held in September in Athens, Greece. Read the HPI Europe Challenge Coordinator's report on the European Finals here! Attentive visitors may remember that this was Kristopher's and Atilla's third consecutive visit to the HPI Challenge World Finals! Werner Spannbruckner was also attending his second World Finals in a row.


Japanese mountainside outside of Tokyo	More pictures from the airplane	I thought Nagoya was a "smaller" city?

US Racers
This year's United States representatives were Tim Potter of Florida for the Electric Sport class, Michael Collins from Ohio for the Electric Pro class, Timm Wooley from Florida for Nitro Stock, Dereck Butterfield from Southern California in Nitro Modified, and Todd Marshall of Washington D.C. for the Super Nitro class. While the U.S. does not have a "national finals" race to decide a U.S. champion (because of cost of travel to the competitors), these racers were all winners during the 2002 HPI USA Challenge season and certainly deserved to have a chance at taking home a victory for the United States! Forewarned of the attitude and skill of the European and Japanese racers, all the U.S. racers came prepared, with plenty of room in their luggage for prizes and trophies.


Wading through Customs	Everywhere you go...bikes!	Obviously a coffee shop

Extensive Preparation!
Although the weekend for the racers started on Wednesday or Thursday as they boarded their planes, the planning for the 2002 HPI Challenge World Finals actually started late in 2001, when it was decided that HPI Japan would host the World Finals. After two consecutive turns at hosting the World Finals in the United States, since 2000 the three HPI branches around the world have taken turns hosting the World Finals. In 2001 the World Finals were held in the south of France, while in 2000 HPI USA organized the event in Southern California. The 1999 HPI Challenge World Finals was also held in Southern California at the Honda USA headquarters.

Funky foods - one of the questions Americans have about Asian food in general is how "wierd" it is...if you don't mind some fish you won't have a problem eating just about anything - you just might need some explanations and a little more money to go out to eat.

This was a $1 Coca-Cola (minus one gulp)	You have to love the way the foods are packaged	Still trying to figure out what this was

Credits for pulling off the 2002 HPI Challenge World Finals
Imaizumi-san (or Mr. Imaizumi) of HPI Japan, organizer of the HPI Challenge series in Japan, made all the arrangements for Japanese and foriegn racers, including hotel accomodations, bus trips provided by HPI, concessions at the track and much more. With the help of Tomoko Matsumoto, HPI Japan's translator, HPI designer Yodo-san, HPI Japan General Manager Ohe-san and many of the HPI Japan employees during the weekend, the race weekend ran with a minimum of hassle to all the racers. What problems did come up were taken care of in as timely a manner as humanly possible, and any questions that came up against the language barrier were handled with the help of Tomoko. Greg Hill, HPI Europe Challenge Coordinator, and Frank McKinney, HPI USA Challenge Coordinator, took care of their respective racers and watched out for them during the entire weekend, helping as much as possible.

Now with that out of the way, let's get to the weekend's activities, shall we?

There really is quite a bit to see in many parts of Japan