Masami Hirosaka

{{short description|Japanese radio controlled car driver (born 1970)}}

{{nihongo|Masami Hirosaka|広坂正美|Hirosaka Masami|born February 26, 1970, Kyoto, Japan}}{{cite magazine |date=May 1989 |title=Top Ten Drivers |url=http://hirosaka.jp/story31.html |magazine=Radio Control Car Action |publisher=Air Age Media }} is a Japanese radio controlled car driver who is considered to be the world's most successful with a record fourteen IFMAR World Championships in 1/12 scale electric, 1/10 scale Pan, 1/10 scale 2WD off-road and 1/10 scale 4WD, all electric. Hirosaka's peers have nicknamed him "Master Masami". He was considered to be one of the highest paid drivers in RC racing, until he retired from the activity. His last IFMAR race was the 2008 world championship in Thailand. His retirement ceremony was on May 3, 2009.

Early years

Masami was first brought into RC car racing at the age of seven by his father Masaaki; a former motorcycle racer,{{cite web|url=http://hirosaka.jp/story1.html|title=廣坂物語|accessdate=3 January 2016}} who finished 2nd at the 1971 Suzuka 6 Hours,{{cite web|url=http://www.hirosaka.jp/profile.html|title=プロフィールひろさか|accessdate=3 January 2016}} a research and development employee of ABC Hobby and later with Yokomo and radio controlled car racer and designer, when he brought him a Tamiya Lamborghini Countach. They raced together for four years until upon realizing Masami was the better driver, Masaaki retired from racing to focus on becoming his mechanic.{{Citation

| last =Bacon

| first =Bill

| title =Masami Hirosaka: The Master Speaks

| journal =Radio Control Car Action

| pages =24–25

|date=April 1992

| url = http://cdn9.rccaraction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/RCCA_1992_April-17_Masami1.jpg?013d37

}}

In 1987, during a world championship round for the 4WD off-road at Romsey, England, Hirosaka arrived as a privateer with a Schumacher CAT, bar being provided power sources from HPI Japan. He had shown promise during practice and was brought into attention by Phil Booth, Schumacher's works driver{{cite web|url=http://teamyokomo.blogspot.com/2010/02/memorable-rc-photo-contest-winner.html|title=Team Yokomo Malaysia Blog|author=Team Yokomo Malaysia|accessdate=3 January 2016}} who referred him to Cecil Schumacher, who provided him a longer wheelbase version called the CAT XL, then unavailable in Japan and was raced by a majority of racers. Despite being near-stock with much of the running gear added on from his old CAT, Hirosaka managed to win the title.{{cite web|url=http://www.repairfaq.org/filipg/RC/F_rc-offroad2.html|title=FAQ for R/C electric off-road racing|author=Filip M. Gieszczykiewicz|accessdate=3 January 2016}} After the win, he was given numerous offers from sponsors before he ultimately settled with Yokomo.

Later activities

As well as driving for Yokomo and Associated Electrics where he helps develop and design new cars and tests the resulting prototypes, Hirosaka held a job as a sales engineer for Yokomo. Of all his IFMAR championship wins, only his first title was won driving cars from neither of these manufacturers. He was driving a Schumacher CAT XL.

For once or twice a week, he practices for 100 runs, a majority of these is done on-road to improve his reflexes.{{Citation

| last =Bacon

| first =Bill

| title =Masami Hirosaka: The Master Speaks

| journal =Radio Control Car Action

| page =26

|date=April 1992

| url = http://cdn9.rccaraction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/RCCA_1992_April-17_Masami1.jpg?013d37

}}

In a 1998 interview with Germany's KEIL DTM magazine, Hirosaka listed his other hobbies as computers and theater. His father who is now semi-retired, runs an RC car preparation service whilst doing contract work for Kyosho. In a [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3825/is_199910/ai_n8876374 1999 interview] with RCCA, he said that he has appeared several times on Japanese TV. He also says that he has several non-RC sponsors, such as Pioneer.

In his later career, he mentored teammate and compatriot Naoto Matsukura{{cite web|url=http://events.redrc.net/2008/11/thailand-unearths-exciting-new-talent/|title=Thailand unearths exciting new talent » Red RC – Events|accessdate=3 January 2016}} and was the lead organizer of the 2015 IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship.p12, http://news.efra.ws/fileadmin/news/2015/10/2015%20%20Electric%20All%203%20Sections%20Minutes%20Final%20PW.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326173236/http://news.efra.ws/fileadmin/news/2015/10/2015%20%20Electric%20All%203%20Sections%20Minutes%20Final%20PW.pdf |date=2016-03-26 }}

Equipment

Throughout his career, Masami preferred to race with stick transmitters,{{cite web|url=http://www.tested.com/art/makers/460435-how-get-hobby-rc-radios-and-motors/|title=How To Get Into Hobby RC: Radios and Motors|work=Tested|accessdate=3 January 2016}} largely as when he began racing, Japanese branded wheel transmitters did not exist; he once experimented with wheels but felt sticks gave better car control.{{cite journal |last=Masi |first=Frank |date=August 1994 |title=Sticking with the Stick |journal=Radio Control Car Action |publisher=Air Age Media |pages=61 }} Up until 1987, he used Futaba transmitter;{{cite web|url=http://hirosaka.jp/story11.html|title=廣坂物語|accessdate=3 January 2016}} after that he switched to KO Propo which he used through his career. Under his arrangement with Yokomo, his car ran on Reedy motors, a subsidiary of Associated Electrics.

Throughout his career, Masami has always raced in the green over white with pink flames (similar style to those found typically in hot rods), but since the 1990s, the pink colour has become less dominant part of the colour as he added the orange and red to form part of his current colour scheme.

Achievements

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|quote = Masami is R/C racing's equivalent of baseball's Lou Gehrig or basketball's Michael Jordan—a born natural.

|source = Radio Control Car Action's Steve Pond on Masami.{{cite journal |last=Pond |first=Steve |date=November 1990 |title=Masami's Yokomo |url=http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii228/rimjainer/Masami891.jpg |journal=Radio Control Car Action |publisher=Air Age Media }}

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Throughout his competition career, Hirosaka has a total of 307 victories out of a total of 447 races, with 47 second-place finishes and 27 third.

He has a total of 37 World Championship starts with 25 podium appearances including 14 championship titles and 35 A-main appearances.

Out of a total of 70 JMRCA All-Japan Championship appearances, he won 52 of those spanning 21 consecutive years (1986-2006), 67 of those are A-main appearances.{{cite web|url=http://www.rcmx.net/modules/wordpress1/|title=RC Maniax - Masami's Report|author=XOOPS Cube|accessdate=3 January 2016}}

In 1998, he is one of two drivers to achieve an electric car clean sweep at the JMRCA All-Japan Championship, the only driver to achieve this more than once (also 1987, 1989 and 1992) and the only one to achieve five out of five wins in eligible classes, a feat no longer possible since 2005 when the 1:10 Racing class was discontinued.{{cite web|url=http://www.jmrca.jp/championship/jmrca_champ_ep.htm|title=全日本選手権タイトルホルダー(電動カテゴリー)|accessdate=3 January 2016}}

An article by Radio Control Car Action list him on the top spot as the five greatest driver of all time in 2010{{cite web|url=http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2010/07/02/5-best-racers-of-all-time/|title=5 Best Racers of All Time|work=Radio Control Car Action|accessdate=3 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226150418/http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2010/07/02/5-best-racers-of-all-time/|archive-date=26 February 2015|url-status=dead}} In the 2015 edition of the Top 10 best of all time, he was beaten to the spot by Ryan Cavalieri.{{cite web|url=http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2015/12/22/fst-laps-who-is-the-best-driver-ever/|title=Fast Laps: Who Is the Best Driver Ever?|work=Radio Control Car Action|accessdate=3 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228034834/http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2015/12/22/fst-laps-who-is-the-best-driver-ever/|archive-date=28 December 2015|url-status=dead}}

Listed in RCCA in its May issues as one of the 10 Best Drivers between 1989 up to 1992. When the readers ranking was introduced, he was ranked 5th in 1996, 2nd in 1998 and 3rd in 1999. Hirosaka is the only few non-US drivers to be honored and the only foreigner to regularly appear in the list.

Complete results

= IFMAR Worlds =

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%"
Year ! Result ! Class ! Venue ! Car ! Motor !Source
1986 \|align=center \| 16 \| 1:12 EP Track \| Las Vegas \| ABC KSC ALF 11 \| M&Y 480 RS \|
1987 \|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| 8 \| 1:10 EP Off-Road 2WD \| Romsey \| Associated RC10 \| HPI UNO \|report
1987 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:10 EP Off-Road 4WD \| Romsey \| Schumacher CAT XL \| HPI UNO \|report
1988 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:12 EP Track \| Baarn \| Associated RC12L \| Reedy \|
1989 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD \| St Ives \| Associated RC10 \| Reedy \|
1989 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD \| St Ives \| Yokomo YZ-870C \| Reedy \|
1990 \|align=center style="background:#DFDFDF;"\| 2 \| 1:12 EP Track \| Singapore \| Associated RC12L \| Reedy \|
1991 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD \| Michigan \| Associated RC10L \| Reedy \|
1991 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 2 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD \| Michigan \| Yokomo YZ-10 Works '93 \| Reedy \|
1992 \|align=center style="background:#FFDF9F;"\| 3 \| 1:12 EP Track \| Michigan \| Associated RC12LW \| Reedy \|
1993 \|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| 4 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD \| Basildon \| Associated RC10L \| Reedy \|report
1993 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD \| Basildon \| Yokomo YZ-10 Works '93 \| Reedy \|report
1994 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:10 PRO 10 \| \| Yokomo \| Reedy \|
1994 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 3 \| 1:12 EP Track \| Paris \| Associated RC12LS \| Reedy \|
1995 \|align=center style="background:#DFDFDF;"\| 2 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD \| \| Associated RC10L \| Reedy \|
1995 \|align=center style="background:#FFDF9F;"\| 3 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD \| \| Yokomo \| Reedy \|
1996 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:12 EP Track \| California \| Associated RC12LC \| Reedy \|
1996 \| \| 1:10 PRO 10 \| California \| \| Reedy \|
1997 \|align=center style="background:#FFDF9F;"\| 3 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD \| Pomona \| Associated RC10L \| Reedy \|report
1997 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD \| Pomona \| Yokomo \| Reedy \|report
1998 \|align=center style="background:#DFDFDF;"\| 2 \| 1:12 EP Track \| Newcastle \| Associated RC12L3 \| Reedy \|
1998 \|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| 4 \| 1:10 PRO 10 \| Newcastle \| \| Reedy \|
1999 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD \| Rauma \| Associated RC10L \| Reedy \|report
1999 \|align=center \| 14 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD \| Rauma \| Yokomo \| Reedy \|report
2000 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:12 EP Track \| Tsukuba \| Associated RC12L3 \| Reedy \|
2000 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:10 PRO 10 \| Tsukuba \| Yokomo \| Reedy \|
2000 \|align=center style="background:#FFDF9F;"\| 3 \| 1:10 ISTC \| Tsukuba \| Yokomo \| Reedy \|
2001 \|\| \| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD \| \| Associated RC10 \| Reedy \|
2001 \|\| \| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD \| \| Yokomo \| Reedy \|
2002 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:12 EP Track \| Krugersdorp \| Yokomo 12LY \| Reedy \|
2002 \|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| 4 \| 1:10 ISTC \| Krugersdorp \| Yokomo 12LY \| Reedy \|
2004 \|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| 1 \| 1:12 EP Track \| Florida \| Associated RC12L4 \| Reedy \|
2005 \|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| 6 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD \| \| Associated RC10B4 \| Reedy \|report
2005 \|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| 5 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD \| \| Yokomo BX \| Reedy \|report
2006 \|align=center style="background:#DFDFDF;"\| 2 \| 1:10 ISTC \| \| Yokomo \| orion \|
2007 \|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| 4 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD \| \| Associated RC10B4 \| Reedy \|report
2007 \|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| 4 \| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD \| \| Yokomo BX \| Reedy \|report
2008 \|align=center style="background:#FFDF9F;"\| 3 \| 1:10 ISTC \| \| Yokomo \| Nosram \|

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%"

Year

! Result

! Class

! Venue

! Car

! Motor

!Source

1986

|align=center | 16

| 1:12 EP Track

| Las Vegas

| ABC KSC ALF 11

| M&Y 480 RS

1987

|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"| 8

| 1:10 EP Off-Road 2WD

| Romsey

| Associated RC10

| HPI UNO

|report

1987

|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1

| 1:10 EP Off-Road 4WD

| Romsey

| Schumacher CAT XL

| HPI UNO

|report

1988

|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1

| 1:12 EP Track

| Baarn

| Associated RC12L

| Reedy

1989

|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1

| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD

| St Ives

| Associated RC10

| Reedy

1989

|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1

| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD

| St Ives

| Yokomo YZ-870C

| Reedy

1990

|align=center style="background:#DFDFDF;"| 2

| 1:12 EP Track

| Singapore

| Associated RC12L

| Reedy

1991

|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1

| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD

| Michigan

| Associated RC10L

| Reedy

1991

|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 2

| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD

| Michigan

| Yokomo YZ-10 Works '93

| Reedy

1992

|align=center style="background:#FFDF9F;"| 3

| 1:12 EP Track

| Michigan

| Associated RC12LW

| Reedy

1993

|align=center style="background:#DFFFDF;"| 4

| 1:10 EP Off-road 2WD

| Basildon

| Associated RC10L

| Reedy

|report

1993

|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1

| 1:10 EP Off-road 4WD

| Basildon

| Yokomo YZ-10 Works '93

| Reedy

|report

1994

|align=center style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1

| 1:10 PRO 10

Masami Hirosaka

Early years

Later activities

Equipment

Achievements

Complete results

= IFMAR Worlds =

= JMRCA All-Japan Championship results =

Notes

References

External links