Red RC

February 2, 2026

Phend wins Southern Indoor Championship

A year on from claiming victory on his Nitro Buggy debut for Xray at the race, Dakotah Phend was again the big winner at the RaceTime Entertainment organised Southern Indoor Championship in Alabama. With many of his 2024 rivals competing at the TNR Fuels A-Main Challenge on the opposite side of the country, Phend would after the three rounds of qualifying end up P2 as 2024 SIC Champion Brandon Rose secured the TQ for Team Associated with two TQ runs. The Tekno of Cole Kasten completed the Top 3 with 2023 1:10 2WD World Champion Tater Sontag securing P4 on the grid. With Rose leading away the 30-minute final, Phend, who had just made the first of his 10-minutes fuel stops, would go to the front when Rose and Sontag made contact as the trio ran together. At the end Phend would have a 20-second winning margin over Sontag with Kasten completing the podium ahead of Rose. In eBuggy while Phend took the TQ and lead for 9 of the 10-minutes a coming together with his team-mate on the straight after a bobble meant it was Sontag who would made it a double win for Xray securing the win ahead of TLR driver Hunter King and the Team Associated of Julien Oliveras. Phend would DNF with a broken car.

Image: Southern Indoor Championship [Facebook]

February 2, 2026

VP-Pro Poison Needle Evo 1:8 Buggy Tyre

Following the recent release of it Hyperdrive Evo tyres, VP-Pro expands its 1:8 Offroad tyre range further with the introduction of the new Poison Needle Evo. The tread pattern provides the great stability, long wear, and excellent performance on Loamy/Hard packed no dust/Blue groove/Wet/Indoor clay tracks/Carpet. The Poison Needle Evo is made from high quality rubber and durable closed cell insert. Available in M1,M2,M3,M4, and MC compounds, it is available pre-mounted on options of Yellow/White/Pink/Green/Orange wheels.

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February 2, 2026

Matrix ‘Xtreme’ 1:8 Onroad Foam Tyres

Italian tyre manufacturer Matrix has introduced a brand new line-up of foam tyres for 1:8 Onroad racing called ‘Xtreme’. The latest tyres from Christian Boni’s brand come after more than one year of intensive testing with all our Matrix Tires Official Team drivers, across different 1:8 Onroad circuits worldwide. Developed through continuous track testing, the Xtreme range features a special high-performance compound, extremely technical and engineered to deliver exceptional grip, consistency and control in the most demanding racing conditions. While using their most popular wheels and maintaining the same external look as the rest of the Matrix range, Xtreme Tires hide a completely different core: a compound designed for drivers who push for maximum performance. To clearly identify this new range they are released in a dedicated packaging.

Source: Matrix [matrixtires.it]

February 2, 2026

VanDalen wins TNR Fuels A-Main Challenge

Tekno RC’s Seth VanDalen was the big winner at the annual TNR Fuels A-Main Challenge held in Norco, California, over the weekend, as he took the win in 1:8 Nitro Buggy. With the 2026 edition attracting 761 entries over 21 classes!, two rounds of qualifying would result in VanDalen taking the TQ honours ahead of Sworkz’s Camden Lime as his Q1 time was faster than Lime’s Q2 topping pace. Making the trip over from Europe, Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic would start P3 followed by Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen, the Tekno of last year’s Top Qualifier Ryan Maifield, while the Team Associated of 2025 winner Spencer Rivkin completed the Top 6. Over the half hour final, while Kilic would lead for a lengthy stint, it was Van Dalen who took a close win over the Turkish visitor with Nguyen, who took a turn at leading, completing the podium. Kilic wouldn’t go home empty handed however taking the Nitro Truggy win ahead 2025 winner Maifield with Van Dalen in third. In eBuggy, Nguyen would get the better of Top Qualifier VanDalen to come away with the win as Kilic rounded out the podium ahead of the Mayako of Ryan Cavalieri.

Image: JConcepts [Facebook]

February 2, 2026

T-Works MBX8R Alu Shock Towers

New from T-Works come these front and rear aluminium Shock Towers for the Mugen Seiki MBX8R 1:8 Buggy. CNC precision machined from 7075-T6 aluminium and black hard anodised finish, the Front Shock Tower features a Removable Spacer Insert Stand and screws. Simply tighten the set screws and loosen the corresponding screws to easily remove/replace the adjustment nuts. The front towers also feature additional shock mounting holes for greater tuning set-up options. The rear tower features an additional row of caster angle holes, enabling flexible shock absorber height adjustment and precise alignment with caster angle adjustment positions.

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February 1, 2026

Volker wins ETS Daun

Ronald Volker has ended a four year victory drought in the ETS, the Mugen Seiki driver securing both the TQ and win in Daun, Germany, over the weekend. With his last ETS victory achieved back in 20222, Volker made the weekend his own starting out by topping seeding for the indoor race before going onto to secure the TQ honours ahead of Awesomatix’s Marc Rheinard and the Schumacher of defending ETS Champion Michal Orlwski. Volker was fastest in the opening and closing qualifiers with Rheinard taking the second of the four rounds while Orlowski set the pace in Q3. Behind them Serpent’s Dominic Greiner completed the Top 4 for the grid. While pushed hard in the finals by Rheinard, Volker would seal the deal in A2 with back to back wins ahead of his compatriot. With Rheinard winning A3 from Orlowski, this would be how they would complete the podium with Greiner, who had a coming together with Orlowski in A2, finishing fourth. Alexander Hagberg would be the top Xray contender finishing 5th with Sören Sparbier competing the Top 6 for Mugen Seiki. In Pro Stock it would also be a win for the Top Qualifier, the Awesomatix of Louis Kretschmer claiming the top step on the podium but only after recovering from a bad A1 in which he finished P7. The winner of A1, Xray’s Adam Iszay would finish second overall with the Awesomatix of Olivier Bultynck, the Belgian the top seed after practice, completing the Top 3. Fresh from signing for Schumacher, Denmark’s Jesper Rasmussen was fourth ahead of Sparbier and Xray’s Jan Ratheisky.

Image: LRP [Facebook]

January 30, 2026

2026 Asia Nitro Party Chassis Focus Index

Last weekend Red RC kicked off our 2026 race coverage by travelling to China to the impressive Hongyu GDC track in Foshan for the inaugural running of the Asia Nitro Party. A brand new nitro onroad race providing an international stage for the category, it attracted a stacked international entry that only looks set to grow after a successful first edition. With newly crowned IFMAR 1:8 GT World Champion Alessio Mazzeo and his Raptor leading the biggest category, 1:8 GT, in 1:8 GP it was IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship Top Qualifier Andrea Catanzani and his Serpent who led the entry. Come the finals however the Italians couldn’t put their name on the race’s opening role of honour, that instead going to France’s double European Champion Bernard-Alain Arnaldi and Genius in GT and Infinity’s Naoto Matsukura in 1:8 GP. Over the busy weekend of high revving racing action we managed to get our hands on 8 cars from 6 different manufacturers and for those who missed the any of these chassis focuses as part of coverage from the Asia Nitro Party we have compiled them in our first Chassis Focus Index of 2026.

View Chassis Focus Index here

January 30, 2026

Bittydesign 499 R | T 1:10 190mm LMH Bodies

Italian body shell producer Bittydesign has joined the Hypercar class with the release of its 499 body, the 1:10 190mm shell available in an R and T variant depending on intended chassis use. The 499R is specifically developed for the latest ultra-low profile touring chassis, this Hypercar body was born for maximum performance. It only fits on the latest generation of 1:10 touring cars with an ultra-low profile chassis. For older chassis, the limit is 53mm height from the ground for the front and rear shock towers. The 499T (red paint scheme) is the only Hypercar body in the world specifically developed for the Tamiya TT-02 and similar high-profile chassis, a perfect fit with no contact with the shock towers.

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