May 5, 2025

Nicholson wins WA Electric Onroad State Titles

Schumacher driver Simon Nicholson has won the Western Australia Electric Onroad State Titles which was hosted by West Coast Model RC over the weekend.  The back to back Australian National Champion arrived late to the event after a cancelled flight and missed half a day of practice.  In qualifying RC Maker’s Jeff Hamon would take the overall TQ.  Topping the opening qualifier Hamon took three of the five rounds with Nicholson taking the other two.  In the triple A-Main, Nicholson would take the first one from Jeffrey Mackie as Hamon struggled with tyres and dropped down the order.  A better A2 would see Hamon get the win from Nicholson by a big margin setting the stage for an A3 decider.  Unfortunately a mistake by Hamon saw him clip Nicholson with Mackie getting the win but overall it was Nicholson who took the title from Hamon with Mackie completing the podium.

Image: Simon Nicholson [Facebook]


May 5, 2025

Milansport Pit Area Table

New from Polish brand Milansport is this 3D printed with PETG premium material table to provide extra space on your pit area with a surface of 250mm x 190mm.  The legs are removable and stored in the storage compartment for easier transport with the legs are adjustable to allow you to set the required height from 130mm to 200mm.  Storage compartment is equipped with rubber grips to secure the legs during transportation.  On the sides there are hidden magnets and holes for additional accessories on the sides.  Once folded for transportation the table is only 20mm thick.

View more images here


May 5, 2025

OfficinaRC OFC-SIL Premium Silicon Oil

OfficinaRC has introduced a new line of premium silicon oil called OFC-SIL which they say is designed to deliver unmatched performance.  The range, features a wide selection of viscosities (expressed in CST) and covers every setup requirement.  For shock absorbers, they offer 25 CST increments in the most commonly used viscosities, allowing fine-tuning for perfect adaptation to any track condition.  For differentials, oil quality plays an even more decisive role: a superior oil like OFC-SIL ensures stability and consistency during use, preventing the performance drops typical of lower-grade oils.

Source: Officina RC [officinarc.com]


May 4, 2025

Kato wins PM25 as Ongaro & Kilic fail to finish in Manila

It was only his second Asian Buggy Championships appearance but Infinity’s young Japanese prospect Kouki Kato made it 2 from 2 with the biggest win of his career taking victory today at the famous Philippine Masters which is Round 2 of the Cayote backed championship.  Having won last year’s season finale in Indonesia, Kato would line-up third on the grid in Manila behind Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic and Top Qualifier Davide Ongaro, the Team Associated driver chasing three in a row at Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race.  With the 1-hour final underway Ongaro and Kilic would establish a lead with Kouki driving his own calculated race in 3rd.  With a change coming up front after a mistake by Ongaro allowed Kilic to go to the front unfortunately the Turkish driver’s Philippine Masters debut was to come to a premature end as he suffered the first of two flame-outs 15-minutes into the race.  It would turn out that the pick-up in his fuel tank had shifted and was longer positioned in the bottom of the tank hence the reason he was flaming out after just 5-minutes of running.  With the demise of Kilic allowing Ongaro back to the lead, it wasn’t to be the World Champion’s day either.  With 24-minutes remaining he too looked to flame out but the problem was more terminal.  Doing a battery pack change as the car’s radio was not responding it turned out that his receiver had failed and the 26-year-old was out.  In all the drama Kato was getting on with his race and took over the lead which he would hold until the finish, the crowd being entertained by the battle for the other podium places.  The Sworkz of Asian Buggy Championships Champion Christian Wolhuter and Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen went at it with Sworkz Mattia Polito also in the mix.  Looking on target to repeat his impressive P2 eBuggy result, Iivonen would cruelly run out of fuel on the penultimate lap allowing Wolhuter to claim second 14-seconds back on Kato.  While also running out of fuel, but on his last lap, Polito took third as Iivonen was classified fourth ahead of Kyosho’s Ryan Lutz with Alex Bernadzik completing the Top 6 as the dust settled on the biggest edition of the Philippine Masters yet.

Continue reading report here


May 4, 2025

Lutz wins A3 as Ongaro takes eBuggy in Manila

Kyosho’s Ryan Lutz delivered on his ever building speed throughout the Philippine Masters with a victory in the third & deciding A-Main of eBuggy, but overall it was Davide Ongaro who successfully defended his title in Manila.  The eBuggy mains kicked off on Saturday afternoon with a thrilling A1 final in which Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen saw off an intense last lap charge from Top Qualifier Ongaro.  A2 on Sunday morning wouldn’t quite serve up the same level of excitement as the first one with Ongaro taking the win by just shy of 1-second over Iivonen with third place qualifier Alex Bernadzik completing the Top 3.  This set the stage for a shoot out between Ongaro and Iivonen, however with his A2 win the faster of the races the Italian had the advantage with Iivonen needing to take his all new MX8E LCG prototype eBuggy to the win in a faster time.  With Ongaro struggling with his Team Associated’s handling and in particular the picking up wind throwing it around over the jumps, Iivonen got to the front but it was short lived as Lutz arrived to the party and soon eked out a lead.  In the closing stages Iivonen, having got by Team Associated’s Hyunkyu Jung-J, tried to chase down the American setting the fastest lap of the race on his penultimate round but he ran out of laps and finished 8/10ths back.  On tie break it was Ongaro with the overall win from Iivonen with Lutz’s win securing him the final step on the podium from Bernadzik.


May 4, 2025

New Mayako prototype LCG eBuggy at Philippine Masters

The Mayako team is out in force at the Philippine Masters in Manila and has presented an all new prototype eBuggy that will be a future MPC (Mayako Members Programme) kit release.  Designed by Joesph Quagraine, the Finn says the point of the MX8E LCG is to develop a car for the first ever IFMAR 1:8 Electric World Championships which are coming up in Portugal at the end of August.  A very high grip, technical, 1:10 style track, JQ says now is time to develop the next generation of 1:8 buggies adding they will start with eBuggy, then Truggy, and then a nitro buggy based on the new design concept.  He said the design goal is simple – low centre of gravity, low weight, and suspension geometry better suited to modern racing.  JQ also explained that while the obvious thing people will see is the suspension, this is not the only reason why the car works, team driver Pekko Iivonen proving the car with his TQ run and A1 win in the eBuggy class here at Round 2 of Cayote backed Asian Buggy Championships.  Mayako has developed new shock internals and new springs plus other undisclosed components for the project.

View MX8E LCG Prototype Chassis Focus here


May 3, 2025

Iivonen wins A1 eBuggy thriller at Philippine Masters

Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen pulled of one of the highlight drives of his career today in Manila as he took the opening round of eBuggy at the Philippine Masters after an epic final lap showdown with Top Qualifier Davide Ongaro.  Having started the day by claiming a TQ run in the fourth & final round of qualifying at Round 2 of the Cayote backed Asian Buggy Championships, the Finn would like up P2 on the grid sandwiched between the two Team Associated’s of Ongaro, in front, and Alex Bernadzik, behind.   At the start Iivonen and Bernadzik would come together and it looked like Ongaro was on for an even easier win than expected but the Italian would have a moment on lap 4, that for him proved costly.  For the race’s record entry all watching on it would lead to them being entertain by a thrilling final lap, Scotty Ernst rising to the occasion on the mic and adding to the intensity.  After Ongaro’s error at the end of the straight dropped him behind Iivonen, the two making contact, Bernadzik found his way to the lead to the cheers of the huge Australian contingent.  It was short live however as a roll at the end of the straight allowed Iivonen to go to the front chased by Ongaro.  As the clock ticked down, on starting their final lap Ongaro would go all out in on the front jump section sending it and jumping over the leader but at the next corner Iivonen made the inside line to hold the lead with a moment from the World Champion allowing hm to breath again if only momentarily.   As they reached the back jump section Ongaro again tried tp pass in the air but contact sent the two tumbling.  With Ongaro waiting for the leader to get turned around again in the right direction, they resumed for a 7-second dash to the line with Iivonen managing to stay in front to take a hugely popular win.

Continue reading report here


May 3, 2025

Kilic takes final qualifier at Philippine Masters

Burak Kilic has taken the fourth & final round of qualifying at the Philippines Masters, the Mugen Seiki/Nova Engines driver finally ending Davide Ongaro’s reign at Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race.  While yesterday threatened the possibility of rain, the record entry of drivers from 21 countries arrived Saturday morning to a dry & very hot track for one last qualifying effort and it would prove to be the fastest and most exciting of the four.  With Ongaro having already secured the overall TQ in the penultimate round yesterday, an early mistake from the World Champion gave his rivals the chance to go the top with Infinity’s Kouki Kato topping the timing screens and looking like he might finally deliver on the outright speed he has shown over the last two days.  It wasn’t to be however as he had a bobble on his sixth lap of 9.  This promoted Mayako’s Pekko Iivonan to the top of the timing screens but a bad lap dropped him off the top spot before a bobble on the last lap ended the prospect of a TQ run.  Having lost over two & a half seconds in the first half of the heat with a bobble, bobble the word of Q4, a recovering Kilic took over from Iivonan and laying down the fastest lap managed to get the TQ by half a second over Ongaro with Ryan Lutz only a further 4/10ths back after putting in his best run of the 4.  With Ongaro and Kilic the only two drivers to make 9-laps yesterday, today the Top 6 all broke that barrier.  Overall the result means Kilic starts directly behind Ongaro for tomorrow’s 1-hour Main with Kato lining up P3 ahead of his Infinity team-mate Naoto Matsukura, Lutz and the Sworkz of Mattio Polito.

Continue reading report here