Red RC » Electric Off Road

September 29, 2026

Kilic tops final free practice at Thornhill

Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic shot to the top of the times for the sixth & final round of free practice at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship in Texas, the Turkish driver closing out Monday’s action with a 3-consecutive lap time of 1:51.195 around the Thornhill Racing Circuit. The round would see big changes at the top with Sworkz’ Juan Carlos Canas, Top Qualifier in 2024, setting the second fastest time ahead of American Xray pairing Dakotah Phend and Chase Lemieux, the former struggling with his bad at the end of the day and retiring early to his bed to rest it. Tekno’s Daniel Pariente posted his first Top 5 run just ahead of Mason Fuller, the Sworkz driver having posted the second fastest time in the previous round. While his FP5 time of 1:51.133 still stands as the fastest run of free practice, defending World Champion Davide Ongaro would use the final practice to test if he had been going the right direction with his set-up after his FP5 run and taking the set-up in the opposite direction the 7th fastest time verified he had been on the right route with set-up. The round would also see David Ronnefalk drop outside the Top 3 for the first time, sticking with the same harder compound tyre he ran in the fifth round, with temperatures dropping for FP6 it was too hard and the lacking pace resulted in the 10th fastest time for the Swede.

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September 29, 2026

Fuller closes gap as Ongaro continues to set pace in Texas

Mason Fuller continues his rise up the practice rankings in Texas today, the Sworkz driver closing the gap to World Champion Davide Ongaro with the second fastest time in the fifth round of free practice at the 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship. Again it was the Team Associated of Ongaro who topped the times around the Thornhill Racing Circuit, the Italian finding more than a second to lay down the fastest 3-consecutive laps we have witnessed yet. Just 4/10ths of a second off, Fuller bettered his best time by 2-seconds with a run that put him ahead of Xray’s David Ronnefalk and Associated’s Marcus Kaerup. The second fastest American driver, Brandon Rose took his Team Associated to the fifth fastest time for the round with the Xray of much favoured USA title hopeful Dakotah Phend completing the Top 6.

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September 28, 2026

Ongaro set early pace at Buggy Worlds

Having had three rounds of practice yesterday to familiarise themselves with the Thornhill Racing Circuit track layout on which IFMAR will crown its 20th 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Champion come Saturday, it is Team Associated’s defending Champion Davide Ongaro who is setting the early pace in Texas. With drivers best 3-consecutive laps improving in huge chunks over yesterday, Xray’s David Ronnefalk fastest on 1:58.124 in the first round, Sworkz’s Camden Lime fastest in the second run on 1:54.709, it was Ongaro who ended the day fastest with a 1:51.540 in the third free practice. With three more practice rounds on today’s schedule it was the Italian who opened proceedings with the fastest time. While a slower pace than yesterday evening’s run, Ongaro was, on like for like conditions, quickest from Ronnefalk with Kyosho’s Riccardo Berton third ahead of the Sworkz of Mason Fuller, Kyosho’s Marco Baruffolo and the Associated of reigning eBuggy World Champion Marcus Kaerup.

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September 28, 2026

1:8 Offroad Worlds coverage presented by RUDDOG

The 2-year wait is finally over and thanks to Ruddog Racing we have just arrived in Hutto, Texas, ready to spend the next 6 days telling the story of how the 20th running of the IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship unfolds at Thornhill Racing Circuit. The eigth time we will report on the categories biggest race, this is the third time our coverage has been presented by Ruddog Racing. Based in Germany, Ruddog is a company steeped in offroad racing history being a distributor for 35-time World Champion manufacturer Team Associated and iconic offroad tyre brand JConcepts to name but a few. Founded in 2006 by Sven Rudig, the same year as Red RC joined the world wide web, as an avid offroad racer himself he has developed Ruddog into having their own product ranges such as Ruddog Racing which offers a line of nitro engines and electronics. They are also behind Revolution Design Racing Products which has established itself as a designer & producer of high-quality tuning parts that are hugely popular upgrades among offroad racers. 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the crowning of the inaugural 1:8 Buggy World Champion Frederic Vesseyre in France in 1986 and a decade since David Ronnefalk won the last US staged Worlds with victory in Las Vegas in 2016. As the current World Champion Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro will chase a record extending 4-in-row this week but the Italian faces strong opposition from US drivers all looking to become the first to win the sport’s biggest prize on home soil.

Source: Ruddog [ruddog.eu]

September 26, 2026

RC Pit Clock Android App for Nitro Racing

Many a nitro race has been lost in the pit lane due to refuelling timing and so the idea was born for RC Pit Clock, a new Android App that helps you plan your fuel strategy. Created by long time racer and professional software developer Lionel Hagege, the idea came from something he’d seen many times at races: managing fuel during a long race can become surprisingly difficult. You know your fuel runtime and your average lap time, but once the race starts, things change. A lap can be missed, a pit stop can happen a little earlier or later, and you have to keep recalculating everything while concentrating on the car and this is where RC Pit Clock is designed to help with that. Enter your fuel autonomy, average lap time and race duration and the app calculates the fuel stops and, during the race, shows how many laps are left before the next refuelling stop. If you pit earlier or later than planned, the remaining stops are recalculated. There is also a Garmin version, so the information can be displayed directly on the driver’s watch. The App also follows the race day and from the heat board posted at the club, it tells you when you run, when you marshal, and sounds an alarm before each of your runs.

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September 25, 2026

Serpent SRX8e Gen4 1:8 eBuggy

New from Serpent comes their latest 1:8 eBuggy with the release of the GEN4 SRX8-E. At the core of the GEN4 is an all-new Factory Lightweight Competition Chassis, precision machined from premium 7075-T6 aluminum and finished with a durable hard-anodized coating for exceptional strength and long-term wear resistance. Designed from the ground up with versatility in mind, the new chassis is far more than a lightweight component – it is the foundation of an adaptable competition platform. Strategic CNC machining removes unnecessary material while preserving the rigidity required for precise suspension performance, resulting in a chassis that delivers competition-ready performance straight from the box. Unlike optional lightweight upgrades, this premium competition chassis is included as standard equipment with every SRX8-E GEN4 kit. The innovative design also provides exceptional flexibility for racers and future development. The chassis is compatible with both traditional block battery layouts and modern saddle battery configurations, giving drivers the freedom to tailor the vehicle to their preferred setup or changing racing conditions.

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September 25, 2026

Team Associated RC10B84.1

Taking a break from retro kit releases, Team Associated has announced its latest version of its top flight 4WD race buggy with the RC10B84.1. Highlights of the B84.1 include a Wide Tongue Chassis for improved durability and V2 Steering Posts and Bellcranks to reduce vertical movement in the steering rack. Also up front you get Molded Front Shock Tower Cover for 73mm arm Shock Tower. Along the sides of the buggy, the kit gets V2 Side Rails to account for the Wide Tongue Chassis and a 102mm Center CVA Dog Bone is included in the kit. Upper and lower chassis bracing front and rear allow fine tuning of chassis flex characteristics, giving you the flexibility to adapt to each track you race on.

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September 24, 2026

JConcepts BK Design 13mm Shock Pistons

A project from Brian Kimwald himself, BK Design Shock Pistons are now available as an option for 13mm shocks through JConcepts. The BK piston, machined in low friction Delrin material has opened a can of goodness racers have only heard about, until now. The prototype slotted piston, machined by BK using equipment purchased exclusively for the master of all RC trades, was for sure a late-night project. During 2016, finding grip with newly released mid-motor vehicles was a vicious hunt for low-traction dirt conditions. As track conditions advanced, finding grip wasn’t necessarily as high a priority, hence the delay in the BK piston introduction. However, as the hands of time move forward, vehicles are once again looking for an edge in grip handling due to their advanced corning abilities. The all-precision machined item has the makings of the latest winner from the JConcepts Speed Laboratory and can be tuned by the user. The latest BK pistons arrive with plenty of pre-drilled combinations. Test drivers have reported increased vehicle grip while utilising the exclusive design. The BK channel in the piston increases the volume of oil in the shock body acting as another chamber in the shock body to add consistency to the mechanism. During compression and rebound, a lot of disturbance is created inside the working area of the shock. The action of a traditional piston is very top to bottom with pass-through only allowed through dedicated holes and around the perimeter due to blow-by. With this design, the piston is passing fluid through 2 separate channeled sections while the entire disturbance area rests in oil which helps compartmentalise all activity.

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