Red RC » Electric On Road

September 13, 2026

Orlowski wins ETS Andernach

Concluding with racing under the lights, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski made it back to back ETS wins with Round 3 victory at Andernach in Germany. With rain forecast for Sunday, the results would be decided over two A-Mains held on Saturday, the first in daylight and the second on a floodlit track. At the end of four rounds of qualifying it was Orlowski who secured the TQ, the reigning Champion fastest in 3 rounds. Making his debut for RC Maker, car designer Ryan Maker making the trip from Australia to Germany to support their new star driver, Ronald Volker secured second on the grid having set the fastest time in Q2. Simon Lauter would line up P3 for Awesomatix with Infinity’s Bruno Coelho making it four different manufacturers at the front of the grid. Winning the first final from Volker by 1.1 seconds, it was that win that would give Orlowski the victory ahead of Volker. Switching to as fluorescent yellow body for A2, Orlowski would win that convincingly as a number of battles were fought out behind. In the end Lauter took second ahead of Erik Dankel and Marc Rheinard, and counting this P2 result Lauter completed the podium ahead of Dankel, Coelho and Rheinard. In Pro Stock it was Xray’s Adam Izsay who took the TQ and win with the Awesomatix of Phil Langer and Xray of Jaroslav Kříž joining him on the podium.

Image: Michal Orlowski [Facebook]

September 13, 2026

Title No.7 as Matsukura reclaims Nitro Touring Worlds in Italy

18-years after he took his first IFMAR World title as a 15-year-old in 1:12, Naoto Matsukura has added a 7th World Championship victory by reclaiming the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car crown in Italy. The 11th running of the championships, the Infinity driver, who turns 33 on Monday, would take a convincing win in Gubbio, 8-years on from winning the same title in the United Stated. Starting from 3rd on the grid, Matsukura would go to P2 on the opening lap and closely pursue team-mate & Top Qualifier Dario Balestri as they pulled clear of the field. Unfortunately for Balestri, just like in 2016 when he TQ’d the same championships at the same track, the final wasn’t to go his way. While finishing on this occasion, albeit in P6, the Italian would hit an issue during his tyre stop with the rear right wheel change delaying him by a lap & a half, effectively ending his quest to finally add a 1:10 title to the two he has achieved in 1:8. The only driver to manage a 15-second lap of the Miniautodromo Internazionale Mario Rosati track in the Main, later in the race Balestri would also run out of fuel. With his main rival out of contention, Matsukura could manage the race even adjusting his tyre stop strategy to just a single stop having started out planning two stops. While he was on cruise control, with a 2-lap buffer, to becoming the first driver to win the categories biggest prize twice, the battle for second brought life to the final minutes of the 1-hour encounter as Capricorn’s Toni Gruber, having turned around a disappointing start to the week, tried to hunt down a very impressive Filippo Domanin. This race marking his World Championship debut, the talented Italian teenager kept the highly experienced German at bay taking a crowd pleasing 2nd by one tenth of second. Just off the podium, Kyle Branson claimed P4 on his World Championship return ahead Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani.

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September 12, 2026

New World Champion to be crowned in Italy, Groskamp just misses out in LCF

Nitro Touring Car will get a new IFMAR World Champion in Italy as reigning champion Jilles Groskamp RC failed to make the Main Final, the Infinity driver’s quest coming to an end in the Last Chance Final in Gubbio when he was denied the win by France’s Quentin Leroux by just 0.071. of a second. Winner of the title 2-years ago in Bangkok, Groskamp found himself in the Semi final after qualifying P5, just missing out on the Top 4 directing qualifying spots to British racer Kyle Branson. Starting the second of the Semi Finals on pole, the 30-minute final would produce a thrilling & intense multi car battle for the lead. While Groskamp held the lead early on it was Melvin Diekmann who took a late win ahead of Milan Holthuis as Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani, having led, dropped to third. 1.9-seconds back Groskamp finished fourth, the Top 3 progressing to the final. With 15-minutes to try and put himself into the Main via the Last Chance Final, starting on pole Groskamp led for the opening laps but a very fast Leroux quickly got himself to the front. Following each other for the rest of the race, gapping 3rd place, a moment as the race entered the final 2-minutes looked to be the end of Groskamp’s challenge but an impressive charge over the final laps saw the Dutch veteran right back on the rear bumper of the leader’s Capricorn setting up a dash to the loop. But it wasn’t to be, the experienced Leroux holding his nerve and progressing to the final as the 11th car on the grid. In the first of the Semi final, Capricorn’s Toni Gruber took the win ahead of Jakub Rozycki and pole sitter Alex Thurston to secure their places in the decider for the 11th running of these World Championships.

September 11, 2026

Shepherd V8.3 Carbon Fibre Brake Discs

Nitro onroad car manufacturer Shepherd has released Carbon Fibre Brake Discs for its 1:8 Onroad kit, the Velox V8.3. In use these have proven to be smoother and more consistent to drive, making for a very good tuning option. The new discs are to be used with the Shepherd’s V2 Brake Pads.

Source: Zen Racing [zen-racing.co.uk]

September 11, 2026

Heartbreak for Esser as World Champs down to final 52

After taking a hugely popular win in his 1/16 Final, which should have put him through to tomorrow’s Main Finals day at the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Italy, Alex Esser’s celebrations were to be short lived as his car failed post tech inspection. One of only four racers representing British manufacturer Shepherd here in Gubbio, making the Worlds podium finishing manufacturer the smallest represented of the 6 brands competing at the 11th edition of Worlds, the young American racer’s body shell was declared to be outside the minimum measurements, the rear bumper cut too high. Winning the 20-minute encounter ahead of Stefan Strasser and Jules Kerguiduff, Esser’s disqualification would promote Rolli Josua to third and into tomorrow’s 1/8 Finals. With rain cancelling yesterday’s second day of qualifying, the damp aftermath conditions would also effect today’s program with the start of racing delayed from 11:00 to 14:00 as the damp track proved well off the pace in the specially arranged free practice which was later extended to get cars running on the track and to bring back up traction levels. This delayed start meant racing wouldn’t finish until just before 19:00 before a red sunset quickly brought a close to the Lower Finals day with just 52 drivers of the 114 starters now remaining in the competition. In the second of the 1/16 Finals it was Michaël Derderian who took the win ahead of Kristof Sielaff and Nathan De Marco to get themselves through to Saturday. The Mains day here at Miniautodromo Internazionale Mario Rosati will start at 08:00 with a round of group practice for drivers up to and including the Semi Finals before the first race gets underway at 09:30. The World Championship deciding 1-hour final is set to start at 16:15 (local time) with Top Qualifier Dario Balestri set to lead them away.

September 11, 2026

Infinity IF14 Speciale +2mm Bulkhead | +1mm Shock Tower

In their latest release for their IF14 Speciale Electric Touring Car, Infinity has added new optional +2mm Bulkheads to provide additional differential position adjustments to help maximise performance with thin chassis options. The new +2 mm bulkheads raise the differential position, while updated +1mm shock towers are designed to properly complement this new configuration and optimise suspension travel with the thinner chassis such as the 1.5 mm aluminium and 1.2 mm steel chassis. The Lower Bulkhead allows the differential (spool) pulley height to be raised by 2mm compared to the standard kit specification. This allows you to optimise the differential (spool) height. +1mm Shock Tower that raises the shock mounting height by approximately 1mm compared to the standard kit specifications optimise shock travel when using the 1.5mm Alu or Steel Chassis.

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September 11, 2026

RTRC RTA V3.1 RS Edition 1:28 Chassis

Fresh from taking 5 class wins at the 2026 Team Associated 1:28 International in Las Vegas last weekend, France’s RTRC has announced the RTA V3.1 RS Edition, a new premium version of their RTA V3.1 designed for drivers who want a highly competitive car right from the start. The RS Edition will be fully assembled by RTRC and supplied with an ESC and RTRC servo already installed. During assembly, each car will also be carefully checked and tweaked to ensure the chassis is properly set up before delivery. The motor will not be included, allowing each driver to choose the motor that best suits their class and racing conditions. This version will also come with a selection of performance option parts already fitted, so the car is delivered with a more advanced specification than the standard RTA V3.1 and is ready to perform from the very first runs. And this configuration is not just theoretical. The chassis has already proven its potential by winning the Lipo 3500 category at the Team Associated 1:28 International. RTRC say the the idea behind the RTA V3.1 RS Edition is simple, ‘take the proven RTA V3.1 platform, assemble it carefully in-house at RTRC, tweak and check the chassis during assembly, equip it with the right performance parts, and offer customers a package that is as close as possible to a race-ready chassis straight out of the box.’

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September 11, 2026

Schumacher Neon FT FWD M-Chassis

Schumacher has entered the competitive front wheel drive M-Chassis class with their World Championship winning engineering team applying their racing knowledge and experience to create the Neon FT. Having previous entered the M-Chassis category with their Neon 4WD MTC, this high performance front wheel drive mini racing chassis features advanced suspension geometry, optimised weight distribution and a highly efficient transmission, delivering exceptional balance, precision and cornering performance. Its new double wishbone suspension design has been refined over countless hours by the British manufacturers team drivers and in-house development engineers to provide maximum performance across all track conditions. With the new kit due for release mid September, Schumacher say the cars ‘Predictable handling and excellent consistency allow drivers to push with confidence and extract maximum performance from every lap.’

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