Red RC » Serpent

September 17, 2025

Catanzani holds overnight TQ at GT Worlds

With the 3rd running of the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championships taking place in Chile, it is Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani who leads the way after 4 rounds of qualifying to hold the overnight TQ in Santiago. A driver who came to international prominence at the previous GT Worlds two years ago in Sydney, Australia, after a stressful start to the Day 1 of qualifying when he was briefly disqualified from Q1 this morning, the Italian has since taken charge of proceedings. With a TQ run in Q2, he backed that up with another two TQ runs in rounds 3 & 4 of six although he admitted that Q1 winner Alessio Mazzeo had found something on his Raptor set-up. He also felt his rival would have most like have TQ’d had it not been for another car spinning in of him and resulting in unavoidable contact and 2-seconds lost. The gap at the end of the 7-minutes only just 6/10ths of a second with Natanaele Senesi completing the Top 3 behind Mazzeo. Venezuela’s Diego Morganti capped off his day with his best showing yet to post the 4th fastest time, the best performance we seen so far from any non-Italian driver.

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September 17, 2025

Catanzani takes control in Q2 & 3

Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani has taken control of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championships in Chile, the Italian producing back to back TQ runs as he topped the times in the second & third rounds of qualifying as things warm-up a little in Santiago. With a cold start to qualifying this morning, the sun finally burned it’s way through the earlier fog with the snow capped mountain in the distance making up the back drop to the track as Q3 completed the first half qualifying. Complaining of the cold after Q1, Catanzani would outpace Top Seed and Q1 winner Alessio Mazzeo by 1.1-seconds at the second time of asking, this time three drivers managing to put together 20-lap runs, the third of those being Capricorn’s Alex D’Angelo. With Mazzeo having to pit during Q3 for an engine adjustment, D’Angelo would get a P2 for that round but Catazani’s advantage was now 2.2-seconds as he improved by almost 3-seconds over the 7-minutes despite feeling his car’s performance faded in the later part of the run. Natanaele Senesi completed the Top 3 ahead of the WIRC of Brazilian nitro onroad racing stalwart Elias Flavio which overall means as it currently stands at the half way stage it is an all Italian line-up in the all important Top 4, direct to final, qualification rankings.

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August 6, 2025

Serpent SRX8GT R 1:8 GT Nitro Car

With the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championships coming up next month in Chile, Serpent has announced its latest 1:8 Nitro GT challenger, the SRX8GT R. The new car represents the next step in the evolution of the SRX8GT ’23 and has come about following invaluable contributions from factory driver and newly crowned Italian National Champion Andrea Catanzani and his father, Roberto. Serpent has refined the suspension geometry, transmission, and adjustability to optimise performance. New features of the SRX8GT R include an in-line drivetrain, commonly referred to by racers as straight transmission. This innovation significantly enhances transmission efficiency and was essentially an obvious choice to implement. To facilitate the In-line drivetrain, a new chassis was essential. After relocating all the major components, Serpent also seized the opportunity to enhance the flex characteristics. The new chassis is 4mm thick in most areas and is designed without side dams. It offers the ideal flex for a race car that is both fast and easy to handle. You can also adjust the rear flex by adding a small stiffener plate beneath the rear transmission. An optional 3mm chassis is available with distinct flex characteristics, which can enhance performance on specific tracks.

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July 22, 2025

Catanzani crowned new Italian 1:8 GT Champion

Andrea Catanzani is the new AMSCI Italian 1:8 GT National Champion, the factory Serpent driver compete a clean championship sweep with victory at the third & final round of the championship. Racing at the Miniautodromo Stradivari in Cremona, qualifying would see Catanzani secure the TQ honours with his Gimar powered SRX8 GT ahead of the Capricorn of 2023 Champion Alex D’angelo, 2024 European Champion Natanaele Senesi. Offroad racer Burak Kilic completed the Top 4 ahead of defending Champion Giaimo Rosario. It was a tough quali for newly crowned European Champion Filippo Beretta, the Genius Racing driver qualifying P9 but lining up 5th on the starting grid after winning his Semi Final. In the 45-minute final Catanzani would complete the perfect campaign winning taking win number 3 by over 2-laps from Beretta with Valente Leonardo completing the podium ahead of D’angelo. Unfortunately for Kilic, who opened the season with a podium in Sicily, would retire 1/3 the way into the race.

Image: Andrea Catanzani [Facebook]

July 15, 2025

Serpent 426 Outlaw RTR 1:7 4WD EP

Best known for its pioneering development of the F1 of RC Racing, 1:8 Onroad – their latest Viper 990R due for release shortly, Serpent has entered the big scale RTR market with the release of their 426 Outlaw 1:7 Electric RTR. Inspired by the iconic American muscle cars of the 60s, Serpent say the 426 Outlaw combines raw retro attitude with cutting-edge engineering to deliver a street machine that’s as fierce as it is fast. Powered by a brutal 6S brushless system, built on a race-bred platform, and dressed in wide body aggression, the Outlaw is designed for high-speed domination — whether you’re street bashing, drag racing, or just turning heads at full throttle. With its wide body Lexan shell, super grip tires, and hood-mounted supercharger, the Outlaw is a visual callback to the golden era of Detroit muscle — but it’s built with modern performance in mind. It’s aerodynamically tested underbody and high-efficiency rear diffuser deliver the high-speed stability you need when drag racing or street shredding. Customise the look with optional hood scoop variations — including a matte black classic scoop or a stacked manifold intake — to dial in your vibe and make your outlaw truly your own. The 426 Outlaw is more than just Serpent’s street entry, it’s a full-scale rebellion in 1:7 scale.

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July 15, 2025

Landén dominates Nordic 1:10 Offroad C/ships

This year’s Nordic 1:10 Offroad Championship was organised by MHF-U Skarpnäck at their Blue Hill track in Stockholm, Sweden, where Team Associated’s Alexander Landén dominated proceedings. Direct from the get-go it was obvious that Swedish National Champion Landén was really on the pace in both classes, mainly challenged by Schumacher’s Elias Johnsson, the TLR of Ludwig Albertz and Alexander Gjemble also driving a Schumacher. In 2WD Landén secured three out of four qualifiers to secure the overall TQ spot in front of Johansson and Albertz. The finals got a bit interesting since the heavens opened and made the first finals completely wet. Landén got it right with the wet setup and could continue in the same fashion and was able to secure the title with wins in A1 and A2.

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June 16, 2025

Serpent Mini Spider 1:24 RTR Short Course

Better known for their high end onroad competition cars, Serpent has released this ‘fun’ 1:24 Mini Spider SC RTR. Made of super elastic plastic, the 2WD chassis is powered by a coreless motor that takes the Short Course truck up to 20km/h. If this is too fast for you in the living room or children’s room, you can also reduce the speed thanks to a rotary control nub. Throttle/brake and steering commands are sensitively implemented in full proportion by the 2.4GHz remote control. The Mini Spider SC has built-in ‘Electronic Stability Program’ (ESP) which keeps the rear-drive vehicle always well on track even on smooth surfaces such as laminate or tiled floors. Thanks to a built-in ‘gyro’, the truck detects unnatural movements of the rear and steers automatically against it to prevent a breakaway (to a certain extent).

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May 12, 2025

Catanzani makes it 2 from 2 in Italian GT Championship

Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani made it two from two at the second round of the highly competitive AMSCI 1:8 GT National Italian Championships which took place at Autodromo Di Vallelunga. Having TQ’d & won the season opener at the Kronio Speed Park track in Sicily in March, Catanzani was again the pace setter topping 3 of the four rounds of qualifying. Fresh from his debut at the Philippine Masters in Manila, offroad star Burak Kilic was back for another go at the Italian GT Championship. The Nova Engines factory driver, who podiumed at Round 1, would TQ the fourth round of qualifying to secure P2 ahead of the Raptor of Alessio Mazzeo and Capricorn of 2023 Champion Alex D’angelo with Genius Racing’s Leonardo Valente rounding out the Top 5. In the 45-minute main, Catanzani took his Gimar powered SRX8 GT.23 to the win over Gabriele Paloschi who would impressively turn around a difficult weekend. The 1:8 GT World Championship finalist struggled in qualifying ending up P8. In his Semi Final he would retire but in the Last Chance Qualifier race, the Capricorn driver to the win to secure P11 on the grid from where he came through for P2 ahead of 2024 Champion & Schepis Model team driver Rosario Giaimo. Unfortunately a wrong tyre choice meant Kilic missed the podium finishing in P4. For reigning European Champion Natanaele Senesi it was another tough weekend as he failed to qualify for the final having DNF’d at Round 1. In the eGT category Giaimo took the win from Mazzeo and D’angelo. Round 3 of the Championship travels to Circuito Stradivari on 19/20 July.

Image: Gabriele Paloschi [Facebook]