Red RC » Racing

March 30, 2026

24th Hobby Expo China

First held in 2001 and having establish itself as Asia’s most influential hobby and model exhibitions, April 17-19 will see the staging of the 24th edition of Hobby Expo China. Taking place in the Beijing Exhibition Centre in the capital city and covering 25,000 square metres of exhibition space, last year the expo welcomed more than 70,000 visitors who were greeted by more than 320 international & Chinese exhibitors showcasing their products and also using the opportunity to unveiled new products. One such exhibitor was Taiwan’s Hong Nor who gave its first public showing of its XB5 1:8 Nitro Buggy release which has proven a hugely successful return for the manufacturer to the competition offroad market. HEC has become a key platform for connecting global brands, distributors, and hobby enthusiasts across the entire model industry and is the country’s only International hobby exhibition approved by the Ministry of Commerce in China. It also brings together the entire industry chain, from design and manufacturing to distribution and retail. HEC serves too as a key gateway for international companies seeking commercial opportunities and market access in China. With Chinese manufacturers having become key established brands in the RC racing scene, Hobbywing and Flysky are among the home manufacturers taking part in the HEC while international exhibitors include legacy brands like Kyosho and Futaba. Red RC will be making the trip to Beijing to visit the 2026 Hobby Expo China which in addition to two halls of RC car related products also has halls covering RC aircraft and boats, diecast cars, scale models (military, civil, railway, aerospace), figures, collectibles, creative models, model-making tools & materials, and additive manufacturing for 3D printing.

View Floor Plan & more images here

March 30, 2026

Ripoll gets title defence off to perfect start

Xray’s top international 1:8 Onroad racer Maxime Ripoll has got the defence of his French National title off to the perfect start with a dominant performance at the opening round of the 2026 Championship. The first encounter of the 5 round FFVRC Championship was hosted by the BMVRC club in the south east of the country with over 70 entries. Greeted by cold weather conditions, rain would effect qualifying with just 2 of the 4 scheduled rounds run but with his time from Q1 it was Ripoll who took the Elite class TQ with his Max engined RX8 ahead Baptiste Jimenez and Jules David. In the final Ripoll and Jimenez held the top 2 positions for the opening 20-laps before the later hot problems and soon retired. With the fastest lap of the race, Ripoll would take a comfortable victory over the No.8 car of Christophe Louis who finished just held off Stephane Riccobono.

Image: Maxime Ripoll [Facebook]

March 30, 2026

Boda opens French title defence with win

Defending French National 1:8 Nitro Buggy Champion Clement Boda has got his title defence off to the perfect start, the Team Associated driver winning the opening round of the 2026 championship at the ARCF42 track near Lyon. Securing the title with victory at last season’s finale, Boda would not have a great run in qualifying as 2025 title rival Noha Ben Mohamed took his Sparko to the TQ honours at the end of qualifying with Boda ending up starting P3 in his Semi final. Regrouping for the finals, Boda would take the win in his Semi to secure pole for the Main which the 21-year-old would duly go on to lead from start to finish. After struggling in his Semi final, Xray’s Rémy Bermudez would improve his buggy for the Main and the 18-year-old was able to finish 2nd with Tekno driver Theo Lemaire completing the first podium of the 5 round championship.

Image: ARCF42 [Facebook]

March 30, 2026

Adrian Pariente win Spanish eBuggy National opener

Sparko’s Adrian Pariente has opened the Spanish 1:8 eBuggy National Championship with victory, the winner of last year’s nitro buggy championship finale, taking the electric win at the RC Silla track near Valencia. A race that made headlines last week as a new registration ruling left National Nitro Champion Juan Carlos Canas and others without an entry, it was defending electric champion Daniel Pariente who opened the weekend at the top of the timing to Top Seeding ahead of his brother Adrian with Mugen Seiki’s David Todd Nieto P3. While Todd took Q1, fastest in Q3, 4 & 5, it was Adrian who secured the TQ from Todd while Daniel, fastest in Q2, secured third on the grid. In the triple wins wins the first two 10-minute encounters locked in the overall win, while Todd took A3 to secured second. Daniel completed the podium ahead of Sparko’s Hugo Ibáñez Ramirez and Xray’s Oscar Baldo. In eTruggy, Daniel took the win from his brother with Top Qualifier Todd finishing on the final step of the podium.

Image: Adrian Pariente [Facebook]

March 30, 2026

Polito wins Italian Nationals Round 2 from Ongaro

Sworkz’s Mattia Polito took the win at the second round of the AMSCI 1:8 Nitro Buggy Italian National Championship reversing the result of the season opener as he beat defending Champion Davide Ongaro. Racing at the OspyTeam track in the north of the country, after the four rounds of qualifying it was Polito who secured the TQ ahead of the Team Associated of Ongaro, Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic and Kyosho’s Marco Baruffolo. Polito posted TQ runs in the opening three rounds with Ongaro topping the final round. With Ongaro winning his Semi in the faster time, the 10-time consecutive National Champion secured pole for the final ahead of the WIRC of 5th place qualifier Andrea Trevisan who won the other Semi ahead of Polito. In the 45-minute final, with the Top 3 quickly breaking away, on lap 3 a bobble from Trevisan allowed Polito to move into second. Approaching the 7-minute mark a mistake from Ongaro would see him clip a corner pipe and spin around handing Polito a lead he would hold and extend to win by almost 4-seconds from the World Champion. Half a lap back Trevisan completed the podium ahead of Kyosho’s Riccardo Berton and Xray’s Alex Zanchettin with Kilic completing the Top 6. In eBuggy, Ongaro would make it two from two with the Round 2 win ahead of Top Qualifier Polito with Trevisan enjoying a double podium weekend with P3.

Image: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]

March 25, 2026

AECAR Statement in response to Canas having no entry for eBuggy National C/ship opener

AECAR, the governing body for RC racing in Spain, has issued a statement in response to yesterday’s news that Juan Carlos Canas will not be at this weekend’s opening round of the 1:8 Electric Buggy National Championship as he has no entry following a new ruling for the new season. With the new for 2026 ruling also affecting other racers including Xray team driver Bryan Baldo, and causing plenty of international online discussion, in the statement AECAR outlines its reasoning behind the introduction of 24-hour ruling. It would still appear however that Canas and Baldo will have a free weekend from racing and hopefully for the remaining rounds a more workable solution is found.

Read full AECAR Statement here

March 24, 2026

Kato doubles at SIGP

Kouki Kato completed the double at this year’s SIGP, the Infinity successfully defending his 2025 Nitro win and adding the eBuggy title this year in the Xiamen, China. Rescheduled from its traditional end of year date, this year’s earlier running of the race mean’t a much reduced international entry for the Sunpadow Batteries staged race. With a 2025 entry that included Xray’s David Ronnefalk, Infinity’s Bruno Coelho, and Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen, Kato won a thrilling Nitro A-Main last year but this year the Asian Buggy Championships Champion would dominate proceedings. A race that only made its post Covid return in 2024, World Champion Davide Ongaro taking that win, qualifying for the 2026 edition would see the Japanese driver top all 5 qualifiers to secure the TQ honours ahead of Team Associated promising Korean teenager Jung Hyunkyu and 2023 FEMCA Champion Jeff Wang from Taiwan. In the 45-minute final, while Hyunkyu got out front early on for a number of laps, once Kato got back in the lead he would hold on to win by a final 6-second margin, Hyunkyu showing strong pace with the fastest lap of the race. Wang would complete the podium, this being the same order as they finished eBuggy.

Image: Kouki Kato [Facebook]

March 24, 2026

New rule rules Canas out of Spanish Championship

Defending Spanish National Champion & professional 1:8 Offroad racer Juan Carlos Canas is to miss this weekend’s opening round of the National eBuggy Championship after a new administration process introduced by the national governing body AECAR. The factory Sworkz driver appears to have missed a new 24-hour registration window and has no entry for the opening encounter of the highly competitive national championship. Making a post on social media Canas, who won the nitro season opener, explained that once he noticed entries had opened, and given he was racing in the US with an 8-hour time difference, he made his entry and payment. However it was only when he contacted a ‘delegate of Spain’ about the race at RC Silla that he discovered he didn’t have a place due to the new 24-hour rule.

Read his full post here