Red RC » Racing

April 15, 2026

2026 Hobby Expo China – Preview

This weekend sees the staging of the 24th edition of Hobby Expo China at the Beijing Exhibition Centre in the capital city and the main RC related halls, 9 & 11, will see 70 booths display their products among over 300 exhibitors of hobby products. With international Chinese RC brands like Hobbywing, FlySky, Gens ace, Savox, Sunpadow, Surpass Hobby, ISDT, and Carisma represented as well as foreign brands Kyosho and Futaba, the Expo will also feature a number of RC car demos area which will greet visitors as they enter the exhibition centre. With the Expo covering 25,000 square metres, the promoters have created a designated Buggy & Rally Demo area, an RC Drifting area, and a Crawler area, where members of the public will get the opportunity to try each of these disciplines for themselves – a key ‘try me’ opportunity to encourage and attract new interest in the RC hobby at all levels. With Red RC visiting the established & important Expo for the first time this weekend, talking to those in the industry who have attended previously we have been warned to be surprised by the size of the crowds the Expo attracts and how busy it is. Officially more than 70,000 attended last year over the 3-days. In addition to public visitors, the show also attracts buyers and distributors, brand representatives, supply chain and manufacturing professionals, product development and marketing teams, and institutions (museums, education, sports). Running from Friday to Sunday, the HEC also has a huge number of diecast model exhibitors, many of whom do limited edition show releases which contribute to the high public attendance and hype around the weekend. While we will focus on RC car related content while visiting, we will also be looking at diecasts both out of personal interest but also to explore if there is anything to be learned from what that segment are doing to generate the current interest in that market especially in China.

View floor plan here

April 15, 2026

IFMAR Large Scale Worlds on target for capacity entry

The IFMAR Large Scale World Championships look set to return with a potential capacity entry in Switzerland as the governing body published details on the latest entries ahead of the Summer event. The last World title for the class was awarded back in 2022 after the planned 2024 World Championships in Australia was cancelled due to a lack of entries. With the class popular in Europe, the awarding of the race to the iconic MRTM Lostallo track, the home of large scale racing, the 12th running of the Worlds looks set to be close to the 150 permitted entries. In its post, IFMAR highlighted that 111 entries have been received from the EFRA Bloc (Europe), with 6 from FEMCA (Asia), 1 from FAMAR (South America) and up to 5 from ROAR (North America). With the Worlds 3 & a half months away, any open places with be redistributed the first week of which could allow 16 more drivers from Europe to join the race. With Lostallo hosting the opening round of the 2026 Euro Large Scale Series last weekend, which was won by reigning World Champion Markus Feldmann, round 2 of that series at the end of June will act as the World Warm-up race, track staging the actual Worlds from July 27 to August 1st.

Source: IFMAR [Facebook]

April 15, 2026

Isaacs wins Mod TC at Canadian Nationals

Awesomatix’s Sam Isaacs took the Modified Touring Car win at this year’s Canadian Onroad Nationals hosted by Rose City Speedway in Ontario. Attracting 339 entries, Xray’s Adam Izsay made the trip to the race with the Hungarian coming away with four podium finishes that also included winning the large Touring Super Stock field and the FWD class. In Modified TC, it was multiple ROAR Champion Isaacs who secured the TQ ahead of defending Champion Hebert. In the single A-Main Isaacs led from start to finish, with Izsay, who set the fastest lap of the race, getting by Hebert for second. While a small field in 1:12 Modified, Hebert held onto his title winning from Isaacs as Top Qualifier Izsay who dropped to third. With Touring Super Stock having a big enough entry to warranty a G Final, it was Eric Anderson who was Iszay’s closest challenger with his Awesomatix while Craig Xavier completed the podium from 4th on the grid and also won Touring Stock. Interestingly Anderson won himself a Giant Mountain Bike in the race raffle!!

Image: Sam Isaacs [Facebook]

April 14, 2026

Feldmann wins ELS opener at Lostallo

The opening round of the Euro Large Scale Series (ELS) 2026 took place at Lostallo in Switzerland over the weekend where it was reigning 1:5 Touring Car World Champion Markus Feldmann who took the win. In qualifying it was Feldmann who took his GRP equipped Mecatech to the TQ honours and a new lap record ahead of Italian’s Emanuele D’amico and Edoardo Repetti. In Super Pole shot out, it was D’amico who locked himself a direct spot into the half hour final. While D’amico set the fastest lap of the final he could not deny his German rival the win, Feldmann’s advantage after 75-laps being almost 10-seconds. With Repetti retirng from the race after 18-minutes, the podium was completed by Belgium racer Giovanni Verbrugghe who started from 10th on the grid. Behind him reigning European Champion Carsten Keller came home in P4. Round 2 of the Euro Large Scale Series takes place over the weekend of June 26-28, again at Lostallo, the race also serving as the official Warm-up Race for the Large Scale World Championships scheduled for August.

Image: Mecatech Racing [Facebook]

April 13, 2026

Double ACT State Titles for Donnelly

Team Associated’s Lachlan Donnelly claimed a double at the ACT State titles in Australia over the weekend. The reigning National 2WD Champion won the Canberra Off Road Model Car Club hosted titles race after first securing the 2WD TQ ahead of Matthew Couper, Ari Bakla and Lachlan Munday. Completing Saturday’s action he would go on to win all three A-mains to secure the title ahead of Xray’s Couper with Munday getting ahead of Bakla to complete the podium with his Associated. Switching to 4WD action for Sunday, Donnelly again took the TQ topping all four rounds with Xray’s Bakla second ahead of Munday and Couper. Another clean sweep of the finals completed the perfect weekend for Donnelly with a podium line-up the same as they qualified. In Stock, Samuel Muffett took the TQ and win repeating his 2WD feat.

Image: Lachlan Donnelly [Facebook]

April 13, 2026

Kurzbuch wins Ielasi Tuned Trophy

Mugen Seiki’s Simon Kurzbuch enjoyed another win on Italian soil, the Swiss racer backing up his recent win of the Pepe Group International Race with victory at the annual Ielasi Tuned Trophy. A race first hosted by former World Champion Daniele Ielasi in 2015, the annual Ielasi Tuned Trophy again attracted some big names to the Northern Italian Leno track. While last year’s winner Dario Balestri was absent from this year’s line-up, qualifying for the 7th edition would see Kurzbuch secure the 1:8 TQ ahead of Capricorn’s Toni Gruber, Infinity’s Francesco Tironi and Serpent’s Mirko Salemi while World Championship Top Qualifier Andrea Catanzani ended up P6. While Gruber would post the fastest lap of the 45-minute final, the German could do anything about Kuzbuch taking the win, his margin 9.5-seconds at the finish. Kurzbuch’s father assisted in pit lane for the final by US racer Paolo Morganti who nlw heads up Ielasi Tuned America. Salemi would just hold off Simone Lotti for the final podium pacing. Catanzani would finish P5 ahead of Tironi who hit problems late in the first half of the race but rejoined after losing over a minute. In 1:10, Mario Spiniello took the TQ but retired from the final with Australian stalwart Gerhard Kandelhart, last year’s Top Qualifier but hitting trouble in the final, taking the win.

Images: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]

April 13, 2026

Kaerup wins Savox Grand Prix in Taiwan

World Champion Marcus Kaerup took the wins at the annual Savox 1:8 Offroad Grand Prix which was staged at the RC66 track in Taoyuan, Taiwan. The servo manufacturer invited a number of their international team drivers to the event with Kaerup also joined by Korean Team Associated team-mate Jung Hyunkyu, Infinity’s Kouki Kato, and Xray’s Max Gotzl. With a total of 121 entries, racing on the unique track which is located under a highway bridge and was host of the 2023 FEMCA Championships, it was Kaerup who took the TQ in both Nitro and Electric ahead of recent Sunpadow Grand Prix winner Kato and the Chinese race’s runner up Hyunkyu. In the 50-minute final, Kaerup would hand the lead to Kato after a big error early on. The Asian Buggy Championships Champion would stay out front until lap 70 with the Japanese driver eventually having to settle for second 8-seconds back on the Dane. With Hyunkyu having a tough final suffering a broken rear shock after early contact he ran last of the 14 starters for a time before eventually finishing P9, it was the Wang Hao who completed the podium. In eBuggy, while Kato won A1, Kaerup took A2 & 3 for the overall ahead of Kato with Gotzl on the final step of the podium.

Image: Marcus Kaerup [Facebook]

April 9, 2026

Masters of Foam 2026 – Announcement

Establishing itself as one of the major annual races on the international 1:12 calendar, the Belgian based Masters of Foam has announced the 2026 edition will run from October 23-25th. Hosted by Miniatuur Racing Club Zwevegem, the 2025 edition of the race attracted over 150 entries with British racer Ollie Payne doing the double. Also counting 1:12 World Champion Alexander Hagberg as a previous champion, Masters of Foam returns to the same venue as last year, the OC De Spoele venue located in Zwevegem in the province of West Flanders which is in the North East of the country.

Source: Masters of Foam [Facebook]