Red RC » Racing

March 6, 2026

IFMAR clarification on Electric Onroad Worlds in China

With the back to back hosting of the 1:12 and ISTC World Championships in Foshan, China, less than 3-weeks away, the World governing body IFMAR has issued a statement to clarify the situation surrounding the event and the current conflict in the Middle East. Having contacted drivers earlier in the week regarding flights, the Middle East a major travel hub for European’s travelling to Asia, today they issued clarification posting that while concerned by the unrest in the Middle East and its potential impact on travel they wanted to make it clear they are not seeking for postponement or cancellation of the event at this time. The Board of Directors added they have also requested to be provided with formal communication from the host local government having been made aware of discussions happening between the host and their local government regarding the Worlds hosting and a request to *consider* postponing the championships. The 22nd running of the 1:12 World Championship is set to take place at very impressive Hongyu GDC facility from March 26-29th followed by the 13th running of the World Championship for 1:10 Electric Touring Car from April 1-4.

View full clarification post from IFMAR here

March 5, 2026

Serpent sign Florida WinterNats winner Bruneau

Serpent has announced the signing of Joachim Bruneau to its factory team, the US racer the winner of the recent 50th edition of the famous Florida Winternats. Campaigning the pioneering nitro onroad manufacturer’s Viper 990R, which was released at the end of 2025, on the announcement Bruneau said, ‘I spent the first 8 years of my RC Racing career driving serpent cars and having owned my first Serpent car more than 25 years ago, joining Serpent as a factory driver is a dream come true. I can’t wait to learn from the incredible talent that is already at Serpent and to offer any value I may have to bring. Special thanks to Joaquin Desoto for the opportunity!’

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]

March 4, 2026

The Direct Drive Experiment by Jilles Groskamp

This has the potential to break the internet as touring car racers dissect every aspect of his creation but credit to Jilles Groskamp for this super interesting build he has called ‘The Direct Drive Experiment’. A driver renowned for his technical knowledge and attention to detail in developing car set-ups, having been a kingpin in the glory days of the Tamiya Racing Factory team, the IFMAR World Champion has created a very special Infinity IF14 Speciale that no longer features a drivetrain! Instead the Cayote electronics sponsored driver has fitted the car with four in-wheel drone 1400Kv motors with independent control of each using a micro controllers. Putting the car through its paces at his home track the MACH in the Netherlands, where he won his 2012 ISTC World Championship, could the reigning Nitro Touring Car World Champion be onto something and have just created the future direction for electric touring car design? Watch his video of the experiment here.

Source: Jilles Groskamp [Facebook]

March 4, 2026

Neumann joins XTR for accessories & fuel

Spanish brand XTR has announced that new WIRC signing Joern Neumann will use their accessories and Shoot fuel as part of his race program for the upcoming seasons. The highly accomplished offroad racer and former 1:8 GT World Champion, joined Italian manufacturer WIRC for 2026 after an 8-year stint with Taiwanese manufacturer Sworkz. Running Reds Racing engines, Neumann joins multiple time European Champions Elliott Boots and Reno Savoya in representing XTR and running Shoot fuel.

Source: XTR Racing [xtr-rc.com]

March 3, 2026

2025/26 RugRacers Season Finale – Report

The final round of the Herts based RugRacers Series took place over the weekend with Schumacher’s Elliot Harper, who already secured the Modified title, capping off the season with another win. While the Modified & Stock titles were already decided, Front Wheel Drive would go to the wire along with the Masters & Juniors for each class. In Modified, Round 3 would see Harper pushed all the way by Harley Eldridge & Alex Thurston, looking to maintain his perfect record he would close out Q1 by 1.3secs from Harley, Alex & Chris Grainger, Q2 again going to Elliot with Alex 2 secs back ahead of Harley, Q3 & Q4 were alsi in favour of Elliott giving him the TQ for the 2 Leg Finals. Leg 1, Elliott dropping the hammer immediately, he pulled a gap of 1.5s over the 1st few laps a gap he would maintain and grow as the race ran on to take victory in Leg 1, Harley 2nd with Alex just behind. Leg 2, Elliot had to work hard in the early part of the race before establishing enough of a gap he would be able to keep his 100% record intact out front, all the action was happening behind with Matthieu Dambrine making his way up to the 2nd spot ahead of Alex, Harley & Chris, Elliott getting the job done to secure the win, over both legs with a perfect championship score & TQs as the Rugracers Champion.

Continue reading here

March 3, 2026

Canas wins Spanish Nationals opener

Champion of the highly competitive AECAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy Spanish National Championship, Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas opened his 2026 campaign with a TQ and win. The Circuito RC Fernando Robles track in San Jose de la Rinconada played host to the first race of the 4-round championship with Canas taking 4 of the 5 qualifiers. Behind Robert Batlle made it an Sworkz 1-2 with a string of P2 runs while Tekno’s Joao Figueiredo completed the Top 3 having TQ’d the final qualifier. Winning his Semi final from Mugen Seiki’s David Todd Nieto, winner of the 2025 season opener, Figueiredo, and Sparko’s Daniel Pariente, winner of 2025 season finale, it was Canas who would start on pole, the Top 4 on the grid coming from the Semi A. Winner of the Semi B, Battle would line up P5. In the 45-minute final, Canas steered his Reds Racing powered Sworkz to the victory half a lap clear of Mugen’s Jose Miguel Sanchez with Adrian Pariente’s Sparko completing the podium ahead of Battle and Xray’s Oscar Baldo with Todd Nieto finishing sixth. In F2 category, the race attracting a combined 81 entries between F1 and F2, Saul Ordonez Ortiz made it a double celebration for Sworkz by also taking the TQ and win.

Image: Sworkz [Facebook]

March 3, 2026

Elias doubles at South American Championships

Brazilian Nitro Onroad stalwart Flavio Elias completed a double at the long running South American Championships winning both the 1:8 Onroad and 1:8 GT titles in Argentina over the weekend. Going into this year’s event as the defending GT champion having won that title, and finished 3rd in 1:8 Onroad, at the World’s host track CACH in Chile in 2025, the Capricorn/Ielasi Tuned driver kicked off the action at the Mendoza track by securing the GT TQ from Chile’s Alvaro Jara. In 1:8 Onroad he would also take the TQ this time ahead of Argentina’s Emilio Lanzilotta. In the 45-minute GT final, the 2025 IFMAR GT World Championship podium finisher would take a dominant win ahead of Jara who had a close battle with third place Franco Anderlucci. The 1:8 Onroad final would also see the 1:8 Onroad World Finalist be the class of the field to lead home Lanzilotta with Alexandro Giardino completing the podium.

Image: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]

March 2, 2026

Noble wins Asian Buggy C/ships opener in New Zealand

Sworkz’s Caleb Noble has won the opening round of the fourth season of the the Team Cayote and VP-Pro backed Asian Buggy Championships which was hosted by New Zealand’s Counties RC over the weekend. Having top qualified three classes, Noble went on to win all three – Nitro Buggy, eBuggy, and Nitro Truggy. It was a powerful performance from the Australian marking his move to Sworkz and JConcepts over the off-season. Noble led home Sworkz teammate, New Zealand’s Jayden Jamieson, in both buggy classes, and Kiwi Hotbodies driver Shane O’Connor in Truggy. The Nitro Buggy final was a straight shootout between Noble and Jamieson, with Jayden grabbing an early lead before Noble struck back on the cusp of the first fuel stop and, from there, driving away to a one-lap win. Kiwi veteran Mike Stratford drove a brilliant race from 9th on the grid to round out the podium and make it an Sworkz sweep. eBuggy was an easy win for Noble, dominating A1 and A2, with Jamieson trailing him home, and countryman Jonathan Coluccio (WIRC) an excellent third. Darren Perry (Masters 45+ EP and Nitro) and Shane O’Connor (eTruggy) were the other class winners. The series now moves to Malaysia’s Lap Paradise RC Raceway for April’s second round of the 2026 series.

Source: Asian Buggy Championships [asianbuggychamps.com]