Red RC » Drivers

August 16, 2013

Atsushi Hara leaves HPI/HB Racing

Atsushi Hara leaves HB/HPI Racing

Two-time World Champion Atsushi Hara has announced that he has left long time main sponsor HPI/HB Racing following 13 years with the team. Widely regarded by many as the best all round driver in the history of the sport, the 2 world titles in both touring car (2000) and 1/8th offroad (2008) are just the highlights of a very successful career which has included countless podiums in all the major classes both onroad & offroad at World, International and National level. The decision to part company with HPI was mutual and for now the Japanese ace has yet to make any decision on a replacement chassis sponsor. We chatted with Atsushi some weeks back, when he flew to Slovakia for the ETS Finale, and he hinted back then that something was about to change.

Read Hara’s full statement here (in English & Japanese)

August 6, 2013

Michael Orlowski wins Junior European TC title

On last weekend‘s EFRA European Electric Touring Car championship Team Durango’s Michael Orlowski won the Junior European title by finishing 7th in the B final. The young Polish driver, who also is a successful competitor in the Euro Offroad Series, used a prototype of Team Durango’s forthcoming DETC410 touring car as did Michal’s team mate Elliott Harper who finished third overall.

Source: Durango [team-durango.com]

July 31, 2013

Marc Rheinard to run THECars at the NEORace

JQ Products may not have won a World Championship so far but can now say a World Champion is running their gear. The company today announced that three time IMFAR Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard is going to run JQ Product’s latest nitro and electric 1/8th buggies at the upcoming NEORace later in August. Having run 1/8th buggies at various occasions Marc has a bit of experience with the noisy, dirty stuff so it will be interesting to see where he ends up given the Neobuggy races are well known for their challenging track layouts.

Source: JQ Products [jq-products.com]

July 18, 2013

Cody King & Ty Tessmann join Team Orion

Team Orion announce the signing of Cody King and Ty Tessmann to run the company’s electric components in order to be ready for the 1/10 Electric World Championships held at Silver Dollar Raceway, Chico, California later this year. Both drivers will power their car with Team Orion’s latest motors and speed controllers while Ty will also use the company’s chargers. Both Cody and Ty will have their first outing with the new equipment during this weekend’s Hot Rod Hobbies Schootout.

Source: Team Orion [teamorion.com]

July 17, 2013

Sancho & Garcia win at Spanish TC nats Rd2

The second round of the Spanish Federation’s electric touring car nationals was held at the Madrid Capa club under the best possible weather conditions. In the Modified class Schumacher driver Raul Sancho took the win from Javi Ferrano (Tamiya) and Vicente Eres (VBC Racing). In the Stock class Gonzalo Garcia (Serpent) was the man to beat, he left Vicente Eres (VBC Racing) and Rafa Ortiz (TOP) in second and third place respectively.

Click here to view the Stock podium

June 30, 2013

Matthew Olson joins Team Zombie USA

Team MIP team driver Matthew Olson, winner of most Pro4 Short Course races in the USA this past year has joined Team Zombie USA. Matt will be using their newest design 7200mah Rampire series which is made to provide 10 plus minutes of run time for all of the heavy 4wd Short Course trucks on the market. We are proud to Have Matthew joining the team. Olson had this to say:

Thank you so much Team Zombie and Felix Law for the opportunity to represent Zombie Batteries for 2013 and beyond. My first outing with Zombie packs was beyond outstanding at this years ShortCourse Showdown held at Holeshot raceway were I TQ’d and Won 4×4 Short Course over Trinity driver JR Mitch! The ultra powerful 7200mah 75c 2-Cell Zombie packs held up to the Florida humidity and 7 min A-Main event. The batteries never faded and had plenty of juice left, to even finish a 10 min main if needed. Thank you again Zombie Batteries for providing me the power to top the charts.

Source: Express RC Hobbies [expressrchobbies.com]

June 17, 2013

Daniele Ielasi joins Capricorn

Capricorn have announced the signing of 2008 1/10th World Champion Daniele Ielasi. The deal is effective immediately and the former Shepherd driver will compete in the 1/8th and 1/10th European Championships as a Capricorn driver. The Italian had this to say about the deal:

I would like to thank the complete Shepherd family for our excellent cooperation and for the good job they made in the past years. We always had and will have a good relation and it was really a pleasure to be part of this great team. I know that this kind of change in the middle of the season is not easy to manage but after a long and careful consideration I have to take this hard decision. From now on I will be part of the Capricorn team as a driver for the 1/10 and the 1/8 car. I’m sure that my experience will give a new improvement and I’m very happy to be part of the best Italian drivers in the same Capricorn team with an Italian car and Italian engine.

Source: Capricorn [capricornrc.com]

June 6, 2013

Josh Wheeler joins VP PowerMaster

VP PowerMaster announce the addition of Josh Wheeler to their world class team of drivers. Josh is known around the world as a serious threat at any event. He is a multi-time IFMAR Worlds finalist and always seems to be up front in the hunt for a major podium. Josh kicked off his VP PowerMaster debut with a top five finish in Truggy at the ROAR Nationals warm-up in Houston, TX and then a pair of 2nd place finishes in Pro Buggy and Truggy at the AKA Mid-America Championship race in Dallas, TX.

Source: VP [powermasterfuels.com]