Red RC » Electric

June 9, 2024

Orlowski opens ETS title defence with Dutch win

Schumacher Racing’s Michal Orlowski got his ETS title defence off to the perfect start with a victory at the season opener at the Dutch Apeldoorn circuit. Having secured the TQ at the first of this season’s reduced 5-round Championship calendar, the Pole continued his winning ways into the 17th season with victory over the Awesomatix pairing of Lucas Urbain and Marc Rheinard. In A1, which was held Saturday evening, Orlowski would struggle initially with the colder and windier evening conditions on the opening lap with second place qualifier Rheinard attempting a pass that saw the pair touch slightly allowing both Urbain and Akio Sobue to go through. Urbain would then have a spin handing the Axon of Sobue the lead. Pushed hard by Rheinard and Orlowski, Sobue was in defence mode and as Rheinard attempted to execute a pass both cars touched on the straight resulting in them both going flying off the track. Back in front Orlowski then cruised to a 2.5 second win over Urbain. Sunday morning’s A2 was a much more straight forward affair for Orlowski as he lead from start to finish setting the fastest lap as he took his Hobbywing powered Mi9 to the win. The winner of all four of the 6 rounds his busy schedule allowed him attend last year, his second consecutive Apeldoorn victory it marks his sixth ETS race win and sees him leave with maximum championship points for the weekend. Rheinard would win A3 as Urbain & Sobue battled for second, the pair coming together at the final corner, but Urbain’s second places in A1 & 2 gave him second overall with Rheinard completing the podium. In Pro Stock Top Qualifier Lukas Ellebrock took the win for Awesomatix, the Top 3 qualifiers finishing as the started with Tim Benson the runner-up and Champion Oliver Bultynck opening his title defence with the final step on the podium.

Image: ETS [Facebook]

June 8, 2024

Orlowski cruises to TQ at ETS season opener

Defending ETS Champion Michal Orlowski has claimed the TQ at the opening round of the 2024/25 season which is taking place at the Dutch Apeldoorn circuit. Having secured his first ETS title with an indoor victory at the season finale in Austria back in March, the Schumacher driver looks to have picked up where he left off taking his Mi9 to the fastest time in all four rounds of qualifying. One of the great outdoor touring car tracks which is a favourite among many top drivers, Apeldoorn was the location of Orlowski’s first ETS win on asphalt last year. Providing the biggest challenge to the Pole in qualifying was Marc Rheinard will start P2 for Awesomatix thanks to a pair of P2 runs. Team-mate Lucas Urbain, who joined the ranks of ETS Modified race winner last season, will start 3rd ahead of the Mugen Seiki of multiple Champion Ronald Volker and the Axon of Japanese ace Akio Sobue. In Pro Stock, Awesomatix’s Lukas Ellebrock also continued his winning finish to last season by securing the TQ ahead of Tim Benson, TQ run in Q3, and reigning Champion Oliver Bultynck who was fastest in Q3.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]

June 5, 2024

Ehrbar & Lee win at FFFF1 RC Race

The FFFF1 RC Race took place over the weekend at the Riccione track on Italy’s Adriatic coast where Xray duo David Ehrbar and Luke Lee took the wins, Lee winning a rather innovative ‘Long run’ 20-minute final. Attracting a number of international drivers a field of capacity 72 competitors from 7 nations made for an impressive F1 gathering with all cars running to the same technical regulations of using Hobbywing’s Justock 21.5 combo, minimum ratio of 2.4, and very resistant Fenix A rubber tyres. In the qualify German Ehrbar secured the TQ ahead of local star Gianni Zonzini and Dutch F1 stalwart Jitse Miedema. With 12 different brands of car represented at the event in the finals it was Ehrbar who completed a clean sweep to win ahead of Fenix Racing’s Miedema with Lee coming through from P6 on the grid to complete the traditional format finals. To complete the weekend in Riccione, drivers had the opportunity to try something different with a single 20-minute that include two mandatory pit stops. Drivers had a pit stop window with the first stop needing to take place between 2nd and 9th minute and the second between the 12th and 18th minute. Ehrbar would make a early mistake and unfortunately for Miedema his race was done after 5-laps as drivers faced a few drops of rain. All the while Lee was leading the way chased by a train of drivers but at the end of the 20-minutes the British racer had 2-second advantage over Luca Buono who was closely followed by Gonzalo Garcia for the final podium place and all all Xray Top 3.

View ‘Long Run’ podium here

June 3, 2024

Harper leads Schumacher 1-2 at British Nationals Rd2

Having announced his return to racing competition last September following a 3-year break, Elliot Harper led a Schumacher 1-2 at the second round of the British 1:10 Electric Touring Car National Championship over the weekend. Racing at the West London track, the former World Championship podium finisher secured the TQ with fastest times in 2 of the four qualifiers. Topping Q2 multiple Champion Chris Grainger secured P2 with teenager Daniel Robins making it a Schumacher Top 3 on the grid. Having made history recently as she became the first female driver to make a BRCA Offroad A-Main, Xray’s Harley Eldridge lined up P4 followed by Andy Murray and the Mugen Seiki of Alex Thurston who secured his first ever National win at Round 1 last month at Halifax. In the double mains, Harper lead home Grainger in A1 and Eldridge in A2 for the overall win from Grainger and with his third from Round 1 now leads the championship standings. After an intense battle in A2 to take second from Grainger, Eldridge would completed the podium ahead of Thurston with Robins finishing up P5.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]

June 3, 2024

Sawada wins Hobbywing Cup

Attracting a number of international factory team drivers, it was Xray’s Shin Sawada who took the big win at the Hobbywing Cup which took place at the Shanghai International Model Auto Racing Arena (SIMARA) in China over the weekend. Qualifying would see the Japanese driver top 3 of the 4 rounds of qualifying to secure the TQ ahead of team-mate Alexander Hagberg who went fastest in the final qualifier. Team Yokomo’s Nicolas Lee would complete the Top 3 in the feature Open Brushless class ahead of China’s very own JJ Wang. Representing Awesomatix and a driver who does a lot of development work for Hobbywing, 1:12 Spec World Champion Max Mächler lined up 6th on the grid. In the triple final Sawada continued his form setting the fastest lap of the race to win A1 repeating the feat again in A2 for the overall win. Winning A3, Hagberg would finish runner-up while P2 in A3 promoted Wang to third overall for an all Xray podium. Lee was best of the rest taking his Yokomo to fourth ahead of Mächler who moved up one spot to finish fifth.

Source: Hobbywing [hobbywing.com]

May 30, 2024

2024 Speed King Tour Rd2 – Report

After a successful opening round of the Speed King Tour 2024 at the Super RC Omiya indoor tarmac track, the popular and competitive electric touring car series sponsored by Rakusai Model moved outdoors for Round 2 at TM Circuit Wakayama in Wakayama prefecture. Now in its 11th year, this race series travels to circuits across Japan to compete for the series championship through six rounds. For the first time in the event’s history, the number of entries reached 100, Atsushi Hara among the line-up, and many racers came to the track a day early. Considering the weather forecast that the next day would be rainy, the organisers decided to hold one round of qualifying for the top category TC0 (Modified) class on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, it rained on the day of the event, and the decision was made to cancel the race. The TC0 class standings were determined based on the previous day’s qualifying results. The winner was Tamiya driver Ryoma Yoshida, a local junior high school driver, with Takara Sano also driving a Tamiya in second with the Infinity of Ryosuke Yamamoto completing the podium. The next round, Round 3, will be held on 14th of July at the new Next Rush Circuit in Chiba prefecture.

Source: Speed King Tour [speedkingtour.com]

May 28, 2024

Wins for Smith & Orlowski at Scotty Ernst UK Showdown

With it a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK, Scotty Ernst took his UK Showdown to the famed Robin Hood Raceway where Schumacher pairing Ben Smith and Michal Orlowski took the two big wins. The second year of the event, in 2WD qualifying it was Smith, fresh from his British National win a week earlier, that took the TQ after topping 3 of the 5 rounds. Behind him with 2 TQ run was Orlowski ahead of Team Associated’s Tommy Hall and Schumacher’s Lee Martin. While Smith took all three A-Mains, the main battle as first second. Hall got by Orlowki for the second in A1, with Orlowski 2nd in A2 but both where passed by Luke Holdsworth in A3 and it was a tie-breaker between the pair with Hall getting the second spot. Bank Holiday Monday’s 4WD action saw reigning European Champion Orlowski secure the TQ with fastest times in 2 of the 4 qualifiers. Fastest in Q1, Jamie Hall would line up second ahead of Lee Martin, Tommy Hall and Smith who had TQ’d Q2. In the triple finals, Orlowski secure the overall victory with wins in A1 & 2, while Jamie Hall secured the runner-up spot with the A3 ahead of Martin who completed the 4WD podium.

Image: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]

May 21, 2024

Smith & Hall winners at British Nationals Round 2

The second round of the BRCA British 1:10 Offroad Nationals was hosted by the Herts Nitro Model Club over the weekend where Schumacher’s Ben Smith and Team Associated’s Tommy Hall took the wins. 2WD qualifying would see Smith secure the TQ with a clean sweep of the four qualifiers. Behind Hall secured P2 ahead of Josh Holdsworth, Lee Martin and Round 1 winner Neil Cragg. The finals would see Smith’s form continue as he wrapped up the overall win in A2. Winning A3 Hall would secure second while Cragg got his Associated ahead of Martin’s Schumacher to complete the podium. Sunday’s 4WD action would see Hall repeat his season opening performance by starting from the TQ and making it two from two. With the Top 5 finishing in the order they qualified, it was Martin who took second ahead of Craig, Smith and Thomas Phipps. It was to be a record making day in Herts as Xray’s Hayley Eldridge became the first female racer to make the A-Main, a feat that was recognised by her receiving “Star of the day” Award.

Image: HNMC 1/10th Electric [Facebook]