October 28, 2023

‘Every race we start from zero’ – Gruber

Two weeks ago Toni Gruber took the biggest prize of his racing career yet.  Realising the ultimate dream, he clinched his first World Championship title with a very convincing victory at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney, Australia.   The victory didn’t really come as too much of a surprise however as the German is in the form of his life this season.  However, despite claiming the 1:10 Nitro Onroad European Championship for a second time during the Summer, following that up a month later by becoming Top Qualifier at the 1:8 Euros where he finished on the podium, and then rounding out the European season with his first ENS title win, the sport’s newest World Champion goes into the 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan with the mindset ‘every race we start from zero’.

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October 28, 2023

ROAR removes Trinity Slot Machine from approved list

ROAR, the sanctioning body for RC racing in the United States & Canada, has removed Trinity Slot Machine motors from its approved motor list.  In a statement it said, ‘ROAR and Horizon Hobby have jointly agreed to remove the Trinity Slot Machine motors from ROAR’s list of approved motors.  This decision will take effect on November 10, 2023 and applies to all versions of the Slot Machine motors (i.e.,13.5T, 17.5T, 21.5T and 25.5T). ROAR routinely purchases and re-inspects previously approved motors to ensure that the final production version does not differ from those that were originally submitted for certification.  Following one such check, ROAR recently discovered that significant changes had been made to the internal design of the Slot Machine motor after they had already been inspected and approved by ROAR’s technical staff.

Continue reading statement here


October 27, 2023

TITC 2024 – Announcement

Having established itself as one of the biggest international races on the Electric Touring Car calendar outside of the World Championship, the TITC has announced that entries for the Bangkok based event will open on November 20th.  Taking place at Infinity RC Addict track on February 29th – March 3rd, the 20th edition of the race will feature 5 classes – Modified Touring Car, Open Brushless, Non Boost, Porsche Thailand Cup (TTo2) and FWD.  Mod and Open TC will use Sweep tyres while Non Boost with use Ride.  This year saw the return of the Thailand International Touring Car Championship after an absence of two years due to Covid.  Making a return to the event, having missed the 2019 edition, back to back World Champion Bruno Coelho took the win to become the legendary race’s second most successful driver behind Atsushi Hara who has won it four times.

Source: TITC [titc.in.th]


October 26, 2023

‘I think Dario was racing European Championships before I was born’ – meet Serpent’s 1:8 Onroad young gun Andrea Catanzani

The last time the 1:8 Onroad World Championship was held in Japan it was Serpent who came away with the title thanks to Japanese driver Tadahiko Sahashi.  At the same time almost 10,000km away in Italy an 8-year-old was embarking on his journey into RC Racing.  Inspired by his father, one of the country’s top Rally Game drivers (the precursor to what we now know as 1:8 GT), this driver started to master his skills driven by view of his father, ‘for me he was the best and I wanted to be like him’.  Now a decade later, that up & coming talent is part of a small select factory Serpent team that will compete for the title at the 23rd running of IFMAR’s original World Championship at the Infinity International RC Speedway in Japan.  That driver is recently turned 18-year-old Andrea Catanzani, who earlier this month marked his arrival on the international stage with some stunning displays of outright speed and hunger for success at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney.

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October 26, 2023

British GT12 Nationals RD2 Tamworth – Report

Last Sunday was Round 2 of the BRCA GT12 National Championship held in Tamworth by the TRRAC club.  The track was a nice flowing layout, with a couple of technical sections and a high grip level.  A big thanks to the TRRAC club for their incredible effort put into hosting this national event.  In qualifying, Adam Mackman managed to take the overall TQ with an impressive 11.87 fastest lap in the final round, with Sam Coult in 2nd and Aidan Ripley in 3rd.  Mark Jewitt followed closely behind in 4th, whilst there was a total of 4 seconds separating 5th to 8th place completing the A Final. A special mention to 12 year old Chase Mackman for qualifying 6th for his first ever national A Final!  In the Mini Supercup class, Matthew Smithson TQ’d with a fast 21 lap qualifying run, followed by Paul Frewin in 2nd and James Kemp in 3rd.  As the A Final started the top 3 started to grow a gap from the rest of the drivers, with Adam, Sam and Aidan racing for the number 1 spot.  A small error from Aidan allowed Mark Jewitt to catch up and take the 3rd place spot.  Chase Mackman managed to gain a position and move into 5th overall. Whilst 3rd and 4th were battling for position, this allowed Adam and Sam to form a 4 second lead.  With a full 6 minutes of clean racing between Adam and Sam, Adam managed to hold onto 1st and take the overall win with a gap of 0.2s to Sam in 2nd.

View Podium results/photos here


October 24, 2023

2023 Foshan International Invitational RC Championship – Announcement

The new GDC Indoor Race Club track in Guangdong, China, is pleased to announcement its first international race event with the hosting of the Foshan International Invitational RC Championship on December 15-17.  Located in the centre of Foshan City, the brand new facility was officially opened in May of this year and at 800 square metres is the largest professional indoor onroad track in China.  Founded by the international athlete Mr. Kwok Yiu-wai, GDC Remote Control Racing Club hope by hosting this major international electric onroad race that they can boost the level of competition among young local racers.  It is also hoped the event will become an annual highlight of the international touring car race calendar.  Commenting on the inaugural running of the event the organisers said, ‘The purpose is to let local drivers see the level of international races and drivers, and to allow our teenagers to have close contact with world champions and top drivers to improve their level. We hope to held this event annually from this year.’  With a number of international team drivers expected to be announced in the coming weeks, the schedule for the Foshan International Invitational RC Championship will be made up of 5 categories – Modified Touring Car, 13.5T Handout Touring Car, Modified 1:12, 17.5T Handout FWD Touring and 21.5T Handout 1:10 F1.

View track images here


October 24, 2023

Lin wins 2023 Futaba/O.S. Cup

Taiwan’s largest event of the year was held over the weekend at the Erchong Floodway track in New Taipei City, where Hong Nor’s owner Hsiang Lin took the win in 1:8 GT.  The annual Futaba/O.S. Cup attracted almost 80 drivers from Taiwan and Singapore, and just back from Australia after watching his team driver Toni Gruber claim the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championship with their X3-GTS, Lin took his own explain to both the TQ and win.  Making it back to back wins of the event, Lin was joined on the all Hong Nor/Ielasi tuned podium by Su Jiahong and 3rd placed Liú Qiáozhì.

Image: Hong Nor [Facebook]


October 23, 2023

Landén doubles in Swedish National Cup – Report

Over the weekend the second & final round of the 1:10 Buggy Swedish National Cup was held in Borås where it was Team Associated driver Alexander Landén who completed the series double.  The largest indoor event for a long time in Sweden, the race attracted 63 2WD and 43 4WD drivers who arrived Saturday morning to a freshly built layout for the series decider.  In 2WD, right from the start it was quite clear that Landén seemed to be the one to beat this time.  Locking out all four qualifying rounds we also had the opportunity to test some new ideas on the setup during the fourth round, which improved the car even more for the finals. Behind Alexander, Xray drivers Hampus Berg and David Ronnefalk would line up 2nd and 3rd on the grid. Alexander secured the win by taking the first two rounds with relative comfort, being the only driver scoring 19 lap runs.  Hampus Berg won the final leg and by that securing second and third place went to Otto Ausfelt (AE) tied on points with Ronnefalk.  This also meant that Landén was crowned the overall Series Champion.

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