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April 7, 2026

Canas wins ‘Neoland’ on iconic race’s return

Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas has won Neoland, the Spaniard taking the Nitro Buggy win on the return of racing to Harper Adams in the UK over the Easter weekend. The spiritual home of Philip Mortstedt’s Neo Race, a race that was widely referred to as the 1:8 Buggy Indoor World Championships, well known international track builder and Buggyland race promoter Miguelo Izquierdo Rodriguez resurrected the Neo event after a decade, and while he was somewhat under the radar for most of the weekend Canas came good when it counted most to win the 45-minute final. In qualifying it was the Xray of David Ronnefalk who secured the TQ, topping 2 of the 3 rounds, ahead of Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro, fastest in Q3 and also taking the overall eBuggy TQ. The Sworkz’s Mattia Polito would line-up third ahead of Canas with Mugen Seiki’s Berkan Kilic and Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup completing the Top 6 on the 15-car grid. In the final Ronnefalk would lead the way for the first 20-minutes with Canas pushing him ever harder. The pair would tangle but resume in the same order only for Canas to execute the pass he was trying to line up shortly after. Once in front he took charge of the race to win by 3.5 seconds from Ongaro. Making a wrong call on tyre compound, Ronnefalk would eventually drop to P6 with Ongaro taking second and the Sworkz of 7th place qualifier Elliott Boots completing the podium just ahead of Kilic. In Easter Sunday’s eBuggy encounter, while Ongaro won A1 it was Ronnefalk who took the title with wins in A2 & 3. Behind Ongaro in second, eBuggy World Champion Kaerup completed the podium from P10 on the grid with Kilic finishing fourth.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

April 6, 2026

Phend wins Psycho Nitro Blast

The 19th edition of the Tennessee based Psycho Nitro Blast took place over the Easter weekend where Xray’s Dakotah Phend took the win, completing a nitro double at the indoor race with the Buggy and Truggy victories. With just two rounds of qualifying it was Team Associated’s Brandon Rose who topped the opening round of Nitro Buggy with Phend topping Q2 which proving faster who secure the latter the overall TQ. Behind Sworkz’s Camden Lime secured P3 on the grid ahead of Tekno’s Spencer Heckert and Sworkz’s Silver State winner Mason Fuller with Xray’s Tater Sontag completing the Top 6. Doing the double last year, a repeat of his 2024 result, Ryan Maifield who qualify P13 for the 18 car A-Main. In the 30-minute final, Rose would take the early lead after a number of drivers executed their ‘Joker’ laps and who stay out front until the final minutes when Phend execute his shorter Joker lap to take the lead with 2-laps remaining. He would take the win by 2.5 seconds from Rose with Dirt Nitro Challenge winner Seth Van Dalen completing the Top 3 ahead of Lime and Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin who started P11. In Nitro Truggy, having qualified P10 Phend took the win by 9-seconds from Top Qualifier Fuller with Maifield coming home 3rd. In eBuggy, Rivkin took the win by just 0.081 from Rose with the Sparko of Top Qualifier Jonah Wilson 3rd at the end of the 10-minute encounter.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

April 6, 2026

’26 IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Offroad World C/ship Stage 1 Report

RC racing’s World governing body IFMAR has published the Stage 1 report for the 2026 1:8 Nitro Offroad World Championship which will be hosted by Thornhill Racing Circuit in the United States from the end of September. The Texas track, which is situated on 13.9 acres complex and has the unique feature of its 120′ x 200′ dirt track being fully covered, will stage the 20th running of the World Championship for the category from September 27th to October 3rd. 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the crowning of the inaugural champion Frederic Vesseyre in France in 1986 and a decade since David Ronnefalk won the last US staged Worlds with victory in Las Vegas in 2016. As the current World Champion Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro will chase a record extending 4-in-row at Thornhill but the Italian will face strong opposition from US drivers as they look to become the first to win the sport’s biggest prize on home soil. This will be only the 4th time the Worlds has been stage in the United States.

View more Stage 1 Report here

March 30, 2026

Ripoll gets title defence off to perfect start

Xray’s top international 1:8 Onroad racer Maxime Ripoll has got the defence of his French National title off to the perfect start with a dominant performance at the opening round of the 2026 Championship. The first encounter of the 5 round FFVRC Championship was hosted by the BMVRC club in the south east of the country with over 70 entries. Greeted by cold weather conditions, rain would effect qualifying with just 2 of the 4 scheduled rounds run but with his time from Q1 it was Ripoll who took the Elite class TQ with his Max engined RX8 ahead Baptiste Jimenez and Jules David. In the final Ripoll and Jimenez held the top 2 positions for the opening 20-laps before the later hot problems and soon retired. With the fastest lap of the race, Ripoll would take a comfortable victory over the No.8 car of Christophe Louis who finished just held off Stephane Riccobono.

Image: Maxime Ripoll [Facebook]

March 30, 2026

Boda opens French title defence with win

Defending French National 1:8 Nitro Buggy Champion Clement Boda has got his title defence off to the perfect start, the Team Associated driver winning the opening round of the 2026 championship at the ARCF42 track near Lyon. Securing the title with victory at last season’s finale, Boda would not have a great run in qualifying as 2025 title rival Noha Ben Mohamed took his Sparko to the TQ honours at the end of qualifying with Boda ending up starting P3 in his Semi final. Regrouping for the finals, Boda would take the win in his Semi to secure pole for the Main which the 21-year-old would duly go on to lead from start to finish. After struggling in his Semi final, Xray’s Rémy Bermudez would improve his buggy for the Main and the 18-year-old was able to finish 2nd with Tekno driver Theo Lemaire completing the first podium of the 5 round championship.

Image: ARCF42 [Facebook]

March 30, 2026

Polito wins Italian Nationals Round 2 from Ongaro

Sworkz’s Mattia Polito took the win at the second round of the AMSCI 1:8 Nitro Buggy Italian National Championship reversing the result of the season opener as he beat defending Champion Davide Ongaro. Racing at the OspyTeam track in the north of the country, after the four rounds of qualifying it was Polito who secured the TQ ahead of the Team Associated of Ongaro, Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic and Kyosho’s Marco Baruffolo. Polito posted TQ runs in the opening three rounds with Ongaro topping the final round. With Ongaro winning his Semi in the faster time, the 10-time consecutive National Champion secured pole for the final ahead of the WIRC of 5th place qualifier Andrea Trevisan who won the other Semi ahead of Polito. In the 45-minute final, with the Top 3 quickly breaking away, on lap 3 a bobble from Trevisan allowed Polito to move into second. Approaching the 7-minute mark a mistake from Ongaro would see him clip a corner pipe and spin around handing Polito a lead he would hold and extend to win by almost 4-seconds from the World Champion. Half a lap back Trevisan completed the podium ahead of Kyosho’s Riccardo Berton and Xray’s Alex Zanchettin with Kilic completing the Top 6. In eBuggy, Ongaro would make it two from two with the Round 2 win ahead of Top Qualifier Polito with Trevisan enjoying a double podium weekend with P3.

Image: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]

March 24, 2026

New rule rules Canas out of Spanish Championship

Defending Spanish National Champion & professional 1:8 Offroad racer Juan Carlos Canas is to miss this weekend’s opening round of the National eBuggy Championship after a new administration process introduced by the national governing body AECAR. The factory Sworkz driver appears to have missed a new 24-hour registration window and has no entry for the opening encounter of the highly competitive national championship. Making a post on social media Canas, who won the nitro season opener, explained that once he noticed entries had opened, and given he was racing in the US with an 8-hour time difference, he made his entry and payment. However it was only when he contacted a ‘delegate of Spain’ about the race at RC Silla that he discovered he didn’t have a place due to the new 24-hour rule.

Read his full post here

March 24, 2026

Fernandez wins Spanish 1:8 Onroad National opener

Serpent’s Alvaro Fernandez Calvo has won the opening round of the AECAR 1:8 Onroad Spanish National Championship. Staged by the AUTET track in Almussafes the race attracted an impressive 56 drivers and offer the 4 rounds of qualifying it was Fernandez who would be fastest. Running FTD format, the 22-year-old laid down the fastest 5-minute run in the 3rd round with the Infinity of Nacho Lopez his closest rival with his time from Q2. The Mugen Seiki of Sergi Franch Codina completing the Top 3. While Fernandez, with the TQ, and Nachos, as winner of Super Pole, went direct to the final, after the Semi Finals it was Victor Pelaez with the faster Semi Final winning time who line-up 3rd on the grid. In the 45-minute final Fernandez would be pressured by Pelaez until the Mugen driver went out after 23-minutes. After that Fernandez controlled the race eventually winning by a 3-lap margin over Lopez with Ruben Olivares Muñoz completing the podium.

Image: Alvaro Fernandez Calvo [Facebook]