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November 20, 2023

Montpellier Grand Prix 2024 – Announcement

One of Europe’s most iconic 1:8 Offroad races and one which since it was first held in 2006 has established itself as the race to open the annual nitro buggy racing season in Europe, Montpellier Grand Prix has announced details of the 2024 event. The 18th running of the French Classic will see the race run over 4-days and the dropping of the Warm-up race. Set to take place from February 8-11th, the changes come as host club Mini Bolide Montpellierain try to ensure all competing drivers enjoy the same amount of track time with the addition of Thursday dedicated to timed practice rounds. Having introduced eBuggy last year the even will again crown an electric champion in 2024. In Nitro, World Champion Davide Ongaro will go for three in a row. Registration opens December 2nd.

Source: Circuit du MBM [Facebook]

November 19, 2023

2024 Provisional EFRA European Championship Calendar

EFRA, the governing body for RC racing in Europe, has released a provisional 2024 race calendar of which the European Championships are the highlights. Having hosted its AGM over the weekend, one of the big changes to come from the meeting in Sweden was that the European Championships for 1:10 IC Track, 1:8 IC Track, GT8 and GT8E are now shortened to 4 days running from Wednesday to Saturday. First of the main 2024 European Championships to be decided will be 1:12 which takes place in Italy in April. It is going to be a busy year for the Italian Federation as they host European Championships for four different categories. At the end of May GT8 drivers will battle it out in Sicily, 1:8 Nitro Offroad travels to Sacile at the end of July with 1:8 Onroad crowning its Champion at Locorotondo in late September. France will be the destination for 1:8 Electric Buggy in Montpellier in early June while later the same month 1:10 Nitro Touring Car heads to Thionville. In July France will host Large Scale Offroad in Hanvec. Large Scale Touring & F1 will be decided in Lostallo, Switzerland in early August. Belgium hosts the 1:10 Electric Touring Car at the end of August. The season will conclude with 1:10 Offroad as drivers head to Malmo in Sweden in late September.

View European Championship dates here

November 16, 2023

2024 Silver State Indoor Championship – Announcement

The team at The Dirt Racing has announced the 2024 Silver State Indoor Championship will take place from May 1st to 5th at the South Point Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. With the annual event having attracted a massive 1100 entires in 2023, Marco Barufollo taking the big win, legendary track builder Joey Christensen has announced that the 2024 edition will be capped at 900 entires. The Dirt will be offering a limited number of early entries at a $40 discount starting today (Nov 16th) with entries available via www.THEDIRT.us .

Source: The Dirt [thedirt.us]

November 14, 2023

Large Scale Pre-Worlds Race Announcement

With New South Wales Radio Controlled Racing Car Club set to host the 2024 IFMAR Large Scale World Championship, the Sydney, Australia based club has announced dates and the opening of entries for the official Pre-Worlds Race. Just weeks after it successfully hosted the 1:8 GT World Championship at The John Grant International Raceway, the club has confirmed March 7-10th as the dates for the Pre-Worlds race with the actual World Championships taking place from October 20th to 27th. In addition to the World Championship 1:5 Touring Car category, the Pre-Worlds will cater for Large Scale Mini, F1 and 1:5 Bikes. Registration is now open and can be completed here.

Source: NSWRCRCC [nswrcrcc.org.au]

November 14, 2023

10th Korean National Buggy title for Choi

Well known international Korean 1:8 Buggy racer Dani Choi hit a landmark result over the weekend when he clinched the Korean National 1:8 Nitro Buggy Championship for a 10th time. Held at ‘The Track’ indoor dirt track in Gimpo, the Kyosho driver dominated qualifying to take the overall TQ after topping all 5 rounds with the Mugen of Tony Jeon second and young talent HyunKyu Jung third. In the hour long final, Choi would set the fastest lap as he built up a 4-lap lead to take the title ahead of Jung, this being his final race with Xray, with Jeon completing the podium.

Source: Dani Choi [Facebook]

November 9, 2023

’23 1:8 Onroad World Championship Chassis Focus Index

After a four year wait the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship was back and what a final we would witness at Infinity International RC Speedway in Japan. Following more than a week of action on track it was Infinity’s Dario Balestri who came out on top winning the World title for a second time and in doing so became only the second driver in the history of IFMAR’s original category to be a repeat winner. In terms of manufacturers it was great to see three different manufacturers represented on the podium. During our coverage of the race we managed to photograph 15 cars from 8 different manufacturers and have compiled them all in our latest Chassis Focus index.

View Chassis Focus Index here

November 4, 2023

Balestri back on top of the World in Japan

Infinity’s Dario Balestri is back on top of the World after taking victory at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan. Having relinquished the title to Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata in the USA in 2019, after a forced 4-year-old wait, the Italian took the title back today and becomes one of the greats of the sport. Having often been referred to as the fastest onroad nitro driver in the World without a World Title before he finally got his breakthrough win in France in 2017, today’s win see him join legendary 9-time World Champion Lamberto Collari as the only other driver to hold the title more than once in the 23 editions of IFMAR’s original World Championship class. Unfortunately for Takahata after a brilliant Semi final win that put him 3rd on the grid, his title defence came to a very premature end in the final when his engine broke after just two and a half minutes. Having enjoyed a good stint as leader of the race, Capricorn’s Toni Gruber would finish 2nd just 7.5-seconds behind Balestri after the one hour of intense racing. Top Qualifier Simon Kurzbuch, who lead for the first 10-minutes until his first tyre stop, would complete the podium for Mugen in a dramatic end of race battle with Infinity’s Jesse Davis that led to a long delay in the prize presentations as it was reviewed by the officials. When the prize giving did get underway Takahata, who changed engine and finished the final, gave himself a better reason to remember his home World Championship by using the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend and she said yes.

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November 4, 2023

Takahata to defend World title from P3 in Japan

Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata is to defend the 1:8 Onroad World Championship title he won in California four years ago from P3 on the grid in Japan after a near perfect Semi Final performance. Starting the second of the half hour encounters from P2 on the grid, the Japanese driver would win from the Capricorn pairing of pole sitter Toni Gruber and Dominic Greiner, the later having to start from the back of the grid after calling time in the warm-up to change engine. In the first of the Semi Finals, Jesse Davis executed a text book race to repeat his 2019 performance when he booked himself into his first World Championship final. Behind the Australian, Infinity team-mate Naoto Matsukura secured his place in the 1-hour final ahead of a delighted Francesco Tironi, the Italian having bumped up from the quarter finals. As the drivers with the fastest two race times outside of the Top 3 Semi Final finishers, 2013 World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi and 1:8 Onroad World Championship debutant Kouki Kato complete the 10 car line up that will compete for the 23rd IFMAR World Title here at Infinity International RC Speedway.

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