Red RC » International

October 29, 2019

Balestri tops opening seeding round

Dario Balestri has picked up from where he left in free practice yesterday to go quickest in the opening round of seeding at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships in California this morning. The Infinity driver set his fastest three laps before getting caught out by the extra high morning traction with a roll that chunked at rear tyre and ended his run a minute & a half early. Behind the reigning Champion, JJ Wang surprised even himself with the second fastest time, the Mugen driver running in the heat before that of Balestri. Making a return to World Championship action after some time out from the sport, Steven Jovanovic was another surprise at the front of the times sheets as he posted the 3rd fastest time for the first of the 4 rounds of seeding practice. Next up it was Dominic Greiner in fourth place followed by Silvio Hachler and 2011 World Champion Robert Pietsch. For 2015 World Champion Simon Kurzbuch the extra traction caused him problems and his Shepherd made contact with the Steel City RC Speedway barriers leaving him 8th fastest.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

October 29, 2019

Balestri fastest as free practice concludes at 1:8 Worlds

At the conclusion of two days of free practice at the IFMAR 1:8 World Championships in California it is reigning Champion Dario Balestri who was fastest. The Infinity driver set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the tenth & final free practice run topping the times from a much improved Simon Kurzbuch, the two great rivals separated by just 12/100ths of a second over the best respective 3-consecutive laps. Shoki Takahata added variety to the top of the time sheets at Steel City RC Speedway taking his Mugen to the 3rd fastest time, his best laps also set in the final round of practice. Behind the top three, the margin a little bigger, Jeffrey Rietveld posted the fourth fastest time followed by Silvio Hachler and former champions Lamberto Collari & Robert Pietsch. Tomorrow drivers face four rounds of seeding practice to determine the order of the heats for qualifying which gets underway on Wednesday.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

October 28, 2019

Davis set early pace at Worlds as drivers battle high traction

Australia’s Jesse Davis is the early pace setter at the IFMAR 1:8 World Championships in California, the Infinity driver fastest in the opening day of official practice and again after 2 of the 5 scheduled rounds of today’s action. Behind, Dominic Greiner is second fastest today after topping the Round 7 of practice from reigning World Champion Dario Balestri and reigning 1:10 World Champion Naoto Matsukura. Next up it is ARC’s Silvio Hachler with the Mugen of 2018 World podium finisher Shoki Takahata completing the Top 6 times for this morning’s opening two runs. Super high winds overnight and this morning meant a delayed start to today’s schedule with the traction sprayed Steel City RC Speedway surface acting like a magnet to the dust blown in by the winds, winds that are forecast to return again on Wednesday when qualifying is to begin. As a result of the delay, drivers now have shorter run but already the traction is back up to the ‘super high’ levels drivers are finding difficult.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

October 28, 2019

2019/20 Euro Touring Series Rd1 – Report

The first round of the 2019/2020 Euro Touring Series takes place this weekend in Vienna, Austria. Being held once again at the Messe Wien exhibition centre, alongside the large Vienna Model Fair, the drivers were in the spotlight as passing visitors packed the barriers around the track throughout the day. In the Modified class, defending champion Bruno Coehlo opened proceedings by taking the first qualifying round, held on Friday evening. But come Saturday, it was his team-mate Alexander Hagberg who showed the pace as he took rounds two and three and four to put himself on pole position. Last securing the top qualifying position some five years ago back in February 2014 in Germany, the Xray driver was clearly happy with his new Xray chassis. Bruno amassed enough points to secure second on the grid, as the German world champions Marc Rheinard and Ronald Volker battled over third, with Ronald finally taking it with a P2 in the final qualifier. Elliott Harper showed a good amount of speed, mixing with the top four drivers during the qualifying heats and will start the A Finals from fifth on the grid.

Continue reading the report here

October 25, 2019

Kilic brothers team up with Mugen

Mugen Seiki Europe have announced the signing of Burak and Berkan Kilic to their international racing team. The 15 and 13-years old talents are already competing at the highest level with reigning German Champion Burak being able to achieve a podium finish at this year’s European Championship in Italy, while Berkan became Junior European Champion. The two brothers will use Mugen’s MBX8 off-road platform and Mugen Seiki products at all major national and international events with immediate effect.

Source: Mugen [mugen.eu]

October 23, 2019

2019 The Dirt Buggyland Challenge – Announcement

The 2019 The Dirt Buggyland Challenge will be held November 22nd to 24th at Thunder Alley Raceway in Beaumont, California. The event brings together two icons of 1/8th off-road racing in the form of Joey Christensen’s The Dirt Racing and the Spanish Buggyland crew and it will see the running of Pro, Sportsman and Intermediate Nitro and Electric Buggy and Truggy classes as well as a single Short Course Truck category. There will be practice on Friday with racing on Saturday and Sunday. Included in the event are fun and challenging “racer games” such as a foot race, mechanics as drivers race along with a few more surprises. Many of USA’s top professionals will be in attendance including Jared Tebo, Cole Ogden, Joe Bornhorst, Adam Drake, Ryan Cavalieri and more. That all is happening on a brand new track designed and built by both The Dirt Racing and the Buggyland creator Miguel. More information and sign-up can be found here.

October 21, 2019

4th Annual Pan Car Masters – Announcement

The 4th Annual Pan Car Masters will be held from the 29th to 31st of May 2020 at the MRTM Lostallo track in Switzerland. Classes run include Pro10 Modified, Pro10 Stock 10.5T Blinky, Pro10 Classic 13.5T Blinky, Formula 1, Formula 1 Classique as well as 1/8th 4S and 1/8th Stock Pan Car. Full details, rules and more can now be found here.

October 21, 2019

Sawada & Kiyoyi complete OneTen double

Jin Sawada survived a big scare in the early stages of the 8-minute main final when the Japanese driver rolled his IF14, to come back and win the 2nd round of the OneTen series hosted by RCI V2 in Shanghai. Losing almost half a lap on the small technical track, the incident dropped the pole man down to 4th and left Rocket Zhang in the lead. Fighting his way back to the front, Jin managed to get back into the lead with two and a half minutes to go and would go on to extend his lead to over 5 seconds by the end of the race. Rocket would hold on for 2nd with Motor King completing the top 3. Discussing the incident, Sawada put it down to running with more power, thanks to the increased voltage, and lower than normal traction. Losing the back of the car slightly it clipped the small yellow curbs, sending his car into the wall and needing to be marshalled. Following the crash, he said his car was feeling really good and he could go about his recovery drive, which he admitted added some excitement to what was a rather processional race.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.