Red RC » International

February 20, 2014

Drivers try to find their ‘rhythm’ at DNC

With the first of two rounds of practice that make up the opening day of the action at the 15th running of The Dirt Nitro Challenge completed, Joey Christensen’s 9-pack element of the track seems to the biggest focus of attention for the top drivers as they try to find their rhythm through the challenging section. With no official timing being issued for the round which took 7-hours to complete, leaving drivers uncertain of where they are in relation to their rivals, most declared the first round of practice a track cleaning exercise and opportunity to shakedown their equipment.

Continue reading this report here or our complete coverage here.

February 17, 2014

Balestri & Apolaro win at Florida Winternats

The 38th annual Florida Winternats were run last weekend in Fort Myers, Florida. The race again attracted a huge number of drivers including some international starts alongside the fastest nitro on-road racers from the U.S.. In 1/8th Open Capricorn driver Dario Balestri, running for his new engine sponsor XRD, took the win some six laps ahead of top qualifier Mike Swauger (Xray/Picco) with Flavio Elias (Mugen/Novarossi) coming in third another three laps down.

Click here to continue reading

February 17, 2014

Robert Batlle wins Grand Prix de Montpellier

Mugen’s Robert Batlle has won the annual Grand Prix de Montpellier in a thrilling final against Agama’s Darren Bloomfield who took TQ for the hour long final. First Robert was challenged by Darren Bloomfield and Elliot Boots (Kyosho) and also Xray’s Renaud Savoya was in the mix but once Elliot broke his car and Renaud suffered a short engine hick-up Robert could open a gap to the field. Towards the end Darren then shifted into second gear, charging Battle hard and eventually overtaking him only minutes from the one hour mark but an empty fuel tank prevented Darren from taking the win for Agama. Robert would take the win for Mugen while Darren managed to take the runner-up spot. Reno Savoya came in third, only one lap down.

Click here to view the Top 12 result

February 16, 2014

Collari opts to start 2014 a free agent

Collari

9-time World Champion Lamberto Collari has been in contact to give us an update on his current situation heading into the 2014 season, answering the many requests he has received concerning his race package. For the first time in many years the Italian RC legend will run the season without a chassis sponsor which will allow him to evaluate what car best suits him ahead of the 2015 World Championships. In terms of engine, he hopes to remain with long time sponsor Novarossi, but no deal has yet been finalised. Those who are onboard so far for the new season are previous sponsors Sanwa and Protoform, while new for this year are Hudy tools and Zac Project tires.

View the statement from Lamberto in English & Italian here

February 13, 2014

Kyle Branson joins XRD Engines

Having recently announced he was joining Capricorn, Kyle Branson is also changing his brand of engine for the coming 2014 season. He will be running the new XRD line of engines alongside team mate Dario Balestri. Kyle had the following to say:

I would like to thank Gino Voghera and his Son Lorenzo for there amazing support over the past years and I am looking forward to continuing my 7th year with them!

Source: XRD [xrdtech.com]

February 10, 2014

Hayato Ishioka wins F1 at Snowbird Nationals

Every year, the Snowbird Nationals provides a record number of entries as well as incredibly tough competition. The 2014 version of the Snowbirds again attracted drivers all over the World including China, Japan, UK, Germany, Canada and France. In the F1 class CRC’s new WTF-1 car dominated, taking a strong 1-2 finish with Hayato Ishioka and Brian Wynn qualified and finished 1st and 2nd respectively.

Source: CRC [teamcrc.com]

February 6, 2014

2014 Snowbird Nationals – Report

The 2014 edition of the Snowbird Nationals were held in Orlando, FL at the Park Inn Resort. The “Birds” is the largest RC race in the world with well over 600 total entries and many countries represented this year. The Snowbirds is a unique race due to the 24 hours a day racing schedule, 12 hours of road and 12 hours of oval makes for a very unique experience that can only be witnessed here. In the Blue ribbon Modified TC class it was Paul Lemieux who would get things figured out for the second day of qualifying to set TQ, then again TQ the final round of qualifying. Paul would then take a convincing tone to tone victory in the final, Marc Fischer would finish second with Kevin Hebert in third.

Click here to continue reading the report

February 6, 2014

Patrick Hofer wins in Stäfa

The International Indoor Offroad Race in Stäfa, Switzerland took place last weekend. In the 2WD and 4WD buggy classes Team Associated’s Patrick Hofer dominated the proceeding by taking a double TQ. In the finals he again checked out and took the win in both of the buggy classes early. In 4WD Markus Metsch came in 2nd while Micha Widmaier completed the podium in 3rd. In the 2WD class Micha Widmaier and Fabian Luca Widmer lined up 2nd and 3rd behind Patrick.

Source: Team Associated [rc10.com]