Red RC » International

October 30, 2023

4 busy days of practice conclude at 1:8 Onroad Worlds

After four busy days of practice for drivers at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan, things are finally set to get official tomorrow with four planned rounds of seeding practice to determine the heat order for qualifying. Summing up how practice had gone, many of the international drivers getting their first taste of the Infinity International RC Speedway on Friday, it was mixed reports from some of the leading title contenders. The driver they all will be trying to beat over the next 5-days, reigning Champion Shoki Takahata was looking content and relaxed and reported being pleased with how he was working through his program. With no official timing being published, icon of the sport Atsushi Hara highlighted the Mugen driver as a driver looking strong over the four days. A 1:8 Onroad Worlds podium finisher himself, Hara felt Takahata’s new for 2023 team-mate Simon Kurzbuch was also looking strong. From his own team, Infinity, he thought Dario Balestri was leading their charge with the 2017 World Champion in confident mood when we caught up with him at the completion of the final practice.

Continue reading here

October 30, 2023

Payne defends double Masters of Foam titles

Ollie Payne has successfully defended both his Masters of Foam titles, making it back to back wins at the annual Belgian event in both Mod and 13.5 Stock. In Friday and Saturday’s qualifying the Schumacher driver claimed overall TQ honours for both classes and was able to carry that form into Sunday’s triple finals. With Xray’s Alexander Hagberg lining up P2 on the grid, Payne opened Mod with a win but A2 ended in a DNF with Hagberg taking the win to set the stage for an A3 showdown between the pair. From the front however Payne lead from start to finish to win by 2-seconds from Hagberg who claimed the second step on the overall podium. Second behind Hagberg in A2 and with a P4 in A3 it would give Stuart Cartwright third overall, the Schumacher driver winning out on a tie break with Markus Mobers. In 13.5 Payne produced a clean sweep winning all three A-Mains for the overall title ahead of the similar Eclipse of Morgan Williams with Max Machler’s Awesomatix completing the podium.

View 13.5 podium here

October 29, 2023

‘Without knowledge you can drive but you can’t win’ – Jilles Groskamp

It’s easy to think that the top drivers in the World have a special ability to just show up at an event and put their car on the track and be quick straight off the bat. While there are one or two exceptions who do possess this super power, for the most part the success comes from combining that natural talent with a lot of hard work, that mostly goes unnoticed, between races. Racing at the top level is relentless because when you are not putting in the work your rivals are, and they are making marginal gains that combined can be the difference between them winning or you not. One driver who has always stood out as one of the hardest working drivers in our sport is Jilles Groskamp. Even back in the dominant years of the Tamiya TRF team in electric touring car it was Jilles who was doing most of the ground work for the entire team. That effort was justly rewarded when he became the 2012 Electric Touring Car World Champion at his home track of Heemstede. Now at the age of 43, Jilles admitting himself ‘I’m not the youngest guy anymore’, putting in the work is even more vital than before and through that comes knowledge which he points out ‘without knowledge you can drive but you can’t win’.

Continue reading here

October 29, 2023

Double TQ for Payne at Masters of Foam

Schumacher’s Ollie Payne has pulled off the TQ double at the annual Masters of Foam event in Belgium. The British driver, who is the reigning Champion of what has become one of the big 1:12 races in Europe, dominated Modified qualifying topping all five rounds. Behind him Xray’s former World Champion Alexander Hagberg secured P2 on the grid with Marcus Mobers completing the Top 3 for Sunday’s triple A-Main. In 13.5, Payne took four of the five rounds after a DNF in Q2 which went to the similar car of Morgan Williams who lines up P2 on the grid ahead of Awesomatix’s Max Machler. In the GT category, it is good to see the next generation coming through with Louis Mobers, son of 1:12 stalwart and 2023 Mod class runner-up Marcus, taking the TQ after topping 4 of the 5 qualifiers.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]

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’.

Continue reading 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.

Continue reading 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