June 7, 2023

Rheinard signs radio deal with Flysky

In a major signing for Chinese radio brand Flysky, they have announced Marc Rheinard will officially represent the company and race with their Noble Pro transmitter and receiver.  The multiple World Champion made his race debut with his new radio over the weekend securing the TQ at the opening round of the ETS but unfortunately the Awesomatix driver would have issues in the finals including a broken rear belt in A2.  Commenting on the announcement Marc said, ‘A big thank you to the Flysky team for taking me on board.  I tried the Noble Pro a couple of weeks ago for the first time and I loved it from the first moment. The feeling and handling of the radio is perfect and the menu is like on a smartphone, super easy to use’.

Source: Flysky [flysky-cn.com]


June 6, 2023

Copa America Race Announcement

RCtarget has announced the Copa America Race on September 14-17, 2023, selecting Perú to host the inaugural running of the Nitro Onroad event.  The idea behind the concept is to provide a world class annual event in the Americas.  The intention is to host a yearly race in a different country in order to enable the racers and their families to experience different places, discover new cultures and create exciting memories.  Perú, located in the west coast of South America, offers history, culture and many natural features. The Historic District of Lima, Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines are just a few of the many landmarks worth visiting. Perú has also being awarded several times as a world leading culinary destination.  All in all, Perú is able to cater to all type of tourist and we welcome all to visit this beautiful country.  The host track, The Miniautodromo Polo Bracale, is located in the Magdalena del Mar district, next to the beach and very close to the most popular districts of Lima.  The driving line has a total length of 280 meters, with a 50 meters straightaway and an average width of 5 meters with the surface is made of fine grade asphalt.  Copa America will cater for 1:10 Nitro, 235mm TC, 1:8 Onroad, 1:8 GT Nitro and Electric.

Source: RCtarget [rctarget.com]


June 6, 2023

RC Bike World C/ship Warm-Up Race Report

The Warm-Up race for the RC Bike World Championship was held at the MAV Aigen-Schlagl track in Austria last weekend.  The track had hosted the World Championships previously in 2019, and so it was great to have many drivers returning again, and also lots of new faces.  A special thanks to Davide from Australia, and Jonathan and Andrew from Singapore who had very long travels to reach Austria!  In Superbike, it was Fabio Tosti who took the pole position, with Cristian Fabbiano very close through qualifying, and Michele Repetati making it three Italian pilots at the front of the grid. Tosti won the first final, then Repetati won the second final, but Tosti took control in the third final to be the overall winner.  Repetati was second overall, with Fabbiano third.  Christoph Gaudard (Switzerland) and Bernhard Renner (Austria) made up the top five.

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June 5, 2023

Balestri wins EFRA GP at Lostallo

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has made it two from two after winning the latest EFRA GP International race which took place at the iconic Lostallo circuit in Switzerland over the weekend.  Winner of the EFRA GP in Leno, Italy back in April, the former World Champion was fastest in qualifying with a best time of 12/4:00.363 set in the final of his three attempts.  His closest rival would be team-mate Carmine Raiola whom he held over a 1-second advantage.  Lamberto Collari, who claimed the most recent of his record nine 1:8 Onroad World Championship titles at the same circuit back in 2009, would qualify third ahead of Capricorn’s Mirko Salemi.  In the half hour final, Balestri posted the fastest lap of the race on his way to victory with Collari in second just 4-seconds back.  With Riola retiring after 10-minutes, Salemi would complete the podium ahead of the Mugen of Massimo Aliprandi.

Image: Dario Balestri [Facebook]


June 4, 2023

Orlowski wins ETS Season opener

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has won the opening round of the ETS at Apeldoorn in the Netherlands.  Having claimed his first ever win in the series at last season’s finale in Daun back in January, the Polish driver registered his first outdoor win ahead of the Awesomatix of Lucas Urbain and Mugen of Erik Dankel as reigning champion Ronald Volker kicked off his title defence with a fourth place.  Getting qualifying underway with a TQ run, Orlowski would start the finals from P2 behind Top Qualifier Marc Rheinard, the Awesomatix driver topping two of the four rounds, while Q2 pace setter Urbain secured 3rd on the grid.  In the opening A-Main, Rheinard would take the win ahead of Urbain and Dankel with Orlowski retiring from the race.  In A2, Rheinard would suffer a spin allowing Orlowski to go to the front and claim a win that put everything on the line in A3.  Leading away the field, Rheinard would suffer an early issue that would allow Orlowski to the front where he would stay to secure the overall win.  Holding second, few laps later, Rheinard’s car came would come to stop at the end of the straight ending his race and leaving the German with only a P7 for his weekends’s efforts.  In Pro Stock Olivier Bultynck enjoyed the best start possible to the season as he took the TQ and win with Lukas Ellerbrock and Max Machler making it an all Awesomatix podium.


May 30, 2023

Hong Nor sign large scale World Champion Grenenger

In this 1:8 GT World Championship year, Hong Nor has made a significant signing in Australian driver Russell Grenenger.  In collaboration with with Speedy RC, the 2015 IFMAR Large Scale World Champion joining the Hong Nor Factory Team and will drive the new Hong Nor X3GTS 2023 World Edition at future Australian state and national events to prepare for the GT 2023 IFMAR World Championship in Sydney, Australia.  Commenting on joining Hong Nor, Grenenger said “I’m delighted to join the team and take on this new challenge. Hong Nor has been amazing to deal with, and very supportive of feedback and testing. I look forward to seeing how my many years of on-road large-scale, and more recently 1/8th IC on-road transfers over into the 1/8 GT class. I would like to thank Hong Nor and SpeedyRC Online Store for this opportunity”.

Source: Hong Nor [hongnor-racing.com]


May 29, 2023

Volker wins EC Warm-up Race at Türkheim

Mugen’s Ronald Volker took victory at the official Warm-Up Race for this year’s EFRA Electric Touring Car European Championship.  Top Qualifier in Türkheim, the 7-time champion took the win ahead Awesomatix’s Marc Rheinard with Xray’s Marco Kaufmann completing the podium.  Only the second time Germany will host the European Championships for the category, it was the Türkheim circuit in the south of the country that also hosted that event when Andy Moore lifted the 2006 title.  One notable absentee from the small Modified entry over the weekend was that of back to back reigning champion Bruno Coelho who was racing in the US at the Warm-up Race for the IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championships.  Alexander Hagberg attended the race for Xray finishing 5th sandwiched between the Mugens of Eric Dankel and Robert Pietsch.  In Stock, 2018 Champion Max Machler took his Awesomatix to the win ahead of Simon Lauter and Adam Izsay.

Image: Marc Rheinard [Facebook]


May 29, 2023

Rivkin does double at Worlds Warm-up

The official Warm-up Race for this year’s IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championship took place over the weekend with reigning 2WD World Champion Spencer Rivkin doing the double.  With the event at Hobby Action also doubling up as the 1up Buggy Challenge, the Warm-up Race had a limited international entry with just Xray having a major team presence as many team drivers had already attended the track’s high profile annual Desert Classic event back in March.  In qualifying it was Team Associated’s Aydin Horne who took the 2WD TQ ahead of Rivkin with that order reversed in 4WD, while Schumacher’s Broc Champlin completing the Top 3 in both.  In 2WD Rivkin opened with a win but Champlin got the win in A2.  Rivkin would get the A3 win as Top Qualifier Horne dropped to P7 for a final podium line-up of Rivkin with the win from Champlin with Horne third.  In 4WD, Rivkin sealed the deal with wins in A1 & 2 while victory in A3 gave Horne second from Champlin with Dustin Evans P4.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]


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