April 3, 2023

Phend & Fuller double at 2023 Psycho Nitro Blast

Dakotah Phend was the big winner of the Psycho Nitro Blast over the weekend, the TLR driver taking the top prize in both Nitro and Electric Buggy.  The 16th running of PNB, the Tennessee indoor event attracted 767 entries meaning just two rounds of qualifying with Phend topping both Nitro rounds from Spencer Rivkin to secure the overall TQ.  Third in both qualifiers Brandon Rose secured 3rd ahead of Ryan Maifield and Jared Tebo.  In eBuggy, Rivkin and Phend took one round each but on tie break it was the Team Associated driver who was the Top Qualifier with defending champion Mason Fuller 3rd from Ryan Lutz.  In the single 10-minute eBuggy final, Phend found his way to the front after four laps after both he and Rivkin lost position early on.  In the end Phend would finish 2.8-seconds clear of Rivkin with the Tekno of 10th place qualifier Seth VanDalen coming through for third.  Concluding the 2023 Psycho Nitro Blast, the 45-minute Nitro Final saw Phend capitalise on his TQ to take the win by 10-seconds from Fuller and Rose with Maifield 4th.   Fuller would do the double in Truggy, the HB Racing driver taking the Nitro win from the TQ ahead of Phend and in eTruggy he lead a Fuller 1-2 from Kaden who had taken the overall TQ.

Image: JConcepts [Facebook]


April 2, 2023

Tironi & Branson winners at Ielasi Tuned Trophy

Francesco Tironi and British visitor Kyle Branson were the winners of the 2023 Ielasi Tuned Trophy.  First hosted by former World Champion Daniele Ielasi in 2O15, the annual Ielasi Tuned Trophy again attracted a quality international field to the Northern Italian Leno track.  Unfortunately rain meant no finals could be run with the final results being declared on the outcome of qualifying.  In 1:8, it would be the Infinity of Tironi that had the edge over Mugen’s Robert Pietsch over the 4-minute qualifiers.  Former Trophy winner Toni Gruber managed P3 with his Capricorn just ahead of team-mate Mirko Salemi.  In 1:10, it was the Xray of Branson who set the pace in qualifying to be the Top Qualifying ahead of the Serpent of Matteo Passetti and Capricorn of Stefan Chodzynski.

View 1:10 Trophy presentation image here


March 30, 2023

IFMAR World Cup 1:8 Electric Buggy – Announcement

IFMAR has announced details of the first ever World Cup for 1:8 Electric Buggy.  While 1:8 nitro has enjoyed World Championship status since 1986, the World Cup will be the first step for the electric category to become a World Championship category in 2025.  The World Cup event will take place on September 22-24 and be hosted by the Club ACDB “OS BEIROES” at their 310m track in Guarda, Portugal.   The track previously hosted the 2010 EFRA European 1:8 Nitro Buggy Championship when Reno Savoya took the third of his European titles.  While taking place only one week after the 1:10 Offroad World Championships at Hobby Action in the USA, the 1:8 Electric Buggy World Cup is still expected to be well supported by the industry given the growing future importance of the category.  View Stage 1 report here.

Source: IFMAR [imfar.org] 


March 21, 2023

Tebo announces ‘2023 will be last year as a ‘professional driver’

Jared Tebo has announced that 2023 will be his last year racing as a professional driver.  One of the true stars of the sport enjoying a very lengthy reign as as one of the best offroad racers in the world, the American has said 2023 will be his ‘farewell tour’.  The now 36 year old arrived on the RC scene at the age of 13 and since then has lived the ultimate dream of any young kid starting out in racing.  Making the ‘tough decision’, he said he is ‘fully content’ with his racing career and feels that he has nothing else ‘left to prove’ but mentally he is not enjoying the mindset needed to race competitively at the elite level.  Having had the opportunity to work with Jared for over half of his racing career, the first time being when he was Top Qualifier at the 2010 IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship in Thailand, Red RC congratulations Jared on his racing achievements and would like to say thank you for all the racing entertainment over the years.  We look forward to working with him in his future journey in the industry.

Read Jared’s full announcement here


March 19, 2023

Jeff Wang crowned FEMCA 1:8 Buggy Champion

Taiwanese driver Jeff Wang is the 2023 FEMCA 1:8 Buggy Champion, the Ming Yang team driver winning the prestigious Asian title from the Xray of young Korean talent Hyunkyu Jung.  Hosted by Taiwan Radio Control Car Association at the 66 RC Racing Track, named after its location under the No.66 highway bridge, the event attracted an entry of 142 drivers representing 10 countries from the FEMCA Bloc.  In qualifying 23-year-old Wang would secure the overall TQ after topping three of the 6 rounds with Hyunkyu Jung classified second with two TQ runs.  The only other to top the timing sheets, Taiwan’s Wang Guan Ling would complete the Top 3.  Wining his Semi final from Thailand’s Witsarut R., 13-year-old Hyunkyu Jung would be on pole for the 50-minute final with a faster winning time than that of Wang who won his 30-minute encounter from the Sparkco buggy of 11-year-old Huang Han Ping.  In the 50-minute Main Final, it would be Wang who would come out on top with his SH Engines powered MY1 having 2-lap margin over Jung.  Winner of the separately run 20-minute ‘Teenage Final’ held earlier in the day,  Jung crossed the finish just 1.1-seconds ahead of Wang Guan Ling who completed podium in Taoyuan.

Image: Tiger Chang Lien Sheng


March 14, 2023

AKA announced as World Championship spec tyre

The organisers of the the 2023 IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championship has announced AKA as the spec tyre for the 19th running of racing’s biggest prize.  The indoor event is being hosted by Hobby Action RC Raceway in Arizona from September 9-16th and will see drivers use AKA’s Clay range of slick tyres.  For both 2WD and 4WD the controlled rear tyre is the 2.2″ AKA13131CR while for 4WD the controlled front is the AKA13331CR.  For the open 2WD front tyre AKA will provide the AKA13231CR.

View Spec Tyre list here


March 12, 2023

Orlowski does double at British Off Road Grand Prix

Michal Orlowski has completed the double at the British Off Road Grand Prix, the factory Schumacher driver holding off the challenge of Xray’s Bruno Coelho in 2WD and 4WD Buggy.  Organised by SilverstoneRCMCC and taking place at the Centre:MK shopping centre in Milton Keynes, Saturday’s action saw Orlowski claim the TQ honours from last weekend’s MIBO International double winner Coelho with reigning European Champion Tommy Hall securing third ahead of Lee Martin and Norwegian Daniel Kobbevik.   In the triple finals, Neil Cragg surprised everyone coming from 7th on the grid to take the A1 win from Orlowski but in A2 & A3 it was the Polish star who lead the field to claim the first title of the event which exposes RC Racing to thousands of weekend shoppers.  Coelho would take second with Hall’s Associated completing the 2WD podium.  In 4WD, again it was Orlowski who took the TQ topping all five rounds of qualifying before going on to an early victory by taking the opening two A-Mains.  Coelho would win A3 to give him with tie breaker for second overall from the Associated of Dane Marcus Kaerup.  In Truck, Jorn Neumann took the TQ and win with Lee Martin and Phil Sleigh joining the Sworkz driver on the podium.

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]


March 10, 2023

Ongaro set for 1:8 GT Worlds with Gimar Engines

Best known for his offroad exploits, back to back 1:8 Buggy World Champion Davide Ongaro has announced a 1:8 GT only programme with Italian engine brand Gimar.  Ongaro is the star driver for Team Associated and Japanese engine manufacturer OS Engines in offroad and has added two 1:8 Buggy World titles to both brands illustrious history but is joining forces with Giovanni Crea’s Gimar engines for a GT campaign that includes both the European and World Championships.  A huge boost for the GT category which will run only its second ever World Championship later this year in Sydney, Australia, having Ongaro on the grid will be a massive profile raiser for the class.  Kicking off his onroad exploits next week at the Italian GT Nationals, his Gimar Venus engine will be fitted to the chassis of another Italian brand Genius Racing – this same engine & chassis combination used by France’s Alain Arnaldi to become the 2022 European GT Champion.  Like Ongaro, another driver best known for his Offroad achievements, Joern Nuemann is the reigning 1:8 GT World Champion.

Source: Gimar [rcgimar.com]


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