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December 21, 2023

British GT12 Nationals RD4 Eastbourne – Report

Round 4 of the BRCA GT12 Nationals took place on the 17th of December and was hosted by the Eastbourne club at their facility in Robertsbridge. 24 of the nations keenest racers took to the track to compete at one of the countries best tracks. A superb venue with a fantastic technical track layout and some great track markings. Along side the GT12 racers they had the mini super cup entries with a support class of LMP12 featuring the former world David Spashett. The day consisted of the usual format of 1 practice, 4 qualifying rounds and 1 final to decide the winner of the Event. Round one saw the usual front runners and title contenders taking the lead with smooth and fast driving from Adam Mackman to TQ the first round of qualifying with a 4 second gap back to his closest rivals Sam Coult and Morgan Williams who was making his return to GT12 after racing LMP at the IFMAR world championships. Round 2 was a virtual stalemate in the top 5 with no improvements in the top 3 and only Ewan Thompson and James Taylor swapping places in the top 5. The big winners of round 2 were Matt Hunter and Matt Gammons as they both made big jumps in the standings.

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December 19, 2023

Schumacher Winter Series Round 3 – Report

The 2023/24 Schumacher Winter Series presented by the Louth Radio Control Car Club reached its midway point with Round 3 taking place last weekend. Schumacher front runner James Hart joined the series and set the fastest times in the opening qualifier and continued on to take four commanding rounds. Chris Lovely would lead the Xray charge and take 2nd spot in the qualifications with two 2nd places, 3rd would belong to 1:8 nitro ace Tim Wood and his Mugen. In 4th would be Paul Sleight with his Awesomatix mixing it with the front times, 5th was Dave Sedgewick with his Awesomatix showing consistent speed. Daniel Burks would round out the A-final with his Destiny.

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December 18, 2023

Harper wins EWS Round 2

New Schumacher recruit Elliot Harper has won the second round of the popular Essex Winter Series. Securing podium at the opening round, Harper TQ’d all four qualifiers while behind their was a nice fight through the qualifying between Round 1 winner Kyle Branson and Alex Thurston for 2nd, with Branson getting the nod. In the final, Branson stayed in touch with Harper, but had to worry more about defending from Thurston behind. Harper opened up a small gap as they worked through lapped traffic, and Thurston couldn’t get close enough to seriously challenge Branson. Chris Grainger had a lonely race after qualifying fourth and finishing fourth. In Stock Round 1 winner Zak Finlay TQ’d ahead of Tony Broad and Andy Murray. Murray dropped back in the opening laps, and there was a great battle for 2nd between Broad and Billy Fletcher. Finlay checked out while Fletcher lined up a great pass on the final lap to take 2nd place, leaving a Broad to settle for 3rd. In FWD Ben Moorey took the TQ & win.

Source: EWS [ewsevents.co.uk]

December 14, 2023

XRS Finland – Report

Some 50 drivers lined up at Fullspeed RC in Vantaa, Finland, for the highly anticipated XRS Finland race last weekend. Organised by EuroRC, this event featured a diverse lineup of racing classes, including Touring Prostock, Touring Modified, CS-12, C12, and Eurotruck. With skilled competitors not only highlighted the exceptional skill level of its participants within the national level but also showcased a European-class proficiency, with drivers such as Joseph Quaqraine, Pekko Iivonen, Juho Levänen, Janne Koivisto, and Oiva Metsola demonstrating a level of racing finesse that placed them among the elite in the European racing community. Their presence elevated the competition, making each class a true spectacle of high-speed precision and strategic mastery.

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December 11, 2023

Rivkin & Phend turn RC teachers for a day!

They are two of the biggest names in offroad racing and represent two of the biggest manufacturers on the international stage but last week both Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin and TLR’s Dakotah Phend became RC teachers for a day as part of two different events. Two time World Champion Rivkin was taking part in the launch of Hobbywing Tech Explorers. Held at World Championship venue Hobby Action Raceway, it marked the first collaboration with a school outreach program. Rivkin touched on his journey with RC, overcoming challenges, and dreaming big. He also discussed the mechanics, electrical aspects, and disciplines of the hobby, along with the incredible values it’s brought into his life – from friends, mentors, and unforgettable experiences. On his social media Rivkin said he was ‘So thankful to have had the opportunity to hold my first public gathering and launch a new program with Hobbywing North America called Tech Explorers! Meeting and seeing these kids remind me what it was like when I first laid eyes on RC cars. I want to personally thank Larry and Hobby Action RC Raceway for letting us utilise the track and rental cars. I’m totally looking forward on doing many more of these!’ Phend brought his 1:10 Electric and 1:8 Nitro buggies to a middle school as part of a career day where he shared his story with pupils. On his Facebook page he posted, ‘I was able to be apart of career day earlier this week at Angola Middle School. I went over how I was able to turn a passion into a career. There are a lot of great and unique opportunities in today’s world!’. It is great to see both drivers promoting RC racing in this way and well done to everyone involved in inspiring the future generation.

View Mr.Phend taking his class here

December 11, 2023

Maifield completes clean sweep at U.S. Open Fuel C/ships

Tekno RC’s Ryan Maifield became the first Pro driver to complete a clean sweep at the annual U.S. Open Fuel Championships which held at Adobe Mountain R/C Speedway in his home state of Arizona over the weekend. Attracting almost 250 entries, qualifying would see Maifield take the TQ in the Open classes of Nitro Buggy, eBuggy and Nitro Truggy before wrapping up the perfect weekend with wins in all three finals. In Nitro Buggy he took the win ahead of Kyosho’s Ryan Lutz having a 3-lap advantage at the end of the 1-hour in encounter. Ryan Pavidis would complete the podium driving his Sparko buggy. In eBuggy, the single 10-minute Main saw Maifield led home the Sworkz of Spencer Heckertt by over 7-seconds with Lutz finishing 3rd. In the 45-minute Nitro Truggy Final, it was the Mugen of Frankie Contresas Jr who followed Maifield home.

Image: MOD Media Live [Facebook]

December 5, 2023

Triple win for Drake at 19th Annual Toys For Tots Race

This past weekend Mugen/JConcepts driver Adam Drake and his wife Ronda hosted the 19^th Annual Toys For Tots Race at The Drake Raceway in Palm Desert, CA. With 180 entries, the event had a lot of competition and also brought in some great toy donations for kids in need this holiday season. Qualifying started at 9am that morning and the race program called for two rounds of qualifying to determine each class TQ. There were 12 classes to compete in and only a driver’s best qualifier would be used to determine who made the main events. Drake set the TQ in 1:8 Expert Nitro Buggy, 1:8 Open Electric Buggy, and 1:8 Open Nitro Truggy classes, and he would go on to take the win in all three classes but ultimately the biggest winner was the kids’ charity.

Source: Adam Drake [Facebook]

December 4, 2023

D’Angelo crowned Italian 1:8 GT Nitro Champion

Genius Racing’s Alex D’angelo is the 2023 AMSCI Italian 1:8 GT Nitro National Champion. Top Qualifier at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Australia in October, he secured the title with a second place finish behind Schepis Model driver Rosario Giaimo at the third & final round of the championship at Miniautodromo Vallelunga RC. Going into the season finale, a number of drivers remained in contention for the title including Round 2 winner & Raptor driver Loris Luise, Xray’s Natanaele Senesi and Capricorn’s Alessio Mazzeo. In qualifying it was Mazzeo who took the TQ from Senesi and D’angelo but in the 45-minute final it was Giaimo from p9 on the grid who came through for the race win ahead of D’angelo and Mazzeo, second being enough for the Gimar engine GT8.23 of D’angelo to secure the title. In 1:8 GTe, it was also Mazzeo who also took the TQ honours again from Senesi and he duly converted it into the win after taking both A1 and A2 to secure the overall 2023 title for Capricorn.

Image: Alex D’angelo [Facebook]