November 8, 2022

Sahashi tops first round of seeding practice

Tadahiko Sahashi has topped the first round of seeding practice at the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro World Championships in Bangkok.  The first of the day’s four seeding rounds threw up a number of surprises as the sun appeared for the final heat of the round leaving a number of the pre race favourites well down the order.  2013 1:8 World Champion Sahashi recorded the fastest 3-consecutive laps with a time of 46.351 seconds followed by his Infinity team-mates Jilles Groskamp and Milan Holthuis.  Shinnosuke Yokoyama added some variety to the top of the times using his Mugen to post fourth fastest ahead of Andy Moore.  For reigning Champion Naoto Matsukura a mistake cost him track time and he was only able to post the 14th fastest time just ahead of team-mate Dario Balestri.  Having been fastest at the end of controlled practice Dominic Greiner found himself only 9th quickest.

Continue reading report here


November 7, 2022

Simon Nicolson crowned Australian Champion

Simon Nicolson is the 2022 Australian Electric Touring Car National Champion.  The Yokomo driver took the Mod win of the KWR Engineering sponsored event at the ACT Model Car Racing Club track in Canberra over the weekend.  Having won the Queensland State Championships back in August, Nicolson would secure the TQ after taking three of the five rounds of qualifying.  Behind, having topped Q5, team-mate Antoni Caretti lined up second with the ARC of Jeffrey Mackie, fastest in Q3, P3 ahead of Serpent’s Jeff Hamon.  In the Finals, Nicolson took A1 but with slight rain at the start of A2 he would crash out allowing Mackie to take the win from Hamon.  In A3, the Top 3 would remain static allowing Nicolson to secure the title ahead  with Mackie second and Hamon completing the podium.  Unfortunately it was to be a tough run of finals for Caretti as he got hit each outing leaving him 5th overall.  It was also victory for Yokomo in 13.5 Touring Car, Alex Ilievski taking the win from Cristian Silva and Nathan Tanti.

Image: Castle Hill RC Onroad [Facebook]


November 4, 2022

Voting for new ROAR President open

ROAR (Remotely Operated Auto Racers), the sanctioning body for RC racing in North America, has opened voting for the election of a new President along with even numbered Region Directors. With current President Chuck Kleinhagen stepping down this year, two candidates, Clayton Young and David Larry, are in the running to lead the organisation. Voting, via the ROAR website, is open to current members with voting closing at midnight on November 30th. It is widely recognised that ROAR is in need of change to better serve the sport in what is one of the largest and most important RC racing markets in the World.

Source: ROAR [roarracing.com]


October 31, 2022

DieHard RC announce 2022/23 Girls Team

It is great to see RC Racing being recognised as a great platform for the promotion of STEM education with DieHard RC announcing their 2022/23 all girls team.  They will use the indoor season to focus on teaching the girls to set/achieve goals, have fun and encourage each other. Ranging in age from 9 to 16 years-old, it is great to see the girls being so excited about being part of this growing team. Based Snohomish, Washington, DieHard RC strives to create a fun and educational learning environment that is inclusive, promotes teamwork and allows the community to come together. Integrity, hard work and community involvement through STEM focused racing and educational programs are the cornerstones of their business. They strive to have a place where families can come together in a strong community and a healthy environment.  Well done to everyone involved and to all the RC companies who are supporting the girls racing efforts.

Source: DieHard RC [diehardrc.com]


October 30, 2022

Orlowski wins, Wilck crowned Swedish Champion

Having taken the TQ, topping 4 of the 5 qualifiers, Michal Orlowski completed the perfect weekend at the Swedish Indoor National Championships to take the overall Touring Car victory.  However, given Orlowki’s Polish nationality the honour of being crowned 2023 Champion would go to second place finisher Viktor Wilck.  Hosted at David Ronnefalk’s DR Racing Arena, this year’s event attracted an international field with Marc Rheinard another star of touring cars to make the trip north to Sweden.  With two wins from the triple A-Mains, Orlowski may have been ineligible for the Swedish title but his victory is the perfect start to the indoor carpet racing season for the Schumacher driver.  Behind the Infinity of Swede Wilck, who heads to Thailand for the Nitro Touring Car World Championship this coming week, Rheinard completed the race podium for Awesomatix.  Finishing 4th, Xray’s Alexander Hagberg and 6th place finisher David Ronnefalk complete the Swedish TC title podium.  In 1:12 it was Hagberg who took victory to be crowned Swedish Champion from Ronnefalk and Alex Andresson.

View TC & 1:12 title podiums here


October 29, 2022

Orlowski TQ at Swedish Nationals!

The Swedish Indoor National Championship has a very international entry this year with factory Schumacher driver Michal Orlowski securing the overall TQ.  Taking place at DR Racing Arena, the track of 1:8 Offroad World Champion David Ronnefalk, the Swede invited a few international friends to join the race.  As well as Orklowski, who took 3 of the 4 qualifiers, Ronnefalk’s Awesomatix Touring Car team-mate Marc Rheinard has made the trip to Kallinge where he will start P2 after topping Q3.  Best of the Swedes after qualifying is factory Infinity driver Viktor Wilck in third with another of Sweden’s World Champions, Xray’s Alexander Hagberg claiming P4.   Finland’s Pekko Iivonen is set to line up fifth ahead of the UK’s Andy Murray with Ronnefalk himself qualifying 7th.  With 1:12 also running at the event, it is Hagberg with the TQ from Ronnefalk and Alexander Andersson.

Image: Michal Orlowski [Facebook]

 


October 24, 2022

Sobue crowned JMRCA All-Japan Champion

Akio Sobue is the new Japanese Touring Car National Champion.  Last held in 2019, Naoto Matsukura taking the win on that occasion, the JMRCA All-Japan Championships returned following Covid at the Greenpark Speedway in Hanno City. In qualifying, Sobue would take the opening three of four qualifiers to secure the TQ ahead of factory Yokomo driver Souta Goto who topped Q4.  Next up where the Infinity pairing of Ryosuke Yamamoto and former champion Jin Sawada.  The Top 5 in qualifying was completed by Sobue’s Axon team-mate and World Finalist Hayato Ishioka.  In the finals, Sobue took A1 but an early incident in A2 left the World Championship podium finisher with a fourth as Yamamoto took the win.  For A3 it was back to business for Sobue as he set the fastest lap to win by 1-second and with it claim the JMCRA title for a third time (2015, 2017).  The podium was completed by Yamamoto and Goto.


Source: Axon [team-axon.com]


October 20, 2022

US Carpet Offroad C/ships Spec Tyre Announcement

The US Carpet Off Road Championships has announced the spec tyre suppliers for this year’s running of the Cleveland, Ohio, based race.  Started in 2021, the week after the legendary US Indoor Champs On Road race, the 2nd edition takes place on December 1-4 with world famous announcer Scotty Ernst in charge of proceedings.  While the USCOC event has open tyre classes, for its Spec tyre classes Ernst is proud to announce their partnership with Schumacher and JConcepts. Buggy classes will use Schumacher Tires with the Truck classes running on JConcepts.  For 2WD it is the Cut Stagger front and Cactus rear that will be used while 4WD uses the Cactus Fusion 2 front and Cactus rear.  In Truck classes it is a Swaggers and Pin Downs combination for both Short Course and Truck.

Source: USCOC [carpetoffroad.com]


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