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August 8, 2024

Thurston crowned British Champion with 5 in a row

Alex Thurston is the new 2024 BRCA British 1:8 Circuit National Champion, the YMC Racing supported driver claimed the title with a perfect season of 5 wins from 5 races. With round 5 of 7 taking drivers to the centre of the country and to the Wombwell Circuit, Thurston would take his Ielasi Tuned powered Mugen Seiki to the TQ ahead of the Shepherds of out going champion Tim Wood and Andrew Hastings. In the process of his Q4 FTD, Thurston claimed a new track record with a fastest lap of 16.02. In the half hour final Wood would keep Thurston on his toes but a late push in the final minutes allowed Thurston to build as gap he could maintain to the finish to make it 5 from 5 by a margin of 6-seconds. Behind Wood, Hastings completed the podium 2-laps down. The title win sees Thurston retake the title he had previous held for three years in a row in 2022. The penultimate round of the 2024 championship will see drivers return to Halifax, having hosted previously Round 5, on September 7/8th.

Image: Alex Thurston [Facebook]

August 5, 2024

Harper secures British National title with Stafford win

Schumacher’s Elliott Harper is the new BRCA British 1:10 Electric Touring Car Champion having secured the title with victory at the penultimate stop on the 5 round calendar at Stafford over the weekend. Having only returned to racing at the end of last season after a number of years away from the sport, the former Champion opened his 2024 campaign with a podium finish behind the Xray reigning Champion Kyle Branson and first tiime victor Alex Thurston who is the only other driver to win this season. Securing his latest TQ from Peter Eagles, Harper converted his pole into wins in both A-Main legs for the overall win and title. The podium in Stafford was completed by Eagles and the Xray of Harley Eldridge. It was a double success for the Schumacher team with Ollie Payne taking the win in the 13.5T class ahead of Billy Fletcher and James Hart.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]

July 31, 2024

Martin & Cragg winners at British Nationals Rd 5

The fifth & penultimate round of the BRCA British 1:10 Offroad Nationals was hosted at the Torch track over the weekend where Schumacher’s Lee Martin and Team Associated’s Neil Cragg took the wins. In Saturday’s 2WD action qualifying would see reigning Champion Cragg secure the TQ ahead of title rival & team-mate Tommy Hall with new Xray signing Josh Holdsworth third ahead of Martin. In the finals, Cragg opened with a win but then came out with 5th in A2 as Hall got the win ahead of Martin. In the decider it was Martin with the win leaving him equal on points with Cragg who would secure his second overall win of the season as a result of the faster race time. Hall completed the podium with both him and Cragg now on equal points at the top of the championship standings with one round remaining. In Sunday’s 4WD action, with the title already secured for 2024, it was Hall who claimed the TQ ahead of Martin and Ben Smith. In the finals, a clash between the Top 2 turned A1 on its head with Cragg coming through from P4 to win. A2 would see Smith win ahead of Martin who would finally deliver in A3 to claim his first win of the season. Smith made it a Schumacher 1-2 with Cragg taking the final podium spot ahead Thomas Phipps and Hall.

Image: Schumacher R/C Racing [Facebook]

July 30, 2024

Menicucci crowned Italian National Champion

Long time Xray driver Alessio Menicucci is the 2024 Italian National Champion for 1:10 Modified Electric Touring Car. A regular on the international racing scene, Menicucci won the AMSCI National Championship title race at the Miniautodromo Arezzo in Tuscany. Securing the TQ after the 4 rounds of qualifying, he would go on to win the finals ahead of the Yokomo of onroad racing stalwart Michele Romagnoli with the Xray of Simone D’Ottavio completing the podium. In 13.5 Stock, it would be a dominant performance from Orlando Fenili who took his Xray to the TQ, Win and Fastest Lap ahead of his brother Riccardo with the Awesomatix of Salvatore Raciti joining them on the podium. In FWD the National Champion title was secured by Ferrara Bryan while in the PRO10 category (Pancar 235mm) Gianluca Maldini driving a Roche Rapide took the crown ahead of the similar car of Pierangelo Benedetti with Alex Camminati completing the Top 3. In F1, the foam tyre category was taken by Daniele Casini while the rubber tyre title was dominated by Alessandro Manciocchi.

Image: Xray [Facebook]

July 29, 2024

Phend triples at ‘The Wicked Weekend’

Team Losi Racing’s Dakotah Phend completed a triple at ‘The Wicked Weekend’ in Gainesville, Georgia. Organised by RaceTime Entertainment, who host some of the biggest nitro races on US soil including the Psycho Nitro Blast, this year’s edition would be bigger than last year with the big winners from 2023, Phend (Nitro Buggy), Seth VanDalen (eBuggy) and Ryan Maifield (Nitro Truggy) heading the 726 strong entry list. In Nitro Buggy qualifying it was Phend who topped all three qualifiers to secure the TQ ahead of Maifield’s Tekno and Spencer Rivkin’s Team Associated. Phend also took the eBuggy TQ ahead of the Tekno of defending Champion VanDalen. In Nitro Truggy it was Sworkz’ Brandon Rose who took the TQ ahead of Rivkin. In the finals, Phend would successfully defend his Nitro Buggy title taking the win of the half hour decider by 12.5-seconds from Kyosho’s Ryan Lutz who got passed Maifield who finished a further 14-seconds back. In Nitro Truggy Phend would come through from P5 to take the win by a lap over Maifield with Top Qualifier Rose rounding out the Top 3. To cap off a brilliant weekend for Phend, he took eBuggy thanks to the fastest winning time in the first of the 2 legs A-main encounters. Winner of the second A-Main just a second ahead of Phend but a slower race by over 2-seconds, Team Associated’s Jonah Wilson took second overall with Lutz giving Kyosho another Top 3 finish.

Image: The Wicked Weekend [Facebook]

July 29, 2024

Orlowski wins at Belgian Nationals Rd 4

The fourth round of the Belgian Nationals drew some extra high profile entries over the weekend with Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski taking the win at the Racing Club Roeselare track. With the track set to host the EFRA 1:10 Electric Touring Car European Championships next month, a number of manufacturers used the National Championship round as final preparations for the Euros with the podium being completed by Awesomatix’s Lucas Urbain and Xray’s Alexander Hagberg. Last month the Roeselare track hosted the official Warm-up Race where Orlowski also took the win on that occasion ahead of triple back to back reigning Champion Bruno Coelho. In the fourth round of Stock, it was British driver Ollie Payne who took the win for Schumacher ahead of Belgium’s own Olivier Bultynck who will be aiming for a third European title having won previously in 2019 and 2022.

Image: Michal Orlowski [Facebook]

July 22, 2024

Davis takes 1:8 at Queensland IC Onroad State Titles

The Queensland IC Onroad State Titles took place at England Park Raceway, Brisbane, over the weekend where it was Infinity driver Jesse Davis who was crowned the new Champion of the 1:8 Onroad category. The reigning Australian National Champion and World Championship Finalist, Davis took his O.S. Speed powered IF18-3 to both the TQ and victory. Andrew Shapland made it an Infinity 1-2 in the half hour final with the Mugen Seiki of Tim Moylan completing the podium. Moylan would take the title in 1:10 Touring Car, securing the TQ and the win ahead of Xray’s Michael Stone. In 1:8 GT, former Large Scale World Champion Russell Grenenger successfully defended the title he won last year again with his Ielasi Tuned powered Hong Nor package followed home by the similar car of Jason Vallely.

Image: Speedy RC [Facebook]

July 17, 2024

Serpent Nitro GT Series Hong Kong – Report

The first round of the Serpent Nitro GT Series took place at the Tom Racing Circuit in Hong Kong on July 14th. The weather was perfect for racing, with a sunny day at 34 degrees. The race consisted of two classes: the Sport GT class, which primarily features RTR GT Chassis with stock engines, and the Open class, which has no restrictions on chassis or engine. After three rounds of qualifying, Sam Kwong took the top qualifying spot in the Open class, while Jason Choi took the TQ in the Sport GT class. Following a 45-minute A-Main final, Opel Chiu emerged as the winner in the Open class, followed by Simon Chan in second place and Ricky Yim in third. The Sport GT class race was more thrilling, with the second, third, fourth, and fifth positions all having the same number of laps and a very tight gap. In the end, Tiger Ho emerged as the winner, followed by Ming Wu in second place and Jason Choi in third.

Report: Justin Wan