Red RC » Racing

November 1, 2023

Takahata takes Q3 as Balestri holds overnight TQ

In a thrilling first day of qualifying at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship, Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata has TQ’d the third round of qualifying becoming the third different driver/manufacturer combo to top the times in Japan. The reigning World Champion capitalised on the cooling evening conditions to set the fastest time of the day ahead of Infinity’s Dario Balestri with Capricorn’s Toni Gruber completing the Top 3. Opening qualifying with a TQ run, it is Balestri who holds the overnight TQ at Infinity International RC Speedway ahead of Gruber who topped the second round of qualifying. With Takahata holding P7 in the ranking, his day not starting out well with a crash in Q1 and DNF in Q2, it is 17-year-old Kouki Kato who is the top Japanese driver sitting in third following an impressive second fastest time run in Q2.

Continue reading here

November 1, 2023

JConcepts RM2 1:8 Offroad carbon bodyshell washers

Under the RM2 product line, JConcepts has released 1:8 offroad carbon fibre bodyshell washers. Adding carbon fibre never hurts, in the case of body mounts, you can protect the geometry of placement holes with the RM2 body shell washers. The thinly sliced carbon with adhesive backing is ideal to place in flat areas where additional reinforcement is needed. Due to the nature of carbon, it’s difficult to bend, so flat surfaces are recommended for application. Being a handy racer, the items can always be modified, cut, or relocated to better fit the needs. The inside diameter is set for an 8mm body post hole while the outer diameter is set to a much larger size to accommodate body geometry. Two of the pieces are slotted for movement and traditional chassis flex found on 1:8 offroad vehicles.

View mounted here

November 1, 2023

Major IFMAR reshuffle in Japan

While most of the attention is on the track at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan, in one of the track offices there was a major reshuffle of the sport’s governing body taking place yesterday at the IFMAR AGM. A heated and lengthy meeting, with a number of participants joining remotely via webcam, there was a major changing of the guard with only long time serving IFMAR representative Sander de Graff of EFRA giving some continuity. Current IFMAR President Jeff Parker together with Carlos Gomez and Frank Mostrey, the Belgian having announced his retirement prior to the meeting, will be replaced by Eric Anderson, Tim Caporal & Bob Ingersol, all of ROAR, and Clive Silva of FEMCA. With Parker’s role as President set to end with the conclusion of these World Championships in Japan on Saturday, it is widely expected that well known electric onroad racer Eric Anderson, who made the trip to Japan for the AGM, will become the new IFMAR President.

November 1, 2023

Gruber takes 2nd qualifier at World Championship

In another dramatic qualifier at the 1:8 Onroad Worlds in Japan, Capricorn’s Toni Gruber took the second round TQ. Having opened qualifying with a TQ run Dario Balestri wouldn’t even make the start of Q2, his engine expiring in the warm-up. Having led Q1 until he ran out of fuel on the final lap, Simon Kurzbuch would flame out very early on and then when it looked like Naoto Matsukura was on for the TQ of the second round he too ran out of fuel. All this allowed Gruber to take the TQ ahead of the Infinity of Kouki Kato and the Sahashi brothers who ran their times in the second fastest heat – Tadahiko faster than Yuya. After a strong first qualifier, finishing P3, Jessie Davis was on for another Top 3 performance but trying to make a pass on Serpent’s Andrea Catanzani, the Italian made contact with the Infinity driver ruining both their qualifiers and earning Catanzani a time penalty.

Continue reading here

November 1, 2023

Balestri TQ’s opening qualifier in Japan

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan. Top Qualifier at the last Worlds in 2019, the Italian took the round ahead of Capricorn’s Dominic Greiner as Simon Kurzbuch ran out of fuel on his last lap. The Top Seed after timed practice Kurzbuch looked to be carrying that form into Day 1 of qualifying but having admitted yesterday that the 4-minute run time would be close, this morning it was to cost him the TQ run. Having hinted at his pace in the final practice when he was fourth fastest, Infinity’s Jessie Davis would complete the Top 3 for the first of the 6 rounds of qualifying 0.579 ahead of Toni Gruber. One of the four drivers to top timed practice yesterday, Naoto Matsukura didn’t have a good start to qualifying as he needed to pit after the first 1-minute to have his engine tuned.

Continue reading here

November 1, 2023

JConcepts Scalloped 2.2″ carpet | turf inserts

JConcepts adds an open cell buggy insert option to the line-up specifically for carpet and turf racing. The scalloped insert takes some technology from the latest in 1:10 and 1:8 offroad closed cell inserts and incorporates it in to the soft and pliable open cell material. The inserts have shown to produce better rolling speed and supports the centre section of wide and narrow front tires used in 2WD and 4WD buggy racing. The tyre holds up to large impacts and landings and abuse from the front end but still allows the insert to buckle and steer and carve corners with care. The scalloped design front insert holds up to repeated use without premature wear characteristics by allowing flex in the centre of the tyre. On the rear insert, the scalloped nature of the detail cuts allow a buckling effect which promotes forward drive while still allowing the tire to hold up to repeated use without premature wear characteristics.

View front insert here

October 31, 2023

Kurzbuch is Top Seed in Japan

Simon Kurzbuch is the Top Seed at the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship, the Mugen Seiki driver setting the fastest 3-consecutive laps of the day in the fourth & final round of timed practice in a great battle with Capricorn’s Toni Gruber. The duo swapped position at the top of the timing screens, their engine tuner Daniele Ielasi finding it hard to keep up with which of drivers was currently fastest, but at the end of the 7-minutes it was Kurzbuch who was 2/10ths faster than Gruber. That time would give the very much back in form 2015 World Champion the tiebreaker in the final seeding points ranking as himself and Gruber both count a P1 & P2 each. Fastest in the second round, Infinity’s Naoto Matsukura would put himself out of contention for the confidence boosting Top Seed status when he crashed out just before the final 2 and a half minutes of the run which is when the times start to tumble. Another contender, having topped Round 3, Dario Balestri could not match the lead pace and finished with the third fastest time just ahead of Infinity team-mate Jesse Davis. Overall that would seed Balestri third.

Continue reading here

October 31, 2023

Indonesia Year End Race 2023 – Report

The annual Indonesia Year End Race 2023 was held at East RC Speedway last week, attracted a total of 88 racers from Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand joined in. All drivers welcomed by the very hot weather during the race week, made it much tricky for each one to find the best tuned for their car. The event support the primary Expert Modified Class, Expert GT Class, GT Class and Touring Blinky Class. Bowie Ginting took the overnight TQ at Modified Expert Class as he snatched Q2 and Q3 win, while Nicholas Lee won the Q1 and Q4, means the tie breaker rules handed Nicholas the overall TQ by the fastest time. Ethan Cheng rounded up 3rd for the triple A Main Final. It was a close run between these three racer, Bowie would able to capitalise the win in A1 and A2 which awarded him the title. As Nicholas and Ethan battled it out for 2nd overall in A3 after some close racing which seen the pole sitter grab the 2nd ahead of his fellow countryman. Wee Yuan from Malaysia was all over the contention in Blinky Class. Secured the TQ and overall win in the first two legs. Indonesian’ Dede Supriyatna would made the highest move as he started from 10th and ended up 2nd ahead of Wuzi Sevta who takes 3rd.

View results & podium images here