Red RC » Racing

December 28, 2023

12-year-old Thilo Baldes joins Serpent Team Europe

Serpent has announced that 12-year-old German racer Thilo Baldes will be racing for Serpent Team Europe from the 2024 season using its recently released 990 Evo 1:8 Onroad chassis. Coming from a strong nitro onroad racing heritage, his father Joerg an accomplished racer and his uncle Uwe well known both as a racer and race promoter, the announcement comes off the back of Thilo’s best season yet. In September 2023, the youngster from Adenau near the famous Nuerburgring achieved his greatest success to date, becoming German Champion in 1:8 nitro onroad racing (Class 2 and German Junior Champion in this class). Set to compete in regional, national and international races, commenting on his new chassis deal, he said, “I am extremely happy and also very proud to be a member of Serpent Team Europe. This is a great opportunity for me. The support is huge! I would like to thank everyone involved for this support and trust, especially Jirka Hassler from 2 speed”. Also supported by Italian engine brand Reds Racing, his father Joerg added, “With the new Serpent 990 Evo and powerful engines from REDS, which we have been using successfully since the Summer, we have an excellent package for the new challenges when Thilo has to move up to National Class 1 after his title win.”

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]

December 28, 2023

JConcepts BIGFOOT 4 Louisville ’90 Ford F-250 body set

Having become extensively involved in the RC monster truck scene in recent years thanks to owner Jason Ruona’s own personal love of all things BIGFOOT, JConcepts has released its latest body for the iconic truck with the BIGFOOT 4 Louisville 1990 Ford F-250 body set. They designed the body to accept the included wrap-around front bumper and rear bumper assembly. A tough task considering most polycarbonate bodies are not produced to hold injection molds parts in this manner. The front clip of the body was built to accept a drop-in injection molded and chrome 3D front grille assembly. They also elected to add an assortment of injection molded and chrome plated engine accessories to this set. These items include the dual and vertical air-filter assembly commonly used on BIGFOOT #4 during this time. An included fastback is built to attach to the body with inner roll-bar assembly which is already injection molded blue in colour. The inner roll-bar assembly makes it possible to mount the included mock light buckets on top and during assembly, add the iconic fluorescent pink light covers to finish off the look.

View more images here

December 28, 2023

JConcepts Teazers 1:8 Truck tyre

New from JConcepts is the Teazer tire which the Florida company has created for the competitive world of 1:8 truck racing. Packed with almost 4000 individual pins, the Teazer uses a multi-height and multi-width pin system to incorporate the dense pin count. The square based, angular lugs alternate in height and width to connect with a track surface by allowing the taller pins to reach deep and contour with the terrain. The shorter pins stiffen the base, add surface area, and provide increased longevity for long main events. JConcepts started this design with conditions in mind that were very typical of 1:8 offroad. Dusty, bumpy and sometimes wet and dry areas make this form of racing the most difficult to tame and the Teazers have all the ingredients. The tires feel to the touch much like a field of grass, the individual blades of tire tread grip independently to form the ultimate low traction or slick groove condition tyre. Alternating bars support sections of the tire where more forward grip is desired while the half-height design of the bar still allows flexibility.

Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

December 26, 2023

McBride back at Kyosho

With his father Scott giving a very subtle hint on Christmas eve as to the impending news with a photo posted on social media, Kyosho has today officially confirmed the return of Kyle McBride to its International 1:8 Offroad team. One of the young stars of the 1:8 Offroad Worlds in Pattaya, Thailand in 2010, which earned him the title of the ‘wonder from Down Under’, the Australian first joined the iconic Japanese manufacturer in 2011 on the back of that performance. Now he returns to bolster their international team which in recent years has not been as prolific. Since his appearance in the 2018 World Championship Final in Perth then driving his Team Associated to 9th, McBride has had a number of chassis sponsors but the return to Kyosho should see his back on the international stage as Australia’s top offroad driver. Commenting on the announcement McBride said, ‘Officially going back to my roots. Sincere thank you to Team Kyosho and Hobbies Australia for the opportunity to join the team and represent this professional brand again. I look forward to equipping these amazing Japanese vehicles and showing what I am capable of with them. Bring on 2024!!!’

Source: Kyosho Corporation [Facebook]

December 23, 2023

New date confirmed for IFMAR 1:8 eBuggy World Cup

After being forced to cancel the event just days before its planned date of last September due to a lack of entries, IFMAR has announced the new date of April 5-7, 2024, for the first ever World Cup for 1:8 Electric Buggy. Concerns were raised when the initial date was announced as it was just 1-week after the 1:10 Offroad World Championships in Arizona which was probably one of the biggest contributing factors to it getting only 15 confirmed entries but the new date should allow for a much stronger entry. With eBuggy a hugely important category for manufacturers 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 will be hosted by the Club ACDB “OS BEIROES” at their 310m track in Guarda, Portugal whichk previously hosted the 2010 EFRA European 1:8 Nitro Buggy Championship when Reno Savoya took the third of his European titles. View the updated Stage 1 report here.

Source: IFMAR [Facebook]

December 23, 2023

2024 Philippine Masters registration opens

Having established itself as Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race, the organisers of the Philippine Masters have announced the opening of registration for the 12th edition of the high profile Manila based event. A sell out event in 2023, the race saw World Champion David Ongaro win the Buggy title for Team Associated while Sworkz’ Micha Widmaier came away with the Truggy victory. With the Philippines famed as a holiday destination, the event has a truly unique vibe living up to the nations tourism tagline ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ with many of the large international driver entry combining the race with holidays at the country’s world famous white sand beaches. Along with Ongaro and Widmaier, Robert Battle, David Ronnefalk, Adam Drake, Ty Tessmann, Atsushi Hara and Kyle McBride are just some of the other international drivers to enjoy both the racing and hospitality in the capital city. Again a capacity entry is expected to be reached quickly as the Philippine Masters plays host to the second round of the Asia Buggy Championships which after kicking off in February in New Zealand will also visit Australia and Indonesia in 2024 and at the end of which there will be an overall Champion of the region crowned.

Source: Philippine Masters [philippinemastersrc.com]

December 22, 2023

2024 SIGP International Grand Prix – Announcement

Sunpadow Batteries has announced that the SIGP International RC Car Grand Prix Onroad will be resumed in 2024 with the event taking place March 20-24 (Updated). The Sunpadow International Grand Prix (SIGP) event had established itself as one of the leading annual international RC event in China and attracted many of the sports top drivers with World Champion Bruno Coelho the winner of the onroad edition in 2019. Taking place at the 2017 Electric Offroad Championship venue in Xiamen, both the onroad and offroad tracks are built side by side next to Sunpadow’s production facility. The SIGP will continue to offer one of the biggest prizes in the sport with total prize money of $25,000 on offer over the categories which include 1:8 GP onroad, 1:8 EP onroad, 1:10 Modified Touring Car and 1:10 Stock Touring Car. Registration will open on January 20th, 2024.

View track images here

December 21, 2023

’23 Foshan Invitational RC C/ship Chassis Focus Index

Last weekend saw the inaugural running of the Foshan Invitational RC Championship at the GDC Indoor Track in China’s central Guangdong Province. The biggest international race hosted in the country post Covid, FIRC attracted a number of international racers to the impressive indoor track with former World Champion Ronald Volker taking the win ahead of an impressive drive from Chinese racer Vening Zhuo with Japan’s Yugo Nagashima completing the podium. During our coverage of the event we featured 10 cars from 5 different manufacturers for our Chassis Focus including some of China’s top Modified Touring Car racers and we have compiled them all here in our latest Chassis Focus index.

View Chassis Focus Index here