Red RC » Racing

November 9, 2023

’23 1:8 Onroad World Championship Chassis Focus Index

After a four year wait the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship was back and what a final we would witness at Infinity International RC Speedway in Japan. Following more than a week of action on track it was Infinity’s Dario Balestri who came out on top winning the World title for a second time and in doing so became only the second driver in the history of IFMAR’s original category to be a repeat winner. In terms of manufacturers it was great to see three different manufacturers represented on the podium. During our coverage of the race we managed to photograph 15 cars from 8 different manufacturers and have compiled them all in our latest Chassis Focus index.

View Chassis Focus Index here

November 7, 2023

Schumacher Icon 2 Worlds Formula Car

Schumacher has released its newest 1:10 Formula chassis the ICON 2 Worlds. The car has already enjoyed successful on track with wins at the 2022 IFMAR World Cup, 2023 EFRA European Cup, and the 2022 ETS series, all driven by Schumacher team driver Andreas Stiebler. Now ICON 2 Worlds features some of the optional and development parts used by Andreas, now included in the kit, to make this the ultimate RC Formula racing machine. The optionals include new Horizontal Alloy Wing Mount offering improved strength. New Vertical Carbon Fibre Wing Mount allows the wing to be lowered by 5mm compared to previous generation. The ICON2 Worlds get new Lightweight low centre of gravity CNC alloy rear transmission housings. Lowered bearing housings to ensure small diameter foam tyres can achieve desirable ride heights. New Rear Springs that allow for full suspension travel when using softer spring rates. New Rear Spring Seat to suit new springs and provide clearance to the axle. The car are gets a new Montech Front and Rear wing for improved performance. New Castor inserts with pre-defined settings built in (5° & 8°, 6° & 7°, 2.5° & 10.5°). New Front King Pin provides the option to run more front droop which can result in more front grip while new Carbon Fibre Side Link Mount offers more space for electronics installation. New Carbon Fibre Full Length Chassis for increased cornering predictability and improved rear traction suspension system. The Worlds car now accepts optional rectangular weights to ballast up to weight limit.

View more images of ICON2 here

November 7, 2023

Martin dominates Round 2 of EssexCarpetClash

Round 2 of the popular EssexCarpetClash series took place at the end of October, where drivers had a mix of both an open and tight track. The grip seemed a little lower than the first round, so a little tweak to setup was needed, but this didn’t effect any of the fast and close racing throughout the day. In 2WD it was the mega quick Lee Martin that set the timing sheets alight taking top spot in all his qualifying runs with his Schumacher LD3. Ed Kerry had a great start to the day with some great early qualifying runs, putting his Serpent 2nd on the grid ahead of Will Venables in 3rd.Harley Eldridge would have a consistent qualifying and would line up 4th ahead of Demetri Panayides. The pole man Martin, would continue his dominance and never look back in the finals, and would make it a perfect 3 leg finals taking all leg wins and the meeting overall. With a few errors and mix ups in the field all finals, it would be Eldridge that would make the most of things and constantly finish in the top spots and getting her 2nd overall for the day with her Xray. Venables would keep his grid position and finish 3rd overall.
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November 6, 2023

Payne wins 1:12 International Grand Prix

Schumacher’s Ollie Payne won the 1:12 International Grand Prix in Italy over the weekend ahead of team-mate Michal Orlowski. Fresh from his double victory at the Masters of Foam race in Belgium a week earlier, the British driver travelled to RC Landia in Scandiano where we would again dominate the action. Topping three of the 6 rounds of qualifying, Payne secured the overall TQ ahead of 2022 European Champion Orlowski who posted two TQ runs. Reigning European Champion Alexander Hagberg who take Q3 to secure 3rd on the grid with his Xray. In the triple 8-minute A-Main, Payne won to first two take the overall while victory in A3 gave Orlowski second ahead of Mattia Collina for an all Schumacher podium with Hagberg fourth after a DNF in A3.

Image: RC Landia [Facebook]

November 6, 2023

Lovely makes it 2 from 2 in Schumacher Winter Series

Round 2 of the Schumacher Winter Series presented by the Louth Radio Control Car Club took place over the weekend with Chris Lovely taking the win in the hotly contested Contact RC 17.5 class. In qualifying Lovely topped the first three qualifiers before having issues in Q3 which was topped by Alex Brocklebank securing the Schumacher. A string of P2 times would give the Schumacher of Joseph Cocking 3rd on the grid ahead of destiny’s Daniel Burks. A duo of Awesomatix chassis of Dave Sedgewick and Paul Sleight. A clean start through the first corner, and a melee through the second would see Burks pushing Lovely early on in the single leg final. Chris would be able to bridge the gap and bring his Xray home for the win, ahead of Daniel. Paul Sleight would fight his way through from the back end of the field to time the final step on the podium. Incidents would mean Dave Sedgewick was fourth ahead of the Schumacher pair of Alex Brocklebank and Joseph Cocking.

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November 4, 2023

Balestri back on top of the World in Japan

Infinity’s Dario Balestri is back on top of the World after taking victory at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan. Having relinquished the title to Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata in the USA in 2019, after a forced 4-year-old wait, the Italian took the title back today and becomes one of the greats of the sport. Having often been referred to as the fastest onroad nitro driver in the World without a World Title before he finally got his breakthrough win in France in 2017, today’s win see him join legendary 9-time World Champion Lamberto Collari as the only other driver to hold the title more than once in the 23 editions of IFMAR’s original World Championship class. Unfortunately for Takahata after a brilliant Semi final win that put him 3rd on the grid, his title defence came to a very premature end in the final when his engine broke after just two and a half minutes. Having enjoyed a good stint as leader of the race, Capricorn’s Toni Gruber would finish 2nd just 7.5-seconds behind Balestri after the one hour of intense racing. Top Qualifier Simon Kurzbuch, who lead for the first 10-minutes until his first tyre stop, would complete the podium for Mugen in a dramatic end of race battle with Infinity’s Jesse Davis that led to a long delay in the prize presentations as it was reviewed by the officials. When the prize giving did get underway Takahata, who changed engine and finished the final, gave himself a better reason to remember his home World Championship by using the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend and she said yes.

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November 4, 2023

Takahata to defend World title from P3 in Japan

Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata is to defend the 1:8 Onroad World Championship title he won in California four years ago from P3 on the grid in Japan after a near perfect Semi Final performance. Starting the second of the half hour encounters from P2 on the grid, the Japanese driver would win from the Capricorn pairing of pole sitter Toni Gruber and Dominic Greiner, the later having to start from the back of the grid after calling time in the warm-up to change engine. In the first of the Semi Finals, Jesse Davis executed a text book race to repeat his 2019 performance when he booked himself into his first World Championship final. Behind the Australian, Infinity team-mate Naoto Matsukura secured his place in the 1-hour final ahead of a delighted Francesco Tironi, the Italian having bumped up from the quarter finals. As the drivers with the fastest two race times outside of the Top 3 Semi Final finishers, 2013 World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi and 1:8 Onroad World Championship debutant Kouki Kato complete the 10 car line up that will compete for the 23rd IFMAR World Title here at Infinity International RC Speedway.

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November 4, 2023

Phat Bodies M.A.D. Mini 1:12 bodyshell

British 1:12 Mini Stock bodyshell specialists Phat Bodies has released their new M.A.D. Mini shell and wing. The race inspired Mini is designed for the popular Mardave and Kamtec 1:12 Mini stock class measuring 160mm wide and 175mm wheelbase. Moulded in 0.7mm race weight Lexan polycarbonate for superior quality and durability, it comes complete with pre cut vinyl window masks and light/grill stickers sheet, external overspray film and ‘Phat Bodies’ stickers. The bodyshell and wing come clear and require cutting, trimming and painting to fit and finish.

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