Red RC » Racing

October 2, 2024

EC Kim joins Hobbywing

Hobbywing has announced that top Korean Touring Car racer EC Kim will represent its motors and ESCs as part of his racing program with ARC. Announcing their latest team driver, the multiple World Championship winning electrics manufacturer said, ‘We’re thrilled to welcome EC Kim to the Hobbywing Racing family! EC has an impressive track record. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the team and will be on-site, providing expert support whenever needed. We can’t wait to see what we’ll achieve together!’ Finishing sixth recently among the international entry at the Electric Singapore International Challenge (eSIC), on his move to Hobbywing Kim said, ‘I’m thrilled to officially join Team Hobbywing! I’m eager to contribute and share my passion with the team and the Hobbywing community. I hope my future activities will be valuable and beneficial to both the team and all the Hobbywing users. Thanks to Nico, I am excited for the future!

Source: Hobbywing [hobbywing.com]

October 2, 2024

Philippine Masters 2025 date announced

With the dust having just settled on the second season of the Asian Buggy Championships, the race that laid the fountains to the continent having its own high profile 1:8 Buggy Championship, the Philippine Masters, has announced their 2025 date. Establishing itself as Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race meeting and a major event on the international racing calendar, the 13th running of the Philippine Masters is scheduled for April 30-May 4. A slightly later date than usual, Asian Buggy Championships organiser Scotty Ernst made the announcement at the season finale in Indonesia over the weekend where Philippine Masters track designer Edward Sio was racing himself. Taking place at the Circulo Verde track in Capital city of Manila, the 2024 Edition of the Philippine Masters saw Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro once again take the win, with American Ryan Pavidis and RC legend Atsushi Hara, leader of the 1-hour final for a time, completing the podium. 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’. Holding the same status as the TITC in Thailand does among onroad racers, once again Philippine Masters ’25 will be the second round of the Asian Buggy Championships.

Source: Philippine Masters [philippinemastersrc.com]

October 1, 2024

Berton announces departure from Infinity

Having given their newly released IFB8 1:8 Buggy its biggest win to-date and once again represented the multiple Onroad World Champion manufacturer in the 1:8 Offroad Worlds Final at Redovan in Spain last month, Riccardo Berton has announced his departure from Infinity. Kicking off the 2024 season proper with a victory at the famous Montepellier GP just before the Japanese company’s debut buggy kit was released to the market, the talented Italian driver has been part of the project since joining the team at the beginning of 2020. Posting news of his departure on his Facebook page, Berton said, ‘As I finished my 2024 outdoor season, I would like to communicate that I will be no longer an Infinity driver for the next year. Has been a long trip full of emotions, fun, racing and learning. I am thankful to Kenji-San for the unstoppable support in these years and to my mates Artu and Matteo for all the help. Let’s see what the future brings! See you soon.’

Source: Riccardo Berton [Facebook]

October 1, 2024

FEMCA Clarification on 1:12 World Championships

Following the release of the 2025 World Championship dates which we reported on yesterday and some resulting conversations about 1:12 not appearing on the list, our friends at FEMCA (Far East Model Car Association) have been in touch to clarify their position on the subject. The governing body of RC racing that represents 15 nations in Asia and Australasia, the bloc has been tasked with bringing together the next 1:12 and next ISTC World Championship for IFMAR. While the next 1:12 Worlds are due to take place in 2025, and the next ISTC in 2026, FEMCA after discussing internally & with IFMAR, that the prospect of jointly hosting the two World Championships together in China 2026. While keeping Red RC updated on its progress, they would now like to publicly share these details with the wider RC community and avoid confusion especially within the 1:12 racing community. Personally knowing all the people involved in putting together FEMCA’s exciting plan, Red RC is already looking forward their hosting of the championships .

Read FEMCA’s update here

September 30, 2024

Schumacher Azami 1:10 Offroad Tyre

Schumacher has added another new tyre to it’s 1:10 Offroad line-up, this time with the release of the Azami. With the demands of carpet racing pushing tyres to the limit the British manufacturer is happy to give an alternative to the popular Cactus tyre by bringing out the Azami. Their R&D team have developed a high density centre pin formation for durability and grip on CRC/EOS type carpets. The outer pin formations give the car good side bite but without a compromise to the car’s steering. The Azami can also work well on used carpet for an improved club driving experience.

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]

September 30, 2024

IFMAR announces 2025 World Championship dates

IFMAR has published the dates for the 2025 World Championships with the latest calendar seeing one change of host country and 1:12 no longer listed. The World governing body of RC racing, whose sole remit is the administration of each category’s bi-annual World Champion crowning, will have two new inaugural World Champions to add to their list as 1:8 Offroad gets it first World Championship race for Electric Buggy while 1:8 GT will now also get an official Electric GT World Champion, the 2023 Worlds hosting Electric GT as a ‘World Cup’ status race. It will be 1:8 eBuggy that kicks off the 2025 calendar at the end of August followed by 1:8 GT in September, 1:10 Offroad in October, and 1:8 Onroad in December. With 1:8 GT originally awarded to Peru, Chile is now set to double its efforts as it is listed to host 1:8 Onroad and now the 1:8 GT Worlds. Club de Aeromodelos de Chile (CACH) will host the 3rd running of the GT Nitro Worlds with 2-months then to get ready for the race that decides IFMAR original World Championship category. Having previously run with the ISTC World Championship, which is just over five weeks away in California, 1:12 became a stand alone championship after Covid but it looks likely they may come back together again for 2026 at least. More news on this and the host track are expected from IFMAR shortly.

View dates here

September 30, 2024

Sobue wins ISTC Worlds Warm-up Race

Akio Sobue took the win at the official ISTC World Championship Warm-up race over the weekend, the Axon driver coming out on top of the small international entry to win ahead Xray’s Alexander Hagberg and Serpent’s Dominic Greiner. With Finishline RC Raceway in Bakersfield, California, set to host the 12th running of the IFMAR World Championship for Electric Touring Car from Nov 5-10th, the official Warm-up race attracted 23 modified entries. With reigning back to back World Champion Bruno Coelho and hotly tipped title favourite Michal Orlowski competing at 1:10 Offroad European Championships in Sweden, where they claimed a title each, it was 2022 Worlds podium finisher Sobue who set the pace throughout the event. Topping all three qualifiers he secured the TQ ahead of Hagberg and former Nitro Touring Car World Champion Greiner and that’s how they ran & finished in the opening two A-Mains. Hagberg took A3 from Greiner with multiple 1:10 Offroad World Champion Ryan Cavalieri getting a third that gave him fourth overall. In Pro Stock it was Schumacher’s Ollie Payne who took the win. Former World Champions Marc Rheinard and Atsushi Hara opted to not race and instead will begin testing at the track today. Red RC will be travelling to Finishline RC Raceway in 5-weeks time to cover the main event.

Image: Serpent [Facebook]

September 29, 2024

Kato executes perfect 1-hour main to win ABC Indonesia

Infinity driver Kouki Kato executed a perfect race to win the season finale of the Asian Buggy Championships in Indonesia, the Japanese driver winning the fourth round in Jakarta from the Sworkz of newly crowned overall Champion Christian Wolhuter. Lining up on pole position for the 1-hour final at West Side Raceway ahead of team-mate Naoto Matsukura and Wolhuter, Kato quickly gapped the field and grew that advantage over the rest of the 15 car grid as his rivals made errors and later hit problems. While Kato ran his own race out front, the focus turned to the battle for 2nd between Wolhunter, Matsukura and Jason Nugroho. Unfortunately leading local challenger Nugroho and Matsukura, who had just set the fastest lap of the race, would both suffer the same faith within 5-laps of one another as they needed lengthy pit stops to fixed rear suspension links on their cars. With Kato winning by over a lap from Wolhuter, it would be the Team Associated of track owner Adrian Wicaksono who completed the podium, a just reward for both his driving in the final and his efforts in staging the Asian Buggy Championships first race in Indonesia. Finishing on the same lap as Wicaksono having held the final podium position for a time, Mayako’s Joseph Quagraine finished fourth.

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