Red RC » Racing

March 9, 2024

Hotrace announced as 1:10 IC Worlds tyre supplier

The organisers of this year’s IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Onroad World Championship to be held in Costa Rica have announced Hotrace Tyres as the official controlled tyre supplier. Scheduled to take place from November from 14-24 at the Mini Autodromo Las Cruces just outside the capital city San Jose, the Italian manufacturer will supply a 37sh front and a 40sh rear tyre for 10th running of the championship which was first hosted in 2004 in Brazil. While still to finalise the best diameter for the tyres, it is 90% expected that based on information provided by the track that they should be 64mm rears and 62mm fronts. This will be second consecutive 1:10 Nitro Onroad World Championship that Hotrace has been awarded the supply of the controlled tyre. In 2020, Nicola Marrone’s company supplied the tyres for event when it was held at RC Addict in Thailand where Infinity’s Tadahiko Sahashi gained Nitro Onroad’s elusive ‘Double Champion’ status with victory over Dominic Greiner and Jilles Groskamp.

Source: 2024 IFMAR 1/10 Touring World Championship [Facebook]

March 9, 2024

Phi-Long Nguyen TQ at FEMCA Championship

Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen is the Top Qualifier at the 2024 FEMCA 1:8 Nitro Offroad Championship which is taking place at the L.A Track in Vietnam. The federation race crowns the Champion of Asia with this year attracting an impressive entry of more 110 drivers from across the largest continent in the World. Counting Atsushi Hara and Kyle McBride amount its past champions and this year it appears to be a battle of the future stars of the sport in qualifying. Over the six rounds 12-year-old Nguyen topped four qualifiers to secure the overall TQ with 17-year-old Australian Christian Wolhuter getting P2 after topping Q2 & Q3 with his Sworkz. Completing the Top 3 for qualifying would be new Team Associated signing Hyunkyu Jung, the Korean teenager having finished runner-up at last year’s championship in Taiwan. With reigning FEMCA Champion Jeff Wang not present in Vietnam the race will decide a brand new champion.

Image: Martin Wolhuter

March 8, 2024

T-works MBX8R fuel tank guard

New from T-Works and intended for the Mugen MBX8/MBX8R 1:8 nitro buggy is a new version of their carbon fibre fuel tank guard. Tailor-made to fit the fuel tank, the guard provides added protection against heat, debris and more. The guard is cut from high-quality carbon fibre and it comes including mounting hardware.

View guard fitted here

March 7, 2024

Introducing the ‘Michal Orlowski Column’

We have had the pleasure of following his career from his early days of racing a Tamiya TT02 and all the way through to being in Florida last December to finally witness him become a World Champion. Last year on the way to the 1:10 Offroad World Championships in Arizona, we both endured a lengthy 4-hour delay to our connecting flight in Washington and it was during that conversation and the sharing of many stories that the idea was born for a regular column from one of the most travelled racers in the business. To be honest, not expecting a great reaction to asking any driver to commit to writing regularly about their racing adventures both and off the track, we got Chris Ashton of his main sponsor Schumacher to ask the question, and, he jumped at the opportunity. So with out further a do we’ll hand you over to the newest member of the Red RC editorial team (well so sort). Michal Orlowski take it away……

Click here to read Michal first of hopefully many columns

March 7, 2024

2024 TITC Chassis Focus Index

Last weekend thanks to the support of Hobbywing, Red RC made a return to the TITC for the 20-edition of this legendary Bangkok race. The biggest one yet, it has truly become the most significant annual electric Touring Car race in the World. It was extremely positive for the category to see so much manufacturer support for the race. Of all the major car brands, only Schumacher had no official team presence but here’s hoping the British manufacturer gives us the opportunity to see Michal Orlowski take on the challenging RC Addict track conditions for the first time next year. Such was the quality of the field, the B-Main was full of World Championship Finalist drivers and it was great to see six different manufacturers represented in the A-Main of Modified. Call us old school, but putting the iconic Tamiya logo in our results graphic was a nostalgic moment. In another positive for electric touring car we had three new cars at the race. We had the latest prototype from Yokomo, the Japanese brand going for a name change as the BD name is dropped in favour of MS for Master Speed. Nicolas Lee did try to get us permission for a chassis focus but we couldn’t get it across the line. Kyosho had two prototypes of what is expected to be their TF8. That news generated massive excitement, so much so Kyosho requested we take down the story we ran on their return to the category. Finally Ryan Maker debuted his exciting new SP1 that will see him realise the dream of his RC Maker brand becoming a fully fledged car manufacturer. While both RC Maker and Kyosho allowed us to look at their new creations, we were not granted permission to photograph them for a Chassis Focus which we fully understand given the cars’ designs are still to be fully finalised. Over the event we did however photograph 12 cars from seven different manufacturers and we have compiled them all here in our latest Chassis Focus index.

View Chassis Focus Index here

March 6, 2024

Roche P12V optional alu upper and lower bulkhead set

A new option part from Roche for its P12V 1:12 kit is an aluminium upper and lower bulkhead set. Used by team driver Hayato Ishioka during the 2023 1:12 World Championships in Florida where he finished Top 5, they offer a centre wheelbase position between the existing short and long options given more fine tuning for the cars performance on different traction surface.

View more images here

March 5, 2024

Orlowski wins ‘Charity Race’

While all the world’s attention was on the TITC in Bangkok over the weekend, Michal Orlowski was in Italy where he took yet another win at the annual ‘Charity Race’. One of the few manufacturers to not have a team driver at the TITC, Schumacher instead sent their star driver as the reigning ‘Charity Race’ Champion to the RC Landia indoor carpet track in Scandiano. The 13th running of the event, it has been raising thousands of euros over the years for local charities. In qualifying Orlowski took the TQ, and in the finals gave the British manufacturer’s new prototype car yet another win, it having dominated at the recent MIBO International in the Czech Republic. Joining the Polish driver in the podium would be Xray pairing Alessio Menicucci in 2nd and Luca Romagnoli in 3rd. The closest challenger to Orlowski over the four qualifiers, Filippo Domanin would finish P4.

Image: Michal Orlowski [Facebook]

March 5, 2024

JConcepts 48p ‘Silent Speed’ machined alu pinion gear

JConcepts has introduced their Silent Speed pinion gears for 48 pitch racing performance applications. The heart of any RC vehicle is the transmission, at the top of the transmission lies the spur gear. Pinion gears or straight-cut gears are some of the simplest forms of gears; however they directly influence the ratio, speed and sound of RC vehicles and they are extremely important. These gears when meshed together correctly provide the transfer of power from the motor to the transmission and are one of the key elements in the versatility and sound of the vehicle. The gear includes a durable 3mm set screw which uses a 1.5mm hex wrench. Silent Speed pinion gears precision machined in aluminium and are very concentric giving the user a consistent gear mesh allowing a more precise adjustment and more “silence” on the race track. The detailed machining and laser engraving provide a great option to have in the pinion caddy when appearing at any event. The gears are marked for size and pitch so they are identifiable on or off the vehicle. Silent Speed pinion gears are also branded with the small JC logo for brand identification and authenticity with the range running from 18T to 38T.

Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]