Red RC

October 14, 2023

Gruber is GT World Champ with master class Down Under

Toni Gruber is the new IFMAR 1:8 GT World Champion, the Hong Nor driver taking his first World title with an absolutely dominant and perfectly executed drive in Sydney, Australia. Disappointed at missing out on the TQ in qualifying but managing to book his direct starting position in the final by winning Super Pole, the German driver led the 1-hour final from start to finish after getting the holeshot on Top Qualifier Alex D’angelo. It was to be a difficult race for the Genius Racing driver, his race hampered by flame outs resulting in 6th place at the finish. A lap up on the entire field after 20-minutes, Gruber extended that to 2 laps by 40-minutes, with the attention on the battle for second between home hero Jeff Hamon and his young Serpent team-mate Andrea Catanzani who put in a sensation drive in the Semi final to go from last to winning it. A driver to call time, his 2-speed needing adjustment, Hamon had to start the race from the No.11 box on the grid as a result but worked his way through to second with World’s rookie Catanzani marking his arrival to the world by completing the podium. For out going champion Joern Neumann it wasn’t to be a good race, the Sworkz driver suffered a number flame outs during his refuelling stops and after an off 17-minutes in some slow marshalling saw his engine stop costing the German a lap. In the end he would finish 8th 12-laps down on Gruber.

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October 14, 2023

Neumann title defence on with Semi win

Qualifying only 14th, Joern Neumann’s defence of his IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championship title is still on after the Sworkz driver took victory in the first of the Semi Finals in Sydney. Starting from sixth on the grid, Neumann worked his way to the front chasing down the Serpent of pole sitter Jeff Hamon. With no fuel stops allowed before 7-minutes, when Hamon and Neumann pitted they would both suffer flame outs. On the second stop, Hamon was in earlier than Neuman but once again flamed out something the Australian would suffer on all his stops. With a clean second stop for Neumann, this would give him a lead he would not give up. Starting from the pitlane after a problem in the warm-up, Italian Gabriele Paloschi would get past his Serpent team-mate to finish second, the Top 3 securing their spot in the 1-hour Main event. Unfortunately for Peter Jovanovic, having run second for the opening 5-minutes, he ran was over when he stripped a gear on his Capricorn.

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October 13, 2023

Ronnefalk joins Xray

Xray has announced that the 1:8 Offroad World and multiple European Champion David Ronnefalk has joined their factory team. The Swede’s program with the Slovakian manufacturer will see him race not just 1:8 and 1:10 offroad but all 1:10 Touring car classes. Having departed Mayako after 2-years stint with the brand, commenting on his move to Xray Ronnevalk said, “I’m very excited and happy to announce the news of me joining XRAY. It’s no secret what this brand is capable of in terms of its development program in creating quality products achieving the best results. I’m really looking forward to be a part of this process and to work close with the team to achieve our common goals. I feel very confident starting the new chapter of my career together with XRAY, I’m sure we will be able to make great things happen together. Can’t wait to start to work and meet up with everyone again.”

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

October 13, 2023

Neumann wins 1:8 GTe World Cup

Sworkz’ Joern Neumann has won the IFMAR 1:8 GTe World Cup in Australia repeating the feat he achieved in Miami almost 4-years ago. Qualifying second for the race in Sydney behind the Xray of Top Qualifier Natanaele Senesi, the German would have a terrible start to A1 going off onto the grass in the first corner as his team-mate & nitro mechanic Herfried Pucher from fourth on the grid took the early lead. Half way through the 6-minute encounter Neumann would take the lead before going on to win by a comfortable 5-seconds as Pucher just held off Senesi for second. In A2, Neumann nailed the start getting the holeshot on Senesi but Senesi would make a late charge in the race closing the gap until he was hit by a backmarker allowing Neumann to cruise to the overall win. While the title was won, as the reigning Nitro GT World Champion which he will try to defend tomorrow, Neumann wasn’t going to get the opportunity of track time pass him by and appeared with a different bodyshell in A3 to test it for his nitro Semi final. On the track Neumann took the win narrowly from the Capricorn of Peter Jovanovic but the Australian was later handed a 1-lap penalty for ‘Un-sportmanship’ for failing to re-address early race contact. This gave Senesi second for A3 but overall Jovanovic was runner-up with the Italian completing the podium.

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October 13, 2023

R1 Wurks DC1 Flex Tuned Wheelie Bar

R1 Wurks has released this sleek, optional Flex Tuned wheelie bar made for its DC1 Drag car. Engineered to offer consistent flex properties it features extra adjustment holes for a wide range of tuning options. Placing the wheelie bar adjustment turnbuckle in closer proximity to the chassis will promote greater flex, whereas extending the upper turnbuckle and mounting it further from the chassis will reduce wheelie bar flex.

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October 13, 2023

MonTech D-Power 1:10 Scaler body

New from body producer MonTech is the D-Power 1:10 scaler body. The truck body has a wheelbase of 313mm, a maximum width of 205mm and a height of 130mm from the cutting line. Made from high quality polycarbonate it is available in two versions, 0.75mm and 1.0mm thickness. The body comes complete with headlights decals and masks for painting.

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October 13, 2023

JConcepts S15 B6.4 & B74.2 bodies

Debuting at the recent 1:10 Offroad World Championships in Arizona, JConcepts has officially released its S15 body for both the Team Associated B6.4 2WD & B74.2 4WD buggies. Designed, built, and produced in the 11^th hour, the new S15 body is available for both the standard and Dirt versions of both chassis. With successful designs coming from the Punisher, Finnisher, and Silencer line, the JConcepts crew made the decision, it was time for the S15. Incorporating lessons from the lineage, the team concentrated on the single cock-pit placement, deflection angles, hard edged (JConcepts chamfering), and side pod winglets. The single side window design is a departure from the usual JC team body shells but drops in nicely on the S15. Driving the S15, it performs like a champion, albeit slightly different than its predecessors, the delicate nature of the shell allows the driver to flow, drive smoothly, and radius difficult corners without over aggression.

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October 12, 2023

D’angelo is GT World Championship Top Qualifier

Genius Racing’s Alex D’angelo is the Top Qualifier for the 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney Australia. The Italian’s first World Championship, he secured pole position for Saturday’s 1-hour final when he backed up his Q5 TQ with another in the final round at the John Grant International Raceway. Going into the decider as the only driver capable of topping overnight TQ holder Toni Gruber, he would produce another 24-lap run and with his Q5 time the quickest of the event he took the overall TQ on tiebreaker from Gruber. A rough day for Gruber, qualifying didn’t end any better for the Hong Nor driver as suffered from too lean an engine and pulled in after 4-minutes. Adding to the Genius team’s celebrations, reigning European GT Champion Bernard-Alain Arnaldi make it a 1-2 for the GT8.23 for the round putting the French driver into the four driver Super pole shoot out. This was duly won by Gruber who now locks his place into the Main final while the rest have to come through the Semi Finals. For reigning Champion Joern Neumann, a strong finish to Day 1 of qualifying, when he got a P3 in Q3, didn’t carry through to Day 2. As a result the Sworkz driver will start out his title defence from 6th in the half hour Semi B having qualified 14th overall.

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