May 6, 2025

Thurston takes first win of BRCA title defence

Reigning British 1:8 Onroad National Champion Alex Thurston took the first win of his title defence at the second round of the championship over the weekend which was hosted by Cotswold Model Car Club.   Having opening his season with a 3rd place at the season opener last month at Brooklands, Thurston and his Nova Engines powered Mugen Seiki pulled off a clean sweep securing the TQ, the win and the fastest lap,    For Round 1 winner Tim Wood it was to be a troubled final as late engine issues dropped the Shepherd driver to fourth.  In the half hour final Thurston led from start to finish and on having established a lead just control the race from the front for a repeat of his 2024 season opening win at Cotswold.  Behind, Karl Dransfield would work his way from 5th on the grid to finish second while Shepherd team-mate John Carr completed the podium.  Round 3 of the 7 round BRCA Championship will take drivers to the Adur track in 2-weeks time (17-18 May) where last year Thurston took the win ahead David Spashett with Wood in third.

Image: Alex Thurston [Facebook]


May 6, 2025

Xray X4 One-Piece LP Upper Bumper Holder

Xray has introduced a Carbon One-Piece Low Profile Upper Holder for the bumper on their X4 1:10 Electric Touring Car.  The light & strong one-piece low profile upper holder improves aesthetics & rigidity.  CNC-machined from USA made premium high-grade carbon fibre the bumper holder is more rigid for less body post flex & movement.

View additional image here


May 6, 2025

Phend & Lemieux win at INS15 Spring Carpet encounter

The second stop of the 15th season of the JConcepts Indoor National Series calendar took place at the RC One Racing track in Michigan over the weekend where Xray pairing Dakotah Phend and Chase Lemieux  took the main buggy wins.  Attracting over 330 entries, qualifying for the Spring Carpet Indoor Nationals would see Phend do the TQ double, topping 2WD ahead of team-mate Brennan Schimmel and Team Associated’s Aydin Horne.  In 4WD, again Phend topped two of the three rounds with Lemieux, last year’s 2WD winner, topping Q2 to line up second with Horne 3rd.  In the finals, newly turned father Phend took A1 of 2WD with a win from Horne in A2 sending it to A3 which Phend duly won to claim the overall ahead Team Associated duo Davey Batta, who qualified P4, and Horne.  In 4WD Phend would have an issue in A1 and not finish as Lemieux took it from Horne and 2WD World Champion Tater Sontag.  Phend would have a better A2 taking the win before he and Lemieux swapped lead position in A3 with Lemieux coming out the victor to secure the overall 4WD win.  Phend and Horne joined him on the podium.  The next round of 5 race INS15, the Mid-Summer Carpet Indoor Nationals, will take racers to Island Speedway in Iowa on June 6-8.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]


May 5, 2025

Nicholson wins WA Electric Onroad State Titles

Schumacher driver Simon Nicholson has won the Western Australia Electric Onroad State Titles which was hosted by West Coast Model RC over the weekend.  The back to back Australian National Champion arrived late to the event after a cancelled flight and missed half a day of practice.  In qualifying RC Maker’s Jeff Hamon would take the overall TQ.  Topping the opening qualifier Hamon took three of the five rounds with Nicholson taking the other two.  In the triple A-Main, Nicholson would take the first one from Jeffrey Mackie as Hamon struggled with tyres and dropped down the order.  A better A2 would see Hamon get the win from Nicholson by a big margin setting the stage for an A3 decider.  Unfortunately a mistake by Hamon saw him clip Nicholson with Mackie getting the win but overall it was Nicholson who took the title from Hamon with Mackie completing the podium.

Image: Simon Nicholson [Facebook]


May 5, 2025

Milansport Pit Area Table

New from Polish brand Milansport is this 3D printed with PETG premium material table to provide extra space on your pit area with a surface of 250mm x 190mm.  The legs are removable and stored in the storage compartment for easier transport with the legs are adjustable to allow you to set the required height from 130mm to 200mm.  Storage compartment is equipped with rubber grips to secure the legs during transportation.  On the sides there are hidden magnets and holes for additional accessories on the sides.  Once folded for transportation the table is only 20mm thick.

View more images here


May 5, 2025

OfficinaRC OFC-SIL Premium Silicon Oil

OfficinaRC has introduced a new line of premium silicon oil called OFC-SIL which they say is designed to deliver unmatched performance.  The range, features a wide selection of viscosities (expressed in CST) and covers every setup requirement.  For shock absorbers, they offer 25 CST increments in the most commonly used viscosities, allowing fine-tuning for perfect adaptation to any track condition.  For differentials, oil quality plays an even more decisive role: a superior oil like OFC-SIL ensures stability and consistency during use, preventing the performance drops typical of lower-grade oils.

Source: Officina RC [officinarc.com]


May 4, 2025

Kato wins PM25 as Ongaro & Kilic fail to finish in Manila

It was only his second Asian Buggy Championships appearance but Infinity’s young Japanese prospect Kouki Kato made it 2 from 2 with the biggest win of his career taking victory today at the famous Philippine Masters which is Round 2 of the Cayote backed championship.  Having won last year’s season finale in Indonesia, Kato would line-up third on the grid in Manila behind Mugen Seiki’s Burak Kilic and Top Qualifier Davide Ongaro, the Team Associated driver chasing three in a row at Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race.  With the 1-hour final underway Ongaro and Kilic would establish a lead with Kouki driving his own calculated race in 3rd.  With a change coming up front after a mistake by Ongaro allowed Kilic to go to the front unfortunately the Turkish driver’s Philippine Masters debut was to come to a premature end as he suffered the first of two flame-outs 15-minutes into the race.  It would turn out that the pick-up in his fuel tank had shifted and was longer positioned in the bottom of the tank hence the reason he was flaming out after just 5-minutes of running.  With the demise of Kilic allowing Ongaro back to the lead, it wasn’t to be the World Champion’s day either.  With 24-minutes remaining he too looked to flame out but the problem was more terminal.  Doing a battery pack change as the car’s radio was not responding it turned out that his receiver had failed and the 26-year-old was out.  In all the drama Kato was getting on with his race and took over the lead which he would hold until the finish, the crowd being entertained by the battle for the other podium places.  The Sworkz of Asian Buggy Championships Champion Christian Wolhuter and Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen went at it with Sworkz Mattia Polito also in the mix.  Looking on target to repeat his impressive P2 eBuggy result, Iivonen would cruelly run out of fuel on the penultimate lap allowing Wolhuter to claim second 14-seconds back on Kato.  While also running out of fuel, but on his last lap, Polito took third as Iivonen was classified fourth ahead of Kyosho’s Ryan Lutz with Alex Bernadzik completing the Top 6 as the dust settled on the biggest edition of the Philippine Masters yet.

Continue reading report here