Red RC » R Off Road

September 21, 2023

Hamilton & Ocon enjoy 1:8 Nitro fun at Japanese GP

Last year at the Japanese Grand Prix we saw Lewis Hamilton at the controls of a Tamiya Lunchbox and Esteban Ocon having some fun with a Kyosho buggy thanks to RC Legend Yuichi Kanai and now the two F1 drivers have teamed up at Suzuka this year for a bit more 1:8 Nitro Buggy fun at the event. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team shared photos and a video on social media of the pair driving the two buggies up and down the pit lane with both drivers clearly enjoying the experience before they get down to the more serious business of this weekend’s F1 Grand Prix which starts tomorrow. Clearly F1 drivers also need to be marshalled too with a photo of one of the cars upside down. It also appears that Lewis shares something in common with our own 1:8 Buggy and now 1:10 4WD World Champion Davide Ongaro in using a stick radio!!

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September 21, 2023

RC Cars Köngen 2023 Halloween Race – Announcement

It’s that time again with RC Cars Köngen e.V. hosting its annual Halloween Race over the weekend of November 4/5th 2023. With over 150 entries, the Halloween Race in Köngen has become one of the largest national electric offroad events in Germany. In the past, drivers from all over Europe have come to Köngen to compete with drivers like Jörn Neumann, Micha Widmaier, Burak Kilic and Moritz Lautenbach from Germany, Clement Boda from France, Senne Pauwels from Belgium and Rik Haemers from the Netherlands. Racing will take place in the classes 2WD and 4WD Modified and Stock as well as Mod Truck according to the regulations of the DMC. On the Friday of race weekend there will be practice at the venue. If you want to be there, you have to be fast with the entries opening via myrcm.ch on 25.09.2023 at 20.00 o’clock.

Source: RC Cars Köngen e.V. [rc-cars-koengen.de]

September 18, 2023

‘RC Arena’ reopens for ’23/24 Winter season

Swiss indoor track ‘RC Arena’ is to reopen for the 2023/24 Winter season. With both onroad and offroad drivers coming together to create the indoor track in Wädenswil last year, the 1300 metre squared is back to again and offers the perfect facility for racers to prepare for upcoming indoor season or just to stay sharp over the winter. Having hosted the opening round of the Swiss 1:10 Offroad National Championships, the track will open on 30th September 2023. Again the facility features a 600m2 offroad track using EOS carpet with the 720m2 onroad track drivers will also enjoy a new 720m2 ETS carpet surface.

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September 17, 2023

16-year-old Sontag crowned World Champion in Arizona

A new 2WD Offroad World Champion has been crowned in Arizona with 16-year-old Tate Sontag becoming the 14th different winner of the sport’s most prestigious Title with a flawless win in A2 ahead of outgoing Champion Spencer Rivkin. Showing moments of promise in 4WD but just missing cut with P11 in qualifying, when the event switched to 2WD the Team Losi Racing driver found a form that put the American right in the mix with the World’s RC establishment. Two TQ runs in qualifying en-route to becoming overall Top Qualifier was an indication of what was to come. Winning A1, the nerves of the big occasion highlighted by some mistakes he would survive, that result just sent his confidence even higher. Despite the pressure of Rivkin and newly crowned 4WD Champion Davide Ongaro taking turns at chasing him down, Tater drove a near perfect race to secure the World Title on his Championship debut. A3 would decide who joined him on the podium at Hobby Action RC Raceway, second place qualifier Rivkin dominating from the front to lock in 2nd overall. Holding off Schumacher team-mate Ryan Cavalieri for second in A3, Broc Champlin completed the all American podium line-up.

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September 16, 2023

Sontag converts in A1

World Championship Top Qualifier Tater Sontag has converted his pole position into a win in the opening A-Main of 2WD. The Team Losi Racing driver survived a number of moments including one on the opening lap to lead a chaotic race from start to finish. Getting a few opportunities to challenge Sontag at the front, sixth place qualifier Aydin Horne would finish 2nd after seeing off a challenge from multiple World Champion Ryan Cavalieri, the Schumacher having to give back a place to the Team Associated after they made contact. Starting second on the grid defending Champion Spencer Rivkin had a rough opening lap that dropped him to last with the Arizona driver only able to recover to 6th behinds team-mate Davide Ongaro.

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September 16, 2023

Sontag is 2WD World Championship Top Qualifier

Tater Sontag will line-up as Top Qualifier on his 2WD World Championship debut, the 16-year-old securing pole for the title deciding A-Main with a P3 for the fifth & final round of qualifying this morning in Arizona. With several drivers desperate for a strong round this morning to make the cut for the A-Main, it would be Broc Champlin who came out fastest from Davide Ongaro and Sontag. Reigning European Champion Marcus Kaerup had been on target to TQ the round until he came upon traffic. With no call from the race control, onlooker calling for the call to be made by officials for the traffic to open on, as the Dane tried to execute a pass they tangled. Losing almost 2-seconds, a clearly frustrated Kaerup would finish P5 for the round. Having TQ’d the opening qualifier Dakotah Phend would need to be marshalled and Q4 pace setter Spencer Rivkin would have a mistake meaning they didn’t better their points tally. Overall Rivkin will try to defend his World Title from P2 behind Tater and ahead of newly crowned 4WD Champion Ongaro who lines up third followed by Champlin.

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September 16, 2023

World Champion finally delivers in Q4

Defending World Champion Spencer Rivkin finally delivered a TQ run at his home track of Hobby Action RC Raceway, the Team Associated fastest in the penultimate round of qualifying at the 2WD World Championship. The American who opened the day with a P2 in qualifying behind Dakotah Phend reversed that order in the final round of the day with a 3.2-second advantage over the TLR driver. Aydin Horne would complete the Top 3 ahead of Schumacher pairing Ryan Cavalieri & Michal Orlowski. Having TQ’d both Q2 & 3, Tater Sontag made ‘a couple of bad decisions’ in his driving that left him almost a lap down on Rivkin’s time. Currently it is Sontag’s Q3 which remains the fastest round of qualifying with one more round to go in the morning.

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September 16, 2023

Sontag’s talent shines with TQ in 2nd qualifier

16-year-old Tater Sontag’s talent shown through in the second round of qualifying at the 2WD Worlds with the TLR driver putting in a TQ run ahead of Broc Champlin and Aydin Horne. Going over a second quicker than the pace set by team-mate Dakotah Phend in the opening qualifier, Sontag was 8/10th quicker than Champlin’s Schumacher in a round that saw the Top 3 from Q1 all have bobbles. Phend would need to be marshalled in the front of the driver’s stand, Spencer Rivkin would fly off the track at the end of the straight and Ongaro also had a lap that cost him 3-seconds. The Italian ended up best of the trio with a P7 for the round behind 2017 Champion Ryan Maifield.

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