Red RC » R On Road

November 10, 2025

Takahata takes MRX7 to JMRCA Japanese National title

With Mugen Seiki having only officially released their latest 1:8 Onroad Chassis at the end of last month, their factory driver Shouki Takahata gave the Robert Pietsch designed MRX7 its first major title by winning the 2025 JMRCA 1:8 Onroad Japanese National Championship. With a field stacked with World Champions, it was the 2019 World Champion secured the TQ at the K2 International Circuit ahead of multiple World Champion Naoto Matsukura while Infinity team-mate & defending Champion Takaaki Shimo ended up 3rd. While the Top 2 directly went to the 45-minute final, Shimo and 1:12 World Finalist Hayato Ishioka won the Semi finals to progress along with the other 6 drivers to make up the Main grid. In the final Takahata would take back he last held in 2024 with his Max powered MRX7 setting the fastest lap on his way to the win with the rest of the podium a repeat of last year – Matsukura second and double Nitro Onroad World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi third from 5th on the grid. Unfortunately Shimo would retire from the final just before the half way point. For Takahata the result is a nice boost ahead of the upcoming IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championships in Santiago, Chile.

Image: Mugen Seiki [Facebook]

November 7, 2025

Hongyu GDC to add permanent indoor carpet track

Having had the opportunity to inspect in person the very impressive new Hongyu GDC earlier this week on our way to cover this weekend’s SIGP Offroad race in Xiamen, the World Class facility has announced plans to add a permanent indoor carpet carpet track. Originally consisting of an outdoor asphalt track, a covered dirt offroad track (which hosted its opening race last weekend), and a covered asphalt track, it is the latter that will be redeveloped as the new indoor carpet track. The host venue for next year’s 2026 IFMAR 1:12 & ISTC World Championships, with 1:12 requiring to be run on carpet in a climate controlled area, Hongyu GDC has decided to create a more permanent track that meets these requirements and which can host future electric onroad race offering a replacement for the old GDC indoor track. With new transparent material sides (not glass) enclosing the original structure, based on the attention to detail in the rest of the facility, they will then lay and finish the carpet track to cover all the needs electric onroad racers would have. With the track work beginning imminently, the new track will open with the hosting of the 1:12 Asian Championships on December 4-7th, these followed the next weekend by the Asia Touring Car Championships. With no official Worlds Warm-up Race, the Asian Championships will be an opportunity for racers to test at the new carpet facility before the Worlds at the the end of March. As part of the new carpet track build Hongyu GDC has a number of billboards available to manufacturers. Registration for the 1:12 Asia Championships can be made here for Stock & here for Modified.

View more track renders here

November 5, 2025

Sofia and Vezzetti crowned Brazilian TC Champions

Last weekend marked the 2025 Brazilian Electric Touring Car Indoor Championships at the All Racing Arena in São Paulo where Victor Sofia and defending Champion Eduardo Vezzetti took the titles. Featuring 3 classes, 32 drivers and several new updates compared to last year, it was the first event on this track with the implementation of controlled tire additive and maintenance in Parc Fermé, ensuring equal conditions for all participants. Additionally, the Masters category (45+) made its debut in the region. In Pro Stock 10.5T, Victor Sofia (Awesomatix) secured both TQ and the Championship title in a grid filled with national champions. Sofia achieved the win in heat 4/5, after mechanical issues in heat 3/5. Without a doubt, Victor’s driving performance was one of the highlights of the event.

Continune reading here

November 5, 2025

Excelerate announce Payne joins team

While widely expected, American manufacturer Excelerate RC has confirmed that top international 1:12 racer Ollie Payne has joined its team. Having raced the 2025 season with CRC, the British driver announced at the beginning of this week that he would no longer race for Frank Calandra’s brand. With fellow British racer William Morgan, winner of 1:12 Stock at the recent Montech NYGP, also making the switch from CRC to Excelerate, the company a partnership between Ken Lupi and veteran racer & car designer Josh Cyrul, on making the announcement they posted, ‘eXcelerate RC is proud to announce the signing of Ollie Payne and Morgan Williams of the United Kingdom. Ollie is fresh off a win with his Prodigy 12 in the 1/12th Modified class at the Masters of Foam recently held in Belgium and Morgan finished P4 in 13.5 with his Prodigy 12. Ollie and Morgan have both proven to be world class drivers in both the United States and Europe. We are excited to have Ollie and Morgan on board to continue the growth of their racing program and eXcelerate RC.’

Source: Exceleraterc [exceleraterc.com]

November 4, 2025

Sawada joins Xray

Xray has announced that top Japanese Touring Car racer Jin Sawada has joined the Slovakian marque and will race under its Japanese Racing Team. The 2024 JMRCA Japanese National Champion had been racing for Infinity for almost 7-years and gave them victory at this year’s SIGP Onroad Race in China ahead of team-mate Bruno Coelho with his now new team-mate Nicholas Lee completing the podium. Unfortunately at this year’s Japanese Nationals, Sawada would struggle qualifying only 8th for his title defence, Akio Sobue taking back the title. On the announcement Sawada said, ‘I’m excited to be in the world’s best team. I’m looking forward to race with the Xray package.’

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

November 3, 2025

Payne to no longer race CRC

Top international 1:12 racer Ollie Payne has announced he will no longer be running cars from World Championship manufacturer CRC. Switching from reigning World Champion Schumacher to the American manufacturer for 2025, Payne enjoyed plenty of success with Frank Calandra’s cars including Stock class titles at this year’s European Championship, Montech NYGP and the recent Masters of Foam race. The eagled eye however would have noticed that while he used CRC for his most recent Spec win at the high profile annual 1:12 Belgian event, he used an Excelerate Prodigy to win the Modified title. On completing the NYGP in New York two weeks ago, the British driver tested Excelerate designer Josh Cyrul’s car on the 360V2 track. On leaving CRC, Payne said, ‘I would like to announce that I will no longer be racing CRC cars. Although I wasn’t an official CRC sponsored driver I would still like to thank Frank for his support during my time running his cars. We achieved some great results in a short period of time.’ In response Calandra posted, ‘Lots of fun, good memories and killer results Ollie. Maybe we can win some more races together in the future. See ya at the track.’

Source: Ollie Payne [Facebook]

November 2, 2025

Lee & Stone crowned Australian Touring Car Champions

Xray’s Nicholas Lee and Michael Stone are the new RCRA Speedy Australian National Champions in Electric Touring winning the Modified and Stock titles respectively. Singapore’s best known international racer, Lee would secure the TQ at West Coast Model RC in Perth as he topped 3 of the 5 qualifiers. Fastest in Q4, ARC’s Brayden Stanley would qualify second ahead of the RC Maker of Jeffrey Mackie who TQ’d the second round of qualifying. Team-mate Damon Davis-Perry and Yokomo’s Antoni Caretti completed the top half of the A-Main grid. In the triples finals Lee opened with a win ahead of the RC Maker of Jeff Hamon who qualified 6th. Hamon would go one better in A2 to take the win ahead of Stanley as Lee finished third. In the decider, Lee managed to stay out front when it counted most to secure the overall win. While a bad A3 for Hamon, the Brisbane driver would finish runner-up, with 2nd in A3 giving Caretti the final step on the podium ahead of 2024 podium finisher Stanley. In Stock, after a bad start to the finals, Stone was able to win A2 & 3 to claim the title ahead of the ARC of A1 winner Marcus Askell with the RC Maker of 2024 Champion Lincoln Codd completing podium.

Image: Nicholas Lee [Facebook]

October 31, 2025

Asia Championships ’25 – 1:12 & Touring Car Information

With the first of FEMCA’s newly rebranded Asia Championships title deciders just over a month away, the Bloc that represents 15 nations in Asia and Australasia has published details for the 1:12 and Touring Car events that will take place at the 2026 World Championship venue of Hongyu GDC in Foshan, China. With no official Warm-up Race for the World Championships, which move from the traditional end of year date to the early part of the season, December’s Asia Championships is attracting a strong international entry. Unlike some IFMAR’s other Bloc title races, the Asia Championships, formerly know as the FEMCA Championships, allows international drivers to compete for the title with current IFMAR Touring Car World Champion Bruno Coelho also the reigning FEMCA ISTC Champion. FEMCA has published the details for the of both 1:12 event, which caters for Modified and Stock classes and runs from December 5-7th, and Touring Car Event, which has classes for Modified, Stock, and Youth, and runs from December 12-14th.

View Championship information for each category here