Red RC » R On Road

October 24, 2022

Sobue crowned JMRCA All-Japan Champion

Akio Sobue is the new Japanese Touring Car National Champion. Last held in 2019, Naoto Matsukura taking the win on that occasion, the JMRCA All-Japan Championships returned following Covid at the Greenpark Speedway in Hanno City. In qualifying, Sobue would take the opening three of four qualifiers to secure the TQ ahead of factory Yokomo driver Souta Goto who topped Q4. Next up where the Infinity pairing of Ryosuke Yamamoto and former champion Jin Sawada. The Top 5 in qualifying was completed by Sobue’s Axon team-mate and World Finalist Hayato Ishioka. In the finals, Sobue took A1 but an early incident in A2 left the World Championship podium finisher with a fourth as Yamamoto took the win. For A3 it was back to business for Sobue as he set the fastest lap to win by 1-second and with it claim the JMCRA title for a third time (2015, 2017). The podium was completed by Yamamoto and Goto.

Source: Axon [team-axon.com]

October 23, 2022

Kurzbuch announces Team Shepherd departure

Former 1:8 Onroad World Champion Simon Kurzbuch has announced his departure from Team Shepherd. The Swiss driver leaves the German chassis manufacturer after representing the brand at the top of the sport for 12 years. In 2015, Kurzbuch & Shepherd achieved the ultimate prize in the sport when he was crowned World Champion in Brazil. Other highlights of the partnership include the 2018 European Championship and a string of titles during the height of the Euro Nitro Series. Announcing he will leave Shepherd on social media, he said, ‘It all started 2010 with the club race at our home track. I drove the first time my Shepherd Velox, it was so exciting. Today it ends, with the club race at my home track I’m so excited for the “last dance” with my Shepherd Velox! But it’s much more. Almost half of my life I’ve been going through a crazy adventure and I’m so f##king thankful for every single moment! Thanks to the whole Schäfer family and PiccoBello, Beat and Käthi, who brought me on this way to meet so many people (Sorry to not name you all but you are in my heart!), winning every possible title in this category – I have tears in my eyes because it was so great and we will always remember it – forever ever! Every End is a beginning of something new – cant wait to tell you more about!’ An official announcement on his new team is expected in 2-weeks time.

Source: Simon Kurzbuch [facebook.com]

October 21, 2022

Lukas Ellerbrock joins Awesomatix️

Awesomatix has announced the addition of German racer Lukas Ellerbrock to their Factory Team. A front runners in the hard fought European Stock Racing scene, Lukas moves from racing Xray and will make his international debut with Awesomatix at the next round of the ETS as the indoor carpet season gets underway. Reacting to joining the team, Lukas said, “I am very excited to join Team Awesomatix. It is a great opportunity for me to drive a car which has shown its potential at various races. Of course I already know a lot of the team members and I am happy to work with them together in the future.”

Source: Awesomatix [facebook.com]

October 11, 2022

Thurston crowned British 1:8 Onroad Champion for 3rd time in a row

Alex Thurston was crowned British 1:8 Onroad National Champion for a third time in a row over the weekend, the Capricorn driver being presented with his trophies at the 7th & final round of the championship at Halifax. Having already locked in the championship with 5 TQs, 4 wins, a 2nd and a 3rd, Thurston attended the season closer to support fellow Capricorn and Ielasi Tuned drivers as well as giving newly crowned 1:10 Champion Stefan Chodzynski the opportunity to try 1:8 for the very first time and drive his championship winning car. The season finale was won by Team Shepherd’s Tim Wood who finishes as Vice-Champion with Capricorn’s Andy Hasting third. Thurston will now focus his attentions on 1:10 Nitro Onroad in preparation for next month’s World Championship in Thailand.

Image: Alex Thurston [Facebook]

October 11, 2022

Lewis Hamilton endorses RC racing for diversity & inclusion in STEM

An interesting feature by F1 broadcaster Sky Sports on the great work being done by RC Vision who are championing our sport and the need for diversity and inclusion in STEM. RC Vision is a social venture working to engage young people who are underrepresented in motorsports careers and STEM industries using the exciting sport of radio control car racing. Having cut his teeth in racing through RC, it is great to see 7-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton showing support for the work being done.

Source: Sky Sports F1

October 9, 2022

Rheinard wins MonTech New York Grand Prix

Marc Rheinard has won the MonTech New York Grand Prix. A race that has attracted some of touring car’s biggest names such as 2019 winner Ronald Volker and Alexander Hagberg, this year it was 3-time World Champion Rheinard who made the trip across the Atlantic to 360V2 RC Raceway in New Rochelle, New York. The fourth running of the annual event, in qualifying it was multiple ROAR National Champion Sam Isaacs who had the upper hand taking the opening three rounds ahead of Awesomatix team-mate Rheinard. While Rheinard would hit the top of the time sheets in Q4, it was Isaacs with the overall TQ for the single 5-minute A-Main ahead of Rheinard, Xray’s Keven Hebert and Kemp Anderson. A mistake on lap 2, when he hit the curbing, would see Isaacs drop to third as Rheinard and Herbert went through. Despite Hebert posting the fastest lap of the race, Rheinard would stretch his lead to almost 1.2 seconds by the finish with Iaascs completing the podium a further seconds back from Hebert.

Image: Marc Rheinard [Facebook]

October 8, 2022

3 out 3 for Balestri in Italian National Championship

Dario Balestri has completed a clean sweep of the 2022 AMSCI Italian 1:8 Onroad National Championship with victory at the third & final round today at Pista Di Leno. Originally planned as a two day event, forecast bad weather saw the season finale condensed down to Saturday qualifying and finals. Three rounds of qualifying would see the former World Champion secure the TQ from Xray’s Filippo Domanin and Mirko Salemi. In the 30-minute final, the Infinity driver would continue his form from the previous two championship rounds to take victory number 3 from team-mate Carmine Riola. The Mugen of Andrea Pirani would complete the podium with young Domanin having to settle for fourth.

Image: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]

October 7, 2022

Hamilton ‘having fun’ with RC at Japanese Grand Prix

It seems RC is the big thing in the paddock at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton the latest driver to take time out from his F1 duties and enjoy a bit of RC fun in the Suzuka paddock. A video shared on the official F1 instagram page shows the 7-time World Champion driving a Tamiya Lunch Box out through his Mercedes-AMG Petronas team’s garage and into the paddock where he enjoys pulling wheelies with the iconic 80’s 1:12 truck. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team shared a photo of their star driver and the Lunch Box on their Facebook page with the simple description ‘Just out here having fun’. We already know how much fun RC is and it is great to see both iconic Japanese RC brands Kyosho and Tamiya being enjoyed by Formula 1. Hamilton famously appeared on BBC’s Blue Peter show racing an RC car well before he became one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time.

View F1 instagram video here

Images credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team [Facebook]