Red RC » R On Road

September 9, 2026

2 from 2 for Balestri as Matsukura closest challenger

Dario Balestri made it 2 from 2 in qualifying at the IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Italy, the Infinity driver again leading a 1-2 for the reigning World Champion manufacturer, this time however the gap much smaller to second fastest Naoto Matsukura. With an overcast Q1, the sun broke through the clouds for Q2, making for a slower track but learning from his mistakes in the first one Matsukura put in a error free run to get to within a second of Balestri who again was the only driver to manage 27-laps. Taking the same approach as Matsukura after he had two mistakes in the morning, Xray’s Filippo Domanin completed the Top 3, the finish order the same as how they seeded after practice after a missed lap for the Italian was picked up on the backup timing computer. With their star driver Toni Gruber struggling so far this week, an improved Q2 netting him a P6 for the round, it was returning 2018 podium finisher Kyle Branson who lead the Capricorn challenge. He would post the fourth fastest time ahead of defending Champion Jilles Groskamp while Alex Thurston who took his Mugen Seiki to P3 in the opening round set the 7th fastest time.

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September 9, 2026

Balestri takes opening qualifier at Worlds as rain looms in Gubbio

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has taken the opening round of qualifying at IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship, the run even more important with the threat of rain looming at the Gubbio track in Italy. The top seed after yesterday’s timed practice which took place in sunny conditions, the first day of qualifying at Miniautodromo Internazionale Mario Rosati saw racers greeted by overcast conditions with very slight drops of rain even falling as the top two heats completed their the first of their six scheduled run. Originally set to be a day consisting of 3 rounds, with tomorrow looking like it will be rained out, the organisers have now revised the schedule to run four rounds today with the best 2 of 4 to count. Behind Balestri, it was reigning World Champion Jilles Groskamp who was second fastest but some bit back on his team-mate who was the only one to run 27-laps over the 7-minutes. Seeding P5, British driver Alex Thurston completed the Top 3, saying like Groskamp, it was a result of consistency rather than outright speed. Second fastest in seeding 2018 World Champion Naoto Matsukura had a mistake on his opening run that left him P20 of the 114 drivers to post a time. Competing the Top 3 on seeding, up & coming Italian talent Filippo Domanin would also have two mistakes on his run one involving another driver leaving the quick Xray driver to register a P8.

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September 8, 2026

Harper wins final round of British Championship at Adur

Having already secured the overall BRCA British Touring Car Championship title at Round 4 in West London last month, Schumacher’s Elliott Harper wrapped up his campaign with another win at the season finale. Round 5 took place at the Adur track where Harper would secure the TQ ahead of Matthieu Dambrine and Chris Grainger. With the back to back National Champion winning both legs of the A-Main, the podium would be the same order as they qualified. In 17.5 Stock it was Finley Whitelock who took his first National TQ ahead of Ollie Payne and Sam Nicholls, but taking both A-Mains it as Payne who claimed the win ahead of the Top Qualifier with Nicholls third. In FWD, Ethan Southall took the TQ and win.

Image: Schumacher [Facebook]

September 7, 2026

1:10 Nitro TC Worlds coverage presented by LensBodies, Energy, Gimar, and PowerHD

The 2-year wait is over with the week on which IFMAR will crown the latest World Champion of 1:10 Nitro Touring Car having finally arrived, and thanks to LensBodies, Energy fuel, Gimar engines, and PowerHD servos, Red RC are travelling to Gubbio in Italy to tell the story of how these championships unfold. Racing in the ‘world capital of nitro onroad racing’, the 2026 World Championships has attracted a bumper entry and one of the biggest nation counts in the classes history with over 120 entries from 21 countries. A decade since Club Automodellistico 5Colli previously hosted the championship, it is reigning World Champion Jilles Groskamp who heads the entry for Infinity on the return to the beautiful Gubbio track which is located in central Italy. The Dutch driver added the nitro title to his 2012 Electric Touring Car World title when he took the win at Huge RC two years ago, and he has been enjoying great form leading into the event claiming the Euro Nitro Series title with an emotional win in Austria last month. With numerous drivers capable of winning come Saturday, all looking to put heir names into the RC racing history records, we also must remember that particular at a World Championship things need to go right. As Jared Tebo famously said at the 2023 1:10 Offroad Worlds in Chico, USA, where he won the 2WD title, ‘To win you have to have so many things go right, to lose you only have to have one thing go wrong.’ With Nitro Touring Car you have so many inputs, and that’s what makes it so exciting. Red RC’s coverage will begin on Tuesday (Sept 8th) with Controlled Practice before we quickly get down to the serious business of 2 days of qualifying with it all culminating with the crowning of a new World Champion on Saturday (Sept 12th).

Coverage Update – Having been in Jakarta over the weekend to cover the season finale of the Asian Buggy Championships, a volcano eruption has lead to the closure of all airports meaning Red RC is currently grounded in Indonesia. While our original flight has been rescheduled to take off 14-hours later than planned, the situation is on going but it looks like we might be a little later getting to Gubbio than planned.

View past IFMAR World Champions here

September 5, 2026

2026 MonTech New York Grand Prix – Announcement

The organisers of the MonTech New York Grand Prix have announced details of the eight edition of the annual indoor race hosted by 360v2 RC track in New Rochelle, New York. Taking place from October 15th to 18th, the event has become one of the highlights on the annual US onroad racing calendar and draws an international entry stateside. Last year it was Awesomatix’s Sam Isaacs who did the double winning both 1:12 Mod and Touring Car with NYGP debutant Lucas Urbain heading the international challenge. The French touring car ace would claim the final step on the Mod TC podium behind the race’s big 2024 winner Kemp Anderson. Another of the international visitors, Xray’s Jan Ratheisky took fourth along with a podium in Super Stock Touring. The vision of long time 1:12 racer and multiple World Championship finalist Donny Lia, the NYGP is the nearest thing RC will get to having a race in Time Square, the track just a 20-minute train ride from the centre of the City That Never Sleeps. Counting multiple World Champions Marc Rheinard (2022 NYGP Winner), Ronald Volker (2019 NYGP Winner), Alexander Hagberg, reigning 1:12 Stock World Champion Max Mächler, and Ollie Payne as previous participants, 360V2 is one of the biggest indoor tracks in the US with racing takes place on a track layout covering an area of 105 X 48 feet. For 2026 the race expands to 10 classes, with race entries opening on September 8th, and once again Red RC is excited to travel across the Atlantic to cover this year’s NYGP action.

View official NYGP race poster here

September 4, 2026

Flea Racers 1:28 RC Racing Game

The rise in the popularity of 1:28 racing appears to have reached a whole new level with the release of Flea Racers, an RC Racing Game from the same people behind the 3D print website Club Race Hero that allows you to download, print, and race a 1:28 car. Spending his Summer writing a fun, little Chrome browser-based RC video game for 1:28 scale racing, Scott Jakes has created Fle Racers which allow you to use your own radio. Plug in your transmitter and drive the game the way you drive the real car. Lay out your local track and practice the layout before the meet. The games Track Maker allows you to draw a layout tile by tile, test drive it and save it. Try out fun new layouts before you set them up on the carpet. Add your club’s track and let racers around the world try it. Lock in the track for your next live meet, so everyone turns up already knowing the layout. Every body starts as a blank and in Paint Shop you can run your own livery with the brush, airbrush, stickers and text, or drop on an instant paint job and work from there. Flea Racers is available on cell, PC and VR.

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September 4, 2026

World Champion Takahata confirmed for Singapore International Nitro GP

Mugen Seiki’s reigning 1:8 Onroad World Champion Shoki Takahata has been confirmed for October’s Singapore International Nitro Grand Prix. The Japanese driver joined a very exclusive club in Chile last December when he won the IFMAR World title for a second time having previously won in 2019 in the United States. Takahata joins Infinity’s defending Singapore International Nitro GP Champion Dario Balestri, the duo having held the World No.1 status between them for the last 9-years, for what will be an extra special edition of the race as it celebrates its 20th anniversary. Taking place on October 10-11, the same weekend as the Singapore F1 Grand Prix, over the last two decades the Radio Control Modellers’ Club’s annual international race has welcomed numerous World Champions. 2026 looks like attracting its most World Champion stack field yet.

Source: RCMC Singapore [Facebook]

September 4, 2026

2026 Tamiya C/ship Series National Finals – Report

The 2026 Tamiya Championship Series National Finals concluded last weekend with a fantastic return to SCOR Raceway in Anaheim, California. 126 drivers took part in the 31st running of TCS for a total of 202 entries across GT-Pro Spec “Porsche Cup”, M-Chassis, GT-2, GT-1, F1, GT-E, Euro Truck, and GT Novice which made up the eight classes run at the event. The “Ticket to Japan” trip classes this year were again GT-2, M-Chassis and GT Pro-Spec “Porsche Cup” with those races being among the most exciting at the event (with the Triple A-Main format). In the end, Brian Shook triumphed to take the GT-2 title, Tom Aakre waited to the third main to decide the M-Chassis title and Justin Bamberger also left it to the third main event to seal the deal in the GT Pro Spec “Porsche Cup” title! All three champions will be representing the USA at the Tamiya World Championships in November at Tamiya’s headquarter in Japan. World-famous race announcer Scotty Ernst returning to his racing roots to come back to announce this year’s TCS Finals, 2026 marking 30 years since Ernst won the Tamiya 4WD TCS class running a TA-03 at the 2nd annual TCS Finals.

Source: Tamiya USA [tamiyausa.com]