It was an amazing week of racing that put 1:10 Nitro Touring Car back in the World spot light and it was an honour for Red RC to travel to Club Automodellistico 5 Colli in Italy last month to cover the 2026 IFMAR World Championship. Capturing the atmosphere with his camera, Club Press Officer Marco Paffi has produced this very nice ‘Road to Glory’ video that relives the vibes of what was an epic week of race action. Nice work Marco!
Mugen Seiki’s Simon Kurzbuch is the new 2026 Euro Nitro Series Champion, the Swiss racer taking the 1:8 title with victiry at the season finale at the MyCandy track in Lentiai, Italy. In qualifying for Round 4 of the championship it was Infinity’s Dario Balestri who secured the TQ honours ahead of an impressive run from ARC’s Silvio Hachler topped the opening qualifier, Balestri taking the other three. Italian Infinity driver Jonathan Gandin secured 3rd on the grid ahead of Kurzbuch. In the final there would be a great battle for the lead between Balestri and Hachler who were clear of the field. With 3-minutes to go however Balestri ran out of fuel and it looked like Hachler had the win but cruelly with just 20-seconds to go in the 45-minute final the Swiss driver suffered a glow plug failure. Kurzbuch would take the win just 3/10ths of a second ahead of Gandin with a refuelled Balestri completing the podium ahead of Hachler who was classified 4th. In 1:10 Nitro Touring, the title already secured by Jilles Groskamp at Round 3 in Austria, it was the Capricorn of World Championship finalist Jakub Rozycki who took the TQ ahead of team-mate Toni Gruber and Groskamp’s Infinity. As the out going 1:8 ENS Champion, in the final it was Gruber who took the win from Rozycki with Groskamp finishing 3rd ahead of the Capricorn of Christoph Rohrmoser.
Image: Simon Kurzbuch [Facebook]
2011 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Champion Robert Pietsch is to come out of retirement with the German confirmed as one of a record number of World Champions who will race at the 20th anniversary of the Singapore International Nitro Grand Prix this month. Pietsch, who last raced at the 2023 European Championship in Portugal, travelled to the Leno track in Italy last week to break in new Ielasi Tuned engines under the guidance of Daniele Ielasi. Winning his World title with Mugen Seiki, Pietsch transitioned from racer to car designer for the Japanese manufacturer officially retiring from racing in 2023. For 2026 he moved into a new design team role with Infinity with Piestch set to race their IF18-3 at the Radio Control Modellers’ Club’s newly resurfaced track. With the race officially running on October 10/11, Pietsch joins a host of World Champions for the Singapore International Nitro Grand Prix including reigning 1:8 Onroad Champion Shoki Takahata, newly crowned 1:10 Nitro Touring Car Champion Naoto Matsukura and current 3-time Electric Touring Car World Champion Bruno Coelho. Red RC will be making the trip Singapore and is excited to cover the event for the very first time.
Source: RCMC Singapore [Facebook]
Xray’s Maxime Ripoll has successfully defended his FFVRC 2026 French 1:8 Onroad National, doing so in style with the TQ and win at the fifth & final round of the championship which was staged at Feriere aux Etangs. Securing the TQ ahead of Shepherd driver Fabien Baranger, who took his first Elite win this year at Round 3, in the 45-minute final Ripoll took a commanding win ahead of Mugen Seiki’s Christophe Louis with Gerald Colinet completing the podium. Unfortunately for Baranger he would retire from the race after just 13-minutes. As a season, 2025 World Championship finalist Ripoll claimed 4 poles, 3 victories, and two podium finishes on his way to the title.
Image: Maxime Ripoll [Facebook]
Shepherd’s Tim Wood has regained the British 1:8 Onroad Championship title, the championship concluding with Round 8 at the Cotswold track over the weekend where rain would effort the racing. Attracting 27-entries, qualifying for the season finale would see Wood secure the TQ ahead of Andrew Hastings and Karl Dransfield to wrap up the title had been held by Mugen Seiki’s Alex Thurston for the past number of seasons. With a very wet afternoon, the half hour finals would see half the field including Wood opt not to race with Craig Hook, who took his first ever National win earlier this year, going on to take his second win of the season. Ashley Gouveia and Daniel Ludena would complete the podium. In the overall championship it was to be an all Shepherd podium with Hook finishing runner-up with Andy Hastings ending his campaign with 3rd.
Image: Shepherd Micro Racing [Facebook]
Awesomatix’s Lucas Urbain has secured the FFVRC 2026 French 1:10 Modified Touring Car National title in style with TQ & victory at the season finale over the weekend. Racing at the Marmagne track in central France, qualifying for Round 5 of the championship would see Urbain top all but one round of qualifying, French touring car veteran Cyril N’diaye posting a TQ run in Q2 to line up second for the A-Mains. A multiple National Champion, RC Maker’s Rémi Callens competed the Top 3 followed by Thomas Vigneron. In the triple finals, Urbain took the first two, A1 ahead of Callens and A2 ahead of N’diaye, to seal the deal. With N’diaye winning A3 from Callens that was how they would complete the podium as the race brought a close to the outdoor season.
Image: Lucas Urbain [Facebook]
Infinity’s Francesco Tironi has taken the win at the second round of the AMSCI 1:8 Onroad Italian National Championship. Racing at the Leno track in the north of the country, it was the Serpent of Mirko Salemi who secured the TQ honours setting fastest times in 3 of the 4 qualifying round. Fastest in Q2, Xray’s recent 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship podium finisher Filippo Domanin would qualify P2 with Tironi in third ahead of young Luca Ielasi, the Top 4 going directly to the Main. Unfortunately a problem for Salemi at the start of the 45-minute final ended his chances of the win but setting the fastest lap of the race he would recover to P4. Up front Tironi would take his first National win in some time with a 3.1-second winning margin over Domanin. Securing P5 on the grid after victory in the Semi Finals, Andrea Muscolino’s Infinity completed the podium. The National Championship concludes on October 25th with the third & final round at the iconic Fiorani track.
Image: Francesco Tironi [Facebook]
Many a nitro race has been lost in the pit lane due to refuelling timing and so the idea was born for RC Pit Clock, a new Android App that helps you plan your fuel strategy. Created by long time racer and professional software developer Lionel Hagege, the idea came from something he’d seen many times at races: managing fuel during a long race can become surprisingly difficult. You know your fuel runtime and your average lap time, but once the race starts, things change. A lap can be missed, a pit stop can happen a little earlier or later, and you have to keep recalculating everything while concentrating on the car and this is where RC Pit Clock is designed to help with that. Enter your fuel autonomy, average lap time and race duration and the app calculates the fuel stops and, during the race, shows how many laps are left before the next refuelling stop. If you pit earlier or later than planned, the remaining stops are recalculated. There is also a Garmin version, so the information can be displayed directly on the driver’s watch. The App also follows the race day and from the heat board posted at the club, it tells you when you run, when you marshal, and sounds an alarm before each of your runs.
View more App information here
