November 27, 2023

Harris is ’23 RCRA Australian LS National Champion

Australia’s Large Scale touring car young gun Cooper Harris has won the 2023 RCRA Australian National Championship.  This year’s RCRA National title was decided at the Radio Racing Cars S.A. Inc. track in Littlehampton, South Australia and in qualifying it was reigning Champion Andy Bishop who secured the TQ ahead of Harris and Craig Hawkins in 3rd.  With a clean and competitive half hour final, the battle for the win lasted the entire race with 17-year-old Harris posting the fastest lap on his way to securing 1st place with his Mecatech Fwo1 SWB powered by Abbate engine and PMT Tires.  Joining Harris on the podium was MCD driver Andy Bishop in 2nd with third place going to George Tsakanias driving a Genius chassis.  Next year Australia will host the IFMAR Large Scale World Championship from October 20th to 27th in Sydney.

Source: Cooper Harris [Facebook]


November 27, 2023

Branson wins Rug Racers Round 2

Round 2 of the Rug Racers indoor series in the UK took place over the weekend where it was Xray team driver Kyle Branson who took the win from Yokomo’s Alex Thurston.  Organised by Hertford Radio Car Club, qualifying for the second of the five races that make up the long running series latest season saw Branson secure the TQ ahead of Thurston and the Xray of Round 1 winner Harley Eldridge.  With a double final format, Branson took A1 by 3-seconds from Thurston but that order was reversed in A2 with Thurston getting the win by 1/10th of second.  With thanks to his faster A1 winning time it was Branson who took the overall win.  Eldridge would complete the podium on tie breaker with the Schumacher of Chris Grainger.  With a field of 40 cars, in 17.5 Blinky it Zak Finlay who took his Xray to victory ahead of Ricky Copsey and Billy Fletcher.  In FWD, which had 37 entries the win went to Jamie Hickin.

Image: Kyle Branson [Facebook]


November 26, 2023

Hebert wins U.S. Indoor Champs

Canada’s Keven Hebert is the Modified Touring Car Champion of the 43rd running of the U.S. Indoor Champs Presented by Hobbywing.  The Xray took the win at the Cleveland, Ohio, classic having earlier secured the TQ for the single A-Main.  From the front he would set the fastest lap of the race to lead home the Awesomatix of former multiple World Champion Marc Rheinard, the separation 0.816 at the end of the 5-minutes.  Starting from P3 on the grid Rheinard’s team-mate & 2022 Champion Sam Isaacs completed the podium ahead of the Xray of Alexander Hagberg.  Double champion of last year’s event, Isaacs would retain his 1:12 title securing the TQ and victory with wins in the opening two encounters of the triple A-Mains.  Winning A3, Kemp Anderson took second overall with Rheinard making it an all Awesomatix podium.  Hebert would be best of the rest for Xray in P4 ahead of team-mate Hagberg.

Image: RCAmerica [Facebook]


November 26, 2023

Kittipong is new FEMCA Touring Car Champion

After an absence from the calendar due to Covid, the FEMCA 1:10 Electric Touring Car Championship returned over the weekend with Awesomatix driver Jack R. Kittipong the new 2023 Modified Touring Car Champion.  Hosted at the Huge RC track in Bangkok, Thailand, which is run by former ISTC World Champion Surikarn Chaidajsuriya and was the venue for the 2014 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship, the FEMCA Championships are Asia’s biggest championship prize.  In qualifying four different drivers would post TQ runs over the 5 rounds with Kittipong’s rounds 1 & 5 topping runs and a P2 from Q4 giving him the overall TQ ahead of Yokomo’s Nicolas Lee, Infinity’s Andy Moore and Chinese driver Tiwen Zhuo who topped Q4.  In the triple A-Mains, the first encounter saw Kittipong see off the pressure of Lee to win by just over 2/10ths of a second with Xpress team driver Nagashima getting passed Moore for third.  A2 saw an even closer gap between Kittipong and Lee, but the win gave Kittipong the overall FEMCA title.  Winning A3, Singapore’s Lee would finish runner-up with the podium being completed by Japan’s Nagashima.

Image: Jack R. Kittipong [Facebook]


November 26, 2023

Davis & Stanley crowned Australian Nitro Champions

Infinity team driver pairing Jesse Davis and Brayden Stanley are the 2023 Australian Nitro Onroad Champions.  This year’s Speedy RC RCRA National Championships took place at the  MRCCR track in Melbourne with qualifying seeing recent 1:8 World Championship 4th place finisher Davis securing the overall TQ with a dominant performance that saw him top all 5 rounds with his O.S powered IF18-III.  In 1:10, it was 17-year-old Stanley  claimed 3 of the 5 rounds to secure the TQ with his Ielasi Tuned IF15.  Unfortunately rain would prevent the running of the finals with the results being declared on qualifying and joining Davis each side of the podium was Infinity driver Nicholas Salib (2nd) and Capricorn’s Peter Jovanovic (3rd).   Behind Stanley on the 1:10 podium it was his Infinity team-mate and partner in crime Tate Firth who was runner-up with the Serpent of Jeffrey Mackie completing the Top 3.  In 1:8 GT, it was Jovanovic who took the 2023 National title.

Image: Brayden Stanley [Facebook]


November 25, 2023

Hebert Top Qualifier at U.S. Indoor Champs

Xray’s Keven Hebert is the Mod Touring Car Top Qualifier at the U.S. Indoor Champs Presented by Hobbywing.  The 43rd running of the indoor carpet event in in Cleveland, Ohio, Hebert repeats last year’s qualifying result when he also took the TQ at the legendary race.  Topping 2 of the four rounds of qualifying, the Canadian claimed pole position for the A-Main ahead of Awesomatix’s Marc Rheinard with his FTD time from Q3.  While Rheinard topped the final qualifier, his team-mate & defending Touring Car and 1:12 champion Sam Isaacs set the pace in the opening qualifier.  P3 in Q2, this would be the American’s his best time putting him P3 on the grid ahead of the Xray of Alexander Hagberg.

Image: U.S. Indoor Champs [Facebook]


November 24, 2023

Yokomo’s Ginting latest confirmation for FIRC

Team Yokomo’s Indonesian National Touring Car Champion Bowie Ginting is the latest factory driver to be confirmed for the Foshan International Invitational RC Championship in China on December 15-17.  Joining the Japanese manufacturer at the beginning of the 2023 season, the 29-year-old joins team-mate & Australian Champion Simon Nicholson for the inaugural event at the new 800 square metres GDC Indoor track located in the in central Guangdong Province.  The TITC Open Class A-Finalist and recent winner of the Indonesia Year End Race is the 5th nationality of driver to be confirmed for FIRC which the organisers hope will become an annual event on the International Touring Car race calendar.  Other high profile entries confirmed for the Foshan International Invitational RC Championship include former World Champion Ronald Volker from Mugen Seiki and Xpress team driver & 1:12 World Finalist Yugo Nagashima.

Source: Foshan International Invitational RC Championship [Facebook]


November 23, 2023

2024 EFRA 1:12 European C/ship – Announcement

With just two weeks until the best 1:12 scale drivers from around the World battle it out to become World Champion in the Florida, the host track of next year’s annual European Championship has published details for the 41st running of the EFRA title.  First held in 1981 in the Switzerland, the 2024 championship will kick start the EFRA European Championship calendar running from April 12-14 at the Paradise RC Arena in Sicily, Italy.  With Xray’s Alexander Hagberg the reigning Champion, the Swede will chase a record 9th European title which would make him the championship’s most successful driver after he equalled David Spashett’s 8th title wins this year in the United Kingdom.  To view the event brochure click here.

Source: Paradise RC Arena [Facebook]