April 12, 2024

1:28 Marka Euro Cup – Report

The inaugural 1:28 Marka Euro Cup took place last weekend in Cluses, France, with 15-year-old Samuel Verdan among the main winners over the five categories.  Organised by the MZCS Club with support from Marka Racing, 91 drivers from 15 nationalities created a 180 strong Mini Z entry for the 3-day event that featured National and World Champions for a very high level of competition.  The RCP track layout was popular with drivers, a lap covering 77 meters and its 18 meter long straight allowing racers to gain a good top speed.  While French teenager Verdan won the Pro-Stock title, it was another French winner in Open 4×4 with Thomas Robin taking victory, while in Open 4×2 top honours went to Portugal’s José Pequito.  Austrian Philipp Stadler would do a double with victory in Stock and F1.

View more images here


April 10, 2024

2024 IFMAR Large Scale World C/ship – Stage 1 Report

The organisers of this year’s IFMAR Large Scale World Championship which is set to take place in Sydney, Australia from October 21-27, has just published the Stage 1 Report for the event (link here).  Having organised & executed an excellent 1:8 GT World Championship last year at its John Grant International Raceway, New South Wales Radio Control Racing Car Club are the hosts of the 12th running of the World Championship for 1:5 scale Touring Car.  The third time the track has welcomed the World’s best drivers having hosted the 2001 1:8 Onroad WC, together with the host country’s governing body Remote Control Racing Australia (RCRA), the club is seeking expression of interest from all international and Australian racers to better understand the expected attendance at the event.  Racers interested in attending – or who perhaps have already decided they are definitely attending are being asked to please complete the form (link here) to assist with host planning.  The previous Large Scale World Championship took place at Steel City RC Raceway in Fontana, USA, in 2022 where Germany’s Markus Feldmann became the categories first ever repeat winner driving for Mecatech.  Having travelled to Sydney last year to cover our first ever 1:8 GT Worlds, Red RC intends to return to this great city to report on our first ever Large Scale race.

Source: NSWRCRCC [nswrcrcc.org.au]


April 9, 2024

Guerra & Giorgio win at FORGASS finale

The fifth & final round of the Florida Onroad Gas State Series was held at Greg Esser’s Nuggets Ranch Raceway in Arcadia, Florida where it was reigning series Champion Jerry Guerra who took the 200mm Sedan win while Gianni Giorgio took the victory in 1:8.  Having raced only twice since retiring 8-years old, José Castellanos made an impressive return to action securing the TQ by 1.1 seconds with his Infinity and showing no signs of rust as he prepares for the 200mm IFMAR World Championships in Costa Rica later this year.  Behind, it would be Guerra who secured 2nd with David Larry completing the Top 3 after the four rounds of qualifying.  In the half hour final, Guerra who will also travel to the World Championships made a strong start managing to get by Castellanos at the second corner and once his Infinity IF15 was in front was able to eek out a gap crossing the finish half a lap up on Castellanos who would post the fastest lap of the race.  Peter Breton, who started from P5, would  complete the podium with his Shepherd.  In 1:8, Giorgio completed a clean sweep by taking the TQ and a comfortable win in the final over Alex Esser.

Image: Jerry Guerra


April 9, 2024

Chinese Champion Lao joins Yokomo

With the impending release of its new MS1.0 1:10 Electric Touring Car at the end of this month, Yokomo has announced that Chinese Onroad Champion Alfred Lao has joined its factory team.  The 20-year-old, is set to represent the Japanese manufacturer with the new MS1.0 in his race programme that will focus on the South East Asia region with his home country also set to host the FEMCA 1:10 Electric Touring Car Championship later this year.

Source: Yokomo [teamyokomo.com]


April 8, 2024

Hebert & Hagberg win at Canadian Onroad Nationals

Keven Hebert and Xray team-mate Alexander Hagberg took the main wins at this year’s Canadian Onroad Nationals which took place over the weekend at Rose City Speedway in Ontario.   In Touring Car, reigning Champion Hebert would secure the TQ with the fastest time in the fourth & final round of qualifying.  Behind the Awesomatix of Douglas Shewfelt secured second with his Q3 time ahead of international visitor Alexander Hagberg.  In 1:12 qualifying it was the Swede who claimed the TQ from Shewfelt with Hebert lining up P3 for his title defence.  With the 13th edition of the event attracting a very healthy 349 entries, in the single A-Main encounters it was Hebert who took the Mod Touring Car win by 2.4-seconds over Shewfelt and Hagberg while the former 1:12 World Champion converted his TQ into a 1-lap winning margin over the 8-minutes from Hebert with Shewfelt completing the podium.

Image: Keven Hebert [Facebook]


April 2, 2024

British 1:8 Onroad Champion Wood joins Blitz

Body shell producer Blitz has announced multiple British 1:8 Onroad Champion Tim Wood is to officially use their bodies as part of his 2024 programme with Shepherd Micro Racing.  Having clinched the 2023 BRCA British National title for an 8th time in 2023 using Blitz’s Spider body, Wood now joins the Taiwan company’s team driver line-up and will have use of the Spider, Speed and TS040 bodies to help him with the defence of his title.  Running over the 7 rounds and visiting four different tracks across the UK, the 2024 championship kicks of in two weeks time at Cotswold where Wood clinched the title last September.

Source: Team Titan [team-titan.com.tw]


March 29, 2024

Sweep officially confirmed as ISTC Worlds spec tyre

South Korean tyre manufacturer Sweep has been officially confirmed as the controlled tyre for this year’s IFMAR 1:10 Electric Touring Car World Championships which takes place at Finishline RC Raceway in Bakersfield, California, in November.  Details of the spec D-36R3PGS (Part number 3036217) tyre were published in the latest Stage Report from the organisers together with confirmation of Mighty Gripper Yellow V3 as the spec additive.  Sweep’s D series compound was developed following a raw material shortage issue early last year with the new compound made from totally new materials which are more stable and have a more consistent supply.  The D series compound provides much more consistent laptimes between first and second run and even third runs.  There is also improved durability on sidewall meaning less issues on high speed straight aways.  The D compound was supplied as the controlled tyre at the recent TITC in Thailand with it having zero issues with the super hot weather and very difficult track conditions, many of the top drivers complimenting its performance.  Another improvement is the wheel from Sweep which has a better fit with D series tyres making for a better balance.  The tyres contain EXP-S soft thick inserts for longer lifespan and consistency.  The D-36R3PGS tyre will be supplied for the 1UP Racing West Coast Invitational race at Finishline RC Raceway at the beginning of May with reigning World Champion Bruno Coelho confirmed for Mike Reedy Memorial Invitational Class at the event.

Source: Sweep Racing [sweepracing.com]


March 28, 2024

IFMAR ISTC World C/Ship Motor & Battery homologation

IFMAR has published details of its approval process for motor and battery manufacturers wishing for their products to be used at this 1:10 Electric Touring Car World Championships which will be hosted by Finishline RC Raceway in Bakersfield, California, in November.  At last year’s IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championships in Arizona, a number of drivers were forced to switch motors and battery brands as their sponsor’s products while ROAR/EFRA approved had not completed the approval process with the World Federation.  The most high profile case of this was 2WD World Champion elect Tater Sontag who while at the time sponsored by Fantom, had to use a motor from Hobbywing and batteries from Protek.  Manufacturers with previous IFMAR approved batteries and motors do not need to re-apply for homologation once the product remains unchanged but with the Spec class moving to 17.5T this year all motors will need to go through the approval process.  All applications must be made between March 25th and July 5th, 2024.

Source: IFMAR [Facebook]


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