Red RC » R On Road

October 1, 2023

Salemi wins ENS Italy, Gruber takes title

Capricorn driver Mirko Salemi has won the season finale of the Euro Nitro Series where team-mate Toni Gruber was crowned the new 1:8 Champion. Racing at the Leno track in Italy, the Italian claimed his first ever win of the series with victory over team-mate & defending Champion Dominic Greiner with just 8-seconds separating them at the end of the 45-minute final. Completing the podium at the third round would be Serpent driver Andrea Catanzani who lined-up 6th on the starting grid. Securing the overall TQ from Dominic Greiner, Mugen Seiki’s Simon Kurzbuch lead early on before hitting problems and would eventually retire at the 30-minute mark. Taking over the lead from Kurzbuch, ENS Germany winner Greiner enjoyed a long stint at the front before 4th place qualifier Salemi moved to the front in closing stages of the race which he described afterwards as ’45-minutes of racing at the limit’. Despite retiring from the final after 17-minutes, ENS Netherlands winner Toni Gruber would clinch the overall ENS title by a single point from Greiner with Infinity’s Jilles Groskamp completing the Top 3. In 1:10, Top Qualifier Kyle Branson took his Xray to the win by the narrowest of margins over new Champion Melvin Diekann who made it title double for Capricorn RC. The 1:10 podium in Leno was completed by France’s Quentin Leroux.

View Overall Championship podiums here

September 30, 2023

Kurzbuch & Branson Top Qualifiers at ENS Italy

Mugen’s Simon Kurzbuch and Xray’s Kyle Branson are the Top Qualifiers at season finale of the Euro Nitro Series in Italy. Racing at Pista di Leno in the north of the country, in 1:8 it was former World Champion Kurzbuch, who after problems in Q1, took control topping the next three rounds of qualifying to secure pole for tomorrow’s final. The multiple ENS Champion’s 20th TQ of the series, behind him it will be Capricorn’s Dominic Greiner, having topped Q1, who starts P2 with the Infinity of Francesco Tironi lining up third. Winner of the previous round in the Netherlands and the current points standings leader, Toni Gruber will start the final a lowly P9. Making it a TQ double for engine brand Ielasi Tuned, Branson completed a clean sweep of 1:10 qualifying going fastest in all four rounds. Behind the British driver, ENS Germany and ENS Netherlands winner Melvin Diekmann qualifies second ahead of Infinity’s Milan Holthuis.

Image: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]

September 27, 2023

BRCA 2WD Onroad Nationals R6 Broxtowe – Report

The sixth & final round of this year’s BRCA British 2WD Onroad National Championship headed off to the undulating Broxtowe circuit in Nottinghamshire with both the titles still to be decided with F1 heading the way one of the Lee’s and the top three in FWD were all still in with a shot. In F1 qualifying it was the Luke Lee who took all three rounds of qualifying with his Xray to secure pole position. Lining up second was Michael Lee with his Schumacher courtesy of a pair of seconds, with James Greener’s Xray in third and Michael Friebel’s WRC rounding out the second row. The finals saw Luke taking all three legs for the overall win from Michael Lee with a brace of seconds. Michael F edged out James for third by virtue of his second place finish in the second leg. All of which gave Luke his sixth outdoor title.

Continue reading here

September 26, 2023

Woods heads Shepherd British Championship 1-2

Team Shepherd claimed a 1-2 in the 2023 British 1:8 Nitro Onroad National Championship headed by Tim Wood, the former champion taking a convincing win over team-mate Karl Dransfield at the season finale over the weekend. Racing at the Cotswold circuit, where the 6 round championship kicked off back in April, qualifying would see Wood secure his fifth TQ of the campaign before going on to take his fourth win of the season. Winner of the penultimate round in Adur last month, Dransfield’s second place would at Round 6 would see him finish runner-up in the overall championship. Having taken over Shepherd Micro Racing earlier this year through his company Zen Racing, David Spashett was on hand to share the championship success in what is now the new home of the long time onroad nitro manufacturer.

Image: Shepherd Micro Racing [Facebook]

September 25, 2023

Sobue adds Japanese 1:12 National title

Having won the All Japan 1:10 Touring Car National title earlier this month for Axon, ISTC World Championship podium finisher Akio Sobue has just added the National 1:12 title to his tally. Racing for Team Bomber at the Radio Controlled Heaven track in Nagoya City over the weekend, Sobue would secure the overall TQ from the similar TB-AK12 of Takashi Kato having topped three of the four rounds of qualifying, Kato topping Q4. In the triple 8-minute finals, Sobue won the opening encounter by 3-seconds from former 1:12 World Finalist Hideo Kitazawa. A2 would see another win this time over Kato to secure the overall title. Winning A3, Kitazawa would finish 2nd overall with Kato completing the podium.

Image: JMRCA [jmrc.jp]

September 20, 2023

BRCA 4WD Onroad Nationals R5 Colchester – Report

For the fifth and final round of this year’s BRCA 4WD Onroad Championship it was off to the Colchester track. With the Modified and 17.5 titles already decided, it just left the 13.5 title to be decided. A couple of surprise entries were previous champions Olly Jefferies and the now un-retired Elliott Harper. In Modified the first round of qualifying saw the returning Elliott Harper with his Schumacher Mi8 go fastest from Alex Thurston’s Yokomo BD-12 and defending champion, Kyle Branson, with his Xray X4, the top six were all on 22 laps. Q2 saw another TQ for Elliott from Bailey Graves, Alex and Schumacher’s Andy Murray. Elliot made it a hat-trick of wins by taking Q3 from Olly Jefferies and Kyle. So, it was Elliott on pole position from Alex with Olly edging out Kyle for third by virtue of the tie-break. In the finals, the first leg was wet with the rest being dry, and it was Elliott who took the clean sweep of all three legs for the overall win, what a way to make your return. Behind him it was Alex in the runner-up spot with a brace of seconds, with the final podium spot going to Kyle with a second and a fourth, edging out Olly who had two thirds.

Continue reading report here

September 20, 2023

2023 COPA America – Report

The 2023 COPA America race was held in Lima, Peru last week at Miniautodromo Polo Bracale. This track proves to be very challenging with its high banking turns and extreme elevation changes. This track had racers from many different countries and many different car manufacturers were represented. Eric Jones from the USA was able to TQ and directly qualify into the finals with his XRAY NT1. In the finals he was leading the race for a third of the race, but a mechanical issue forced him to end his chance at a victory. Guillermo Jimenez from Mexico running his Mugen MTX7 was able to win the super pole and also qualify directly into the finals. The hometown favourite Bruno Lira who qualified 3rd took the first place running his Capricorn C04. Bruno opted not to do a tire change in the 45 minute race which proved to be the right strategy as he was able to hold off Mexico’s Juan Herrero who finished second and America’s Jerry Guerra who finished 3rd and both opted to do a tire change and both were running Infinity. This race proved that the sedan class is alive and well. With the 2024 sedan Worlds being hosted in Costa Rica at the Mini Autódromo Las Cruces track. Along with other named races which will be on the calendar expect the sedan class to continue to grow as racers start preparing. This track is on private property and maintained to the highest levels. There are all the amenities you would expect and then some extras such as a basket ball court.

Source: Jerry Guerra

September 19, 2023

Tamiya Asia Cup 2023 Thailand – Report

After a 3 year break, the Tamiya Asia Cup 2023 was hosted by Thailand on September 15 -17 with 10 countries in attendance. History was made when 22-year-old Porsha Mangilit from the Philippines became the first female driver to TQ and Win the prestigious 4WD GT Class in the 20+ years of the event. Having a bad Q1 and Q2 due to ESC issues, she TQ’ed Q3 and Q4 to secure the overall TQ spot on the grid. In A1 a rare mistake cost her and finished in 2nd place. With her back against the wall again, Porsha came thru with solids win in A2 and A3 to be crowned the Tamiya Asia Champion. This earned her a ticket to race in the Tamiya World Championships which will be held in Japan at the end of the year.

Image: Tamiya Thailand Fanpage [Facebook]