Red RC » R On Road

October 28, 2023

‘Every race we start from zero’ – Gruber

Two weeks ago Toni Gruber took the biggest prize of his racing career yet. Realising the ultimate dream, he clinched his first World Championship title with a very convincing victory at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney, Australia. The victory didn’t really come as too much of a surprise however as the German is in the form of his life this season. However, despite claiming the 1:10 Nitro Onroad European Championship for a second time during the Summer, following that up a month later by becoming Top Qualifier at the 1:8 Euros where he finished on the podium, and then rounding out the European season with his first ENS title win, the sport’s newest World Champion goes into the 1:8 Onroad World Championship in Japan with the mindset ‘every race we start from zero’.

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October 27, 2023

TITC 2024 – Announcement

Having established itself as one of the biggest international races on the Electric Touring Car calendar outside of the World Championship, the TITC has announced that entries for the Bangkok based event will open on November 20th. Taking place at Infinity RC Addict track on February 29th – March 3rd, the 20th edition of the race will feature 5 classes – Modified Touring Car, Open Brushless, Non Boost, Porsche Thailand Cup (TTo2) and FWD. Mod and Open TC will use Sweep tyres while Non Boost with use Ride. This year saw the return of the Thailand International Touring Car Championship after an absence of two years due to Covid. Making a return to the event, having missed the 2019 edition, back to back World Champion Bruno Coelho took the win to become the legendary race’s second most successful driver behind Atsushi Hara who has won it four times.

Source: TITC [titc.in.th]

October 26, 2023

‘I think Dario was racing European Championships before I was born’ – meet Serpent’s 1:8 Onroad young gun Andrea Catanzani

The last time the 1:8 Onroad World Championship was held in Japan it was Serpent who came away with the title thanks to Japanese driver Tadahiko Sahashi. At the same time almost 10,000km away in Italy an 8-year-old was embarking on his journey into RC Racing. Inspired by his father, one of the country’s top Rally Game drivers (the precursor to what we now know as 1:8 GT), this driver started to master his skills driven by view of his father, ‘for me he was the best and I wanted to be like him’. Now a decade later, that up & coming talent is part of a small select factory Serpent team that will compete for the title at the 23rd running of IFMAR’s original World Championship at the Infinity International RC Speedway in Japan. That driver is recently turned 18-year-old Andrea Catanzani, who earlier this month marked his arrival on the international stage with some stunning displays of outright speed and hunger for success at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney.

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October 26, 2023

British GT12 Nationals RD2 Tamworth – Report

Last Sunday was Round 2 of the BRCA GT12 National Championship held in Tamworth by the TRRAC club. The track was a nice flowing layout, with a couple of technical sections and a high grip level. A big thanks to the TRRAC club for their incredible effort put into hosting this national event. In qualifying, Adam Mackman managed to take the overall TQ with an impressive 11.87 fastest lap in the final round, with Sam Coult in 2nd and Aidan Ripley in 3rd. Mark Jewitt followed closely behind in 4th, whilst there was a total of 4 seconds separating 5th to 8th place completing the A Final. A special mention to 12 year old Chase Mackman for qualifying 6th for his first ever national A Final! In the Mini Supercup class, Matthew Smithson TQ’d with a fast 21 lap qualifying run, followed by Paul Frewin in 2nd and James Kemp in 3rd. As the A Final started the top 3 started to grow a gap from the rest of the drivers, with Adam, Sam and Aidan racing for the number 1 spot. A small error from Aidan allowed Mark Jewitt to catch up and take the 3rd place spot. Chase Mackman managed to gain a position and move into 5th overall. Whilst 3rd and 4th were battling for position, this allowed Adam and Sam to form a 4 second lead. With a full 6 minutes of clean racing between Adam and Sam, Adam managed to hold onto 1st and take the overall win with a gap of 0.2s to Sam in 2nd.

View Podium results/photos here

October 25, 2023

Ielasi Tuned ‘World Champion Edition’ GP5GTR23

In what has been a massive season for Daniele Ielasi’s Ielasi Tuned engine brand with it winning both its first World and European Championship titles, the Italian company has marked Toni Gruber’s 1:8 GT World Championship win in Australia with the release of the ‘World Champion Edition’ of the GP5GTR23 engine. This version differs from the previous model with 2 small changes on the timing through work on the crankshaft and cylinder. In Sydney, and like everywhere, it was important to go fast in performance but runtime was also vital and with this configuration they were always able to manage the 7-minute runtime comfortably in each qualifying heat without ever losing performance in our engine. As a finishing touch the engine head graphic have also been redesigned to mark the occasion and the new special edition engine.

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October 24, 2023

2023 Foshan International Invitational RC Championship – Announcement

The new GDC Indoor Race Club track in Guangdong, China, is pleased to announcement its first international race event with the hosting of the Foshan International Invitational RC Championship on December 15-17. Located in the centre of Foshan City, the brand new facility was officially opened in May of this year and at 800 square metres is the largest professional indoor onroad track in China. Founded by the international athlete Mr. Kwok Yiu-wai, GDC Remote Control Racing Club hope by hosting this major international electric onroad race that they can boost the level of competition among young local racers. It is also hoped the event will become an annual highlight of the international touring car race calendar. Commenting on the inaugural running of the event the organisers said, ‘The purpose is to let local drivers see the level of international races and drivers, and to allow our teenagers to have close contact with world champions and top drivers to improve their level. We hope to held this event annually from this year.’ With a number of international team drivers expected to be announced in the coming weeks, the schedule for the Foshan International Invitational RC Championship will be made up of 5 categories – Modified Touring Car, 13.5T Handout Touring Car, Modified 1:12, 17.5T Handout FWD Touring and 21.5T Handout 1:10 F1.

View track images here

October 24, 2023

Lin wins 2023 Futaba/O.S. Cup

Taiwan’s largest event of the year was held over the weekend at the Erchong Floodway track in New Taipei City, where Hong Nor’s owner Hsiang Lin took the win in 1:8 GT. The annual Futaba/O.S. Cup attracted almost 80 drivers from Taiwan and Singapore, and just back from Australia after watching his team driver Toni Gruber claim the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championship with their X3-GTS, Lin took his own explain to both the TQ and win. Making it back to back wins of the event, Lin was joined on the all Hong Nor/Ielasi tuned podium by Su Jiahong and 3rd placed Liú Qiáozhì.

Image: Hong Nor [Facebook]

October 19, 2023

Peru set to host 2025 1:8 GT World Championship

After a very successful second running of the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney, Australia, last week, the third edition of the race is to travel to South America in 2025 with Peru set to be announced as hosts. Headed up by Michael Stone, New South Wales Radio Controlled Racing Car Club did a superb job of hosting the 2023 event helping to raise the profile of IFMAR’s newest World Championship considerably compared to the inaugural event held in Florida in early 2020. With the raised profile, Peru looks set to bolster the class further given the large following for the category in the region. The Miniautodromo Polo Bracale in Lima, Peru, is lined up as the host circuit and already has a strong track record having hosted the recent RCtarget backed COPA America race. Located in the Magdalena del Mar district, next to the beach and very close to the most popular districts of Lima, the track length is 280 meters, with a 50 meters straightaway and an average width of 5 meters with the surface a fine grade asphalt. Speaking to RCtarget/IGT8 boss Paolo Morganti during his participation at the Worlds in Sydney, the highly experienced international racer believes the track is a perfect setting for a Worlds and has the people required to put on a World class event. He also said costs associated with being at a race such as eating out are low. An official announcement on the host of the GT Worlds is expected from IFMAR shortly.

Image: APERCAR [Facebook]