October 29, 2022

2023 Mile High Indoor Championships – Announcement

The organisers of the annual Mile High Indoor Championships held at 5280 Raceway in Lakewood, Colorado, have announced the date for the 2023 event.  Set to take place April 14 to 16th, the long running electric onroad event has not only been attended by America’s top drivers but also a number of international factory drivers.  Alex Hagberg, Drew Ellis, Paul Lemieux, Sam Issacs, Max Machler, Kevin Hebert, Eric Anderson, Brian Wynn, Mike Hanulec, Craig Xavier, Scott Jakes, Ralph Burch, Kemp Anderson and even international voice of RC Scotty Ernst have contested the race.  The 13th running of the MHIC, the previous three years have seen the event sell out in under 5-hours so watch out for the opening of registration in late December.

Source: MHIC [milehighindoorchamps.com]


October 27, 2022

SMC technology in 1:1 Electric Motorbike Record attempt

It is nice to see RC technology making its way into full size motor sport with IFMAR World Champion battery manufacturer SMC Racing helping the record breaking electric motorbike outfit Team Speed Hertz as they get ready for the Texas Mile event this weekend.  With teams having just 1-Mile to achieve their top speed and a shut down distance of 1/2-Mile, Speed Hertz are aiming to try and take the SMC technology and logo on the side of the bike to over 190mph and break the current 188mph record.  Marc Rheinard used SMC batteries to take his Tamiya to two of his 1:10 Touring Car World titles (2010 & 2012).

View complete bike with SMC branding here


October 26, 2022

2023 Charity Race – Announcement

The 2023 edition of the popular ‘Charity Race’ will be held at the RC Landia indoor carpet track in Scandiano, Italy on 11th – 12th February. A race that includes Ronald Volker, Marc Rheinard, Bruno Coelho, Alexander Hagberg and Viktor Wilck as previous winners, this is the 12th running of the event which has raised thousands of euros for local charities. he event will cater for 6 classes: Touring Modified, Touring Stock EFRA, FWD and GT for 10th scale, while LMP Open Modified and GT12 for 12th. Entries will be capped at 120 pit places and the Organisers, Team La Gang, will hold the traditional charity raffle for the good cause. Registration for the the ‘Charity Race’ will open on MyRCM in due course.

Source: Team La Gang [teamlagang.it]


October 25, 2022

JMRCA 2022 All Japan Touring Car Statistics

Having reported yesterday on Akio Sobue’s victory at the 2022 JMRCA All-Japan Championships over the weekend, our friend & expert on all things Tamiya Kenneth Södergård over at Blog Kentech has compiled interesting manufacturer statics from the first hosting of the National Championships since 2019.  Combined figures from both the Super Expert and Open classes show Mugen (19%) to be the car of choice with Japanese brands dominating the market.  Iconic brand Tamiya, while no longer fielding an international factory team, is still very much alive in competitive touring car as the second most popular brand with only 3% less share than Mugen.  Touring car newcomers, and stars of the recent ISTC World Championships getting both their drivers in the A-Main in Italy, Axon was the third biggest brand just ahead of Yokomo.  In contrast, the two big brands in European touring car race scene, Xray and Awesomatix, both each only made up 5% of the entry.

Source: Kentech [kentech.wordpress.com]


October 24, 2022

Capricorn announces Depta on factory team

Capricorn RC has announced Merlin Depta as part of their factory team line-up for 2023.  Having announced his departure from Serpent after 17-years of racing with the brand back in August, the German joins former team-mate & countryman Dominic Greiner at the reigning European 1:8 & 1:10 Nitro Onroad Champion manufacturer.  Commenting on the announcement, Depta said, “(I am) Very happy to announce that I’ll join the Capricorn factory for 2023 and beyond. The quality and mechanical design are so on point. As if every single part of a car was taken into revision to make it as light and high-grade as possible. It’s so much fun to work on that car and I’m happy to join such a professional team. See you on the track.”

Source: Capricorn [capricornrc.com]


October 24, 2022

Coelho wins as Essex Winter Series returns

The opening round of the popular Essex Winter Series took place over the weekend with newly crowned World Champion Bruno Coelho taking the win.  A series that has attracted some of the biggest names in Electric Touring to the UK in the past, after its forced Covid break it was the Xray team who were the star entries as the indoor carpet series made its return – Martin Hudy and Francesco Martini also making the trip.  Topping all four qualifiers, Coelho would secure the TQ ahead of newly crowned British Champion & Xray team-mate Kyle Branson.  Capricorn’s Alex Thurston complete the Top 3 on the grid ahead of Schumacher’s Andy Murray who won the battle of the car designers as Hudy secured fifth.  In the single leg final, Coelho took an easy win with over 3-seconds of an advantage over Branson with British 1:8 Nitro Champion Thurston completing the podium. In Stock, Xray’s Zak Finlay took the win from the Schumacher of Billy Fletcher.

Image: Kyle Branson [Facebook]


October 24, 2022

Sobue crowned JMRCA All-Japan Champion

Akio Sobue is the new Japanese Touring Car National Champion.  Last held in 2019, Naoto Matsukura taking the win on that occasion, the JMRCA All-Japan Championships returned following Covid at the Greenpark Speedway in Hanno City. In qualifying, Sobue would take the opening three of four qualifiers to secure the TQ ahead of factory Yokomo driver Souta Goto who topped Q4.  Next up where the Infinity pairing of Ryosuke Yamamoto and former champion Jin Sawada.  The Top 5 in qualifying was completed by Sobue’s Axon team-mate and World Finalist Hayato Ishioka.  In the finals, Sobue took A1 but an early incident in A2 left the World Championship podium finisher with a fourth as Yamamoto took the win.  For A3 it was back to business for Sobue as he set the fastest lap to win by 1-second and with it claim the JMCRA title for a third time (2015, 2017).  The podium was completed by Yamamoto and Goto.


Source: Axon [team-axon.com]


October 23, 2022

Kurzbuch announces Team Shepherd departure

Former 1:8 Onroad World Champion Simon Kurzbuch has announced his departure from Team Shepherd.  The Swiss driver leaves the German chassis manufacturer after representing the brand at the top of the sport for 12 years.  In 2015, Kurzbuch & Shepherd achieved the ultimate prize in the sport when he was crowned World Champion in Brazil.  Other highlights of the partnership include the 2018 European Championship and a string of titles during the height of the Euro Nitro Series.  Announcing he will leave Shepherd on social media, he said, ‘It all started 2010 with the club race at our home track. I drove the first time my Shepherd Velox, it was so exciting. Today it ends, with the club race at my home track I’m so excited for the “last dance” with my Shepherd Velox! But it’s much more. Almost half of my life I’ve been going through a crazy adventure and I’m so f##king thankful for every single moment! Thanks to the whole Schäfer family and PiccoBello, Beat and Käthi, who brought me on this way to meet so many people (Sorry to not name you all but you are in my heart!), winning every possible title in this category – I have tears in my eyes because it was so great and we will always remember it – forever ever! Every End is a beginning of something new – cant wait to tell you more about!’  An official announcement on his new team is expected in 2-weeks time.

Source: Simon Kurzbuch [facebook.com]