Introducing the ‘Michal Orlowski Column’
We have had the pleasure of following his career from his early days of racing a Tamiya TT02 and all the way through to being in Florida last December to finally witness him become a World Champion. Last year on the way to the 1:10 Offroad World Championships in Arizona, we both endured a lengthy 4-hour delay to our connecting flight in Washington and it was during that conversation and the sharing of many stories that the idea was born for a regular column from one of the most travelled racers in the business. To be honest, not expecting a great reaction to asking any driver to commit to writing regularly about their racing adventures both and off the track, we got Chris Ashton of his main sponsor Schumacher to ask the question, and, he jumped at the opportunity. So with out further a do we’ll hand you over to the newest member of the Red RC editorial team (well so sort). Michal Orlowski take it away……
I introduce you to the new “Michal Orlowski Column by RedRC”, where I will be bringing you closer to what my life, as a professional rc car racing driver, looks like inside out. Talking about events, racing drama, my daily life and more.
Let’s start from the beginning of 2024. After an extremely successful year of 2023, I was feeling a little bit anxious. Each year, I want to do better and bring in greater results. However, every time I look at what I have done each year, I say to myself: “How in the world am I going to beat that!?” and somehow, I am always able to improve. I have finally achieved the highest glory in our sport, which is the IFMAR World Championship title. Now, I have the monkey off my shoulders, and I am working harder than ever to race my best week in, week out.
2024 kicks off my 10th year racing for Schumacher Racing Products. Looking back to the end of 2014, when I signed my first contract with the brand, I feel so proud of what we were able to achieve together as a team.
I had highly ambitious plans for the kick off of the new year. I had a nice break, since I came back from the World Championships in Florida, USA and it was time to get back to work. As soon as I had plans to go testing at a beautiful carpet track in Lodz, Poland about 2-hour drive from my home, I started feeling extremely ill. Maybe I had a little too much fun during the New Year’s Eve… Joking obviously. I had to stay in bed for a few days. I ended up watching tons of RC car races on YouTube from the past and some of the recent races. Fun fact, I only watch my own races, when I do well. For instance, I have never watched the 4WD 2015 IFMAR WC videos from Yatabe Arena, since I fell from 2nd on the grid to 4th. I was 14 years old at the time and I totally cracked under pressure from Naoto Matsukura and David Ronnefalk behind me.
I started feeling a little better, attended my middle school reunion and a family wedding the next day. Probably, wasn’t the smartest idea, but I always miss the social events in my life, due to traveling all the time, therefore I decided to sacrifice my health a little bit and it was totally worth it!
The BRCA Off-road Masters were quickly coming up in the middle of January. Instantly, when I felt better, I started preparing my Cougar LD3D and CAT L1R for the slippery surface of Worksop. I was very excited to kick off the year at an event with Reedy Race style racing format. The excitement quickly went away… My cars were feeling brilliant on the difficult track conditions, but I had horrible time racing. Reedy Race format is the best to watch the action, but when you end up on the bad end of the stick while racing yourself, it’s the worst feeling in the world. However, it’s a little bit addictive. A few days have gone by, and I was already looking forward to that event in 2025! My new sponsor for 2024, JConcepts, announced me on the same weekend. This made my weekend a little bit better! On my way back from UK, I thought to myself: “That wasn’t the best start to the year lol”. But it doesn’t matter how you start; it matters how you finish!
I was back home on Monday, repacked all my racing gear, played a little with my cat, had some waffles at home and it was time for another trip. I filled up my car with all my equipment and I drove 950 kilometers from Warsaw, Poland to Hasloh, Germany (near Hamburg) on Tuesday. This was the start of my 3-week Euro Trip. I spent approximately 24 hours at the track between Wednesday and Thursday, testing for the GP3F event. I was knackered. Friday, 4AM wake up and 700 kilometers driven to Luxembourg to pick up my great friend, teammate and mechanic, Mattia. He is to me, what Francesco is to Bruno and Umino used to be to Ronald. We arrived at our hotel in Longwy, France at 1PM. I jumped into bed, under my blanket bought in Florida during the 1/12 WC and relaxed. Meanwhile, Mattia was wrenching on our cars, making them perfect for GP3F starting the next day.
GP3F is one of the most important TC races during the winter season nowadays. It’s the only time, where all teams meet, since Xray doesn’t attend ETS, but I hope they will be back soon! I was telling Mattia and the Schumacher team, how important this race is to me for a few weeks leading up to the event. Xray came out with their new car a few months back, which honestly looked amazing on the pictures, and I was a little scared it will be very fast! This was the best place to beat them with our prototype chassis! Practice started off a little sketchy, trying to find the right additive and tyre strategy. Luckily, we didn’t change much on the car setup and just before qualifying started, we found the right additive with help from Thomas Stenger, who was pitting with us. Since that moment, we were pretty much unbeatable, and it was extremely satisfying for me to be able to TQ and take the win. That was the first time in my life, I was able to beat Bruno in TC. If you are reading this Bruno, I’m sorry, but I had to mention this!
As soon as the race finished, me and Mattia jumped into the car and drove to Wädenswil, Switzerland to prepare for ETS in Daun the following weekend. Both of us battling through tiredness, we were able to gain a lot of knowledge and have a great time at the track with our friend from another team, Marc Rheinard. It is always great fun testing with my idol! Tuesday night, after two days of testing, we are back in the car on our way to Daun, Germany. As soon as we arrive, Mattia is making us Italian pasta after snoring a little bit in the car for 5 hours!
It’s time for ETS round 5 in Daun! Crucial event for us, as I already missed two rounds of ETS this season, therefore it is going to be 4/4 for me for the overall points championship. Mattia prepared my car perfectly on Wednesday, while I drove to Frankfurt to pick up Fede (Mattia’s brother) and went to sleep on the couch watching “Suits”, as soon as I came back to the bungalow in Daun. Practice starts off well, grip is picking up slowly and we are right there in the mix. I top seeded CP1 by 0,001s in front of Marc and CP2 by 0,001s in front of Adam! Both had a lot of speed in practice. We were able to make a little adjustment to our car just before qualifying, which helped me to TQ 4/4 qualifiers and win A1&A2. Some say it looked easy, but it wasn’t. Lucas, Adam, Marc were keeping me honest all weekend and it was crucial not to make a single mistake, to gain points for the overall championship. Now, it’s all down to the finale in Austria next month, to see who will be crowned the overall ETS champion for 2023/2024. Highlight of the weekend was listening to Pekko’s and Fede’s snoring orchestra.
At 10PM on Sunday, off-road team arrives to the bungalow (Tris, Daniel, and Ben) and I am getting into the car once again. We arrive at 3AM at our hotel in Switzerland. A few hours of sleep and we arrive at the track in Wädenswil to test with off-road for EOS the following weekend. I decided to concentrate on the L1R to get the best out of it, as we couldn’t achieve the top step of the podium at the last few races. Again, we spent many hours on the track and drove back to Daun on Tuesday night, after satisfying and extensive testing.
On Wednesday morning, I started wrenching on my LD3M and L1R while listening to Pekko’s snoring. It took me all day to make my cars ready for Thursday’s practice, but it was worth it. I wish Mattia could do off-road too, so I could stay in bed a little longer!
EOS event was fantastic. First time a 4-day race, more track time, approximately 550 entries. It doesn’t get better than that. 2WD was fantastic, I was able to top seed, TQ 4/4 qualifiers and take A1&A2 once again. Since the release of the LD3 at the end of last year, we have been very dominant at the last few races. It is such a pleasure to drive this car and the positive feedback from customers motivates us even more to keep improving this platform. 4WD was a little more difficult. We were able to top seed practice again, but the Xray and AE cars were looking very good as well. It was an extremely close fight between Marcus, me and Bartek for the win. Marcus drove brilliantly, held onto the win in A3, and ever since we have been working very hard to beat him next time! These results crowned us, the EOS Overall Champions for the 2023/2024 season, this being my 8th EOS Overall Season Title! Most out of any driver in history (in 2WD&4WD).
It was finally time to go back home. On Monday I spent 10 hours in the car. Over the past 3 weeks, I had done 5000 kilometers. And you know what? It was all worth it. The memories made with my friends, teammates and family will last forever.
After two or three days of barely being able to do anything due to the exhaustion of the last three weeks, I got back up on my feet. I caught up with my family and friends. I don’t get to be home on the weekends much, so I had a great time going out with my closest friends to our favorite places in Warsaw. I had the chance to go to dinner with my close family and hand over mine and my sister’s gift to our grandma for her 88th birthday. I was able to spend some time looking after my investments and catching up with my business partners not involved in the RC industry. I know that my career will not last forever, therefore I find it very important to secure myself for the distant future.
The off time quickly went by. Mibosport International Cup was coming up next weekend. I decided to only race TC, as neither Tris nor Mattia could go with us to support me. The Schumacher prototype chassis was brilliant as always. Had to make a difficult decision on tyres, as one of my race sets was broken and the other had one faulty tyre. I decided to mix two sets into one, which paid off massively at the end, but it was a risky decision. I had a great time racing with Ronald for the win. He taught me a lot about TC racing throughout the last few years and it is always a pleasure to talk and race with him. I was able to top seed, TQ 5/5 qualifiers and take A1&A2. I had a fantastic time hanging out with Daniel, Joona and Pekko. I picked them up from the airport in Warsaw and I never had such a fun car trip, as I had with them. Pekko finished 4th in TC, Daniel TQed and finished 2nd with LD3M and 3rd with L1R. Joona had some rough luck, he was in the fight for the win. It was awesome to have him pitting with us, despite racing for a different chassis brand.
As soon as we came back home, I immediately started preparing for a testing session on Wednesday to start preparations for MK GP, which is taking place 8-10 March. This event requires additional testing time this year, since it’s a unique carpet we don’t have anywhere else, Mezzo rear control tyre, which we never use on carpet, open inserts, and front tyres in both 2WD and 4WD to all Schumacher options. A lot of testing ahead, but at the end, I am sure it will all be worth it!
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author.
