Red RC » Electric

November 9, 2024

Rheinard wins A1 after Coelho-Orlowski contact

Awesomatix’s Marc Rheinard has taken the opening A-Main at the Electric Touring Car World Championship, the 3-time ISTC World Champion capitalising on contact between defending champion Bruno Coelho and Top Qualifier Michal Orlowski. With the Top 2 initially pulling clear, as they scrapped over the lead Rheinard closed in to make way it a three way flight of RC titans, the closeness of the action generating plenty of ‘ooohs’ from the onlooking crowd. Having got alongside leader Orlowski a number of times, Coelho would attempt a pass in the corner coming on to the main straight but contact was made with Orlowski ending up in the corner with a body tuck as Rheinard slipped through unscathed for a comfortable lead he will hold to the finish ahead Ronald Volker and Akio Sobue with Coelho finishing back in fourth. Orlowski would finish P8, his car suffering damaged in the incident.

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November 7, 2024

Coelho from Orlowski as free practice concludes at WC

Day 1 of the action at the IFMAR Touring Car World Championships in California has concluded with Bruno Coelho setting the pace from arch rival Michal Orlowski. With 5-rounds of free practice making up the day’s action it was Coelho’s Xray that would set the fastest time in all but 1 round, the Schumacher of Orlowski the only other driver to top the time sheets when he set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in FP4 by just 0.009 of a second from Coelho. With FP5 proving the fastest run of the day, it would be Marc Rheinard’s Awesomatix that would end up third quickest for the day ahead of Alexander Hagberg’s Xray with Axon’s Akio Sobue and Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker completing the Top 6 times on a windy day at the Finishline RC Raceway track.

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September 25, 2024

Orlowski adds 1st 2WD Offroad European title

Michal Orlowski has added the EFRA 1:10 2WD European Championship title to his CV for the first time, the Schumacher/Hobbywing driver taking the win in Sweden where the championships are being hosted indoors for the very first time. The reigning 4WD European Champion would secure the overall TQ in Malmo topping 4 of the 5 rounds of qualifying. Schumacher team-mate Daniel Kobbevik took Q5 to secure P2 on the grid with Team Associated’s defending Champion Marcus Kaerup claiming 3rd ahead of the Xray’s of Bruno Coelho and David Ronnefalk. In the triple finals, Orlowski took A1 by almost 4 seconds over Norwegian Kobbevik as Ben Smith came through for third. A2 would be a much closer finish as Kaerup with the only 18-second lap of the race tried to force the fight to A3 but coming up 9/100ths short it was Orlowski who took A2 and the title. With a number of drivers in contention for the other podium placing in A3, it looked to be Kobbevik who would fill the second step but chased down by Kaerup, a mistake with 30-seconds to go, allowed Kaerup through for the win and runner-up spot. Kobbevik completed the podium ahead of Smith. Orlowski will now try to go for his first Euros double as the rest of the week switches to the 4WD title fight.

Image: Hobbywing Technology [Facebook]

March 1, 2024

Coelho holds overnight TQ in Bangkok

With Day 1 of qualifying at the 20th edition of the TITC complete it is Bruno Coelho who holds the overnight TQ in Bangkok. The Xray driver would take both rounds of qualifying on today’s schedule helped by top seed Ronald Volker having a 360 spin while on TQ pace run in Q2. The second of the four qualifiers would be a repeat of the opening round in terms of the Top 3 with Alexander Hagberg 3rd fastest having been the pace setter for a time during the 5-minute run. After an early mistake and a bad set-up choice in Q1, Naoto Matsukura would get a P4 on his second attempt ahead of Souta Goto driving the new Tamiya TRF421 which is making its race debut here. With many of the leading drivers having moments it was the Xray of Shin Sawada who was running in the second fastest along with Goto who completed the Top 6.

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March 1, 2024

Coelho takes opening qualifier at TITC

Bruno Coelho has kicked off the defence of his TITC title in the best way possible by TQ’ing the opening round of qualifying at the iconic Bangkok race. Second behind Ronald Volker in the single seeding round yesterday evening, the Xray driver reversed the order in the first of the four qualifiers by topping the round by 7/10th over the Mugen driver. Held just after midday local time on a very hot track, behind the Top 2 there was a considerable gap. The third fastest time was set by Alexander Hagberg who was closely followed by Marc Rheinard and Akio Sobue, the Top 5 all previous winners of what is widely regarded as the most difficult race in the world. Making it five different manufacturers in the Top 6, Xpress team driver Yugo Nagashima put in the sixth fastest time.

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February 17, 2024

Bayer on provisional MIBO TQ in 4WD

Martin Bayer is the provisional Top Qualifier overnight at MIBO International, the Xray driver being denied locking in the overall TQ with a mistake that allowed Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik to top the fourth round and be part of the battle for pole position tomorrow morning in Q5. Posting a TQ run in Q1 and Q3, Bayer was on target for a third in Q4 but keying an eye on the very fast Sworkz of Micha Widmaier and distracted by a mistake from the overnight 2WD TQ holder, Bayer made a mistake that cost him more than 3-seconds allowing Kobbevik to grab max points. With Bayer still managing a P2 2.6-seconds off Kobbevik, the Top 3 would be completed by Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen but the Finn won’t contend for the overall TQ in Q5, instead it will be Bartosz Zalewski who is part of the three way fight. The double runner up here last year to Bruno Coelho, the young Polish talent was on a competitive Q4 run until be popped a steering link.

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December 11, 2023

Rivkin & Phend turn RC teachers for a day!

They are two of the biggest names in offroad racing and represent two of the biggest manufacturers on the international stage but last week both Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin and TLR’s Dakotah Phend became RC teachers for a day as part of two different events. Two time World Champion Rivkin was taking part in the launch of Hobbywing Tech Explorers. Held at World Championship venue Hobby Action Raceway, it marked the first collaboration with a school outreach program. Rivkin touched on his journey with RC, overcoming challenges, and dreaming big. He also discussed the mechanics, electrical aspects, and disciplines of the hobby, along with the incredible values it’s brought into his life – from friends, mentors, and unforgettable experiences. On his social media Rivkin said he was ‘So thankful to have had the opportunity to hold my first public gathering and launch a new program with Hobbywing North America called Tech Explorers! Meeting and seeing these kids remind me what it was like when I first laid eyes on RC cars. I want to personally thank Larry and Hobby Action RC Raceway for letting us utilise the track and rental cars. I’m totally looking forward on doing many more of these!’ Phend brought his 1:10 Electric and 1:8 Nitro buggies to a middle school as part of a career day where he shared his story with pupils. On his Facebook page he posted, ‘I was able to be apart of career day earlier this week at Angola Middle School. I went over how I was able to turn a passion into a career. There are a lot of great and unique opportunities in today’s world!’. It is great to see both drivers promoting RC racing in this way and well done to everyone involved in inspiring the future generation.

View Mr.Phend taking his class here

September 11, 2023

Phend heads seeding at 4WD World Championship

Dakotah Phend heads seeding at the 4WD Offroad World Championship at the end of the opening day of action in Arizona. The TLR driver’s opening time remaining the quickest as 1:8 Buggy World Champion David Ongaro set the pace in the second seeding to move up to P2 with one more seeding round in the morning. Despite improving on his second fastest time set in the opening round, Broc Champlin dropped to P3 while Dustin Evans enjoyed a good run to jump up to fourth. Another to make a big improvement was Joern Neumann whose Sworkz means four different manufacturers in the current Top 5 seeding. For defending Champion Bruno Coelho it was a tough first day at Hobby Action with the Xray driver currently set to line up in the second fastest heat for qualifying and in need a good final practice in the morning.

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