Red RC » Events

October 12, 2022

EssexCarpetClash5 Round1 – Report

EssexCarpetClash returned the first weekend of October for their fifth year championship in the southern region of England. This year, there were a couple of changes compared to previous years, the main being a limit to the number of rear sets of tyres used for the day. A maximum of 2 sets, but the second set (if you chose to use them) could only be used in the finals. Eleven car heats and finals were the other addition, but this was accompanied by a larger track and in turn a longer lap time giving everyone space on the track. As in the past, it was the best 2 qualifying runs from 4 (round by round qualifying) to count for the final grid positions. Ed Kerry, (now running a Serpent) edged the pole position slot from Harley Eldridge (Xray) who were both joint on points, only separated on countback by less than 2 tenths of a second. 3rd on the grid would be last year’s champion Klye Moon (Willspeed).

Continue reading report here

October 11, 2022

Thurston crowned British 1:8 Onroad Champion for 3rd time in a row

Alex Thurston was crowned British 1:8 Onroad National Champion for a third time in a row over the weekend, the Capricorn driver being presented with his trophies at the 7th & final round of the championship at Halifax. Having already locked in the championship with 5 TQs, 4 wins, a 2nd and a 3rd, Thurston attended the season closer to support fellow Capricorn and Ielasi Tuned drivers as well as giving newly crowned 1:10 Champion Stefan Chodzynski the opportunity to try 1:8 for the very first time and drive his championship winning car. The season finale was won by Team Shepherd’s Tim Wood who finishes as Vice-Champion with Capricorn’s Andy Hasting third. Thurston will now focus his attentions on 1:10 Nitro Onroad in preparation for next month’s World Championship in Thailand.

Image: Alex Thurston [Facebook]

October 11, 2022

Lewis Hamilton endorses RC racing for diversity & inclusion in STEM

An interesting feature by F1 broadcaster Sky Sports on the great work being done by RC Vision who are championing our sport and the need for diversity and inclusion in STEM. RC Vision is a social venture working to engage young people who are underrepresented in motorsports careers and STEM industries using the exciting sport of radio control car racing. Having cut his teeth in racing through RC, it is great to see 7-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton showing support for the work being done.

Source: Sky Sports F1

October 11, 2022

Schumacher Winter Series Rnd 1 – Report

The first round of the 2022-2023 Schumacher Winter Series presented by the Louth Radio Control Car Club took place over the weekend. A new year, new faces offered some close and intense racing. The Core RC 17.5 class was the class for this season and was heavily entered, the class would have national drivers and regional drivers alike attend for this first round. In the end it was last season’s 13.5 champion Chris Lovely who would pilot his Xray X4 to the top of the time sheets. Chris would top all 4 of the qualifying rounds, the race for second was strongly contested by the Schumachers of Alex Brocklebank, Daniel Burks and Joseph Cocking each of them staking a claim. Lisa Keen would have an ever improving day with the new Xpress chassis ahead of Gareth Jaine and his 1up Racing x4.

Continue reading report here

October 10, 2022

Sugiura defends JMRCA National title after 2 year break

Yusuke Sugiura has successfully defended his JMRCA Japanese1:8 Offroad National title as the championship was hosted for the first time over the weekend since 2019 due to Covid. The weekend was very much a repeat of 2019 as the Futaba Buggy Track in Ichihara City hosted the championship once again. Topping three of the four rounds of qualifying to secure the overall TQ, Sugiura would again lead home Sanwa’s Kouki Kato in the 1-hour final, crossing the finish line with a 1-lap advantage for his fourth consecutive National title win. Making it an all Mugen podium was 3rd place qualifying Shin Adachi who finished just 1/3 of a lap behind Kato.

Image: Kouki Kato [Facebook]

October 9, 2022

Rheinard wins MonTech New York Grand Prix

Marc Rheinard has won the MonTech New York Grand Prix. A race that has attracted some of touring car’s biggest names such as 2019 winner Ronald Volker and Alexander Hagberg, this year it was 3-time World Champion Rheinard who made the trip across the Atlantic to 360V2 RC Raceway in New Rochelle, New York. The fourth running of the annual event, in qualifying it was multiple ROAR National Champion Sam Isaacs who had the upper hand taking the opening three rounds ahead of Awesomatix team-mate Rheinard. While Rheinard would hit the top of the time sheets in Q4, it was Isaacs with the overall TQ for the single 5-minute A-Main ahead of Rheinard, Xray’s Keven Hebert and Kemp Anderson. A mistake on lap 2, when he hit the curbing, would see Isaacs drop to third as Rheinard and Herbert went through. Despite Hebert posting the fastest lap of the race, Rheinard would stretch his lead to almost 1.2 seconds by the finish with Iaascs completing the podium a further seconds back from Hebert.

Image: Marc Rheinard [Facebook]

October 8, 2022

3 out 3 for Balestri in Italian National Championship

Dario Balestri has completed a clean sweep of the 2022 AMSCI Italian 1:8 Onroad National Championship with victory at the third & final round today at Pista Di Leno. Originally planned as a two day event, forecast bad weather saw the season finale condensed down to Saturday qualifying and finals. Three rounds of qualifying would see the former World Champion secure the TQ from Xray’s Filippo Domanin and Mirko Salemi. In the 30-minute final, the Infinity driver would continue his form from the previous two championship rounds to take victory number 3 from team-mate Carmine Riola. The Mugen of Andrea Pirani would complete the podium with young Domanin having to settle for fourth.

Image: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]

October 7, 2022

Hamilton ‘having fun’ with RC at Japanese Grand Prix

It seems RC is the big thing in the paddock at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton the latest driver to take time out from his F1 duties and enjoy a bit of RC fun in the Suzuka paddock. A video shared on the official F1 instagram page shows the 7-time World Champion driving a Tamiya Lunch Box out through his Mercedes-AMG Petronas team’s garage and into the paddock where he enjoys pulling wheelies with the iconic 80’s 1:12 truck. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team shared a photo of their star driver and the Lunch Box on their Facebook page with the simple description ‘Just out here having fun’. We already know how much fun RC is and it is great to see both iconic Japanese RC brands Kyosho and Tamiya being enjoyed by Formula 1. Hamilton famously appeared on BBC’s Blue Peter show racing an RC car well before he became one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time.

View F1 instagram video here

Images credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team [Facebook]