August 19, 2024

ENS Champion Gruber claims 1st win in Netherlands

Euro Nitro Series Champion Toni Gruber claimed the first win of his title defence over the weekend, the Capricorn driver taking the win at the third round at the Apeldoorn track in the Netherlands.  In qualifying it was the Mugen Seiki of Round 1 winner Simon Kurzbuch who secured TQ ahead of Gruber with the Infinity of Swiss driver Oliver Krahemann completing the Top 3.  With rain washing out Friday’s action, qualifying would be reduced to just two rounds with the fastest to count and for Shepherd’s Lars Hoppe, the winner of Round 2 in Austria, he ended up P9 on the grid.  While former World Champion Kurzbuch lead away the 12 car field for the opening minutes of the 45-minute final, once Gruber hit the front with his Ielasi Tuned C804R he was able to edge out a comfortable gap to win by more than 2-laps from Krahemann who put in an impressive showing.   The Infinity of Teemu Leino would completed the podium, the Finn just holding off Hoppe with Kurbuch rounding out the Top 5.  In 1:10 Nitro Touring it was reigning Champion Melvin Diekmann made it a double for Capricorn, securing victory ahead of the Infinity of former Champion & Round 2 winner Jilles Groskamp with Top Qualifier Milan Holthuis taking the final step on the podium.

Image: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]


August 16, 2024

Monsanto track ready to become World stage once again

It’s the track that one of the great talents of our sport calls home and it’s where our own Events Editor experienced the unique & heightened atmosphere of an IFMAR World Championship for the very first time, so it is great to see Monsanto track in Portugal looking glorious once again and ready to become a world stage for our sport again.  Where a young Bruno Coelho honed his driving skills, the track is located in the picturesque setting of Monsanto Forest Park in the capital city of Lisbon and was the host of the 2008 IFMAR 1:10 200mm Onroad World Championship.  A time when the category was on the crest of a wave, the race attracting drivers from 28 countries, it was Bruno’s father Cesar who organised the 3rd edition of these World Championships.  In qualifying it was to be Jilles Groskamp, driving a Sirio powered Kyosho, who took the TQ while a young Bruno, then driving a Mugen, ended up 77th out of 137 strong entry.  In the final it was the Picco powered Kyosho of Daniele Ielasi who took the World title from American Chris Tosolini with Martin Hudy completing the podium on his Worlds Final debut.  Currently in a time when unfortunately we hear of tracks being forced to close around the world, it is great to see Monsanto, after a lot of hard work by the club, being brought back to its glory days with a brand new asphalt surface.  With the latest IFMAR 1:10 200mm Onroad World Championship coming up in November at Huge RC in Thailand, it will be the turn of Europe & EFRA to host the next edition in 2026.  Are we looking at the ideal host track?  Who knows we might even get Bruno to return to his nitro racing roots and have a go at adding a ‘home’ World title to his CV!

View aerial photo & a young Bruno at Monsanto in 2008 here


August 15, 2024

Dai crowned Chinese Touring Car Champion

Xray’s Jerry Dai is the new 2024 CMAC 1:10 Modified Electric Touring Car Chinese National Champion.  With a weather storm washing out practice, drivers faced into very low grip conditions at FSR International Race Track for qualifying the next day.  At the conclusion of the 3 rounds of qualifying it would be the Yokomo of Fong King from Hong Kong who took the TQ ahead of Dai.  Over the triple A-Main, the first encounter would see King make an aggressive move that resulted in contact with Dai that saw them finish 3rd and 2nd respectively.  In A2 King would retire after the first minute as Dai took the win from the Xray of Ren Jing Feng who qualified 5th on the grid.  While King finally converted pole position into the win in A3 on this occasion from Feng with Dai P3, overall however second in A1 and the win in A2 was enough for Dai to take over the title of Chinese National Champion from Fangzhou “Rocket” Zhang who won on the return of the Nationals last year after a 3-year absence of the event.  One point behind, King took second on tiebreaker from Feng who completed the podium.

Image: Jerry Dai [Facebook]


August 15, 2024

Izzah wins 2024 XCampus Challenge

Considered one of Indonesia’s biggest RC events with over 100 entries, the annual XCampus Challenge race took place in Banjarmasin showcasing some exciting high-speed action and intense 1:10 Electric Onroad competition.  Racing on the smooth 50m x 25m high-grip track, this coupled with sunny and hot weather made the event a true test of both driver skill and vehicle performance over the four different classes.  In Modified Touring Car it  was the Infinity of Mohammed Izzah who took the win ahead of the Xray of Indonesia’s top international racer Bowie Ginting with the Yokomo of Mohammed Hijrah completing the podium.  With wins for Rama Danindro in 13.5T Blinky, Richard Suryadinata  in Touring Sportsman, and Arifin in the 13.5T Blinky M Chassis class, the return of the XCampus Challenge in 2025 is already confirmed for the same track and more International driver from neighbouring countries expected.

Source: XCampus Challenge


August 12, 2024

PRO 10 European Cup – Announcement

After a successful event in 2023 with more than 80 drivers from 10 nations attending, the PRO 10 European Cup is back on August 30th/September 1st in Grenoble, France.  Once a full EFRA European Championship class counting LRP founder Jürgen Lautenbach as its inaugural Champion in 1990, with another electronics guru Oscar Jansen, now behind new brand Cayote, along with Touring Car World Champion Andy Moore and PRO10 World Champion David Spashett among its Champions, the last Euros was held in 2001, its World status having ended one year earlier.  Despite this the class has continued to enjoy an enthusiastic following and under the guidance of PRO10 Series, the PRO 10 European Cup has become a major annual event for the category.  Registration for the 2024 edition, with classes for Modified and Stock, close at August 17th.

Source: PRO10 Series [Facebook]


August 12, 2024

Rönick wins German 1:8 Nitro Buggy Nationals

Aaron Rönick  is the new DMC German 1:8 Nitro Buggy National Champion, the Team Associated driver claiming the title for the first time at the 2-time European Championship host track of Sand am Main.  In qualifying it was defending champion Berkan Kilic who took the TQ after 5 rounds of qualifying but on completing the Semi Finals it was his brother Burak who lined up on pole for Mugen Seiki followed by Berkan, Rönick and the Sworkz of Joern Nuemann.  At the start of the 45-minute final Berkan would hit problems on lap one before eventually retiring just after the 10-minute mark.  After their 1-2 finish last year, 2-time German Champion Burak was the next to retire with his race coming to an end just before 1/3 distance.  Having taken the lead early on Rönick would stay out front to take his Ruddog Racing engined RC8B4.1 to the victory & title by almost a full lap from Nuemann with Sworkz team-mate Max Hesse completing the podium.

Image: Ruddog [ruddog.eu]


August 9, 2024

TITC 2025 – Announcement

Firmly established as one of the biggest international races on the Electric Touring Car calendar outside of the World Championship, the TITC has announced the date for the 21st running of the Bangkok based spectacle.  Taking place at the Infinity RC Addict track, the race is a week early next year with February 20-23 the date when the best drivers in the world battle it out across a number of classes.  With the event returning last year after an absence of two years due to Covid, it was Xray’s back to back World Champion Bruno Coelho who took the win to match the record of Atsushi Hara as the legendary race’s most successful Champion.  Earlier this year the track was completely resurfaced with work also carried out on the pits to help keep the area cooler for racers in the hot Thailand conditions.  Details on registration for TITC 2025 are to follow.

Source: TITC [titc.in.th]


August 9, 2024

2024 MonTech New York Grand Prix – Announcement

The organisers of the MonTech New York Grand Prix have announced details of the sixth edition of the annual indoor race that takes place at the 360v2 RC track in New Rochelle, New York.  Taking place from October 10th to 13th, the event has become one of the highlights on the annual US onroad racing calendar and drawing an international entry stateside.  Last year it was Awesomatix’s Sam Isaacs  who came away as the big winner securing victory in both  Mod Touring Car and Mod 1:12.  Counting multiple World Champions Marc Rheinard (2022 NYGP Winner), Ronald Volker (2019 NYGP Winner), Alexander Hagberg, reigning 1:12 Stock World Champion Max Mächler and Ollie Payne as previous participants.  In total drivers will compete for victory over 12 classes on the 105ft x 48ft Carpet track.  In Touring Car drivers will battle it out in Modified, 17.5T SuperStock, 21.5 Stock, and 25.5 LMH (LeMans Hypercar).  In 1:12 there is Modified GTP, SuperStock GTP, Stock GTP, and  GT12R.  Additionally there are classes for USGT, PRO10, USVTA, and FWD.

Source: Fordham 360 Hobbies & Raceway [Facebook]