November 21, 2023

Chinese National Champion Ma confirmed for FIRC

Having announced a number of top international drivers for the inaugural Foshan International Invitational RC Championship in China on December 15-17, the organisers have confirmed that leading national onroad talent Marco Ma will also contest the event.  The 19-year-old, who joined Xray in 2021, was the 2019 Chinese National Champion in both electric and nitro touring car and just recently added the National 1:8  GT title to his CV.  Having announced Hobbywing as a main sponsor of the event which will take place at new 800 square metre GDC Indoor Race Club track in Guangdong,  the organisers expect over 100 entries for inaugural running of FIRC.  Already having confirmed 2016 World Champion & Mugen Seiki team driver Ronald Volker, Japanese Xpress factory driver Yugo Nagashima, and Team Yokomo’s newly crowned Australian Champion Simon Nicholson, this international invitational championship is not only an international competitive event but also an opportunity to promote the development of RC competition in China.  With the sponsorship and support from brands such as Hobbywing, the organisers are confident RC racing will be promoted positively among more people, adding new excitement to the development of sport in China.

Source: Foshan International Invitational RC Championship [Facebook]


November 20, 2023

2024 ROAR Nationals Calendar Announced

ROAR, the the sanctioning body for RC racing in the United States & Canada, has announced the track locations and dates for its National Championships in 2024.   The season kicks off with the 1:10 Carpet Onroad Championship at 997 RC Raceway in Pennsylvania on March 7th-10th and will see a further 6 events held across the year.  A powerhouse nation in the world of offroad racing, the 1:10 Offroad Nationals will take place in April at Beach RC & Hobbies in South Carolina with the 1:8 Nitro Offroad one month later at HRCR in Idaho from June 19th-23rd.  While the venue for the Paved On Road Championship is set as N-Control RC Racing Circuit the date is to be confirmed while for nitro onroad ROAR is still actively looking for a host track.

View full National Championship calendar here


November 20, 2023

Montpellier Grand Prix 2024 – Announcement

One of Europe’s most iconic 1:8 Offroad races and one which since it was first held in 2006 has established itself as the race to open the annual nitro buggy racing season in Europe, Montpellier Grand Prix has announced details of the 2024 event.  The 18th running of the French Classic will see the race run over 4-days and the dropping of the Warm-up race.  Set to take place from February 8-11th, the changes come as host club  Mini Bolide Montpellierain try to ensure all competing drivers enjoy the same amount of track time with the addition of Thursday dedicated to timed practice rounds.  Having introduced eBuggy last year the even will again crown an electric champion in 2024.  In Nitro, World Champion Davide Ongaro will go for three in a row.  Registration opens December 2nd.

Source: Circuit du MBM [Facebook]


November 19, 2023

Florida Carpet C/ship wins for Orlowski & Coelho

The JConcepts Florida Carpet Championship at Beachline Raceway in Orlando saw wins for Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski and Xray’s Bruno Coelho with Orlowski the back to back overall Champion of the event.  Attracting a strong international overseas entry, in 2WD Buggy it was Orlowski who dominated qualifying topping all four rounds to secure the overall TQ.  Behind him, Coelho would end qualifying in second with a pair of P2 runs followed by Orlowski’s Schumacher team-mate Broc Champlin.  TLR’s Dakotah Phend, Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin and Sworks’ Joern Neumann completed the Top 6.  In the finals, Orlowski continued his form with A1 & 2 wins to retain his 2022 title.  With the win in A3, Coelho would finish second with Champlin completing the 2WD podium.  In 4WD, former World Champion Coelho would secure the TQ ahead of Champlin after taking 3 of the rounds with Champlin posting a TQ run in Q2.  Orlowski rounded out the Top 3 ahead of Phend and new Xray signing David Ronnefalk.  Again the overall win would be decided in A2 as Coelho made it 2 from 2 ahead of Orlowski, the Polish driver securing the overall runner-up spot with victory in A3 promoting Champlin to the final 4WD podium step ahead of Ronnefalk.

Image: JConcepts [Facebook]


November 19, 2023

2024 Provisional EFRA European Championship Calendar

EFRA, the governing body for RC racing in Europe, has released a provisional 2024 race calendar of which the European Championships are the highlights.  Having hosted its AGM over the weekend, one of the big changes to come from the meeting in Sweden was that the European Championships for 1:10 IC Track, 1:8 IC Track, GT8 and GT8E are now shortened to 4 days running from Wednesday to Saturday.  First of the main 2024 European Championships to be decided will be 1:12 which takes place in Italy in April.  It is going to be a busy year for the Italian Federation as they host European Championships for four different categories.  At the end of May GT8 drivers will battle it out in Sicily, 1:8 Nitro Offroad travels to Sacile at the end of July with 1:8 Onroad crowning its Champion at Locorotondo in late September.  France will be the destination for 1:8 Electric Buggy in Montpellier in early June while later the same month 1:10 Nitro Touring Car heads to Thionville.  In July France will host Large Scale Offroad in Hanvec.  Large Scale Touring & F1 will be decided in Lostallo, Switzerland in early August.  Belgium hosts the 1:10 Electric Touring Car at the end of August.  The season will conclude with 1:10 Offroad as drivers head to Malmo in Sweden in late September.

View European Championship dates here


November 19, 2023

Urbain adds first ETS Carpet win

Having taken his first ETS win last year on the iconic Luxembourg outdoor asphalt track, Awesomatix’ Lucas Urbain has just added his first carpet win of the series with victory in Germany.  The first carpet encounter of the current ETS season, Urbain dominated proceedings at Round 4 in Munden topping all four qualifiers to secure the overall TQ from the Mugen Seiki of reigning champion Ronald Volker and Awesomatix team-mate Marc Rheinard.  In the finals, Urbain would lead A1 from start to finish as the Top 9 finished as they started.  In A2 Urbain again lead from start to finish after getting an early break when an out of shape Volker got collected by Rheinard allowing Tim Wahl through to second.  With the overall win secured, A3 would decide who joined Urbain on the podium with Volker getting the win ahead of Rheinard and Team Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper to take P2 overall with Rheinard 3rd.  In Pro Stock, Adam Iszay had the perfect weekend with Xray securing the TQ and taking maximum championship points with victory ahead of Olivier Bultynck and Lukas Ellerbrock.

Image: ETS [Facebook]


November 17, 2023

Yokomo’s Nicholson confirmed for FIRC 2023

Team Yokomo’s Simon Nicholson is the latest driver to be confirmed to attend the inaugural Foshan International Invitational RC Championship in China on December 15-17.   The Australian, who just last weekend successfully defended his Electric Touring Car National title, becomes the third different factory team representative who will make the trip to the new GDC Indoor Race Club track in Guangdong for the brand new event.  The goal of FIRC is to boost the level of competition among young local racers by giving them the opportunity to race against top international electric onroad racers.  Already the event has confirmed 2016 World Champion Ronald Volker will compete with his Mugen Seiki at the 800 square metres track that was only opened in May of this year.  The largest professional indoor onroad track in China, the organisers have also confirmed the entry of top Japanese racer and Xpress team driver Yugo Nagashima.

Source: GDC Indoor Race Club


November 16, 2023

2024 Silver State Indoor Championship – Announcement

The team at The Dirt Racing has announced the 2024 Silver State Indoor Championship will take place from May 1st to 5th at the South Point Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.  With the annual event having attracted a massive 1100 entires in 2023, Marco Barufollo taking the big win, legendary track builder Joey Christensen has announced that the 2024 edition will be capped at 900 entires.  The Dirt will be offering a limited number of early entries at a $40 discount starting today (Nov 16th) with entries available via www.THEDIRT.us .

Source: The Dirt [thedirt.us]