Red RC » Events

September 18, 2017

Balestri finally gets deserved World title

Dario Balestri is finally a World Champion. One of nitro racing’s unquestionably fastest & most talented drivers, the Italian delivered a long overdue victory at the 21st running of the 1:8 Onroad World Championships in Monteux, France. Top Qualifier for the 1-hour main, the Infinity driver would waste that opportunity with a very bad start from pole that saw him swallowed up by the pack and off onto the grass. Rejoining a distant last, while new team-mate Naoto Matsukura led from the defending champion Simon Kurzbuch, Balestri set about his recovery eventually going to the front when Matsukura, who he had in his sights, hit trouble. With Matsukura’s championship debut ending with a P8 DNF, it was Kurzbuch who would finish runner-up, 5-seconds back after an hour of intense racing. While not the result the Shepherd driver was after it does complete an impressive run of three consecutive 1:8 World Championship podium finishes. Claiming the final step on the podium would be Shoki Takahata, the Mugen driver having a good recovery after an incident with 2015 runner-up Takaaki Shimo cost him a lot of time due to a tucked body.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

September 18, 2017

2017/18 Xray Racing Series Slovenia – Announcement

Xray have announced the 2017/18 Xray Racing Series Slovenia, a 4-race series between November 2017 and February 2018. The season kicks off on November 12th in Medeuzza, Italy with the finale being held on February 18th at the same venue. Classes run are Touring Modified, Touring Stock, Formula and 1/12th Open Pan Car and more information can be found here.

September 18, 2017

Dutch 1/10th Nitro Touring Nationals Rd6 – Report

The final round of the Dutch 1/10th Nitro Touring Championship was held at the fast and flowing Baanbrekers track in Rucphen. Both the National and Nomac titles were still up for grabs and with the championship standings close it was all to play for. The weather greeted the drivers with dry conditions on Saturday afternoon, and sunshine on Sunday made for near perfect conditions. Qualifying would start with the Serpent duo of Daan Jacobs and Julius Kolff being only tenths apart, setting the pace from Milan Holthuis who was just a few seconds adrift with his Capricorn. With ever improving conditions, in the second heat everyone looked for improvements but all had minor mishaps which would make for a tense last heat. Julius would start last and this turned out to be an advantage as he could use Milan and Daan as a target and with the only 21-laps run of the day he snatched the TQ.

Continue reading the report here

September 18, 2017

Aden Young takes NSW 2WD Stock Junior title

The New South Wales Off-road State Championships were held recently and it was Aden Young who took the overall TQ after the four 2WD Stock Buggy qualifiers. In the opening A-main Aden would have a great race and finished 1st only to suffer from a bad start in A2 as he clipped a pipe. But keeping his head down Aden was able to recover and ultimately he would come out on top in the second main too to grab the NSW 2WD Stock Junior championship title. With another win in A3 he would round out a perfect 2WD portion of the event, scoring seven 1st place finished in seven races that day.

View the final results here

September 18, 2017

BRCA Touring Car Series finale – Report

The final round of the BRCA Touring Car Series was hosted by Cotswold Model Car club and despite two of the classes already being decided this did not distract from a classic race meeting. The Modified class had already been decided in favour of Xray driver Olly Jefferies, but he was attempting now to win all five rounds of the series. In qualifying he was pushed hard by Schumacher’s Elliott Harper but Jefferies took TQ. In the two leg finals the crowd were treated to some tense close racing as Harper joined by Chris Grainger (Team Associated) piled the pressure on Jefferies. Harper was rarely more than a cars length of the bumper of Jefferies for both finals but Jefferies held on to take the win ahead of Harper and Team Associated’s Matt White.

Continue reading the report here

September 16, 2017

Kurzbuch set to defend title after Semi win

Simon Kurzbuch is set to defend his World title this evening in France, the Shepherd driver winning his Semi Final to progress to the 1-hour final that will decide the winner of the 21st running of 1:8 Onroad World Championships. Starting from pole in the second of the Semi encounters have lost out on the TQ to Dario Balestri and the Super Pole to Naoto Matsukura, Kurzbuch would win the 30-minute encounter from Jilles Groskamp and Silvio Hachler with the fastest race time to secure 3rd on the grid. Winner of the first Semi ahead of fellow Japanese driver Shoki Takahata, Takaaki Shimo will line up third ahead with Takahata completing the top half of the grid ahead of Groskamp, Hachler, Alberto Picco, Alessio Mazzeo and Lars Hoppe. Coming into the event as one of the pre-event favourites along Kurzbuch and Balestri, there was cruel luck for Bruno Coelho. Starting from pole the Xray driver was in clear control of the race until he suffered a suspected partial engine seize at the end of the straight. While the engine fired back up in the pits he title hopes were done. Also suffering similar faith was former World Champion Adrien Bertin. With the large French crowd fully behind the HB driver, cheering loudly his every pass, he worked his way to the front leading for a time but with 8-minutes to go his engine stopped. A heartbreaking end to what was to be the veteran racers retirement from competitive racing.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

September 16, 2017

Semi final line-up complete for 21st WC

The 21st running of the 1:8 Onroad World Championships is down the final 22 drivers with the 1/4 finals completing the line up for the two Semi finals which will decide the 8 drivers to join Dario Balestri and Naoto Matsukura in the fight to become the World Champion. In the first of the 1/4 encounters it was JJ Wang who took the win ahead of Takaaki Shimo after the 2015 Vice Champion was given a penalty for bad refuelling. Behind them John Ermen was holding third but the ARC driver came under intense pressure from 2013 World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi in the final laps. With the Serpent driver all over the Dutchman the pair made contact at the final corner with Ermen ending up on the grass. While Ermen protested the result, after watching video footage of the pass officials deemed the result would stand with Sahashi progressing to the Semis.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

September 15, 2017

Matsukura claims Super Pole in Monteux

Naoto Matsukura will feature in the final of the 1:8 Onroad World Championships in Monteux, France tomorrow after the Infinity driver won the Super Pole shoot out to directly join Top Qualifier Dario Balestri on the grid. The first time Super Pole has been used at the 1:8 World Championships, having been introduced at last year’s 1:10 Worlds in Italy, Matsukura would come out best of the four drivers setting the fastest lap from reigning World Champion Simon Kurzbuch who was last to run his 6-laps. Also taking part, Super Pole open to the drivers who qualify 2nd through 5th, Bruno Coelho would set the third fastest single lap ahead of Jesse Davis who was first to go and set a time.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.