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

Gruber agrees 2-year deal with Capricorn

In a significant driver announcement, Toni Gruber and Capricorn have agreed a new contract that will see the German ace continue with the Italian chassis manufacturer for the 2024 and 2025 nitro onroad seasons.  After 4-years with Shepherd, Gruber joined forces with Patrizio Rossi’s team for the 2023 season with the 27-year-old going on to have an outstanding season.  In 1:10 Nitro Touring he secured the European Championship title which he then followed up with the TQ and a podium finish at the 1:8 Onroad European Championships.  Adding his first ENS Championship title in 1:8 and then becoming the 1:8 GT World Champion in Australia with Hong Nor, he was to be title contender at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships.  Having made his first World Final appearance at the previous World Championships in the United States in 2019, in Japan he was in the mix from the start and after one of the most intense and heavily stacked Main Finals in the category’s history he finished Runner-up just 7.5-seconds off Dario Balestri after 1-hour of racing.  After such a season the continuity with Capricorn and also engine sponsor Ielasi Tuned should see Gruber become even stronger in 2024.

Source: Toni Gruber [Facebook]


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

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 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]


November 14, 2023

Large Scale Pre-Worlds Race Announcement

With New South Wales Radio Controlled Racing Car Club set to host the 2024 IFMAR Large Scale World Championship, the Sydney, Australia based club has announced dates and the opening of entries for the official Pre-Worlds Race.  Just weeks after it successfully hosted the 1:8 GT World Championship at The John Grant International Raceway, the club has confirmed March 7-10th as the dates for the Pre-Worlds race with the actual World Championships taking place from October 20th to 27th.  In addition to the World Championship 1:5 Touring Car category, the Pre-Worlds will cater for Large Scale Mini, F1 and 1:5 Bikes.  Registration is now open and can be completed here.

Source: NSWRCRCC [nswrcrcc.org.au]


November 14, 2023

10th Korean National Buggy title for Choi

Well known international Korean 1:8 Buggy racer Dani Choi hit a landmark result over the weekend when he clinched the Korean National 1:8 Nitro Buggy Championship for a 10th time.  Held at ‘The Track’ indoor dirt track in Gimpo, the Kyosho driver dominated qualifying to take the overall TQ after topping all 5 rounds with the Mugen of Tony Jeon second and young talent HyunKyu Jung third.  In the hour long final, Choi would set the fastest lap as he built up a 4-lap lead to take the title ahead of Jung, this being his final race with Xray, with Jeon completing the podium.

Source: Dani Choi [Facebook]


November 9, 2023

’23 1:8 Onroad World Championship Chassis Focus Index

After a four year wait the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship was back and what a final we would witness at Infinity International RC Speedway in Japan.  Following more than a week of action on track it was Infinity’s Dario Balestri who came out on top winning the World title for a second time and in doing so became only the second driver in the history of IFMAR’s original category to be a repeat winner.   In terms of manufacturers it was great to see three different manufacturers represented on the podium.  During our coverage of the race we managed to photograph 15 cars from 8 different manufacturers and have compiled them all in our latest Chassis Focus index.

View Chassis Focus Index here