December 14, 2023

Donathen RC 1:10 Car Stands

New from Donathen RC are these two 1:10 cars stands with one for offroad racers and a lower version for onroad use.  The offroad car stand will hold a variety of vehicles like: buggies, stadium trucks, and other 1:10 scale vehicles. Featuring a hexagonal pattern that will hole shocks and diffs while rebuilding them. It also has rubber feat to prevent the stand from moving while on a flat surface, and foam strips on top keep the car in place.  The onroad car stand can hold 1:10 scale cars like touring, F1, and WGT cars as well as 1:12 scale cars.  It featuring the same rubber feet and foam strips as the offroad stand with both available in a choice of colours.

View more images here

December 13, 2023

’23 1:12 World Championship Chassis Focus Index

Last weekend 1:12 concluded the 2023 IFMAR World Championship calendar in Cocoa, Florida.  While the entry may have been small, at the front of the field things were ultra competitive as some of the biggest names in the sport battled it out to win the smallest scale and the original electric World Championship.  A beautifully presented track, Beachline Raceway was the battle ground with the TQ going to Awesomatix’ Kemp Anderson ahead of Marc Rheinard and Michal Orlowski – each taking 2 TQ runs from the six rounds.  In the finals we witnessed next level driving skills as painted was swapped in battle before Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski finally became a World Champion.  In 1:12 Spec, Awesomatx’ Max Machler did the double taking the TQ and the manufacturer’s first ever World title.  With the  Schumacher team running a different front end on their car specifically to suit the black carpet in use, we didn’t get to take our traditional ‘World Champion Chassis Focus’.  Over the event however we did however photograph 10 cars from four of the six different manufacturers represented at the 21st running of the championship and we have compiled them all here in our latest Chassis Focus index.

View Chassis Focus Index here

December 13, 2023

IFMAR World Champion Manufacturer Stats

With the 1:12 World Championships in Florida last week marking the conclusion of another season of World Championships for RC racing’s World Governing Body IFMAR, they have issued an updated list of World Champion Manufacturer stats.  With 2023 the 46th year of the federation, which ran its first World Championship in 1977, it is the manufacturer that won that 1:8 Onroad title that holds the honour of the most winning manufacturer in the sport.  Thanks to Davide Ongaro kicking of this year’s World Championship calendar with victory at the 1:10 4WD Offroad World Championship at Hobby Action in Arizona, Team Associated have amassed 32 World titles.  That impressive achievement gives them double the titles of joint second placed Japanese companies Yokomo and Kyosho.  Interestingly this year two new names were added bring the list to 30 manufacturers past and present.  Thanks to Toni Gruber’s win at the 1:8 GT Worlds in Australia,  Hong Nor is now a World Champion manufacturer.  Although a well established electric onroad manufacturer for over a decade,  Awesomatix claimed its first World title in Florida with their own team manager ‘Mad Max’ Machler lifting the 1:12 Spec World title at Beachline Raceway making the newest World Champion manufacturer.

View World Champion manufacturers list here

December 13, 2023

Kocher to race for Hong Nor GT team in 2024

1:8 GT World Champion manufacturer Hong Nor has announced the signing of Swiss racer Michael Kocher for its 2024 line-up.  Kocher is best known for his collaboration with Italian designer Andrea Contarini in bringing the Raptor 1:8 GT chassis to market and in particular for racing the non production nitro version of the car at the 1:8 GT World Championships in Australia this year.  Now joining the Taiwanese brand, Kocher said, “I am very happy to join the Hong Nor family and factory Team for upcoming season.  I started 4 years ago in GT8 Nitro Racing.  I had the chance to cooperate with an Italian designer and produced my own racing car brand – Raptor Racing.  After 3 years of building cars for customers, I didn’t spent much time on the track.  I think it’s time to start a new journey.  During the Worlds held in Australia this year, I had the chance to test with different cars.  Among all the cars I’ve tested, I had the best experience with Hong Nor’s X3GTS 2023 World Edition, fast and easy to drive.  After a really nice meet with Hong Nor’s two bosses – Tony Chen and Hsiang Lin, it was clear to me to go forward with this great brand.  Hope the winter season pass soon, and I could be back on the track with the car.  See you on the track.”

Source: Hong Nor [hongnor-racing.com]

December 12, 2023

Yokomo hand carry car bag

Yokomo has produced a new hand-carry bag featuring the Yokomo Racing Factory logo for transporting your RC car to the race track.  The bag is large enough to hold not only touring cars and drift cars, but also wide offroad cars.  The bag is also equipped with a belt to easily hold the machine for safe transportation.  The nylon material is stain-resistant, and cushioned rubber is added to the inner lining to prevent it from losing its shape, enhancing a sense of security.  There is enough room for an offroad car, so tyres, spare body, parts case, etc. can be all in one bag.  Use of the new carry bag in conjunction with a racing pit bag or similar bag will dramatically increase storage capacity.

View inside bag here

December 11, 2023

Gandin wins Miami RC Grand Prix

While the 1:12 World Championships was being decided in Cocoa, Florida, further south in the state the annual Miami RC Grand Prix was taking place where Italy’s Jonathan Gandin took the big win in 1:8 Onroad.  The Ielasi Tuned team driver took his Infinity to the TQ with the fastest time and only 16-lap 4-minute run from the five rounds of qualifying at the former World Championship hosting Homestead RC Raceway.  Behind it was Serpent’s Bryce Butterfield who set the second fastest time to line up P2 for the 45-minute final ahead of Infinity’s Francesco Tironi, Capricorn’s Thilo Diekmann and the Xray of Filippo Domanin.  In the final, Butterfield was an early retirement going after 12-minutes, but upfront Gandin was in charge albeit being kept honest by young Domanin who set the fastest lap of the race.  Completing the podium Tironi would finish 3rd ahead of the Capricorn of Florida racer Diego Morganti.  In 1:10 Sedan, it was Top Qualifier DJ Apolaro who took his Infinity to the win.

Image: Ielasi Tuned [Facebook]

December 10, 2023

Orlowski is finally a World Champion

He has been a heavy weight in electric onroad and offroad for the last decade but today was the day he finally took the sport’s biggest prize, Michal Orlowski is the 2023 IFMAR 1:12 World Champion.  Having secured the overall TQ at the previous edition of the sports oldest World Championship category but missing out on the win to Marc Rheinard, today the Schumacher switched the 2020 order taking victory at Beachline Raceway ahead of Rheinard and 2018 World Champion Alexander Hagberg.  With Top Qualifier Kemp Anderson winning A1, ahead of Rheinard and Orlowski, a win in A2 by the Polish ace set the stage for an A3 title showdown.  With a highly anticipating crowd looking on having experienced some mental defying display of racing skills in the first two A-Mains, A3 was to start with a bang literally.  On the tone Anderson’s car didn’t leave the line and starting directly behind Rheinard a huge impact in the rear of the stricken car.  The race effectively decided on the spot as No.2 starter Orlowski was able to break clear followed by Hagberg who did have the pace to mount a challenge for the lead.  While Rheinard tried to continue his car was badly tweaked and he eventually pulled up.  Unfortunately for Anderson, despite showing his massive talents in qualifying and A1, the A3 DNF together with his A2 DNF meant he goes into the IFMAR history books as the 6th place finisher.

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