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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 20, 2023

Xpress Arrow AM1S 1:10 M-Chassis

Hong Kong electric onroad chassis manufacturer Xpress has announced the release of an entry level version of its M-Chassis, the Arrow AM1S. Launching the shaft driven AM1, which is a M-Chassis size version of its Arrow AT1 1:10 electric touring car, back in June, the AM1S kit has been made more economical through the use of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) for the Main Chassis and Top Deck instead of carbon fibre. The car also gets a more tradition shock tower set-up using FRP shock towers. The AM1S features 4WD Shaft Drive Floating Gearbox System with a sealed transmission gearbox with drive via composite instead of aluminium propeller shafts.

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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

Xtreme Aerodynamics Aria 1:8 Buggy Bodyshell

Like it’s sister brand Matrix Racing Tires’ move into the 1:8 Offroad market, Italian company Xtreme Aerodynamics has announced its first 1:8 Buggy body shell with the release of the Aria. Announcing the body shell on social media, they said, ‘After several months of hard work with our R&D department we are able to show a new 1:8 Offroad Bodyshell who moves up the standard of performance in terms of Aero details and Model Balancing’. The body is available in light and ultra light lexan options and is available pre-cut for the Associated RC8B4, HB Racing D8 WORLD, Mugen Seiki MBX8R, Serpent SRX8PRO, Sworkz S35-4EVO and Xray XB823.

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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