Red RC » R Off Road

January 6, 2025

Neumann moves to Team Cayote

8-time European Champion and the only European winner of the legendary offroad Reedy Race of Champions, Joern Neumann has been announced as the latest driver to join electronics newcomers Team Cayote. With American offroad stars Dakotah Phend and 2WD Buggy World Champions Tater Sontag carrying Team Cayote branding on their buggies at the JConcepts Clash of Champions race over the weekend, Neumann further bolsters the offroad team of the brand headed up by Oscar Jansen. Previously running Team Orca electronics in his Sworkz buggies, sharing the Team Cayote announcement on his social media, Neumann said, ‘Happy to announce that I will be using Team Cayote Electronics for ESCs and motors. Already used it with great success at last weekends KIM Masters race in Germany with a double 3rd place finish. Looking forward to the 2025 season. Let’s go.’

Source: Team Cayote [cayote.com]

January 6, 2025

Kobbevik goes Team EAM battery power

Team EAM has announced that IFMAR World Championship finalist Daniel Kobbevik will use their batteries to power his 2025 race campaign. Best known for his 1:10 Offroad exploits, the factory Schumacher driver will not only use the America brand’s batteries to power his Schumacher buggies but will also for some planned 1:10 and 1:12 onroad outings. Having been promoted to Hobbywing’s international race team for the new season, on the addition of Team EAM to his equipment package he said, ‘I am looking forward to have my cars EAM powered and being a part of the team. Thanks for the opportunity to use these great products!’

Source: Team EAM [teameamotorsports.com]

January 5, 2025

Phend & Rivkin winners at JConcepts Clash of Champions

Dakotah Phend and Spencer Rivkin took the big wins at this year’s JConcepts Clash of Champions, Phend marking the beginning of his new contract with Xray with a dominant win in 2WD Buggy. The third edition of the annual race hosted by Hoosier RC HobbyPlex in Indiana, having taken the TQ in both 2WD and 4WD, Phend delivered an impressive early win in 2WD. Winning the opening two A-Main encounters ahead of Schumacher’s Broc Champlin this would be his third consecutive Clash of Champions 2WD win and he was joined on the podium by Champlin another of Xray’s new 2025 recruits Brennan Schimmel. In 4WD, Phend opened with the win in A1 but second place qualifier Rivkin got the job done in A2 after a small error from the Top Qualifier which set the stage for a shoot out in A3. Leading the first half of the decider, a mistake in the berm would prove costly for Phend who eventually finished P4 while Rivkin won to take the overall victory for Team Associated. Both drivers would be joined on the podium by the Team Associated of Davy Batta.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

January 5, 2025

Polito takes ‘OneRace OneMan’ win

Having wrapped up the 2024 season with a very impressive performance at the SIGP in Xiamen, China, Sworkz’s Mattia Polito has opened 2025 with the 1:8 Nitro Buggy victory at the annual ‘OneRace OneMan’ race at the IBR Padova indoor facility in Italy. In qualifying it was Marco Baruffolo who was the Top Qualifier, in his first race for Kyosho the Italian topped 2 of the 4 rounds of qualifying. Fastest in Q3, his new team-mate Riccardo Berton would end qualifying P2 with Polito securing P3 after a TQ run in round 2. In the 45-minute Main, Berton’s challenge would end after just 18-minutes as he retired with a technical issue. With Baruffolo leading he would also run into issues but finish, a problem with his receiver battery 20-minutes in costing him time. Setting the fastest lap of the final, this all played into the favour of Polito who would take the victory from Baruffolo with the Xray of former ‘OneRace OneMan’ race winner Alex Zanchettin completing the podium. In eBuggy, Polito secured the TQ but it was second place qualifier Berton who took the win.

Image: Red RC File

January 4, 2025

Phend opens new era with ‘Clash of Champions’ TQ

Dakotah Phend has opened the new era in his racing career by securing the TQ double at the JConcepts Clash of Champions with his new Xray buggies. Just days after the Slovakian manufacturer officially confirmed they had signed the star American racer, the new package is making its race debut at Hoosier RC HobbyPlex where Phend is chasing a third consecutive win at the annual Indiana event, In 2WD qualifying, 2 from three rounds to count, Phend wrapped up an early overall TQ by taking the opening two rounds, the first ahead of Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin and the second ahead of Schumacher’s Broc Champlin. In 4WD, it was Xray’s Chase Lemieux who took the first round ahead of his new team-mate before Phend went to the top in Q2 & 3 setting the fastest times ahead of Rivkin to secure the overall TQ.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

January 3, 2025

Tollard & Rinderknecht join Schumacher

Wrapping up a busy first week of 2025 driver announcements by various manufacturers, Schumacher has confirmed US Offroad racers Cole Tollard and Tom Rinderknecht as joining their race team for 2025. World Championship finalist Cole joins the British manufacturer after the demise of the TLR Factory team while Rinderknecht joins after a stint at Xray having also previously race for TLR. Commenting on the news Cole said, ‘I look forward to working with the new team and starting fresh on a new platform. It’s great to see the cars growing in popularity as they are proven on many levels. I would like to thank Mike Winders for the introduction, Muz and Robin Schumacher for giving me this opportunity. Looking forward to 2025!’. Rinderknecht said, ‘I am super excited to be joining Schumacher Racing for 2025 season and beyond! I can’t wait to be a part of this awesome team and I am excited to help Schumacher grow in the USA market. I would like to thank Muz and Robin for the great opportunity to run for this team!’

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]

January 3, 2025

Figueiredo & Monteiro join Hobbywing

As the roll out of new driver sponsorships for the 2025 season continues, Hobbywing has announced the signing of leading Portuguese 1:8 Offroad racers João Figueiredo and Ricardo Monteiro to bolster its offroad program in this inaugural eBuggy World Championship year. Tekno driver Figueiredo had an impressive season in 2024 making the IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship final in Redovan and will be looking to build on that performance when the the inaugural 1:8 Electric Offroad World Championship is hosted by his home track in Barcelos, Portugal in August. European Championship finalist Monteiro brings extensive offroad experience to Hobbywing and has also worked as mechanic for Hobbywing’s star driver Bruno Coelho and highly regarded by the World Champion for his technical input will also join the XR8 PRO testing plans for Hobbywing.

Source: Hobbywing [hobbywing.com]

January 3, 2025

Orlowski to run Elceram ESC

1:12 World Champion Michal Orlowski is to run Elceram ESCs as part of his Schumacher race program with the Czech manufacturer announcing the Polish star as part of its team line-up for 2025. While Orlowski was announced as joining electronic newcomer Team Cayote yesterday, that deal will see him using just batteries. One of the busiest drivers in RC, due to his onroad and offroad program with British manufacturer Schumacher, his profile is sure to benefit Elceram on the international stage. Commenting on the announcement, Orlowski said, ‘Elceram first of all because of the professionalism and passion, for how nice people are in Elceram, the connection I immediately had with Jan and the rest of the team and the product itself – it is unbelievable product with extremely innovative technology. You can set up the speedo on the screen without the program – card, you have all the data driver needs before and after the run, and how easy it is to set up. There are so many benefits to use Elceram, and that´s why I decided to join for 2025.’

Source: Elceram [Facebook]