Red RC » R Off Road

December 30, 2024

Xray announces Coelho departure

One of the most anticipated driver market changes for 2025, Xray has officially announced the departure of star driver Bruno Coelho with the current Electric Touring Car World Champion following it up with his own video announcement. In the decade the Portuguese driver has raced professionally for the Slovakian manufacturer, his signing the result of his ultra impressive showing at the 2014 ISTC World Championship in Florida with one of their cars, the combination went on to win 5 World Championship titles both in onroad and offroad. With speculation of Coelho moving to start a new project, he gave them the ultimate departing gift last month when he won his and Xray’s 3 consecutive IFMAR Touring Car World title in the United States. With his current contract due for renewal at the end of 2024 and a new 6-year term on the table it is understood that Coelho’s decision to not re-sign was influenced by the departure of his long time touring car mechanic & close friend Francesco Martini who left the Xray project back in February. Martini is also the owner of Coelho’s long time sponsor Monaco RC and Coelho has openly talked about how influential he has been on his career. Coelho’s own desire for a new challenge is also thought to be a key reason behind the departure from Xray with news of the new manufacturer he will work with expected in the coming days. You can view Coelho nicely produced video here.

Read Xray announcement here

December 27, 2024

Phend officially announces the end of an era with TLR

After months of speculation and being the centre of endless social media posts on the subject, Dakotah Phend has just officially announced that his time with TLR has come to an end. With TLR making the decision to discontinue their ‘Factory Team’, the official news from Phend sees the end of an era that lasted 19-years, the American having represented the brand his entire professional career. Having first hinted at the widely expected news just before the Nitro Buggy Main at the recent U.S. Open Fuel Championships, Phend went into more detail in his latest post which was accompanied by the video that ends with the statement, ‘After 19-years of dedication to the brand my time with TLR has come to an end. My new journey of dedication and commitment will be announced soon’.

View Phends full announcement here

December 27, 2024

Australian Offroad Champion Lachlan joins Power HD

Servo manufacturer Power HD has announced that top Australian Offroad racer Lachlan Donnelly has joined their team line-up for 2025. The 20-year-old from Sydney who has raced with Team Associated for a decade took one of the biggest wins of his career recently when he won the Australian 4WD 1:10 Buggy National title ahead of a visiting Spencer Rivkin – the 2-time World Champion attending the race as preparations for the Hills Off Road RC track hosting the 2025 World Championships. Donnelly will equip his 1:10 buugies with the GTS-3 servo while using the GTS-6 for 1:8 offroad program.

Source: PowerHD [chd.hk]

December 27, 2024

Tollard latest driver to confirm TLR exit

Cole Tollard is the latest driver to announce their exit from the TLR/Horizon Hobby race team. A long time Team Associated driver, the America racer joined TLR at the beginning of 2023 after an impressive 11-year stint with AE with whom he won a ROAR Mod Truck National title. Having topped a round of qualifying at the 2023 IFMAR 1:10 Offroad Worlds and made the 4WD final in his first season with TLR, on his departure Tollard posted on his Facebook page, ‘I hope everyone had a great Christmas! As 2024 is coming to a close I’ve decided to go in a different direction next year. I would like to thank everyone at TLR for the support the last two years. As this time was shorter than what I anticipated. I’ve gained a lot of friends and created many memories. I’m hoping to continue making memories with everyone in the future. I wish nothing but the best for TLR/Horizon as they create their new vision.’

Source: Cole Tollard [Facebook]

December 21, 2024

Bornhorst announces retirement from racing

Just 24-hours after Dustin Evans called time on his professional racing career, fellow US Offroad racer Joe Bornhorst has also announced his retirement from competitive racing. Making the announcement on his Facebook page, Bornhorst came to RC racing via motocross at the age of 17-years-old, and he would soon realise his ‘dream’ of racing professionally turning RC into a job he would do for over a decade. Red RC’s first memories of Joe was this blistering fast guy that drove something called a Tekno. A driver who took the emerging Tekno brand into battles with the established manufacturers, he spent most of his professional career with San Diego based company. At the beginning of 2022 he would join Sworkz, who he has represented for the last 3 seasons.

Read Bornhorst’s full announcement

December 20, 2024

Evans calls time on Professional RC Career

Top Offroad racer Dustin Evans has called time on his professional RC racing career, the popular American making the announcement in a video on his social media. A driver who came to international prominence when he first won the famed Reedy Race of Champions Invitational class in 2011, he would initially represent Team Losi Racing around the globe. Red RC had the pleasure of getting to know Dustin for the first time shortly after his Reedy Race win when he travelled to Sweden for the EOS Pilot Race, an event he won 2WD Buggy at and that led to the establishment of the full Euro Offroad Series in which he would lead TLR’s early season efforts. Getting to know Dustin well over the years, he was always a true professional to deal with and we also always enjoyed sharing cycling stories, Dustin a very competent and competitive road cyclist. Attending our first Reedy Race of Champions in 2013, while we missed his first win two years earlier, we would have the pleasure of reporting on his second win of this iconic race in 2018. Racing with Reedy and Associated for the last 8-years, the US manufacturer paid tribute to his contribution to the team in a social media post that said, ‘Associated Electrics would like to extend a big thank you to Dustin Evans for a great 8 years of racing together. With multiple IFMAR World Finals and ROAR National Finals, Dustin has been one of the most consistent 1:10 racers in the world for the past decade. We wish Dustin all the best as he enters the next chapter of life as Husband and Father and he will always be a part of the #WeAreAE family. Head over to his social media pages for a heartfelt message announcing his retirement and to wish him well. Good Luck Dustin!’

Source: Team Associated [Facebook]

December 19, 2024

Maifield joins Schumacher for 1:10 Offroad

Schumacher Racing has announced that US legend Ryan Maifield has joined its 1:10 Offroad team. On signing the former World Champion and multiple ROAR Champion, the British manufacturer said, ‘he is a great asset to have on the team and will no doubt bring huge amounts of knowledge and experience.’ With the deal running alongside his 1:8 racing progam with Tekno RC, Maifield said, ‘I am super excited to be joining Schumacher Racing for my 1/10th program, doing this in cooperation with Tekno RC and JConcepts is a great fit for me. Schumacher have awesome products and I cannot wait to hit the track with my new rides! I would like to thank Muz and Robin for making this happen and welcoming me on board, see everyone at the track soon.’ Maifield’s program will see him competing at several USA events throughout the year and also next year’s World Championships in Sydney, Australia.

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]

December 18, 2024

2024 SIGP Offroad Chassis Focus Index

After a 4 year break, the last SIGP Offroad Race being held in 2019, China’s top annual international offroad race returned with its best entry yet as three World Champions made the trip to the former 1:10 Offroad World Championship host track in Xiamen. With almost 100 entries in Nitro Buggy and 53 in Electric Buggy, racers’ biggest rival of 2024 will be remembered as the track, even the best in the World describing it as their most challenging race of the year. While the European visitors dominated, Italian Mattia Polito really impressing and putting on a great show in the final against a certain Davide Ongaro, we had the opportunity to include the Ming Yang buggy of 2023 FEMCA Champion Jeff Wang in our Chassis Focus. The Taiwanese driver was the top Asian qualifier and finisher, coming home in P7. Featuring buggies from Team Associated, Sworkz, Xray and Mayako, we were also able to photograph each of the podium finishing eBuggies. One buggy we couldn’t include in our Chassis Focus was the WIRC of 18-year-old Italian racer Gabriel Astorino, both his Nitro and eBuggy running new front hubs that are set to appear on the Italian manufacturer’s 2025 kits early next year.

View Chassis Focus Index here