October 4, 2023

Joe Pillars World Championship debut replica TLR

While Red RC’s first encounter with Joe Pillars was in 2010 when he was Team Manager for Kyosho and mechanic for the Japanese company’s star driver Jared Tebo, he was also a very capable driver.  To mark it being 20-years since he made his World Championship debut he has just completed a personal project of building a replica of his TLR 1:10 2WD Buggy which he put into the A-Main.  Sharing photos of the buggy on social media, Joe outlines the story behind the build, ‘2023 marked 20-years since I attended my first IFMAR World Championships at MINNREG in Largo, Florida.  At the time I was 21 yrs old and working for Team Orion/Peak Racing building motors for the team and was also sponsored by Team Losi.  I went onto qualify 7th and finished 8th overall, being my best result in R/C as a driver.  A few months ago I had the idea to build a replica car like what I ran and today it’s finally finished!  A big thank you goes out to Larry Doe for most of the help sourcing parts!  Thanks to Kris Norlock for helping with the LRP Q2 ESC!  Thanks to David Goss for the red Matt Francis ball cups that were impossible to find!  I only had 1 Team Orion V2 Motor left after all these years, no better place to have it! Cavalieri Edition.’

View more images here


October 3, 2023

Australia to host 2025 1:10 Offroad World C/ships

Newly crowned 1:10 Buggy World Champions Davide Ongaro and Tater Sontag will be travelling ‘Down Under’ to defend their titles in 2025 with the FEMCA Bloc having awarded the hosting of the 20th running of the championships to Australia.  Currently making final preparations for next week’s 1:8 GT World Championship in Sydney,  the awarding of the 1:10 Offroad Worlds to the RCRA (Remote Controlled Racing Australia) means three years of back to back World Championship action for the nation who will also host the 1:5 Onroad Worlds next year.  Currently three tracks, one situated in Queensland and two in New South Wales, have expressed interest with RCRA in hosting the championships with the national body giving them until the end of this month (October) to respond with their capabilities against a set criteria.  An official announcement of the host track is expected at the end of November.  Australia has previously hosted the 1:10 Offroad Worlds when in 1989 a certain Masami Hirosaka did the double.  Only the third running of the IFMAR World Championships for its second oldest category, while the St Ives track is still going today almost 35-years on, it is not one of the potential hosts for 2025.

Image: RCRA [Facebook]


October 2, 2023

Horne & Phend win at JConcepts Fall Indoor Nationals

Team Associated’s Aydin Horne and TLR’s Dakotah Phend took the big wins at the JConcepts Fall Indoor Nationals held at Hoosier RC Hobbyplex in New Albany, Indiana over the weekend.  Drivers’ first event following Hobby Action RC Raceway’s superb hosting of the 1:10 Offroad World Championships two weeks ago in Arizona, in qualifying it was Worlds podium finisher Broc Champlin who took the TQ in 4WD.  In 2WD the Schumacher driver would have to settle for P2 in 2WD behind former World Champion Spencer Rivkin.  In the finals, 4WD produced three different winners with Phend taking A1, Rivkin A2 and Champlin finally staying out front in A3.  Overall however, P2 in the third leg gave Phend the overall win from Rivkin and Champlin with Horne fourth.  2WD would open with Ryan Maifield taking A1 from fourth on the grid ahead of Horne and pole sitter Rivkin but World Finalist Horne reversed the order in A2 & 3 to lead home Maifield for the overall win.  Rivkin completed the podium with Champlin and Phend rounding out the Top 5.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]


October 2, 2023

’23 US Carpet Offroad C/ships Spec Tyre Announcement

This year’s sell out US Carpet Off Road Championships has announced the spec tyres for the Cleveland, Ohio, based race.  Now in its third year, the indoor carpet track race takes place on November 29 to December 3rd and will see racers competing in the Non Pro Buggy classes run Schumacher Cactus rear tyres combined with Cut Stagger Low Profile fronts for 2WD and Cactus Fusion 2 fronts for 4WD.  For the truck classes, JConcepts will be the supplier with a Swaggers/Fuzz Bite combo for SCT and Pin Downs/Swaggers for Truck.  A Scotty Ernst event, last year’s US Carpet Off Road Championships saw Schumacher’s multiple World Championship podium finisher do the Buggy double.

Source: USCOC [carpetoffroad.com]


October 1, 2023

Ongaro does double at Buggyland X

Davide Ongaro claimed the buggy double at Buggyland X in Madrid, Spain, by steering his Team Associated buggies to both the 1:8 Nitro and 1:8 eBuggy titles at the tenth edition of the international race.  The World Champion’s first win of the weekend came when he would win the eBuggy title ahead of the Mugen Seiki of Berkan Kilic with Sworkz Elliot Boots completing the podium.  Securing the TQ for the triple finals, defending Champion Juan Carlos Canas would win A1 only to retire from A2 and dropping to P8 by the end of third 10-minute encounter ended up 4th overall.  Also qualifying P2 for the 1-hour Nitro Buggy Main, this time behind Top Qualifier Berkan Kilic, Ongaro would come out on top again after a great battle that saw a very fast Boots take the lead before having issues at the 2/3rd distance mark.  The British driver’s team-mate Canas also lead the way for a time but in the end Ongaro completed the Buggyland double by 6.2-seconds from the Spaniard with Burak Kilic, coming from P9 on the grid, completing the podium on the same lap as the two ahead of him.  Making his WIRC debut at the event, Marco Baruffolo would finish fourth on the same lap as TQ man Berkan Kilic in fifth while Boots eventually took the finish in p9.

Image – Davide Ongaro [Facebook]


September 30, 2023

Willspeed RF3 Full Carbon Edition

With the carpet season return upon us, Willspeed has announced that its popular RF3 conversion kit is now available in a ‘Full Carbon Kit’ edition which includes many of their popular carbon option parts.  Offered as a conversion kit for the Team Associated B6.4 and World Championship winning TLR 22 5.0 2WD buggies, the carbon edition contains the following replacement item – 1x Carbon Fibre Shock Tower Uprights (pair)  with 1x Carbon Fibre ‘Take 3’ Shock Tower Uprights (pair), 1x Chassis Skid Plate (Polycarbonate) with 1x Chassis Skid Plate (Carbon).  Additionally it includes a pair of Carbon Side Rail Pair and a Carbon Radio Tray. Having just restocked the standard RF3 kit, the British company has announced that new Bi-Material tower will now be standard in all kits.

View complete ‘Full Carbon Kit’ here


September 30, 2023

Berkan Kilic secures Nitro TQ at Buggyland X

Mugen Seiki driver Berkan Kilic is the 1:8 Nitro Buggy Top Qualifier at Buggyland X in Madrid, Spain.  The German driver secured the top spot in qualifier ahead of World Champion Davide Ongaro and newly crowned European Champion Juan Carlos Canas.  Qualifying for the 10th edition of Buggyland started with Sworkz driver & defending Champion Canas taking the first round from Ongaro’s Team Associated before Kilic went top in Q2 ahead of new WIRC signing Marco Baruffolo.  The third round saw Ongaro post a TQ run ahead of Kilic and Canas but almost 4-seconds slower than Kilic’s best, it was the Mugen driver who claimed the overall TQ on tie break.

Image: Berkan Kilic [Facebook]


September 29, 2023

AKA Void Short Course Tire

AKA has added their Void to its lineup of 1:10 Short Course tires.  Born from the successful foundation of its 1:10 buggy counterpart, the Void has been finely tuned to excel on indoor clay offroad racetracks where slick tires are the ultimate choice for top-tier performance.  The Void tire is available in both Clay and Medium Soft compounds, allowing you to fine-tune your setup to match your racing preferences and track conditions.

Source: AKA [horizonhobby.com]