1:8 Buggy World Championship preview by Scott Guyatt

While attending this year’s Philippine Masters we had the pleasure of meeting Scott Guyatt who has been working as part of the media team behind Scotty Ernst’s Asian Buggy Championship this year.  Talking all things RC and sharing old RC stories with this Aussie over dinner each night while in Manila, talk of him creating some content for Red RC was floated.  Having worked with Scott on content from the ABC and now with the greatest spectacle in RC, the IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship, just around the corner, when Scott put together a preview of event for his own Action R/C podcast we thought what a great opportunity and way to introduce his writings to Red RC readers.  Sharing his thoughts is the ideal way to start building up this great race as we get ready to build up to our own coverage from Spain which is presented by Ruddog.  So take it away Scott –

What will almost certainly be the most-watched race of 2024, the IFMAR IC Buggy World Champs, is just a few weeks away. You have to believe we’re excited about this one, and can’t help but cast an eye over the field to preview the event. We’ll do it by producing our own Tier List for the event (yeah, we know Tier Lists are a bit 2018, but we’re so old-fashioned that we’re still all about the long-form story here, so let’s go with a Tier List as well). We’ve picked the drivers we think most likely to run up front, those aiming for a semi- or quarter-final, and a few wild cards with enough talent to up-end the predictions completely. Disclaimer: We used the most recent entry list we could find – so forgive us if some we’ve named don’t make it to Redován come September.

So here’s our Tier List broken up into six categories, with a few explanatory notes. Don’t forget to tell us where we’re right, where we went wrong, and who we missed entirely!

S: THE LIKELY WINNERS
Ongaro, Canas: We’ve picked two we think will battle it out for the win – defending and back-to-back World Champ Davide Ongaro, and arguably the form driver of 2024 – Juan Carlos Canas. Neither needs any introduction, nor any justification. Canas just scooped up the Euros, he’s driving the S-Workz with JConcepts rubber (more on them later). He’ll be there. And Ongaro? He’s Ongaro. When he’s on, the AE/Matrix driver is all-but impossible to beat.

A: LIKELY PODIUM, MAYBE WIN
Maifield, Phend, Ronnefalk, Coehlo: These are four of the all-time greats, they’ll be in the mix for the podium and absolutely capable of winning the whole shebang. We’re not quite confident enough to push them up to category S, and here’s why. Maifield and Phend are clearly the best Americans, but like most American drivers, they just don’t have the track record in 1/8th scale away from home soil…at least in part because they rarely travel.

Phend’s TLR was amazing in quali in 2022, Maifield can be utterly dominant when the mood strikes (particularly if it gets rough). But will the mood strike, and is the Tekno the car for smooth, high-grip conditions? It’s come a long way since 2022 and Maifield will be hungry.

David Ronnefalk is a past World Champ, and he’s always there…just not “quite” there with our top two picks above in recent times. If he gets the XRAY in the window, and his free tyre-choice arrangement plays in his favour…watch out.

Bruno Coelho is in any conversation about the current best R/C racer in the world. He doesn’t have the singular focus on 8th off-road of the rest of our top 6, but another World Championship win in yet another category would seal his place on the list of RC greats.

B: LIKELY A MAIN, MAYBE PODIUM
Rivkin, Berkan Kilic, Boots, Baruffolo, M Fuller, Berton, Figueiredo, Matsukura, O Baldo: There’s so much talent in this list. A podium would be no surprise for any of them, and a couple could well win if everything goes their way (Kilic, Boots, Fuller for example). Rivkin has never quite broken through in 1/8 in an international race – could this be the one? Boots has been TQ in the past and is in arguably career-best form. Matsukura may be the dark horse, and we love watching him drive. Then there is one of the event hosts, Oscar Baldo…he’ll be motivated…and uniquely experienced in Redovan racing conditions.

C: LIKELY SEMI, MAYBE A MAIN
Batlle, Monteiro, Rose, Lutz, Lime, Berkan Kilic, Bornhorst, B Baldo, Navarro, Nguyen, Savoya, Wiggins, Skidmore: You might take us to task for some of the names in this category – like ex-World Champ Robert Batlle, or US guns Wiggins, Rose, Lime and Nguyen. And then Savoya is fresh from a stellar Euros run, Skidmore is a past Worlds finalist, Kilic can do anything, Lutz is in superb touch. The problem is, there are only 13 spots in the A final, and maybe 50 racers with a claim on one of those positions. We have no doubt one or more in this category will prove us wrong and it might just be an international break-out performance from someone like Phi Long Nguyen or Brandon Rose.

D: LIKELY ¼ FINAL, MAYBE SEMI
Van Dalen, Widmaier, Todd, Miguel Sanchez, D Pariente, K Fuller, Heckert, Drake, Boda, Kota, Kobbevik, Neumann: The list just goes on doesn’t it? I even feel bad putting these guys in this category. Any one of them has more talent than I dream of, and any one of them has a genuine chance to be in the Main event – but they’ve each got to put it all together for the race of their lives. Clement Boda is one we’d love to see running up front, and we’ve all seen Jorn Neumann be lights-out fast when conditions suit.

E: THE WILDCARDS
Orlowski, Sontag, Haatanen, Kaerup, Cavalieri, McBride: These are the guys who (a) we couldn’t quite land in any of the categories above, and who (b) can do absolutely anything and we won’t be surprised. Take Orlowski – along with Coelho he’s arguably the best RC racer on the planet right now. He was in the semi final two years ago, he’s a better driver now – but not much track time in 1/8th. Or Sontag, a slightly surprising 2wd EP IFMAR World Champs winner in 2023. Or Marcus Kaerup who is ridiculously fast. And then we’ve dropped two veterans here as well – Ryan Cavalieri and Kyle McBride. You can’t argue with their ability, or their history – but who knows about preparation?

THE OTHER FACTORS
REDOVAN: Everybody knows the story – the Worlds was meant to be in South America before problems made that impossible and the event was switched back to 2022 host Redovan in Spain. A new track layout is under construction even as we write – but this is a venue and a style of track very familiar to many of the European drivers and they’ll feel confident. But, and this matters, it’s also a track the leading American drivers have raced on – so they’ll arrive with a fair idea of tyres, setup and driving style required to go fast on the gigantic track with its amazing elevation changes. Just maybe it’s a neutral-enough venue to at least slightly reduce local advantage.

JCONCEPTS: The American tyre and parts manufacturer pretty much dominates the US scene, with most of the best drivers running JConcepts tyres, and a lineup of rubber perfectly suited to US conditions. The recent European Championship win in the hands of Juan Carlos Canas maybe showed us that JConcepts are now deadly serious about the kinds of tyres needed to take on Hotrace, Matrix, 6Mik, Pro-circuit and others. IF they get it right for Redovan, JConcepts have an absolutely stacked lineup of drivers and a World Champs win might go home with them. There’s almost no question they’ll be fast enough in qualifying – but we might not know about A Main tyre life until deep into that 60-minute championship final. A factor to watch, for sure.

THE SEMI-FINAL GRAVEYARD
Historically there’s no short-cutting to get to the 60-minute championship final at an IFMAR World Championship. Working on the assumption that’s the same in 2024, every driver has to go through the 30-minute Semi-Final to line up for the main event. And the sport’s history is littered with examples where those Semi-finals have become a graveyard – taking out an event favourite before the main race even gets started. Who’ll be missing after the Semi Final this time around?

THE SURPRISE
Just about everybody in the world will pick Ongaro, Canas, Maifield, Phend, Ronnefalk or Coelho to win. And so they/we should. These are the biggest names with the best records. But IFMAR Worlds have a way of throwing up surprises – take Ongaro’s first win as an example. Just maybe 2024 will be one of those years when a new hero steps up to the plate. Who’s most likely? Burak Kilic? Elliot Boots? Mason Fuller? Or a real left-field possibility like Michal Orlowski? Bring on the surprise!

TYRES
We’d much prefer to see an event like this run on control tyres…but it isn’t and so that makes tyre choice one of the talking points of the event. If track conditions swing towards one particular brand, it’s going to make things pretty challenging for others. Staying on top of tyre choice and having the right options is critical. There are a few drivers, notably Ronnefalk, who aren’t locked down and so can switch brands freely – if he can get access to his preferred tyres.

It’ll be late nights here in Australia as we go into September and find ourselves glued to the RC Racing TV screens, and madly refreshing Red RC for all the latest. The countdown is on, and we can’t wait!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author.