December 11, 2025

’25 1:8 Onroad World Championship Chassis Focus Index

Another season of IFMAR World Championships wrapped up in Chile last weekend with 1:8 Onroad the fourth & final race of 2025.  While IFMAR’s original World Championship would attract a small entry, that didn’t take away from the racing at the front with qualifying ending with cars from four different manufacturers making up the new for 2025 Direct to Final Top 4 qualifiers.  For the 1-hour final that number would grow to 5 as Shepherd’s Tim Wood won the Last Chance Qualifier to represent the now British owned brand as the 11th car on the grid.  Statistics compiled by IFMAR, this the 24th running of the title race, would show Mugen Seiki as the most popular chassis ahead of Capricorn and Shepherd who tied for second.  Racing around the very large CACH, the most common source of power came from Ielasi Tuned followed by Max Power, who thanks to Shoki Takahata make it back to back engine World titles.  In terms of radios used, Sanwa was the choice of over 50% of the drivers.  With 2 X Mugen Seiki, 2 X Capricorn, 2 X Shepherds, and one Serpent and Xray each, we managed to get our hands on 8 cars from the five manufacturers represented in the final.

Shoki Takahata (Q4/World Champion) – Mugen Seiki

Simon Kurzbuch (Q5/P2) – Mugen Seiki

Andrea Catanzani (Top Qualifier/P3) – Serpent

Maxime Ripoll (Q2/P8) – Xray

Toni Gruber (Q3/P4) – Capricorn

Thilo Diekmann  (Q6/P11) – Capricorn

Tim Wood (Q12/P9) – Shepherd

Alex Esser (Q15/P17)- Shepherd

December 6, 2025

Chassis Focus – Shoki Takahata (Mugen Seiki)

Chassis: Mugen Seiki MRX7
Engine: Max Power 351R
Exhaust: Max Power /EFRA 2183
Radio: Sanwa M17S
Servos (Steering/Throttle): Sanwa PGS-XR II
Body: Xtreme Hyper Diablo
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): Energy

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December 6, 2025

Kurzbuch cruises back into contention in Chile with Semi win

Having missed out on a Top 4 direct to final qualifying position as he ended P5 at the end of the 6-rounds, Mugen Seiki’s Simon Kurzbuch has put himself back in contention for a second IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship title by cruising to victory in his Semi final this morning in Chile.  Winner of the World title in Brazil in 2015, a decade on the Swiss racer returned to South America as one of the pre-race favourites but on arriving at the CACH track in Santiago he struggled to find his true form.  Leading away the second of the half hour Semis, Kurzbuch drove a calculated race with his crew executing a swift tyre change en-route to him winning by over a lap from the similar car of Britian’s Alex Thurston who together with third placed finisher Christope Louis progresses to their first World Championship final.  The 24th running of IFMAR’s original World Championship, the first of the Semi Finals woulds see 15-year-old German driver Leon Fuhrmann head a Capricorn 1-2 from team-mate Thilo Diekmann, the separation 4.7-seconds at the finish.  In third, a driver who needed the Last Chance Qualifier race to make Main here at the 1:8 GT Worlds back in September, Brazil’s Flavio Elias booked himself another 1:8 Onroad Worlds final appearance after recovering from a plug change during one of his pit stops to overtake leading Shepherd driver Tim Wood for the bump up position.  Wood however would take the win in a very close finish to the 15-minute LCQ, 2/10ths of a second ahead of a Ricardo Hofmeijer, to become the 11th car on the grid and make it five different manufacturers in the final.

Giving his eeaction to his Semi Final performance, Kurzbuch said, ‘The car was feeling good and everything went to plan and we are in the final, we are happy about this but there are still a few things to figure out to be more competitive.’  Asked how the track is today, yesterday a day off for the top drivers, the 33-year-old said, ‘It was good.  I like the cool conditions as it is more suitable for my car.’  Changing all four tyres in the Semi asked his opinion on tyre wear he replied while laughing, ‘I don’t tell you know’ before continuing, ‘but we were able to find out what we wanted to know in race pace.  It will be interesting.’

A driver whose focus this season has been on 1:10 Nitro Touring, finishing 5th overall in the ENS, but now making the full time switch to 1:8, summing him his Semi win a very pleased Fuhrmann said, ‘At the beginning it was not so good but from the middle of the race the tyres had more grip and then I had more steering.  The car was good and could hold (position) with my team-mate Thilo Diekmann.’  A driver who opted not to change tyres over the 30-minutes, and setting the fastest lap of the race with Kurzbuch the only other driver to better that time, asked his thoughts on what will be his first World Final and first time racing for 1-hour, he replied, ‘I think 1-hour will be very difficult so I will just go out and drive my own race and try to make no mistakes.’

December 6, 2025

Chassis Focus – Alex Esser (Shepherd)

Chassis: Shepherd Velox V8.3
Engine: Max Power 351R
Exhaust: Max Power /EFRA 2183
Radio: Sanwa M17
Servos (Steering/Throttle): Savox SC1256TG
Body: Xtreme Super Diablo
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): Energy

Notes – Competing at his first World Championship and the Top US entry in Chile, Alex’s Velox V8.3 is fitted with Shepherd screws, hinge pins, and aluminium pivot balls.  He is also using a rear body mount from top European Shepherd driver Lars Hoppe’s LHO brand.

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December 6, 2025

Chassis Focus – Toni Gruber (Capricorn)

Chassis: Capricorn C804 R
Engine: Ielasi Tuned Pista
Exhaust: Ielasi Tuned / IFMAR 2196
Radio: Futaba T10PX
Servos (Steering/Throttle): Power HD GTS2
Body: Xtreme Hyper Diablo
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): Energy

Notes – Toni’s car is fitted with the full range of Capricorn option parts – 13 in total.  He is also using T-Works titanium screws and turnbuckles in the rear because they are slightly longer.  Toni clutch uses one of his own Gruber Racing ‘Maximus’ Clutch Springs.

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December 6, 2025

Chassis Focus – Thilo Diekmann (Capricorn)

Chassis: Capricorn C804R
Engine: RS Engine
Exhaust: Max Power /EFRA 2183
Radio: Flysky Noble Pro
Servos (Steering/Throttle): Futaba 701
Body: Xtreme Hyper Diablo
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): Energy

Notes – Thilo’s C804R features a number of aftermark parts from Dimension JP, the brand owned by his mechanic Jean Pierre.  These include a Carbon Radio Box which is larger that the kit version, a rear body support, front body support and special bumper end plates for the very large CACH track which will go on sale shortly.  Finally there is the Dimension JP INS box which Thilo says is the lightest INS box on the market.

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