January 9, 2026

Serpent’s Catanzani confirmed for inaugural Nitro Party

Currently one of the fastest Nitro Onroad racers in the World, Serpent’s Andrea Catazani is the latest top international driver to be confirmed for the inaugural Nitro Party race in Foshan, China, later this month.  The 20-year-old Italian, who was the Top Qualifier at both the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad and the 1:8 GT World Championships at the end of the last year, joins the already stacked entry in making the trip to the new Hongyu GDC facility for its first major nitro onroad event.  The reigning Italian GT Champion, he joins compatriots Alessio Mazzeo, Natanaele Senesi, and Filippo Domanin for the first edition of what the 2026 ISTC World Championship host venue plans to build into a major annual event on the nitro racing calendar.  Other confirmed entries for the January 24-25th race include Infinity’s Naoto Matsukura and Genius Racing’s Bernard-Alain Arnaldi.

Source: Hongyu GDC [Facebook]

January 6, 2026

Infinity confirms Matsukura for inaugural Nitro Party

Infinity has confirmed they are sending multiple World Champion Naoto Matsukura to the inaugural Nitro Party race which takes place later this month at the new Hongyu GDC track in China.  The Japanese driver holds one of the most impressive World Championship records in our sport winning 6 World Championship title over three different classes, 1:12, ITSC, and Nitro Touring Car, and has appeared in World final across numerous disciplines including 1:8 Onroad and 1:10 Electric Offroad.  Fresh from racing at the FEMCA Asia Championships, TQ’ing the opening qualifier, at the impressive Hongyu GDC facility in December in preparation for the upcoming ISTC World Championships, the Japanese ace will return to the city of Foshan on January 24-25 for some nitro action.  With the Nitro Party race creating great excitement within the Asian nitro onroad scene, the race has also attracted international attention with newly crowned 1:8 GT World Champion Alession Mazzeo one of a number of Italians already confirm for the first edition.

Source: Hongyu GDC [Facebook]

January 5, 2026

Mazzeo confirmed for inaugural ‘Nitro Party’ race

The organisers of the inaugural ‘Nitro Party’ race, which takes place later this month at the new Hongyu GDC track in China, has announced that newly crowned IFMAR 1:8 GT World Champion Alessio Mazzeo will travel to the city of Foshan for the brand new Asian nitro onroad fixture.  Taking place at the 2026 IFMAR ISTC World Championship host track on January 24-25, the Gimar team driver is one of a number of new European entries confirmed for the race which Hongyu GDC has plans to grow & establish into one of the regions major nitro onroad events on the annual international racing calendar.  With European GT Champion Natanaele Senesi previously confirmed for the Nitro Party, the latest drivers to join the race also includes Xray’s Filippo Domanin and Attilio D’Angelo, Spanish GT Champion & European Finalist Raul Daras Anton, and Hot Race tyres owner & accomplished 1:8 Onroad racer Nicola Marrone.  Racing on the world class facility’s 80m X 43m asphalt circuit, the event has attracted huge interest in the region and beyond, with future high profile entries expected to be announced shortly.  Having covered the recent FEMCA Asia Electric Touring Car Championships at Hongyu GDC, Red RC is excited to returning to the very impressive venue to cover the inaugural Nitro Party and to hear it echo to the sound of nitro engines.

Source: Hongyu GDC [Facebook]

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

Image Gallery

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.’