December 7, 2023

Rheinard top seed at 1:12 Worlds

Current 1:12 World Champion Marc Rheinard is the top seed at the 21st running of IFMAR’s original electric category.  The Awesomatix driver set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the second of the 3 seeding rounds today at Beachline Raceway in Florida.  Having won the first of his two Worlds titles in Florida nine years ago, the multiple Electric Touring Car Champion will lead away tomorrow’s opening qualifier ahead of Schumacher pairing Ollie Payne and Michal Orlowski.  Payne was just 0.053 off the pace of Rheinard, the British driver’s best time also coming in the second controlled practice.  With Rheinard fastest in the opening two rounds, Orlowski would top the third & final practice breaking into the 32-seconds for the first time, with the Top 3 separated by just 8/100ths of a second.  Leading the home challenge Sam Isaacs made a significant improvement in CP3 to end to up 4th ahead of fellow American and Awesomatix team-mate Kemp Anderson.  Completing the Top 6, Germany’s Jan Ratheisky was the highest placed Xray.

Not reading too much into his top seed status going into qualifying tomorrow, Rheinard was more concerned about his tyres prep saying, ‘I need to figure out the gluing of my front tyres’.  Showing an example of his own tyre gluing and a set done for him by team-mate Anderson the German needs to master his gluing skills so as to just have the glue on the tyres very narrow side wall.  On his final seeding run, he said, ‘It was slower and I didn’t have good steering at the end’.  Asked about tomorrow opening day of qualifying, 3 of the 6 rounds making up the schedule, Rheinard believes, ‘the Schumacher guys are a bit ahead of me’.  He added, ‘8-minutes is long but I think myself and Orlowski are able to keep it clean while the others seem to crash more’.

Despite a rear tyre issue in CP3 when ‘the whole outside peeled off’, Payne was bullish about his car’s performance going into qualifying saying ‘it should be really good’ over the 8-minutes.  Winner of both the recent 1:12 International Grand Prix in Italy and Masters of Foam in Belgium, he said while his car is maybe not the fastest it is really strong for 8-minutes.  ‘I think me, Marc and Michal are all going to be very close and Kemp is fast too if he can stop doing kamikaze at the chicane’.

Pleased to top the final practice, Orlowski said, ‘that was a nice confidence boost to end practice with.  We tried some stuff and the car is perfect now.  The balance is good for the first time’.  Describing CP3 as a nice 8-minute run, he was over 3-seconds quicker than Rheinard, the pair were the only drivers to run 43-laps.  Orlowski did air slight caution about his car saying they might need to chance the chassis after it took a number of big impacts earlier in the day and should a change be required it is not always a given the car will performance the same.

‘That last run was definitely better’ was how Isaacs summed up the final seeding round.  Fresh from retaining his U.S. Indoor Champs title, he said he tried to ‘smooth the car out’ but ending up with a car that was ‘pushing instead’.  Confident the changes he made were still a step in the right direction but hoping for better tomorrow, he admitted ‘the cars are hard to drive and hard to go 8-minutes without crashing’.  He concluded, ‘there is plenty ways to go still’.

After a good start to controlled practice, setting the 3rd fastest time, the rest of the day was to be challenging for Anderson.  Unable to beat his opening time, his second run ended with a big off at the chicane that meant a new bodyshell for CP3.  Having checked over his Awesomatix he said he must have missed something as the car felt tweaked and he would now fit new parts for tomorrow.  Son of new IFMAR president and accomplished racer Eric Anderson, asked how he felt his car was running before the crash, he said, ‘at the beginning of the run it was good and I was happy with the car so we have good set-up to work off tomorrow’.

In addition to the established Modified World title, 1:12 will crown its second ever Spec Class Champion here in Cocoa, Florida.  After controlled practice it is British racer Morgan Williams with his Schumacher Eclipse 5 who is the top seed.  Running a best time of 37.185 in the third round compared to the top Modified pace of 32.916, Williams was fastest from the Xray of America’s Robbie Dodge with Awesomatix’s Max Machler from Germany completing the Top 3.

View our event image gallery here.


December 6, 2023

Rheinard’s 1:12 World title defence off to positive start

Reigning 1:12 World Champion Marc Rheinard got his title defence off to a positive start with the Awesomatix driver topping the opening round of controlled practice at Beachline Raceway in Florida.  Setting a time of 32.983 for his fastest 3-consecutive laps, the German also had the fastest lap for the round with only team-mate Kemp Anderson, 3rd quickest for the round, also able to run a 10-second lap of the track which is proving popular with drivers.  Overall it was the Schumacher of Ollie Payne who posted the second fastest time with team-mate Michal Orlowski fourth quickest.  Japan’s Hayato Ishioka’s Roche was fifth for the round, with recent U.S. Indoor Champs winner Sam Isaacs completing the Top 6.  Keven Hebert was the top Xray in P7 over a second down on Rheinard’s time.

Pleased to top the first of the three seeding rounds Rheinard said, ‘It’s getting better but my driving is still not good’.  Chasing his third World title in the category this week, he said the small curbs are proving challenging as they make the car jump and off the line where there is no grip.  Happy they improved the car for CP1, he said getting tyre treatment right is something they are still working on but overall he feels ‘driving here is the big thing’.  Asked about the track, he replied, ‘It is one of the best for 1:12, it’s not a typical US style and it also looks good.  It’s a really good set-up here’.

Describing the track as ‘very tough’ due to the curbs and grip levels, Payne summed up his first seeding effort as ‘a good first controlled practice’.  The British driver added, ‘It was a bit pushy so we’ll try to get more steering for the next one without making it too hard to drive.  It is difficult to keep the balance when making set-up changes’.  With both himself and Orlowski running cars with a number of special race specific front end parts that Schumacher have created to work with the black carpet being used here, the 24-year-old is confident that with some more fine tuning they have a good car.

Asked about his performance so far, Anderson said, ‘we have been changing a lot on the car and we have got it going around the track pretty good so now we can start working on the minor stuff.’  The 21-year-old American is relishing the track Beachline Raceway have created for the Worlds saying, ‘it is a lot of fun running on a bigger track than normal.  Also the layout is really good and the curbs are in good spots that make it hard to break the car’.

Content with his early pace, Orlowski who comes into the event after back to back Offroad Events including the JConcepts Florida Carpet Championship held here at the sane venue two weeks ago before returning to Europe for the EOS, said his big focus is learning to drive 1:12 again.  The Polish driver said, ‘I’m trying to learn to drive this class again as it so different to everything else but CP1 was pretty good and we are close to the top’.  He added, ‘we made a small adjustment for that run and it was positive.  We were surprised by our pace because the balance is not great.’  Asked about changes for the second round, he replied, ‘we have loads of ideas and will use the two remaining runs before qualifying to try some stuff’.  Another fan of the track, the 2022 European Champion said, ‘the layout is awesome and it a proper size track.  It feels a little inconsistent at the moment but the grip is still developing every run’.

Ishioka said his car ‘seems OK’ but added it was suffering from a little bit of understeer which he hopes to dial out for CP2.  Asked how the track is compared to what he is used to racing on in Japan, the former Snowbirds Winner said, ‘It’s very different to Japan, there is a lot more grip.  I like it’.

View our event image gallery here.


December 5, 2023

‘Preparations for Worlds has to be exceptional to win’ – Alexander Hagberg

IFMAR’s original electric World Championship takes place in Florida this week where the 21st Champion will decided among a small but ultra competitive field.  One of those drivers who will be vying for success is Alexander Hagberg who, as one of the great specialists of the category, is also one who holds a membership to one of RC racing’s most elite clubs.  In 2014 he claimed his first World title when he won 1:10 Nitro Touring Car in Thailand, and then in 2018 he took the sport’s biggest prize in 1:12 in South Africa.  As the reigning European 1:12 Champion, equalling David Spashett’s record of 8 titles when he won in April of this year, it is fair to say he isn’t going into these Worlds on the back of a run of impressive form since.

An event that attracted many of the expected title contenders, the recent US Indoor Champs saw Hagberg qualify down in 7th before making up two places in the finals to finish low key 5th.  Having had issues, including a wheel hub coming off, he said the race is not a good comparison for the Worlds explaining, ‘Track conditions in Cleveland are radically different with Touring Car racing too, the track being in use 24 hours, different sauce.  There are many variables, the conditions we wil have in Florida are very hard to predict’.

Enjoying a competitive Snowbirds in February where he finished second, the Swede admits ‘other races have been frustrating’.  He added, ‘It hasn’t been a great year leading up to the Worlds.  That doesn’t mean the Worlds will be bad for me.  For confidence it is not great but it is not relevant to how the Worlds is going to go, in fact having poor outings can mean you are sacrificing the races for testing, so we could be in good shape for the Worlds’.  In terms of racing, given he also has his Electric Touring Car race commitments, Hagberg does ‘roughly 30 races a year and the majority of them are international’ adding his record stands at 34 races in a year.

With an impressive track record of having the same main sponsor throughout his career, this is the 34-year-old’s 18 season with Xray.  Now 12-years a professional driver with the Slovakian manufacturer, he gave them their first ever World title in 2014 and their first ETS Modified race win at the beginning of the championship’s heyday years plus many other significant wins along the way.  Asked if after all the years he still enjoys his job, he was quick to reply, ‘I still have a big passion for what I do, it’s the competitive side that motivates me and I enjoy the promotion and car development side too.  The travelling is not as enjoyable now that I have family.  The travel is the worst part but the racing is still exciting.’

Chatting to us for this article while in Canada with team-mate Keven Hebert for a four days of testing ahead of making the trip to Beachline Raceway, asked his approach to the Worlds he replied, ‘Preparations for a Worlds has to be exceptional to win.  You can’t prepare for every race in a perfect way, there is not enough time.  Worlds you put everything on the table.  If you don’t get the result you were hoping for you know you put in the work.  It’s definitely a special race’.  On the 2023 Worlds, admitting himself his title defence in 2020 when he finished 6th was ‘disappointing but its how it is’, he believes it is going to be ‘interesting and competitive’ and he knows going into it that ‘4 or 5 other guys are going to be quick, you could win or finish in the B-Main, you never know’.

On the modern state of 1:12 he said, ‘The cars are better than they have been.  The electrics are very good and the batteries are better with more power to use.  They are faster than ever but harder than ever to drive.  I hope it doesn’t affect racing but expect lots of crashes.  It is very hard to drive 8-minutes without mistakes.’  On the track at Beachline Raceway he said, ‘there are question marks for everyone, the carpet, the tyres, the high humidity, there is no AC in the building.  Nobody knows as we have never been in this type of condition before’.

Our coverage of the 2023 IFMAR 1:12 World Championship, which is possible thanks to new 1:24 and 1:12 body shell producer Radbody, begins Wednesday (6th Dec) with reports from controlled practice with the Champion set to be crowned Saturday afternoon.


December 4, 2023

1:12 Worlds coverage presented by Radbody

For the fourth & final IFMAR World Championship of 2023, Red RC is excited to announced that our coverage of the 1:12 World Championship at Beachline Raceway in Cocoa, Florida, next week will be presented by Radbody.  The new 1:24 and 1:12 body shell producer is making it possible for us to attend our first 1:12 Worlds since China 2016 when Marc Rheinard won the first of his 2 World titles in the category.  Winning his second title in the UK in 2020, Rheinard will try to defend that title at what will be the 21st running of the championship.  Attracting a total of 80 entries, 22 drivers will battle it our for the Modified honours with Rheinard’s title set to be challenged by both 2020 podium finishers Michal Orlowski and Yoshiyasu Yanagisawa, 2018 World Champion & reigning European Champion Alexander Hagberg, top North American drivers Sam Isaacs, Keven Hebert and ROAR Champion Kemp Anderson, Britain’s Ollie Payne and Japan’s Hayato Ishioka just to name a few.  With inaugural 1:12 Spec World Champion Andy Murray absent from the entry list there will be a new Champion crowned for the category in Florida.  Our coverage from the United States will begin on Wednesday, December 6th, with news from practice and continuing with the unfolding of the championship over the following 3 days.


November 9, 2023

’23 1:8 Onroad World Championship Chassis Focus Index

After a four year wait the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship was back and what a final we would witness at Infinity International RC Speedway in Japan.  Following more than a week of action on track it was Infinity’s Dario Balestri who came out on top winning the World title for a second time and in doing so became only the second driver in the history of IFMAR’s original category to be a repeat winner.   In terms of manufacturers it was great to see three different manufacturers represented on the podium.  During our coverage of the race we managed to photograph 15 cars from 8 different manufacturers and have compiled them all in our latest Chassis Focus index.

   Dario Balestri – Infinity

   Toni Gruber – Capricorn

   Simon Kurzbuch – Mugen

   Shoki Takahata – Mugen

   Dominic Greiner – Capricorn

   Tadahiko Sahashi – Infinity

   Kouki Kato – Infinity

   Silvio Hachler – ARC

   Jeff Hamon – Serpent

   Jilles Groskamp – Infinity

   Andrea Catanzani – Serpent

   Bryce Butterfield – Serpent

   Flavio Elias – Shepherd

   Maxime Ripoll – Xray

   Matsuyama Yukihiro – BMT