Chassis – Infinity IFB8
Engine – O.S Speed 05
Fuel – Merlin
Tires – Hotrace Sahara
Radio/Servos – Futaba 10PX / Futaba CB701
Body – Kit
Remarks – Naoto is running the same buggy as he used at the recent World Championship in Spain.
Having set the pace in seeding practice, Kouki Kato carried that form into qualifying to TQ the opening round at the season finale of the Asian Buggy Championships in Indonesia, but only just. While putting together a perfect error few 5-minute run, the Infinity driver didn’t have the same outright pace as the morning with local Sworkz driver Jason Nugroho coming to within 0.1 of a second of denying him the top spot. With visiting drivers still finding their way in terms of how the track conditions change over the day, another local to open qualifying with a strong showing was track owner & builder Adrian Wicaksono who took his Team Associated to third ahead young Australian Christian Wolhunter.
‘A good consistent 5-minute run but I need more pace’, was how Kato summed up Q1. Over a second off on his best lap time compared to when he topped seeding in the morning, the 18-year-old Japanese driver felt he lacked the traction to push his IFB8 and for the day’s second and final qualifier he plans to make the switch from the Hotrace’s Bangkok tyre to their Sahara bar tyre. With Infinity leading a 1-2 in seeding, while Kato stayed top in Q1, team-mate Naoto Matsukura could only manage P7 as he had a costly crash on his final lap losing over 8-seconds.
Reacting to his P2, Nugroho said, ‘I wasn’t expecting that much pace due to the track conditions’. The 24-year-old, who set the fastest lap of Q1 as the only one to run 40-seconds, continued, ‘I was close but hit a pipe and in the dust was all over the place and just lost it by that much, just 0.1 seconds! Congrats to Kato for the first TQ’. Expecting the track will be more challenge for Q2, he said he hopes he can drive around the conditions and stay ‘nice and neat.’ Planning to leave his Drake O.S powered buggy’s set-up unchanged for the second qualifier he will also continue with his choice of Proline Electron M4 tyres.
With his track building efforts proving a hit with visiting drivers, racers from 12 different nations making the trip to Jakarta, Wicaksono put his P3 down to consistency rather that outright pace. He said, ‘My single lap time was off the top guys but I think I kept it consistent and made zero mistakes and that is why I got third’. Running Hotrace Sahara Supersoft he said, ‘It is more dusty than usual with the amount of racers we have for this race so maybe for Q2 I will use a small pin tyre’. Asked about changes to his buggy set-up he said. ‘I plan to keep the car the same but the engine needs a better tune, the bottom end was a little rich in that one’. One of three track in Jakarta, asked about the West Side Raceway build Wicaksono explained that the dirt used here was brought in from a different part of the country. With a lot less tyre wear racing on this red dirt it also handles rain better. Getting his inspiration for the layout from Supercross and the Philippine Masters track build, he is pleased with the reaction to his natural clay layout and is happy that each round is giving drivers a new challenge to contend with which he feels is how offroad should be.
Chasing another podium to round out his 2024 Asian Buggy Championship campaign, Wolhunter was ruing a mistake in Q1. He explained, ‘The set-up on the car was very good. We changed the rear diff and raised the rear arms up one and that made it easier to drive and more consistent. Race wise it went really well until I had a 7-second crash that kind of sucked so to get a 4th with such a crash is pretty good, I just need to do better on the driving next time’.
Kouki Kato is the Top Seed at the season finale of the Asian Buggy Championships, the Japanese driver leading an Infinity 1-2 in Indonesia from fellow countryman Naoto Matsukura. Racing on the completely natural dirt West Side Raceway track which is proving a big hit with the visiting drivers, Kato set the fastest two consecutive laps in the single seeding round. The only driver to dip into the 40-second lap times, Kato ended up almost 1-second quicker than Matsukura over the 2-laps. A regular in the Asian Buggy Championships finishing on the podium at the previous round in Brisbane, Sworkz driver Christian Wolhuter opened his third race of the current season with a Top 3 time. Just 3/10th back on the Australian, Indonesia’s own Rama Tribudiman took his Kyosho to fourth fastest time, the local racer saying afterwards that the traction is completely different to what he used as a result of the large entry who have made the trip to Jakarta this weekend so bring a close to the second season of Scotty Ernst’s Asian Buggy Championships.
Asked about his seeding run, reigning Japanese 1:8 Offroad National Champion Kato summed it up as, ‘Better’. He explained, ‘yesterday in practice we tried a number of different set-ups and for today we combined the best bits and now it works better’. Asked about the track layout and surface he said, ‘It is very interesting (the layout) to drive. The grip is also good & stable and the surface is very smooth, it is quite similar to what we have in Japan.’ Planning no changes to his IFB8 for Q1, 5 rounds of qualifying on the schedule for drivers, Kato also said tyre wear is very low and he plans to continue on the same set of Hotrace Bangkok Soft tyres he ran in seeding. On a busy program of racing currently having contested the recent 1:8 Offroad World Championship in Spain before travelling to Singapore last weekend to race 1:8 Onroad at the Singapore Open and now back to Buggy here in Indonesia, asked if he had any issues switching back & forth he said the adjustment between the two very different disciplines was ‘no problem’.
Matsukura described his seeding as having gone ‘OK’, feeling he had a much better car in practice yesterday. He explained, ‘today there is low traction so the car was a little bit pushing. The track was a little different but we also changed the set-up so I think for qualifying we will go back to yesterday’s set-up’. Like his team-mate, this being his third consecutive race in as many weekends, the multiple Onroad World Champion said he is enjoying the West Side Raceway track a lot more than Worlds track. He said, ‘It is more fun for the jumps, this track is not as big but the jumps are not straight, they have more angle which makes it more fun.’
Changing diff oils on his buggy for seeding thinking it would give it more rotation with running bar tyres, Wolhuter said, ‘now that the track is a little bit dustier it’s too loose in the rear and hard to hang on to.’ Planning to go back up to a slightly thicker oil in the rear and keep the front and centre the same, ‘hopefully it will give us a little bit more drive and the ability to keep consistent.’ Asked his thought on the track, the recently turned 18-year-old said, ‘the track is fun, I’ve never driven on something this big before, the biggest jumps I probably ever experienced and I do like the natural clay. I am used to the oiled tracks so it’s great being on natural dirt again.’
Pleased to open his home track’s first international race with P4 in seeding, asked about his run Tribudiman, who lives just 10-minutes away, said, ‘This is our first time to have an event this big at the track so the track is actually quite different in terms of grip and I need to adjust. The track is very natural with no chemicals or anything so with the amount of cars running, also today it is quite hot, it is getting very dusty. Every run I am trying different tyres’. The 36-year-old confirmed he used Proline Electron M4 to set his seeding time.
With the 2024 Asian Buggy Championships set to conclude in just under 2-weeks time (26-29 September) in Indonesia, the track build that will play host to the fourth & final round of the Championship has been revealed. The first time the Asian Buggy Championship travels to Indonesia, the country hosting the 2006 IFMAR World Championship where Mark Pavidis took the title, West Side Raceway in Jakarta has created a technical jump filled track for the occasion. Responsible for the Philippine Masters track build, the event hosting the second round of the ABC back in April, Edward Sio visited West Side Raceway prior to the season finale to check out the track. Summing up the build, Sio said, ‘The track is smooth and technical with lots of jumps. Traction is low to medium. The whole facility is top-notch, including the big driver’s area with 65-inch monitor on both ends to keep track of timing and scoring. The challenge for the driver comes from the depth of the track, and the fact there is are no straight jumps and lines. I think the only straight line is the straight-away. Overall, it’s a super fun track once you get the flow.’ Red RC is excited to be making the trip to Jakarta to cover the conclusion of the second season of the Asian Buggy Championships with Scotty Ernst already well underway with plans for the 2025 Championship.
With the dust now settled on the 19th running of the IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championships at RC Redovan, we have put together a full index of all the buggies we were given access to to photograph for our ‘Chassis Focus’ during our time in Spain. We were able to feature buggies from 8 different manufacturers with Xray and Kyosho notably absent from the list with both manufacturers not allowing their buggies to be photographed in detail. Of the 180 drivers competing, it was Xray that proved the most popular brand with 33 buggies, just one more than Sworkz who were the brand with the greatest representation in the final filling 3 of the 13 spots on the starting grid. With 27 buggies, Mugen Seiki was the third most used chassis. Coming away with its 3rd consecutive 1:8 Buggy World title, Team Associated was fourth in terms of numbers with 18 driver while Tekno completed the Top 5 represented by 16 racers. Of the 13 brands present in Redovan, 8 made it into the main showdown.
In terms of power, it was Japan’s O.S Engines who had a clear majority with 44 using the the World Champion manufacturer’s 3.5cc units. Reds Racing was the second most popular engine supplier on 26 closely followed by Ultimate on 23. A total of 20 engine brands were in use over the week. Key to the performance of any chassis/engine combo, the bragging rights for the most popular tyre went to Hotrace, 49 drivers listing it as their preferred choice of rubber. JConcepts was the second most popular on 32 with 6Mik next on 27. Coming away with the title, Matrix was used by 16 drivers putting them 4th of the 13 manufacturers. Nitrolux was the biggest fuel supplier with almost half the field.
Chassis Focus Index
Davide Ongaro (World Champion) – Team Associated / Buggy as it came off the track after winning final
Juan Carlos Canas (Top Qualifier) – Sworkz
Joao Figueiredo – Tekno
Marcus Kaerup – Team Associated
Riccardo Berton – Infinity
Dakotah Phend – TLR
Berkan Kilic – Mugen Seiki
Joona Haatanen – Team Associated
Marco Baruffolo – WIRC
Ryan Cavalieri – Sparko
Pekko Iivonen – Mayako
Joern Neumann – Sworkz
Kouki Kato – Infinity
RC Racing has many IFMAR World Championships that come around every two years but none of them come even close to the hype, interest, and spectacle that is 1:8 Nitro Offroad. It is the ‘Rockstar’ category of RC Racing, a 3D spectacle to watch with a field stacked with manufacturer rivalries and the greatest number of proper professional drivers. That’s not to detract from the other World Championships, each with deserving Champions, however results in 1:8 Offroad are hard earned. It is also a category that is full of young up & coming talents one of which is Marcus Kaerup. When a capacity entry of 180 drivers from around the World converge for a week of intense racing in a single category, coming away with a Top 10 finish is a mark of something special, especially when 1:8 Nitro is your ‘second class’. Getting to first meet Marcus when he made his World Championship debut in his preferred category of 1:10 Offroad World last year in Arizona, we witnessed him becoming a double World Championship Finalist, making both the 2WD & 4WD Finals at Hobby Action. Already an impressive feat that will elude many drivers, over the last week in Spain we once again witnessed Marcus exhibited why so many people are tipping him for greater things. With the Ruddog sponsored driver putting his Team Associated in the main show, his racing CV now requires updating to ‘3-time World Championship Finalist.’ Having loved over the years following and reporting on the rise of the careers of the likes of Naoto Matsukura, David Ronnefalk, Dakotah Phend, Michael Orlowski and the GOAT of offroad himself Davide Ongaro, after enjoying following his journey at RC Redovan, Red RC are super excited to do like wise with Marcus. We caught up with the 16-year-old for a quick recap on his impressive showing on Saturday’s finals day.
As his 7-years his senior Team Associated team-mate celebrated 3-in-row 1:8 Offroad World titles, catching up with Marcus at the end of his second ‘Nitro’ Worlds, his debut attempt ending with P51 overall, Marcus took this year’s impressive achievement of making it into the title decider & finishing 9th in his stride. With Scandinavians known for preferring to do their talking on the track, Marcus summed up his Finals day with a quietly spoken, ‘Top 10 in the World feels really good’. Going into a little more detail about his big day, he continued, ‘Going into the Semi I was a bit nervous because in the (Semi) practice the car felt really bad but we made some changes for the Semi and from the first lap it just fast and easy to drive’. Completing the Top 3 behind Top Qualifier Juan Carlos Canas & Joao Figueiredo and ahead of Bruno Coelho, he added, ‘I had a really good race finishing third in that one, I just focused on keeping calm and doing no mistakes’.
With his 30-minute Semi race time putting him 10th on the grid for the Main from where he would go on to finish 9th, he said, ‘The final was also really good at the start but then I kept crashing and crashing, I am just not used to the car changing so much. It was my first time doing 60-minutes so it was really difficult but I am very happy, it was an awesome experience’. Asked if his impressive performance might lead to the world seeing more nitro race outings from him and him putting extra mileage on his Ruddog RNX22.3 engines, the Dane laughed before replying with, ‘It will stay the same, I don’t think I will do more because electric (1:10 Offroad) is still the passion for me.’ Asked though if he plans to return to the 1:8 Nitro Offroad Worlds, which are scheduled to take place in the USA in 2-years time, the double 1:10 European Champion didn’t fully commit relying, ‘we’ll see, we’ll see’. Given the abundance of talent this young Dane has shown, we think Marcus probably won’t have much of a say in the decision on booking those flights, with, we expect, plenty of sponsors keen to give this quick learner a chance to put his World Final appearance experience to work.