’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

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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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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