August 26, 2025

First ever 1:8 Electric Buggy Worlds is go in Portugal

eBuggy is now officially an IFMAR World Championship class with free practice for the inaugural 1:8 Electric Offroad Worlds getting underway at the beautifully presented Barcelos track in Northern Portugal today.  Arriving this morning to foggy conditions, which caused an hour delay to the start of the day’s five rounds of free practice, once drivers got on track they quickly gave the fresh surface and new layout plenty of abuse, even the top title contenders looking somewhat rookie level as they tried to put early laps together.  With the second round of practice completed, drivers’ general feedback on the track was positive with many of those who raced here at the European 1:8 Nitro Buggy Championship earlier in the month saying track builder Miguelo Izquierdo Rodriguez’ latest build was more technical and difficult.  With the lack of noise being something that takes getting used to when you walk around the pits surrounded by the best 1:8 Nitro Buggy in the World, in terms of early pace it was Xray’s David Ronnefalk who led the way after 3 rounds ahead of Mugen Seiki’s Bruak Kilic, fastest after Round 2, with Sworkz’s Elliott Boots completing the Top 3.

Coming into the event fresh from racing at the EFRA 1:10 Electric Touring Car Championships in the Netherlands, Ronnefalk described the track as ‘nice’ adding that once they blew the dust off after the first practice ‘everything felt pretty similar to what I felt here a couple of weeks ago at the Nitro Euros.’  The Swede added, ‘I felt the track is a little more slow paced and a little more technical this time compared to Nitro Euros which I would say was a bit more high speed, but the conditions are fairly similar which is good as I feel I have a good base to start from.  So it’s all good so far and we’ll see how the track develops.  I think it is going to be a little different from Nitro because we don’t have the oil from the exhaust laying down on the track.  I expect the track to be very grippy for the most part of the week where as at Nitro Euros it kind of faded with more oil getting put down.’  While a 2-time European Champion in 1:8 eBuggy, asked about the mindset change needed for eBuggy compared to Nitro, the former World Champion replied, ‘It definitely changes a little bit, the qualifying is very important in order to be able to have a good chance at winning it come main day.’  Acknowledging last weekend’s Touring Car action was good practice even if he did get knocked down to BQ by his team-mate Alexander Hagberg when his fellow countryman surprised everyone with a TQ run,  he continued, ‘I always feel more relaxed in nitro qualifying for the reason that you don’t need to TQ to have the best shot at.  You can say qualify Top 5 or 6 to start Top 3 in the Semi and then you take it from there.’    On the potential for good racing in the finals, he said, ‘The big jump section in the middle I think is definitely going to be a decider when it comes down to the mains.  The rest of the track is kind of one line but that the nature of all the tracks with so much grip now.  It is very hard to pass so starting position is key as it always is in electric classes so I need to be on top of my game already for qualifying.’

Fresh from being crowned German 1:8 eBuggy National Champion over the weekend, Kilic was happy with his first laps of the track.  The Turkish driver said, ‘for me the layout is really really fun although the dust out of the jumps as the track gets broken is making it a bit difficult.’  Overall he said, ‘I feel the track has more grip than the Euros cause there is no oil from the fuel and I prefer this because my car just works a little bit better.  I am doing ok right now.’  Asked about his buggy set-up, he responded,  ‘I didn’t change anything yet, I just drove around to see how the track is changing, the set-up is straight from the German Nationals.  I just put it on track and drove it.’

One driver getting his very first experience of the Barcelos Buggy Arena track is Phend.  The US driver said, ‘I think the layout is fun and has a good flow to it.  There is good grip, so it’s good.’  Asked if there was anything in particular he was working on, the ROAR Champion replied, ‘I think I just need to tighten the lines up.  I was a lot better the last run compared to the first runs so I’ll just keep plugging away there.  We had a really good base set-up with the team so kind of just working on my driving and tyre stuff.  The groove is pretty narrow right now so you go a little wide and you lose a lot of time but I think it will widen up as the race goes one.’  He concluded,  ‘The pace is decent for how early on we are.’

Widely recognised as one of the outright fastest drivers in 1:8 Nitro buggy, last year’s World Championship Top Qualifier Juan Carlos Canas described the track as ‘more hard to drive’ adding ‘maybe that will suit one driver and not another, we will see.’  The Spaniard, a multiple winner of the track’s annual International Buggy Challenge, said so far the grip feels strange but he expects it to get closer to that of the Euros after more running on it.  Asked how he finds driving electric over nitro, the Spaniard said, ‘the power is completely different, also the driving style and where you brake is also completely different.’  With no lower finals as a buffer should qualifying not go a drivers way, he said, ‘you need to give everything for qualifying’, something that usually isn’t an issue for the 23-year-old.  In terms of racing, he feels the new layout will make overtaking ‘very difficult.’  In terms of set-up he said his Sworkz is quite similar to his Euros Nitro set-up with his current focus on getting the best steering set-up for the tighter layout.

Asked about his first impressions of the track, Davide Ongaro replied, ‘that was probably my the worst practice ever’ adding ‘it is difficult to find a balance and in the first two I almost understand nothing about what I test.  Sometimes if the car is not perfect I can drive it maybe a little bit slower but this time no.’  His worst practice aside, answering the original question the reigning back to back Nitro World Champion said, ‘I prefer the one from the Euros but this one is fun.  90% of the jumps are the same as the Euros and they just changed the layout but the feeling of how you arrive on the jump is completely different.  I don’t know if it was good or bad to race the Euros for this race.’  He explained, ‘after the straight there is a small double but at the Euros it was a right side corner and the first laps I was thinking about that corner, so you know it’s still in the memory.’


August 25, 2025

1:8 Electric Offroad World Championship coverage presented by Team Cayote

The week on which IFMAR will crown a brand new World Champion has finally arrived and thanks to electronics manufacturer Team Cayote, Red RC are travelling to Barcelos in Portugal to tell the story of how the inaugural 1:8 Electric Offroad World Champion is crowned.  Having run in the shadow of 1:8 Nitro Buggy, which since crowning its first World Champion back in 1986 has established itself as the ‘Rock Star’ category of all RC racing classes, this week is eBuggy’s moment to shine on the world stage.  Revealing over the weekend the layout on which all the leading buggy manufacturers will battle it out to go down in history as the first ever eBuggy World Champions, the Barcelos track in North Portugal will play host to almost 120 drivers from around the globe.  With Europe’s governing body EFRA enjoying crowning 1:8 eBuggy Champions over the last decade with their stand alone championship event, the reigning champion is none other that three time back to back Nitro Buggy World Champion Davide Ongaro.  Despite the European Nitro Buggy title still eluding the Italian, he is the back to back Champion of eBuggy having also won the title previously in 2019.  With Barcelos hosting the 2025 EFRA European Nitro Buggy Championship back in early July of this year, the European’s should have slight home advantage.  David Ronnefalk lifted the title for a fourth time, and the Swede would love nothing more than to complete the set by adding an Electric World title to the Nitro Worlds win he took in 2016 in Las Vegas.  While the US team is relatively small by their standards, they do have their defending eBuggy Champion Dakotah Phend making the trip.  Unlike 1:8 Nitro Buggy, in which fuel stops and tyre changes come into play over the long races, 1:8 electric is more heads up racing and we are excited to see how things unfold over the next 5-days.  Our coverage presented by Team Cayote, who offer competition spec ESC’s, Motors, and Batteries, will begin on Day 1 of the event, Tuesday, when drivers start off two days of practice, followed by 2-days of qualifying with the finals on Saturday.

Track Image: International Buggy Challenge [Facebook]


July 24, 2025

2025 Asian Buggy Championships Rd 3, Australia – Chassis Focus Index

Last weekend Australia played host to the third round of the Cayote backed Asian Buggy Championships, with the Pine Pills Dirt Racing club in Brisbane welcoming its biggest international entry yet.  The third year the oil treated dirt track has been a stop on the Asian Buggy Championship calendar, the race would see Infinity’s Kouki Kato make his eBuggy debut with the Japanese manufacturer’s new prototype electric buggy and win, while in a rain shortened Nitro Buggy final Alex Bernadzik took his Team Associated to victory.  Unfortunately we were unable to photograph the winning Electric and Nitro Buggies – Kato’s eBuggy still at prototype stage and Bernadzik’s RC8 B4.1 featuring special rear hubs that the US manufacturer was not yet ready to show to the public.  Red RC’s first time to visit the highly praised Pine Pills Dirt Racing track, which is locate in very nice setting of the James Drysdale Sporting Complex, during our coverage of the race we did still get the opportunity to photograph 8 buggies from 6 different manufacturers.  In case you missed any of the Chassis Focus’ during our coverage ‘Down Under’, we have compiled them all here in our latest Chassis Focus index.

Nitro Buggy

Kouki Kato (Q2/P2) – Infinity

Pekko Iivonen (Q4/P3) – Mayako

Tyler Jones (Q3/P5) – Sparko Racing

Caleb Noble (Q5/P4) – Tekno

Atsushi Hara (Q8/P7) – Sworkz

eBuggy

Alex Bernadzik (Q1/P2) – Team Associated

Tyler Jones (Q3/P3) – Sparko Racing

Pekko Iivonen (Q4/P4) – Mayako


July 20, 2025

Bernadzik reigns as rain halts Asian Buggy Championships Australia

Team Associated’s Alex Bernadzik converted TQ honours at the Australian round of the Cayote backed Asian Buggy Championships into the win but unfortunately Mother Nature put an early halt to what was building into an epic battle in Brisbane.  Having TQ’d all three hostings of the Asian Buggy Championships at the Pine Hill Dirt Racing track, Bernadzik led away the race’s most stacked international field yet for what was original scheduled to be a 1-hour final.  While the intimidating dark clouds started to gather in the distance, racing got underway in the sunshine and the early pace was hot but all the time the darkening skies were moving in.  Unfortunately for Kouki Kato and Tyler Jones, the latter got into the eBuggy winner Kato on the opening lap sending the Infinity and Sparko drivers dropping to the back of the field.  The American did show great sportsmanship in waiting after the contact with the talented Japanese driver.  Up front it was Bernadzik who led from Pekko Iivonen, but 6-laps in, the home favourite made a mistake allowing the fourth place starting Finn to take over at the front.  From there he looked very strong as he led the field into the first round of pit stops just after the 7-minute mark.  While touching the wall on the tight pit lane entry, once the first & only stops were completed, it was still Iivonen who was in charge.  Coming up on 10-minutes however a mistake would hand the lead back to Bernadzik with Kato, who briefly took over the lead during the fuel stops and was now firmly back in the game, also going through for second.  Locked into their intense battle, Jones having worked his way up to fifth behind 2024 winner Caleb Noble, little did the drivers know they had less than 3-minute left to play things out.  A track that drew huge compliments from drivers for both it surface and size, unfortunately one of the downsides of its oiled dirt surface is that oil & water don’t mix!  As soon as the lightest of drops started falling the effect on the cars was immediate forcing Race Director Scotty Ernst to call the race just shy of 13-minutes – the heavens opening up shortly after.  While the disappointment of having their entertainment cut short clear on everyone’s face, including Bernadzik, a result is a result and Bernadzik goes down as the third different winner of the 2025 Asian Buggy Championships season.  Less than a second back Kouki had to settle for second while Iivonen completed the Round 3 podium.

Reacting to his win, Bernadzik said, ‘Kouki was super fast and honestly it doesn’t feel the greatest to win like that but at the end of the day it is an official result so you’ve got to take it.’  On his performance in the shorter that expected race, the former Australian National Champion said, ‘Everything was running good.  My car was a little bit hard to drive, I think the track conditions changed today with longer mains on it, but the car was good.  I had a few small bobbles which probably cost me so I could have been well ahead at that stage, but yeh I’ve got to take it.’  On his one & only pit stop, the 23-year-old said, ‘the fuel stop was sweet.  We were going with 7:30 stops just to be safe cause fuel economy gets a bit risky going into a 1-hour final.’

‘I’m unlucky but this is racing so it is what it is’, was a clearly disappointed Kato’s thoughts on the final.  Winning the eBuggy A-Main earlier in the day ahead of Bernadzik, and agreeing the Nitro Final was just starting to shape up to be a great race, on his buggy’s performance he said, ‘the car was really good, the speed was also good, it was also consistent and we were close to Alex.  Everything was good but we didn’t get enough time to show it.’

Summing up his race, Iivonen said, ‘The start was super good, the car felt actually the best it has been the entire event but I think after the first pit stop the car started to feel maybe too soft or something.  It started to feel to slippery in the rear and a bit uncomfortable to drive so it made it quite hard and I made some stupid mistakes on my own and basically then I lost it.  It could have been better for sure.’  Feeling he may have been to soft with his shock set-up, asked if he may have struggled if the final had run the full hour he said, ‘it depends, I don’t know how it could have been but it really felt like it wasn’t good anymore compared to how good it was at the start because it was really really good.’

Asked, ‘pretty bummed on that.  I put on a newer set of tyres for the final and I think I should have went out on an older set because they just took a while to come in. I unfortunately hit Kato right off the start and I’m a nice guy I’m always going to wait so I waited and I went all the way back to last.  I took off and I was coming and just got up to fifth and the rain hit and unfortunately they called it so ended up there’.  My stuff was good all week, I’m excited where I ended and I’m ready for next year already.’  With the race marking his first time travelling outside of the US, asked how he found the experience, the 25-year-old replied, ‘definitely one for the books.  I had a lot of fun with Ben and Walker.  Hopefully I get to see some stuff before I head home tomorrow but a super cool, once in a life time, experience really and I hope I can come back next year.’  He added, ‘Scotty’s events are always good, good program, tracks are always good, so hopefully I can make a few more next year.’

View Main result here


July 20, 2025

Chassis Focus – Tyler Jones (Sparko eBuggy)

Chassis – Sparko Racing F8e
ESC – Hobbywing XR8 G3
Motor – Hobbywing 2200KV
Battery – NitroPro 6500
Tyres – Hotrace Sahara
Radio/Servo – FlySky Noble Pro+ / NitroPro JTP
Body – Leadfinger Racing V2 Beretta

Notes – As with his nitro buggy, Tyler is running a Position1 RC chassis on his F8 which gives him the option to lengthen the rear of the car by 3mm.

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July 20, 2025

Chassis Focus – Pekko Iivonen (Mayako eBuggy)

Chassis – Mayako MX8e
ESC – Cayote Crest 8
Motor – Hobbywing 1900KV
Battery – Cayote 6500mAh Shorty
Tires – 6mik
Radio/Servo – Sanwa M17/Savox SB2290
Body – Mayako

Image Gallery