The IFMAR 1/12th scale electric on-road World Championships were held at Radio Control Speedway (RCS), one of the finest on-road R/C tracks in Bangkok, Thailand. Built in 1995, this is a wonderful facility, with a huge indoor area for pits, race control, and a large, well-stocked hobby shop. There are two tracks at the facility. Alongside the building is a large permanent asphalt track. Normally there's also an indoor track, but that area was turned into additional pit space for the teams competing at the Worlds.

The outdoor on-road track is built alongside the facility, just opposite a row of apartment houses. Track size is sixty meters long by twenty meters wide, with a 220 meter driving line. There are 39 racers competing for the 1/12th scale World Championship, from all over the world. IFMAR's President Dallas Mathiesen is here to oversee the event, along with Trevor Reid, the FEMCA President.

Naoto Matukura, 1/12 World Champion

The RCS Track

Atsushi was running a Hot Bodies car, four of which made it into the Final, mixed in with the usual "big names" of the brands of cars most people expected to see win this event. The Final was a great display of racing skill and ability.

Here's a brief summary of the race, as posted on www.neobuggy.net. The full report, along with lots of photos, tech data, and so on can be found there as well. RC Car Magazine (and many others) will certainly have big reports on the event in upcoming issues.

"Starting out Maifield Cavalieri and Truhe were freight training around the track, swapping positions as fuel stops ensued. At the 15min mark Tebo assumed the third spot and continued his run to lead briefly only for Cavalieri to flame out due to overcooked brakes. 20 Minutes in it was AE vs Losi vs OD... the top three of Maifield, True and Tebo fighting to lead and open a tiny gap, only for it to be slammed shut immediately. A few drops of rain fell, but we were fortunate that this didn't develop and dampen the racing, as on track, Hara suddenly came alive as he moved into 3rd. 30-35 mins Savoya was in 3rd but not able to run with Truhe & Maifield due to their pace. With half of the final gone, Truhe had the lead, followed by Maifield, Savoya, Hara & Tebo.

Pit stops funneled through and Hara and Maifield start battling crazy on track, inside outside passes, jumping past, fantastic to watch! 30-40mins in the trio of leaders continually swap positions for the next 15mins. Now with 10mins to go, the crowd are on their feet, fog horns bellowing around the track, a amphiteatre of excitement! Hara Maifield and Truhe are still matching each other, that is until Maifield flames on lap 72 of 79 and puts him out of contention, this gifts 3rd place to Savoya who has fought hard to establish himself in front of the chasing pack. 4 mins to go and Hara starts to take it easy, he has a 12.3 sec lead from Truhe, but Truhe slices through this but it wasn't enough to catch Atsushi 'Maximum Best' Hara who claims the 2008 IFMAR World Championship @ the Farm II."

Again, for the full report, go to www.neobuggy.net!

Also, check out Item #199 in the Backtalk Off-Road Conference here at Starting Grid, which is now up to almost 5000 responses discussing this event!

Click on image for larger view!

Dave Masler from Buku Performance Products showed me a new exhaust pipe he has been developing. Since it has no "moving" parts (the parts don't move when the car is being driven) it should be legal for most forms of competition, but since it's a two-chamber pipe, it is more suited to racing in the USA than abroad. The following is a summary of Dave's explanation of how the pipe works, and how it can be fine tuned for any application.

A prototype on-road BuKu pipe, complete

The following four videos were taken at 301 Raceway during the recent National Championships in September, 2008. They show the start and some action during the Final when Chris Whitney was racing himself. All of them were taken with a Canon Pro1 digital camera, mostly to create a video copy of the event to go along with all the still photos I was taking.

I plan to do this more in the future, but will use a real video camera next time. I used to post these videos in the past, but could only do so by uploading a huge file to the server, which took people forever to download so they could view the video. With Youtube it's much easier, and faster for people to see the videos. I need to find out how to post higher resolution videos, so people can see more detail when playing them back. In the meantime, here are the four videos; they're short, as when I filmed them, I didn't want people to have to wait forever while downloading a huge file. As it turns out, doing this with Youtube this isn't a problem. I'll keep that in mind for the next time I do this. (If anyone has posted videos of this race on Youtube, and would like to see them included below, just send me the information on how to find your video, and I'll add it below.)

While at the Final Showdown in Boulder, between taking notes and taking photos, I put everything down for a few minutes to make a quick video of the track action during the Finals. It's short, but it's long enough to show what the racing was like.

My name is Michael Palazzola, I have been around RC since I can remember (since I was about five years old). My dad used to race, and I would go out to the track with him and run around flipping over his car and filling it up with gas. He stopped for a while, and then a few years later he got back in to R/C cars. He got me an electric dual sport from Team Associated that I would play with in front of my house. When I was about eight or nine my dad got us a Nitro Dual Sport that we would take to the track and drive around together. We made a game between us, that when one of us would crash, he would have to hand the transmitter over and let the other person drive till they crashed. We tried to drive as fast as the car would let us.

We then took a break for a few years. We decided to start racing again. When I was eleven, I started racing off-road. I ran off-road for about five years. I did pretty well at some big races like the Hot Rod Hobbies Shoot Out. I won the Sportsman Gas Truck Class when I was eleven. I must have run 1000 laps practicing on that layout!

Michael with his Pitman (dad!)

Saturday September 13 was fhe final day of the Final Shootout. The day started off early with open practice. After an hour or so of practice, a second driver's meeting was held, after which the final two rounds of qualifying were started. The timing and scoring crew did a re-sort, so drivers of roughly the same ability got to race with each other.

Quarter scale racing is scored differently than other forms of r/c car competition. In most other classes, races are scored by "laps and time". For a given amount of time, the racer who completes the greatest number of laps in the shortest amount of time is the winner. However, quarter scale has frequent "yellow flag" periods, as well as "red flag" events (all cars brought to a complete stop) when a marshal needs to get out on the track. These delay the race, but shouldn't have an effect on the outcome of the race. Instead, quarter scale races are configured for a certain number of laps (maybe 25, maybe 300). When the fastest racer completes this number of laps, the race is over. Long races mean refueling. For safety reasons, all cars come in to the pits for refueling together, and enough time is given for a safe refueling operation.

It helps to keep all your wheels on!

Sprint Car Learning to Fly

It helps to keep all your wheels on!

When all Three Lead Cars Spin Out with Minutes to Go, It's Anyone's Race

The 2008 Quarter Scale Final Showdown is being held on Friday and Saturday, September 12 and 13 in Boulder City, Nevada. This is the last major QSAC race of 2008. In addition to hosting the race, at the end of the day the club will elect new offices for 2009.

I flew in Thursday night from Miami. Tony Evans met me at the Las Vegas Airport. I was quickly reminded that this was Vegas, with the airport full of the "one armed bandit" gambling machines. We met Randy Brown and his wife for a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant, then headed for a small but very comfortable hotel in Boulder. After a good night's sleep, we had breakfast at a small local restaurant, "Coffee Cup Cafe". It's a small "movie-style" cafe, with skis, license plates, photos, airplane propellers, and trophies up on the walls. Reasonable prices and delicious food complete things. I wish we had a restaurant like this in Miami...

The race is being held at Boulder City RC Speedway. This is a large "D" shaped oval track with a tall driver's stand located along the curved part of the "D". It's a big track, with a 600 foot driving line. Lane width is thirty feet, and the banking in the turns is about four degrees. It's a very nice looking track, with a newly installed grass infield. Fourteen thousand square feet of grass was installed just two weeks ago. There's a concrete wall around the track, with a fence behind it. Every twenty five feet or so there's an angled light pole, placing the lights directly over the track. Several grandstands for spectators are located just past the fence surrounding the track.

Boulder City RC Speedway - Final Showdown, 2008

Qualifying Action

I don’t think I could have asked for a better week at the 2008 ROAR 1/8th On-Road Nationals. I really enjoy racing at Chris Whitney’s awesome 301 Raceway, and it really is a great time hanging out with my close friends, as well as many long-distance friends.

From the first day of practice, my Kyosho Evolva M3 was great. We started with the same setup we ran a few months ago at the Capitol Classic, and we did not make many changes. Rick Davis, as he always does, did incredible work preparing the car. I feel very fortunate to have Rick’s expertise in my corner. Thanks Rick! I tested and ran 3 new NovaRossi 359 engines, and all of them were awesome, and ready to compete. We all survived two very long practice days at the track feeling that we were ready to do well in qualifying.

Tears of Joy!!

Scott's Car

Sunday September 7th was Finals Day. This is what everyone had been working towards. The qualifying order had been established after Friday’s four rounds, using the "qualifying points" system. The Finals would be run using a "ladder system", similar to that used by IFMAR. The top eight racers in the 1/8 Open Class were placed directly in the Final. The remainder of the racers would be divided into "odd" and "even" groups, and each would work their way up through a series of 1/32 finals, 1/16 finals, 1/8 finals, ¼ finals, and then the semi-finals. The racers who came in first and second in each of these sub-finals would advance to the next higher final. After the semi-finals, the two best racers from each group would advance into the main final. As for the rest, those racers who finished first, second, and third after the bump-ups had advanced, would be given trophies for their finishing position.

301 Raceway as Seen by Chris Whitney

Some Guys Have All the Fun

Start of 1/8 Open Final

Sunday, September 7 was Finals day. With Saturday's rainout, the final qualifying order was based on qualifying points for Friday's four rounds of qualifying.

The weather forecast for today was cloudy skies, but with all remnants of the hurricane moving out so quickly, we were greeted with bright sunny skies and the prospect of an excellent day for racing.

The track was re-sprayed, and with an hour or so of practice it should be in reasonably good condition for racing. As the day goes on, it should improve.

The Finals are being run in an "IFMAR style" ladder system. The first two finishers in each lower final will bump up to the next higher Final. The next three cars in each Final will receive the awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for each race.

Scott Kimbrow, TQ, 1/8 Open

Eli Ezrow, TQ, 1/8 Masters

Chris Whitney preparing the track at dawn

301 Raceway during Qualifying

Scott Kimbrow on his way to another TQ

Mike Swauger, Up Close

Because of oncoming hurricane Hannah, the race schedule was adjusted to hopefully get in as much racing as possible despite the nasty storm. The forecast remains good weather until tonight, when we get clobbered with lots of rain. We are expecting Saturday to be lost to the weather, and therefore the goal is to get in four rounds of qualifying today. The plans call for a re-sort of the qualifiers after the first two rounds.

As this is being written, early Friday morning, it's bright and sunny outside. The track seems in great condition. Practice started early, just a little after sunrise. It will continue until the driver's meeting, scheduled for 9am. Racing starts at 9:30.

The track opened at 8am Thursday, as racers came in to set up their pit areas and started practicing. It's unusual in much of the USA to find an r/c track with as much space as is available at 301 Raceway. Chris Whitney owns a huge tract of land. There's plenty of space for everything, and lots of room for future expansion. The available space reminds me of the World Championships at Club Pegaso, in Mexico. It's a far cry from the limited space at most race sites here in the US. The actual track size is currently 250 x 130, with a race line of 1125 feet.

The rest of the race officials flew in last night. Steve Webster will be the Race Director, Ted 'X' Brown will be doing Announcing. Bob Ingersoll will be the Tech Director. Rubin Benitez will be doing Timing and Scoring. Ed Hill will be the DRO (Designated ROAR Official). Track owner Chris Whitney has signed in, and may run himself. Chris usually races in the 1/10 scale class.

The Racers

ROAR (Radio Operated Automobile Racing) is the sanctioning body for Radio-Controlled (R/C) car racing in the US. This year, the 1:8 scale (eighth scale) on-road National Championships are being held at 301 Raceway in Brandywine Maryland.

1:8 scale cars are the scale equivalents of the LMP cars in the LeMans Grand Prix series. They run on a road course, and are the fastest cars in R/C racing. They run on .21 cubic inch fuel-powered engines, have two speed automatic transmissions, four wheel drive, independent suspension, and vented disc brakes. These cars have everything their full scale counterparts have, including camber, caster, toe adjustments, and many more adjustments. If you can change something on a full-size car, you can make the same adjustment on these model racing cars...

Click on the images below for a larger view.

301 Raceway during open practice Wednesday afternoon

A view from behind the Driver's Stand