IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship

IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship
First race1985
Duration3 rounds of 5 minute heats (A-main)
1 round of 5 minute heat (others)
Most wins (driver)2WD = Masami Hirosaka (3)
4WD = Masami Hirosaka (4)
Most wins (manufacturer)2WD = Team Associated (13)
4WD = Yokomo (7)
Circuit information
SurfaceDirt (1985–1991, 1995, 2002, 2005)
Clay (1993, 1997–1999, 2007–2011)
Blue groove (2003, 2013)
Artificial turf (2015)

The IFMAR World Championship for 1:10th Electric Off-Road Cars (officially "IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship") is a world championship radio controlled car race sanctioned by the International Federation of Model Auto Racing (IFMAR). It takes place biennially on odd years since 1987 in its current format but inaugurated in 1985 as a championship for Stock (stock handout motor) and Modified class (modified motors and seven cells) It is considered by the radio-controlled modelling industry to be the most prestigious event in the calendar that a number of mainstream hobby and toy brands have fielded factory entries.

The event is open exclusively to 1:10 scale electric off-road buggies with those of 2WD and 4WD drivetrain, competing separately. These are characterized by its large wheels designed for off-road driving and enclosed single-seater bodyshell with large rear spoiler.

Despite taking place under the same host and venue, the two championships are regarded as separate events, therefore in between them, the circuit is required to be rebuilt and reconfigured differently.

All the world championships took place on dirt or clay tracks until 2015 when the decision was made to run controversially on artificial turf.

In the 2WD class Associated Electrics, holds distinction for the most wins for manufacturers with a total of 11; Masami Hirosaka of Japan, hold the record with three wins. In the 4WD class Yokomo holds distinction for the most wins for manufacturers; Hirosaka, holding the record with three wins.

Venues

Host Venues for the IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship
Host Venues for the IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship
Year Bloc ! Host Club Venue Location Country Surface Source
1985 ROAR Ranch Pit Shop Ranch Pit Shop Del Mar, San Diego, California  United States Hardpack
1987 EFRA Romsey Off-Road Club Malthouse Inn Timsbury, Hampshire  United Kingdom Dirt
1989 FEMCA St Ives Off Road Radio Control Car Club St. Ives Showground St Ives, New South Wales  Australia Dirt
1991 ROAR Team SEMROCC Racing Freedom Hill Park Sterling Heights, Michigan  United States Dirt
1993 EFRA Thames Estuary Model Auto Circuits Pipps Hill Leisure Complex Basildon, Essex  United Kingdom Dirt
1995 FEMCA JMRCA Kanto Yatabe Arena Tsukuba, Ibaraki  Japan Dirt
1997 ROAR Ranch Pit Shop Ranch Pit Shop Pomona, California  United States Blue Groove
1999 EFRA Rauman Urheiluautoilijat Uimahalli Rauma, Satakunta  Finland Dirt
2002 FAMAR Tshwane Raceway And Promotions Skilpad Tortoise Hall Pretoria, Gauteng  South Africa Dirt
2003 ROAR Minnreg RC Car Club Minnreg RC Speedway Largo, Florida  United States Blue Groove
2005 EFRA AF Model Rings AF Model Rings Collegno, Piedmont  Italy Dirt
2007 FEMCA Hakusan Ichirino RC Club Hakusan Arena Ishikawa, Chūbu  Japan Dirt
2009 FAMAR Tshwane Raceway and Promotions TRAP R/C Venue Pretoria, Gauteng  South Africa Dirt
2011 EFRA Vaasan Urheiluautoilijat Pitkämäki Race-Centre Vaasa, Ostrobothnia  Finland Clay
2013 ROAR A-Main Hobbies Silver Dollar R/C Raceway Chico, California  United States Blue Groove
2015 FEMCA JMRCA Kanto Yatabe Arena Tsukuba, Ibaraki  Japan Astroturf
2017 FEMCA 3-Circles ARC International Raceway Xiamen, Fujian  China Dirt
2019 EFRA Hudy Arena Hudy Arena Trencin, Trenčín  Slovakia Clay
2023 ROAR Hobby Action Hobby Action RC Raceway Chandler, Arizona  United States

IFMAR World Championship Winners

Stock

Year Name Car Motor ESC Transmitter Source Report
1985 United States Jay Halsey Associated RC10 Reedy Novak NESC-1 Airtronics Report

Unlimited

Split into two classes in 1987

Year Name Car Motor ESC Transmitter Source Report
1985 United States Gil Losi Jr. Yokomo YZ-834B Trinity Novak NESC-1 Airtronics Report

2WD

Year Name Car Motor ESC Transmitter Source Report
1987 United States Joel Johnson Kyosho Ultima Trinity Monster Pure Gold Tekin ESC100 KO Propo EX-1 Report
1989 Japan Masami Hirosaka Associated RC10GX Reedy KO Propo CX-III KO Propo Esprit Report
1991 Japan Masami Hirosaka Associated RC10GX Reedy Novak 410-M1c KO Propo Report
1993 United States Brian Kinwald Associated RC10 Reedy Novak 410-M1c Airtronics CS2P Report
1995 United States Matt Francis Associated RC10B2 Reedy Sonic LRP ICS Digital Airtronics Caliber 3Ps Report
1997 United States Brian Kinwald Losi XX-CR Trinity Novak Cyclone Airtronics Caliber 3PS Report
1999 Japan Masami Hirosaka Associated RC10B3 Reedy GM Racing V12 KO Propo Esprit Vantage Report
2002 United States Matt Francis Losi XXX Trinity LRP Airtronics M8 Report
2003 United States Billy Easton Associated RC10B4 Reedy Rx LRP QC2 Airtronics M8 Report
2005 United Kingdom Neil Cragg Associated RC10B4 Reedy Ti Nosram Razor KO Propo EX-10 Report
2007 Japan Hayato Matsuzaki Associated RC10B4 Checkpoint KO Propo VFS-1 Pro Competition 3 KO Propo EX-10 Helios C2 Report
2009 Germany Martin Achter Associated RC10B4 CS Magnetic Delta CS Rocket Competition Sanwa M11X Report
2011 United States Ryan Cavalieri Associated RC10B4.1 Team Orion Vortex VST Pro LRP SXX Airtronics M11X Report
2013 United States Jared Tebo Kyosho Ultima RB6 Team Orion Vortex VST2 Team Orion Vortex R10 KO Propo EX-10 Eurus Report
2015 United States Spencer Rivkin Associated RC10B5M Reedy Sonic Mach 2 Reedy Blackbox 410R Airtronics

M12S

Report
2017 United States Ryan Maifield Yokomo YZ-2 DTM Team Orion Vortex VST2 Team Orion HMX Airtronics M12S Report
2019 United States Spencer Rivkin Associated RC10B6.1DL HobbyWing XeRun V10 G3 HobbyWing XeRun XR10 Pro Elite Futaba 7PX Report
2023 United States Michael “Tater” Sontag TLR 22 5.0 DC ELITE HobbyWing G3 7.0T Fantom Pro 2.0 M12S Report

4WD

Year Name Car Motor ESC Transmitter Source Report
1987 Japan Masami Hirosaka Schumacher CAT XL HPI UNO Blue Label KO Propo CX-I KO Propo Esprit Report
1989 Japan Masami Hirosaka Yokomo YZ-870C Reedy KO Propo CX-III KO Propo Esprit Report
1991 United States Cliff Lett Yokomo YZ-10 Works '91 Reedy Mr. M Novak 410-M1c Airtronics Report
1993 Japan Masami Hirosaka Yokomo YZ-10 WC Special Reedy Novak 410-HPc KO Propo Esprit II Report
1995 United States Mark Pavidis Yokomo YZ-10 Reedy Sonic LRP ICS Digital Airtronics CS2P Report
1997 Japan Masami Hirosaka Yokomo MX-4 Reedy Tekin M-Star Red KO Propo Esprit Vantage Report
1999 Finland Jukka Steenari Losi XX-4 Team Orion Novak Cyclone Sanwa M8 Report
2002 Finland Jukka Steenari Losi XX-4 Orion Novak Sanwa M8 Report
2003 United States Ryan Cavalieri Losi XXX-4 Trinity D5 Novak GTX Airtronics M8 Report
2005 United States Ryan Cavalieri JConcepts BJ4 Worlds Edition Trinity Epic Shock LRP QC3 Airtronics M11 Report
2007 United States Jared Tebo Associated RC10B44 Checkpoint LRP QC3 Futaba 3PK Super Report
2009 Germany Martin Achter Team Durango DEX410 CS Magnetic Delta CS Rocket Competition Sanwa M11X Report
2011 United States Ryan Cavalieri Associated RC10B44.1 Orion Vortex VST Pro Orion Vortex R10 Pro Airtronics M11X Report
2013 United States Steven Hartson Associated RC10B44.2 LRP Vector X20 LRP Flow WorksTeam Futaba 4PKS-R Report
2015 Portugal Bruno Coelho XRAY XB4 16 LRP Vector X20 LRP Flow WorksTeam Sanwa M12S Report
2017 United States Ryan Maifield Yokomo YZ-4 SF Team Orion VST2 Team Orion HMX Sanwa M12S Report
2019 Portugal Bruno Coelho Xray XB4 20 HobbyWing XeRun V10 G3 HobbyWing XeRun XR10 Pro Elite Sanwa M17 Report
2023 Italy Davide Ongaro Associated RC10B74.2 Hobbywing v10 g3 Hobbywing xr10 G2s Sanwa Report

Significance to the other Worlds events

As it is considered by the industry to be the most prestigious event in radio-controlled modelling, in an attempt to "generate sale revenue from their products”, it has attracted some of the biggest brands from the hobby and toy industries that included Nikko, Tomy, Tamiya and Traxxas. Only the latter two had greater success at the A-mains with Tamiya achieving 2nd by Lee Martin in 2013 and Scott Montgomery's 8th for Traxxas in 1991, both in 2WD.

At the 1989 Worlds, it was claimed by Radio Control Car Action that virtually every manufacturers, who had a 1:10 buggy on the market, was represented. In a bid to defend their 4WD title the same year; Schumacher, a title sponsor, handed out their latest car, the Top Cat, to any contender who was interested in representing them.

As a number of manufacturers spend a large sums of money to prepare their teams to ensure a win, as a result a number of those enforce secrecy to protect their prototypes from view. In one notable example, Team Associated, who was the only brand to field a prototype, refused to allow it to be photographed, covering their RC10 up with a towel on anybody who tried to and when forced an Australian team member to hand his film over as he managed to take a few shot of its exposed chassis during technical inspection. Losi in comparison managed to escape scrutiny as experimental two-speed transmission was kept secret and gave misleading answers to prying eyes. They switched to their conventional transmissions in the finals. By the time of the 1991 Worlds, this practice was enforced by a majority of manufacturers. This was in contrast to the 1986 IFMAR 1:8 IC Off-Road World Championship, when Japanese entrants from Kyosho clearly knew their outdated cars had little chance against their European competitors, freely took numerous photographs of their competitor's cars to benefit their research. The outcome became the Burns in late-1987 and then, at the turn of the decade came the highly successful Inferno series that dominated racing from then on.

To prepare for the 1989 event, Yokomo technicians famously collected soil sample on the track for analysis back in Japan. They were allegedly spotted by locals wheeling around the circuit, a cart that had a video camera mounted on it to get a car's eye view of the track. The result was a duplicate of the track that became the Yatabe Arena back home. Nowadays, regulation require the circuit to be altered at over 60% of its layout, had it been used prior to commencement date and closed for a 2-day minimum, 3-day maximum prior to then.

Good preparation is key to winning as opposed to accessibility to prototype arts as Associated learned in 1993; when they felt their standard issue, aluminium chassis RC10 was best suited to the circuit, mechanics proceeded to modify Brian Kinwald's chassis by rounding its square edges. Its suspension arms was molded from a more rigid graphite.

Teams and drivers are prepared to bend rules in an attempt to win. In 1989, Yokomo's TR-31 tires, only made available to Yokomo and Associated drivers, became a subject of scrutiny due to its size, given the speed its Yokomos and Associated were going.

The tires, were 2+14 inches tall (equivalent to 22 inch in full scale) which was illegal under ROAR regulation (maximum 2 inches) though IFMAR did not have such restrictions and was shipped in 30 boxes of tires from Japan. In comparison, Associated was quick to point out to the critics that at the 1987 Worlds, Kyosho fielded tires on its Ultima that was too wide for ROAR regulations.

Team Losi in retaliation, countered this by taking all the stops in the States to produce and ship over 100 pairs of oversize front tires, 200 pairs of rears and five sets of hand-machined aluminum wheels across the Pacific. The tires, only permitted on its JR-X2, ended with mixed results for drivers as the rim ended up being bent out of shape and discarded for Losi's standard wheel.

Some who attempted to bend the rules were not lucky such as at the 1993 Worlds; the electric motor of Ben Sturnham's Schumacher CAT 2000 was found with a hybrid motor illegal under IFMAR regulation regardless if it was compliant with the host country BRCA's regulations, his Tanaplan motor consisted of parts by other manufacturer of approved motors including Epic can and armature with Yokomo endbell. Sturnham had his 3rd-place finish demoted to a 10th place after all his lap times was removed despite protests by Tanaplan's Martin Finnesey that it offered no performance enhancement.CITEREFHowell1993

Schedule

A maximum of 150 drivers take part, each continental blocs allocated 32 entries each, the host bloc an extra 10 and the final 10 allocated by IFMAR themselves; should any allocation be left unused, it would be reallocated to the remaining blocs. The event takes place over eight days in total with the first reserved for competitor's registration followed by its opening ceremony in the afternoon then the two sets of three days for competitions.

The competitions begin with a minimum of six practice rounds over groups of fifteen consisting of ten drivers each, starting with the less experienced, this determines the number of heats required and the minimum time needed between rounds. Each heat consists of drivers who are ranked in order of priority; final ranking in the previous Worlds, then those of each countries and the domestic entrants and additional entries. In this case, in the 2015 Worlds, debutants Spencer Rivkin and Bruno Coehlo started at the lower-to-mid practice group 6 and 11 respectively, whereas Steven Hartson, Jared Tebo, Naoto Matsukura and Lee Martin start together in group 15 as the former two are defending champions and the latter given their performance or seeding in their home blocs whereas Travis Amezcua and David Ronnefalk, despite appearing at the A-main once previously, starts in practice group 14. Usually the final rounds are used as controlled practice. At the 2015 Worlds, practice rounds consisted of four rounds of open practice and two rounds of seeding practice to group the drivers together by skill level. The second day of competition, following the second controlled practice, consists of four rounds of qualifying heats and for day three; the final qualifying session and race day. For each qualifying session, a group of up to ten cars start under the "staggered start" system (a driver each starting separately within of one second of being called).

After each 5 minute qualifying session, the best qualifier of the round is awarded zero points, 2 and 3 points for the 2nd and 3rd fastest qualifier and so on with the most points given to the slowest qualifier. Of five rounds in total, the best three overall performances (as opposed to lap times in full-sized motorsport) counts toward the driver's overall performance, two best rounds count toward three or four rounds completed and one round count toward two or one rounds. After all the points are totaled up, the driver with the fewest points is the best qualifier, thus is awarded a TQ (Top Qualifier) spot, enabling them to start in front of each round. Should they tie in points with another driver, the one with the lowest points score of the three is used to break the tie, if this fails, then the next set of points will be used until the tie is broken. If the points fail to break the tie, then the driver's laps and time from the lowest score will be used.

The groups are then split into ten groups of ten drivers in alphabets, pending on their performance in qualifying with A being the fastest of the groups Race day starts with the slowest groups first, working its way to the next faster groups up to the fastest, the A-main, then progresses to the 2nd heat. Each race runs for a total of five minutes with extra time to allow the driver to complete their laps. Only the A-main, the group that carries the only hope of taking the world championship title, has three heats with only two best performances that counts and a final practice in the afternoon during race day and the rest run under a single 5 minute heat.

Following the conclusion of the first championship, the event will have an off day as the circuit would have to be rebuilt and reconfigured to a different layout required by IFMAR regulations as accordingly the two Worlds are considered to be a separate events. The practice would instead start with drivers who are ranked according to their performance in 2WD the day before.

Statistics

Most Wins

Drivers

Car manufacturers

Motors

ESC

Transmitters

By Member Blocs (Drivers)

Win(s) by Nations (Drivers)

Most represented in final

Note: Italics on year represents in which a driver of the country or car manufacturer who failed to score a championship title, italics on nationalities indicate host nation.

Nations (drivers)

Car manufacturers


This page was last updated at 2023-12-08 04:00 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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