01/11/2026
🏆 Newcastle Onroad RC Raceway Club Day & LRC F1 Championship round Report - 1 Nov 26🏆
The asphalt was buzzing for a spectacular club race day featuring the highly anticipated LRC F1 Championship! Across multiple classes, drivers pushed their chassis to the limit, showcasing exceptional mechanical ingenuity, fierce on-track battles, and beautiful scale liveries.
🏎️ Formula 1 Championship Masterclass
The premier F1 class delivered a breathtaking show with an impressive 11-car grid roaring into the main events! Managing 2WD rear-wheel-drive platforms requires supreme throttle control and finesse, which was on full display as drivers like Ross Lalic, Brendon George, Anthony Bryant and Brent Love gracefully wheeled their machines around the circuit.
The F1 A1-Main went down as the race of the day, characterized by incredibly clean racing that saw all 11 cars finish the race! Ultimately, Ross Lalic drove a masterclass to take P1 overall in his iconic yellow/green Camel Benetton livery. Brendon George secured a brilliant P2, with Anthony Bryant locking down P3, Brent Love rounding out the top spots in P4. Lunch time open practice saw me following Brendon George's F1 around the track with Jas' Xray T4 21.5 😅 - I drove as fast as I could to follow his incredibly fast F1 and it was loads of fun.
🏁 Class-by-Class Highlights
• ISTC Sportsman 21.5: An absolute stellar day of racing in the 21.5 class! A huge congratulations to the podium finishers with Wade Faber taking P1, Nathan Bond P2, and John McMillan P3 overall.
• Vintage Trans Am (VTA): The VTA grid brought massive power and scale looks to the track. Wade Faber captured a fantastic P1 overall, with Robert Moxey driving a beauty of a race to finish P2, and Brendon George wrapping up the podium in P3. Moxey's car stood out not just for its pace, but for its gorgeous, nostalgic Dale Earnhardt #3 GM Goodwrench scale livery.
• Novice Class: The next generation of racers put on a thrilling show, particularly in the A2-Main where Nathan and Benji (Father and 4 1/2 years old son NPB RC Racing team) secured a brilliant P1 and P3 finish, while Daniel Shirley had fun runs with a TT02 Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo (after getting some tyre prep tips) and Maison Davies (with Team manager and chief mechanic Bob Beniston) dominated this class and take 1st overall for the event. Newcastle On Road R/C Car Club has one of the Best growing novice class in our region! 8 entries for this class which is great to see! - This Photo says it all - as the Club shirt reads It's "the Place to Race !!". Iain and Rob in club shirts, looking up to John on the ramp - Enjoy racing on this beautiful day.
• ISTC Stock 13.5: The grid welcomed back familiar face Shane Brandon after a long hiatus. He immediately found himself in the thick of the action, trading paint in some very fierce track battles with "Wheel Nut" Phil.
• FWD TCR 13.5 - "One on One" Race Director "James on the Mic" (P2) James Turner Vs Wheel Nut Phil Phil Carpenter(P1) epic battle.
• Fresh Faces & Vintage Tech: Newcomer John Lipus turned heads by bringing out a vintage 2007 Xray T2 chassis. It was beautifully wrapped in a classic Mazda 6 body sporting a vibrant Masami-style race livery.
🛠️ Paddock Tech & Personal Setup Breakthroughs
The search for Speed secrets for my racing steered me straight to the 21.5 podium pit area where Wade (Overall P1), Nathan (P2), and John (P3) were all pitting side-by-side 😅. After squeezing onto the grid for my race day in the 10th and final qualifying, some massive paddock teamwork helped turned things around for my A-Main runs.
Nathan Bond offered up some electronic expertise, programming three distinct changes to the Hobbywing XR10Pro G3 ESC drive frequencies. Tuning the drive frequency unlocked vital low-end punch to carry speed through the tight infield corners, while a higher brake frequency smoothed out the stopping power. Combined with an experimental rear winglet addition that noticeably settled the rear end, the car found a whole new level of handling to battle.
The breakthrough came during a chaotic A2-Main start. Capitalizing on the opening laps allowed for an incredible P4 finish in that leg for me, marking what was probably some of my best driving ever done here at Newcastle Onroad! That consistency ultimately paid off, netting a P7 overall finish from the back of the grid.
The custom front-wheel-drive converted TAMIYA（タミヤ） The RC Racer TT-02F "Down Under" project also underwent early practice testing for local spectator "Chop" - Running a 21.5-turn motor, the basic design punched well above its class, clicking off a highly impressive best lap of 19.4 seconds! - Awesome TT02F box signage Custom made by Jason Brown. - Just waiting on Nick Potts (Chief mechanic for this build) for final track test 😅
Getting closer to shaving off that 0.5 seconds per lap target in 21.5 Sportsman class —perhaps that Special Track Momento (a totally rusted out wheel nut from Nathan Bond) still in my pocket is finally working as promised! Only Time will tell—see you at the next round of racing. 🏎️💨
