07/10/2026
With great anticipation and excitement the 9th race in the 11 race Championship Series at RARC landed to a bumper 60 plus entries with grids in all the classes jam packed with tallent and speed! A few of the older racers made a comeback and the pits was buzzing with eagerness to get laps down. The Saturday Practice showed the layout for the weekend was a lot faster than anticipated. Here is what went down, class per class:
*VRX Octane XL
1) Shawn De Meyer - VRX Octane XL
2) Johan Truter - VRX Octane XL
3) Nico Jonker - VRX Octane XL
Young gun Shawn showed restraint and concentration at the right times to cut clean laps and walk into a 1st place. In 2nd was Johan having a massive fight with his own vastly overpowered car, very entertaining to watch him try and keep it under control, Nico in 3rd playing it safe and grabbing a podium spot.
*Tamiya M-Chassis
1) Ryno Pienaar - Tamiya MB-01
2) Emil Beckmann - Tamiya M-05
3) Ewan Koen - Tamiya MB-01
The MB-01 chassis racers can now say that they have the platform well sorted, Ryno with a 1st and Ewan with a 3rd. In 2nd was the 2025 Champion Emil with his trusty M-05. These results do not show the bare knuckle battles that was happening almost every lap the entire day. The racers were walking away from the driver's stand a few shades more pale and a case of the rattles. The racing in this class is massively close and every fault demotes a driver a few places.
*2wd Buggy
1) Ryno Pienaar - Tamiya Astute TD2
2) Ewan Koen - Team Associated B6.3
3) Juan Lappies Labuschagne - Team Associated B6.3
In a very surprising move Ryno made a chassis change from his well known Team Associated to a unknown Tamiya TD2, as far as we can tell the only one being raced in South Africa! Here put some serious development time into the suspension to get the chassis dialed and it showed on the day, 1st place shifting to him. In 2nd place was Ewan, having to battle and hustle his way there, Lappies giving chase all the way. This class has evolved over the year and the gaps between drivers comes down to pure pace and the least amount of mistakes.
*Short Course Truck B-Main
1) Jan Dreyer - Team Associated SC10V2
2) Charles Bastone - Traxxas Slash
3) Janco Dreyer - PR SCT10
Jan went to the main ready to take top spot and he did not back down until the last lap was done, pushing for lap times! In 2nd place was Charles with the most sideways SCT on the day, his mad slides through the long sweepers was very much enjoyed by the spectators! One of your young racers Janco grabbing 3rd place while trying to get close to Charles!
*Short Course Truck A-Main
1) Martin Deysel - Team Associated SC6.4
2) Ewan Koen - Team Associated SC6.2
3) Christoff Meyer - Team Associated SC6.4
When enough time and effort is put into racing, and the natural tallent and nerves play along there is only one result, and that is a win! Martin locked down on the day and secured his maiden 1st place in this highly competitive class! He kept his Team Associated Truck in the lines and kept mistakes to the minimum for the top spot. In 2nd place was a very hard charging Ewan Koen who did not back down from a bit of door rubbing and in 3rd place was points leader Christoff, his solid pace getting him on the podium.
*Tamiya Stock Touring
1) Nico Jonker - Tamiya TT01E
2) Johan Truter - Tamiya TT01E
3) Francois Benade - Tamiya TT01E
Nico was the racer who played it safe, but in a fast way! His 1st place was hard worked as he was chased all the way to the line by Johan on 2nd place. In 3rd place was Francois with a new style of body that took some getting used to and by the end of the day his pace had increased a lot! With a almost box stock class, affordable electronics and RARC Race Shop tires this class always gives close and furious racing!
*Tamiya Stock Touring Pro
1) Lappies Labuschagne - Tamiya TT01E
2) Abrie Du Plooy - Tamiya TT01E
3) Jacques Boucher - Tamiya TT01E
The Pro segment of this popular class is to accommodate races that have more experience and still want the thrills of proper stock racing. Lappies nailed the 1st place with newcomer to the class Abrie solidly finding his feet in the second final to secure a 2nd place. Jacques with his usual sliding and sideways antics took 3rd for the day, his unique line choices made many racers question their life choices.
*21.5 Spec Touring B-Main
1) Lappies Labuschagne - XRAY X4
2) Martin Deysel - XRAY X4
3) Dawid Johannes Liebenberg - Yokomo RS1.0
Lappies and Martin were trading fastest laps the whole day, the gap was so close at times it looked like two clone cars going around the track! Lappies kept it together for a 1st and Martin hooking the 2nd. DJ and his trusty Yokomo did enough to secure a 3d and kept the other racers at bay.
*21.5 Spec Touring A-Main
1) Sj Coetzer - Team Associated TC7 Custom
2) Brian Botha - Team Associated TC8
3) Ryno Pienaar - Team Associated TC8
The grid was populated with SA champions, regional champions, Tamiya Cup champions, National winners and competitors. There was absolutely no lack of tallent and knowledge in this class and it showed. With some of the closest and hardest racing seen the on track action was WILD! SJ stepped up with his breathed on TC7.1 custom and took top honors with Brian close enough to smell what shampoo his was using with a white knuckle 2nd place. In 3rd was Ryno, the size of his pupils indicating the second final was one that got the heart rate going.
The RC Racing scene at RARC is alive and kicking drop goals al over the show, the dedicated group of racers making it the busiest track in SA! The spectator base is also growing with each race with regulars showing up to witness the action. We at RARC would like to say thank you to each racer and spectator that makes the race days a ton of fun. For this month there will be the RallyX Finals and the 10th Points Race for the year! As always, Stay Radio Active!