This past weekend the 2023 RCRA 1/8 Off-Road Australian Titles took place at the MORBC (Model Off-Road Buggy Club) track located near Whiteman Park, WA, Australia. This is the same track that hosted hosted the 2018 IFMAR 1/8 Fuel Off-Road Worlds, and this event saw nearly 200 entries competing in six different classes. The premiere class at this event was the 1/8 Nitro Buggy class which saw 74 different drivers competing for the national championship.
The event kicked off on Thursday with one controlled practice round followed by two rounds of seeding. On Friday the drivers competed in three rounds of qualifying, and the program called for five rounds in total. So if a driver could finish as the top qualifier in three rounds they would secure the TQ spot for their respective class. The final two rounds of qualifying were ran on Saturday, and all nitro and electric qualifiers ran for 10 minutes each. After the qualifying was complete the lower mains were ran until about 5:30pm that night.
Team driver Alex Bernadzik would lead the charge for the JConcepts team as he qualified 2nd overall in 1/8 Nitro Buggy class after five rounds which included a TQ run in round 2! He also qualified 2nd overall in the 1/8 Electric Buggy class which included TQ runs in rounds two and three of qualifying! In the electric classes they used a AAA format for the A Mains, while the lower mains ran a AA race format. Both formats ran their main races for 10 minutes each, and the top 10 drivers from qualifying were locked into the A Mains. The lower mains would bump up the top five finishers so that meant some good, competitive racing in the lower mains as drivers tried to transfer to big show.
The nitro program was different as drivers still had to race their way into the one hour Finals, so even if they qualified high they still had to finish well in the lower mains. Alex had a little bit of bad luck in his semi final as he finished 5th which placed him in the 12th spot in the 15 car final. However, it wouldn’t take long for Alex to charge towards the front as by lap 11 he would move up to 2nd place. On lap 17 he would take control of the lead and never look back as he cross the finish line with a four lap cushion!
In the electric finals he would finish in 2nd overall in both A1 and A2, and in the 3rd A main he would cross the line in 1st place! After the points were tallied up he would finish 2nd overall on the podium!
Team products used:
- 3175 – A2 and Blue compound Stalkers 1/8 buggy tire
- 3121 – Green and Blue compound Reflex 1/8 buggy tire
- 4034 – Blue compound Relapse 1/8 buggy tire
- 3186 – Blue compound Kosmos 1/8 buggy tire
- 0477 – S15 RC8B4e body
- 0478 – S15 RC8B4 body
- 3357 – Mono 1/8 buggy wheels
- 2507B – RC8B4 | RC8B4e Fin Titanium Turnbuckle Set – Black, 5pc.
- 2800 – F2I 1/8 buggy and truggy wing
- 0505 – Front Wing for the RC8B4 | RC8B4e
Photo credit: Team Associated Australia