TheIFMAR 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 theInternational 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)^[1] 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 to1:10 scale electric off-road buggies with those of2WD and4WD 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 until2015 when the decision was made to run controversially onartificial turf.^[2]

In the 2WD classAssociated Electrics, holds distinction for the most wins for manufacturers with a total of 13;Masami Hirosaka of Japan, hold the record with three wins. In the 4WD classYokomo holds distinction for the most wins for manufacturers; Hirosaka, holding the record with three wins.

1987

1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

2023

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Host Venues for the IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship

1987

1993

1999

2003

2005

2011

2013

2015

2019

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Host Venues for the IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship

Ed.	Year	Bloc	! Host Club	Venue	Location	Country	Surface	Source
01	1985	ROAR	Ranch Pit Shop	Ranch Pit Shop	Del Mar,San Diego,California	United States	Hardpack
02	1987	EFRA	Romsey Off-Road Club	Malthouse Inn	Timsbury, Hampshire[nb 1]	United Kingdom	Dirt	[3]
03	1989	FEMCA	St Ives Off Road Radio Control Car Club	St. Ives Showground	St Ives, New South Wales	Australia	Dirt
04	1991	ROAR	Team SEMROCC Racing	Freedom Hill Park	Sterling Heights, Michigan[nb 2]	United States	Dirt
05	1993	EFRA	Thames Estuary Model Auto Circuits	Pipps Hill Leisure Complex	Basildon,Essex	United Kingdom	Dirt
06	1995	FEMCA	JMRCA Kanto	Yatabe Arena	Tsukuba, Ibaraki	Japan	Dirt
07	1997	ROAR	Ranch Pit Shop	Ranch Pit Shop	Pomona, California	United States	Blue Groove
08	1999	EFRA	Rauman Urheiluautoilijat	Uimahalli	Rauma,Satakunta	Finland	Dirt
09	2002	FAMAR	Tshwane Raceway And Promotions	Skilpad Tortoise Hall	Pretoria,Gauteng[nb 3]	South Africa	Dirt
10	2003	ROAR	Minnreg RC Car Club	Minnreg RC Speedway	Largo, Florida	United States	Blue Groove
11	2005	EFRA	AF Model Rings	AF Model Rings	Collegno,Piedmont	Italy	Dirt
12	2007	FEMCA	Hakusan Ichirino RC Club	Hakusan Arena	Ishikawa,Chūbu region	Japan	Dirt
13	2009	FAMAR	Tshwane Raceway and Promotions	TRAP R/C Venue	Pretoria,Gauteng	South Africa	Dirt
14	2011	EFRA	Vaasan Urheiluautoilijat	Pitkämäki Race-Centre	Vaasa,Ostrobothnia	Finland	Clay	[4]
15	2013	ROAR	A-Main Hobbies	Silver Dollar R/C Raceway	Chico, California	United States	Blue Groove	[5]
16	2015	FEMCA	JMRCA Kanto	Yatabe Arena	Tsukuba, Ibaraki	Japan	Astroturf	[6]
17	2017	FEMCA	3-Circles	ARC International Raceway	Xiamen,Fujian	China	Dirt	[7]
18	2019	EFRA	Hudy Arena	Hudy Arena	Trenčín,Trenčín Region	Slovakia	Clay
19	2023	ROAR	Hobby Action	Hobby Action RC Raceway	Chandler, Arizona	United States		[8]
20	2025	FEMCA	Hills Offroad RC Car Club		Castle Hill, New South Wales	Australia	Dirt

Year	Name	Car	Motor	ESC	Transmitter	Source	Report
1985	Jay Halsey	Associated RC10	Reedy	Novak NESC-1	Airtronics	[9][10]	Report

Split into two classes in 1987

Year	Name	Car	Motor	ESC	Transmitter	Source	Report
1985	Gil Losi Jr.	YokomoYZ-834B	Trinity	Novak NESC-1	Airtronics	[9][10]	Report

Year	Name	Car	Motor	ESC	Transmitter	Source	Report
1987	Joel Johnson	Kyosho Ultima	Trinity Monster Pure Gold	Tekin ESC100	KO Propo EX-1	[11]	Report
1989	Masami Hirosaka	Associated RC10GX	Reedy	KO Propo CX-III	KO Propo Esprit	[12]	Report
1991	Masami Hirosaka	Associated RC10GX	Reedy	Novak 410-M1c	KO Propo	[13]	Report
1993	Brian Kinwald	Associated RC10	Reedy	Novak 410-M1c	Airtronics CS2P	[14][15]	Report
1995	Matt Francis	Associated RC10B2	Reedy Sonic	LRP ICS Digital	Airtronics Caliber 3Ps	[16]	Report
1997	Brian Kinwald	Losi XX-CR	Trinity	Novak Cyclone	Airtronics Caliber 3PS	[17]	Report
1999	Masami Hirosaka	Associated RC10B3	Reedy	GM Racing V12	KO Propo Esprit Vantage	[18]	Report
2002	Matt Francis	Losi XXX	Trinity	LRP	Airtronics M8	[19]	Report
2003	Billy Easton	Associated RC10B4	Reedy Rx	LRP QC2	Airtronics M8	[20]	Report
2005	Neil Cragg	Associated RC10B4	Reedy Ti	Nosram Razor	KO Propo EX-10	[21]	Report
2007	Hayato Matsuzaki	Associated RC10B4	Checkpoint	KO Propo VFS-1 Pro Competition 3	KO Propo EX-10 Helios C2	[22]	Report
2009	Martin Achter	Associated RC10B4	CS Magnetic Delta	CS Rocket Competition	Sanwa M11X	[23]	Report
2011	Ryan Cavalieri	Associated RC10B4.1	Team Orion Vortex VST Pro	LRP SXX	Airtronics M11X	[24]	Report
2013	Jared Tebo	Kyosho Ultima RB6	Team Orion Vortex VST2	Team Orion Vortex R10	KO Propo EX-10 Eurus	[25]	Report
2015	Spencer Rivkin	Associated RC10B5M	Reedy Sonic Mach 2	Reedy Blackbox 410R	AirtronicsM12S	[26]	Report
2017	Ryan Maifield	YokomoYZ-2 DTM	Team Orion Vortex VST2	Team Orion HMX	AirtronicsM12S	[27]	Report
2019	Spencer Rivkin	Associated RC10B6.1DL	HobbyWing XeRun V10 G3	HobbyWing XeRun XR10 Pro Elite	Futaba 7PX	[28]	Report
2023	Michael “Tater” Sontag	TLR 22 5.0 DC ELITE	HobbyWing G3 7.0T	Fantom Pro 2.0	M12S	[29]	Report
2025	Broc Champlin	Schumacher LD3	Hobbywing Xerun V10 G3 8.0T	Hobbywing Xerun XR10 Pro G3	Sanwa M17 / PowerHD GTS-3	[30][31]	Report

Year	Name	Car	Motor	ESC	Transmitter	Source	Report
1987	Masami Hirosaka	SchumacherCAT XL	HPI UNO Blue Label	KO Propo CX-I	KO Propo Esprit	[11]	Report
1989	Masami Hirosaka	YokomoYZ-870C	Reedy	KO Propo CX-III	KO Propo Esprit	[12]	Report
1991	Cliff Lett	YokomoYZ-10 Works '91	Reedy Mr. M	Novak 410-M1c	Airtronics	[13]	Report
1993	Masami Hirosaka	YokomoYZ-10 WC Special	Reedy	Novak 410-HPc	KO Propo Esprit II	[14][15]	Report
1995	Mark Pavidis	YokomoYZ-10	Reedy Sonic	LRP ICS Digital	Airtronics CS2P	[16]	Report
1997	Masami Hirosaka	YokomoMX-4	Reedy	Tekin M-Star Red	KO Propo Esprit Vantage	[17]	Report
1999	Jukka Steenari	Losi XX-4	Team Orion	Novak Cyclone	Sanwa M8	[18]	Report
2002	Jukka Steenari	Losi XX-4	Orion	Novak	Sanwa M8	[32]	Report
2003	Ryan Cavalieri	Losi XXX-4	Trinity D5	Novak GTX	Airtronics M8	[33]	Report
2005	Ryan Cavalieri	JConcepts BJ4 Worlds Edition	Trinity Epic Shock	LRP QC3	Airtronics M11	[21]	Report
2007	Jared Tebo	Associated RC10B44	Checkpoint	LRP QC3	Futaba 3PK Super	[34]	Report
2009	Martin Achter	Team Durango DEX410	CS Magnetic Delta	CS Rocket Competition	Sanwa M11X	[35]	Report
2011	Ryan Cavalieri	Associated RC10B44.1	Orion Vortex VST Pro	Orion Vortex R10 Pro	Airtronics M11X	[36]	Report
2013	Steven Hartson	Associated RC10B44.2	LRP Vector X20	LRP Flow WorksTeam	Futaba 4PKS-R	[37]	Report
2015	Bruno Coelho	XRAY XB4 16	LRP Vector X20	LRP Flow WorksTeam	Sanwa M12S		Report
2017	Ryan Maifield	Yokomo YZ-4 SF	Team Orion VST2	Team Orion HMX	Sanwa M12S	[27]	Report
2019	Bruno Coelho	Xray XB4 20	HobbyWing XeRun V10 G3	HobbyWing XeRun XR10 Pro Elite	Sanwa M17		Report
2023	Davide Ongaro	Associated RC10B74.2	Hobbywing v10 g3	Hobbywing xr10 G2s	Sanwa		Report
2025	Marcus Kaerup	Associated RC1084D	Hobbywing Xerun V10 G3 6.5T	Hobbywing Xerun XR10 Pro G3	Sanwa M17 / Savox SB3262SG	[38]	Report

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”,^[39] it has attracted some of the biggest brands from the hobby and toy industries that includedNikko,^[39]Tomy,^[40]Tamiya^[39] andTraxxas.^[41] Only the latter two had greater success at the A-mains with Tamiya achieving 2nd byLee Martin in2013^[42] and Scott Montgomery's 8th for Traxxas in 1991, both in 2WD.

At the1989 Worlds, it was claimed byRadio Control Car Action that virtually every manufacturers, who had a 1:10 buggy on the market, was represented. In a bid to add to their 1987 4WD Title;Schumacher, a title sponsor, handed out their latest 2wd car, theTop Cat, to any contender who was interested in representing them.^[39]

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.^[39] By the time of the1991 Worlds, this practice was enforced by a majority of manufacturers.^[43] This was in contrast to the1986 IFMAR 1:8 IC Off-Road World Championship, when Japanese entrants fromKyosho 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 theBurns in late-1987 and then, at the turn of the decade came the highly successfulInferno series that dominated racing from then on.^[44]

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 theYatabe Arena back home.^[39] 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.^[45][46]

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.^[47]

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, were2+1⁄4 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 itsJR-X2, ended with mixed results for drivers as the rim ended up being bent out of shape and discarded for Losi's standard wheel.^[48][39]

Some who attempted to bend the rules were not lucky such as at the1993 Worlds; the electric motor ofBen Sturnham's Schumacher CAT 2000 was found with a hybrid motor illegal under IFMAR regulation regardless if it was compliant with the host countryBRCA's regulations, his Tanaplan motor consisted of parts by other manufacturer of approved motors including Epic can andarmature withYokomo 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^[49]

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.^[50] 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.^[51] 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 orseeding in their home blocs whereas Travis Amezcua and David Ronnefalk, despite appearing at the A-main once previously, starts in practice group 14.^[51] Usually the final rounds are used as controlled practice.^[50] 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.^[52] 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).^[53]

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 aTQ (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.^[54]

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^[55] 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.^[56] 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^[57][58] and the rest run under a single 5 minute heat.^[52]

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.^[59] The practice would instead start with drivers who are ranked according to their performance in 2WD the day before.^[60]

2WD [edit] Rank Driver Wins 1 Masami Hirosaka 3 2 Brian Kinwald 2 Matt Francis Spencer Rivkin

4WD [edit] Rank Driver Wins 1 Masami Hirosaka 4 2 Ryan Cavalieri 3 3 Jukka Steenari 2 Bruno Coelho

2WD [edit] Rank Manufacturer Wins 1 Team Associated 12 2 Team Losi 3 3 Kyosho 2 4 Yokomo 1 Schumacher Total 19

4WD [edit] Rank Manufacturer Wins 1 Yokomo 6 2 Team Associated 5 3 Team Losi 3 4 XRAY 2 Schumacher 6 JConcepts 1 Team Durango Schumacher Total 19

2WD [edit] Rank Manufacturer Wins 1 Reedy 8 2 HobbyWing 3 Team Orion Trinity 6 Team Checkpoint 1 CS Electronic

4WD [edit] Rank Manufacturer Wins 1 Reedy 5 2 Team Orion 4 3 HobbyWing 3 4 LRP Electronic 2 Trinity 6 HPI 1 Team Checkpoint CS Electronic

2WD [edit] Rank Manufacturer Wins 1 LRP Electronic 4 2 Novak Electronics 3 3 KO Propo 2 Team Orion HobbyWing 6 CS Electronic 1 GM Racing Nosram Phantom Reedy Tekin

4WD [edit] Rank Manufacturer Wins 1 Novak Electronics 5 LRP Electronic 3 HobbyWing 3 4 KO Propo 2 Team Orion 6 Tekin 1 CS Electronic

2WD [edit] Rank Manufacturer Wins 1 Airtronics 8 2 KO Propo 7 3 Sanwa 3 4 Futaba 1

4WD [edit] Rank Manufacturer Wins 1 Sanwa 8 2 Airtronics 5 3 KO Propo 4 4 Futaba 2

2WD [edit] Rank Nation Wins 1 United States 11 2 Japan 4 3 United Kingdom 1 Germany

4WD [edit] Rank Nation Wins 1  United States 9 2  Japan 4 3  Finland 2  Portugal 5  Germany 1

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.

2WD [edit] Rank Total Nation Year 1 9 United States 1985 United States 1995 United States 1997 United States 2003 5 8 United States 1993 United States 2001 7 7 United States 1989 United States 1993 United States 2005 South Africa 2009 11 6 United States 1999 United States 2007 13 5 United States 1987 United States 1991 United States 2011 United States 2013 United States 2015

4WD [edit] Rank Total Nation Year 1 9 United States 1985 2 8 United States 1995 United States 2003 4 7 United States 1991 United States 1999 South Africa 2009 7 6 United States 2001 United States 2013 9 5 United States 1987 United States 1989 United States 1993 United States 1997 United States 2007

2WD [edit] Rank Total Nation Year 1 8 Associated Electrics 1985 Associated Electrics 2007 3 7 Associated Electrics 2005 4 6 Team Losi 1997 5 5 Kyosho 1987 Associated Electrics 1987 Associated Electrics 1989 Associated Electrics 1995 Team Losi 1995 Team Losi 1997 Associated Electrics 1997 Associated Electrics 2011

4WD [edit] Rank Total Nation Year 1 8 Yokomo 1995 Team Losi 1999 3 7 Yokomo 1985 4 6 Yokomo 1993 5 5 Kyosho 1987 Yokomo 1989 Yokomo 1991

• IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship
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