User:Donnie Park/1987 IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship

The 1987 IFMAR/Parma 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship was the 2nd edition of the biennial IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship for 1:10 radio-controlled electric off-road buggies sanctioned by the International Federation of Model Auto Racing (IFMAR) to be run over two separate classes over eight days on 3rd through 9th August with each class running for three days each in total. The main sponsor of the Worlds was Parma International (now as Parma/PSE), a manufacturer of scale model bodies and paints.

The championships was organized by the British Radio Car Association (BRCA) on behalf of European Federation of Radio Operated Model Automobiles (EFRA) and hosted by the Romsey Off-Road Club in Romsey in Hampshire, United Kingdom. The championships took place at a circuit built on a land owned by John and Joan Rickman, landlords of the Malthouse Inn.

The championships experienced a major change to the Worlds, the sanctioning body made the decision to split the Unlimited class of the previous championships into the 4WD and 2WD class, the format that is still in use to this day; whereas the Stock class was discontinued.

Team Associated's Jay Halsey and Gil Losi, Jr., both of the United States, was the defending champions of the Stock and Unlimited class respectively. The 2WD class was won by Kyosho's Joel Johnson of the United States, who led a trio of Kyosho Ultimas against seven Associated RC10s but the championships is best known for the performance of the then unknown Masami Hirosaka in the 4WD class, who came from Japan without factory backing. He came into attention of Schumacher's management during practice session with an aged Schumacher CAT who provided him with an updated long wheelbased version, the CAT XL. With the new car, he was rewarded with a win the first of his record 14 titles. Kyosho employee, Katsunori Kondo of Japan, finished 2nd with a Ultima and Optima MID with Kris Moore of the United States in a Ultima (completing a hat-trick of three Kyoshos in a podium) and Jamie Booth of the United Kingdom with a CAT XL finishing third in the 2WD and 4WD classes respectively.

http://hirosaka.jp/story14.html

Incidentally at the 2013 Worlds, the 2WD class was also won by a Californian (Jared Tebo) with a Kyosho Ultima and like Johnson, using a KO Propo wheel transmitter.

Background
Following the inaugural Worlds in 1985 that took place in the United States, the hosting rights rotated toward EFRA, the European federation who awarded hosting rights to Romsey Off Road Club via BRCA.

Rule changes
Unlike previous year, all entrants in both class were required to run the 7.2v 6-cell battery, making the 8.4v 7-cell battery that the unlimited class ran at the previous Worlds, ineligible. The most significant changes of all was the Stock class was dropped and the Unlimited class was split into 2WD and 4WD, that began to be adopted and spread into worldwide use, beginning in 1986.

Circuit
The championships, hosted by Romsey Off Road Club, took place at a circuit built on a land owned by John and Joan Rickman, landlords of the Malthouse Inn, which was located three miles away from Romsey.

The circuit was 375 feet long with a 12 ft long straight

Preparation
Keith Plested and Cecil Schumacher of PB Racing and Schumacher Racing Products respectively, was tasked to be scrutineers. The events attracted a total of 145 drivers from 16 countries ORCCA, the Australian federation, sent 12 drivers

Amongst those who entered included Kazuhiko Nakanishi, the current (as of 2015) president of Japan Model Racing Car Association (JMRCA)

A-main, leg 1
During the A-mains, Johnson, who started from 3rd, easily won the first leg unchallenged.

A-main, leg 2
In the second leg, as his teammate Kris Moore broke his shock absorbers whilst leading, Johnson struck from behind, launching Johnson's car into the spectators. Johnson eventually finished 5th, 13 seconds behind Mike Christensen, the leader.

A-main, leg 3
In the final leg, race leader Moore dropped back after crashing, allowed Johnson to regain the lead until he clipped the inside ledge, rolling his car over but eventually fought his way back from 9th to 2nd place behind Kondo.