User:Donnie Park/IFMAR World Championships

The IFMAR World Championships (IFMAR Worlds in short) is a world championship event for radio-controlled cars sanctioned by the International Federation of Model Auto Racing, taking place biennially with four events occurring in rotation. The championships feature drivers ranging from 100 to 180 driver from 45 countries represented by four member bodies over a course of three to eight days. Entries are strictly invitation only with drivers selected judging by their performances in the ir national championships. Venues have mainly been permanent circuits owned by the host clubs or hobby companies but have also taken place in temporary circuits built on sports halls and (historically on) car parks.

The IFMAR Worlds began as an initiative by hobby shop owner and radio-controlled car hobbyist Ted Longshaw to encourage drivers from the United States and Europe to race each other, the first world championship took place in 1977 and has since expanded to currently ten classes.

Prior to the end of the end of the world championship event, each of the member blocs select a nominated model club or organizing committee via election, who is tasked with organizing the world championship event on behalf of IFMAR.

As a world championship event, it is considered to be the most prestigious event in the scale modelling calendar. Benefits of winning for manufacturers include improving the prestige of the manufacturers, thus many of these use the event as a promotional tool, often choosing to use this to unveil their expensive pro-racing products as opposed to unveiling in trade shows like a number of their less expensive products.

Duration of the races in a final varies from three heats of 5 minutes (for 1:10 electric cars) to a single heat of one hour (for all gas powered cars).

Masami Hirosaka is perhaps the world's most distinguished racer. He has a record of 14 IFMAR World Championships, followed by Lamberto Collari with 9 titles, all within a single category (1:8 on-road) and the highest in nitro racing. Associated Electrics is the most successful model car manufacturer with 28 titles in a wide spectrum of categories.

The now defunct Ranch Pit Shop in Pomona, California have hosted the most events of any class with five in total followed by Switzerland's Mini Racing Ticino e Moesa in Lostallo, Moesa and Japan's Yatabe Arena in Tsukuba, Ibaraki with three.

It should not be confused with the IFMAR World Cup, a non-championship demonstration event which has sometimes being used as a side event to the main championship and as an open entry event, winning it does not count toward the world championship.

Events
The IFMAR Worlds currently consists of following events held biennially. Only since 1996, the electric car events are hosted by a single organization.

The following take place in odd years The following take place in even years
 * IFMAR 1:8 IC Track World Championship (1977-)
 * For 1:8 scale nitro powered pan cars with sports prototype bodies, regarded as the Formula One class in R/C racing despite its dwindling popularity. Ran as a World Cup event for single seater (or Formula) bodies in 1978 and 1980.
 * IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship (1985-)
 * For 1:10 electric off-road buggies; ran as a class for stock and modified motors in 1985, modified was split into 2WD and 4WD class 1987 onwards.
 * IFMAR 1:5 IC On-Road World Championship (2001-)
 * For Large Scale cars with bodies of cars found in touring car racing. Unlike its smaller counterpart, it races on pump gasoline as sold in filling stations
 * IFMAR 1:12 Electric Track World Championship (1982-)
 * For 1:12 scale electric pan-cars, a miniature version of its elder 1:8 scale counterpart. Cars with stock motors took place in 1982 and 1984. All races have taken place in indoor venues except in 1982, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008.
 * IFMAR 1:8 IC Off-Road World Championship (1986-)
 * For 1:8 scale nitro powered off-road buggies.
 * IFMAR ISTC World Championship (1998-)
 * For 1:10 scale electric powered on-road cars with Super Touring bodies, known as the International Scale Touring Car (ISTC)
 * IFMAR 1:10 200mm Nitro Touring Car World Championship (2002-)

Also on even years, these class took place in the past and have been discontinued due to dwindling market interests and participants.
 * IFMAR PRO 10 World Championship (1992-2000)
 * For the 1:10 scale version of the 1:12 pan cars, became a victim of the successes of the touring cars in the 1990s.
 * IFMAR 1:10 235mm IC Track World Championship (2000-2002)
 * A nitro powered counterpart to the PRO 10 cars and originally introduced to entice new drivers into nitro racing. For touring car bodies though cars with sport bodies took place only in 1998

Currently held as an exhibition class, known as a World Cup Only the 1:10 Electric Off Roads and 1:12 Electric Track with ISTC are run as double header events as they require shorter running schedule. Only the 2000 Electric Worlds was held as a official championship triple header following the 1998 Worlds preceding it.
 * IFMAR GT 1:8 World Cup
 * like the ISTC, derived from buggy chassis.

History
After attempts to persuade American drivers to compete in Europe without success as well as himself competing in the ROAR Open National Championship in 1974 and 1975, Ted Longshaw, BRCA founder-president and racer; organized the first world championship in 1977 in Pomona, California with the aim of driver from all over the world competing with each other whilst maintaining the Olympic spirit. He used his position as president of EFRA, the European federation, to persuade European drivers to compete there. In response to his request, racer John Thorpe agreed to allow ROAR to host races on his circuit, Longshaw set on the task organising the race. Beside the twenty plus European drivers taking part, the rest of the field consisted of expatriates.

Shortly after, Monaco became interested in hosting a world championship in 1978, though it was agreed that the next championship event was to be held in Europe in 1979, therefore it was agreed that the non-championship World Cup took place in the year whilst the 1979 championship to be held in Geneva as agreed. Following the championship on the Monday, Longshaw arranged a meeting consisting of of thirty people in the industry to establish federation in order to a set of rules and also to maintain the prestige of the event as there had been a number of unofficial world championship events held with their own rules.

The name, International Federation of Model Auto Racing, was suggested by South African delegate Wennie Bester in the event that tether car might be included. It was decided that each rounds would take place biennially, rotated over three blocs.

Europeans, Americans and the Far East taking voting rights and administer its own area

The first race to be held as an official world championship round in an alternate year was the 1:12 Electric Track (for 1:12 scale electric pan-cars) in 1982 with 1:10 Electric Off-Road and 1:8 IC Off-Road added into the championships in 1985 and 1986 respectively.

1985 - first to take place in Asia and Japan 1987 - 1989 - first in Australia 1992 - PRO 10 (1:10 equivalent to 1:12 pan-cars) 1997 - first in Central America (Mexico) 1998 - ISTC (1:10 electric touring cars), 235mm IC Track (1:10 equivalent to 1:8 IC track cars)

2000 - 1:5 touring cars

2002 - nitro touring cars 2002 - first in South America 2002 - first in South Africa

The controversy following the 1983 race led to a first set of contract rules drafted in that competitors and hosts are required to conform to. http://www.femca-rc.com/?page_id=824 http://www.bbksoftware.com/features/howambsystemworks.htm

Longshaw stepped down as president after the 1995 Worlds for a role as a Honorary Life President, handing the role to John D. Grant with his wife, Marian, taking the position as the secretary and treasurer. Following the 2005 Worlds, the Grants opted to not seek a re-election. Their roles was taken over by Erhard "Dallas" Mathiesen and Jean-Luc Retornaz.

Eligibility to IFMAR World Championship event
IFMAR allocate a maximum given number of places to participating blocs as follows.

The event is strictly invitational only as on top of a full current membership of a national federation (e.g. BRCA from the United Kingdom, JMRCA of Japan, ROAR of North America, etc), once a competitor accepts the invitation, they are required to hold license via membership to one of the four affiliated continental blocs in a class they wish to compete in, meet the requirement needed by them to qualify such as a top ten finish at the national championships of the previous year or appear at a high ranking at the end of the season. A driver who competed in the previous world championship event of that class they competed in are eligible to compete again. Finishing in events sanctioned by its domestic federations that is not a national championship earn second priority to success in the national championship. Qualified drivers are notified in advance, usually at the start of the year but for those who did not qualify during the previous year's qualifying championship, they can be considered as an alternate entries to replace eligible drivers who are unable to attend. They are required to send a resume of their race experiences to their respective federation and are selected given their performance at the qualifying championships.

Because the European and Pan-Asian bloc (EFRA and FEMCA respectively) represent over fifteen national bodies, entries for each countries are tight therefore are high in demand. In 2008 following a postal vote, entries for the 2008 1:8 Scale Off-Road World Championship was increased to 216 drivers from 180. This meant each bloc received 59 places opposed to the usual 39 in addition to the extra 10 by ROAR as they were the host bloc. This was reverted back to 180 entries thereafter.

In the event of low entry numbers in existing championships due to circumstances such as terminal market decline along with growing interests in up and coming classes internationally due to market trends, IFMAR take the decision to introduce a demonstration class, known as a World Cup, support the event in the hope it could make up for the low entries and eventually replace the class as this have happened in 1998, 2002 and 2015. These are open events and do not count as part of the official world championships. Should the World Cup class become successful, a proposal shall be submitted for the next annual general meeting, which will then be decided by a majority vote.

Drivers are required to place in the finals in events selected by the member sanctioning bodies.

Drivers who qualified for the A-main are automatically qualified to compete in the following Worlds in the same class.

Host selection
25 months prior to a Worlds event, the bloc who is next on the rotation list (in the order of EFRA, ROAR, FEMCA and FAMAR) in invited to apply to host a world championship event, they are given a month to accept to decline their invitation. At 18 months prior, they are required to provide information of the venue and the organizational capabilities of the prospective organizer that is usually published online known as a "Stage 1 report". If the choice of venue is rejected, they are given another month to select an alternative venue. If this fails, the Worlds event would be offered to the previous bloc on the rotation list.

If the nominated host bloc declines to host, then it will be awarded to the previous host bloc. Should the host bloc have issues, the hosting right can be passed onto the next club or as with some Worlds in the past, the hosting rights be passed onto to the next host bloc, example of this was in 1998 when ROAR, who was due to host the 1:8 On-Road Worlds but were unable to provide a suitable venue, therefore the hosting rights was passed onto EFRA, who in turn gave hosting rights to Circuit Patrick Depallier in France.

As a repercussion to events such as failing to "keep on with its assumed duty", IFMAR have the right to strip hosting rights to blocs 12 months before this were due to take place as this happened in 2009 and 2012, both as a result of issues caused during the events and both of those were to host different Worlds but had its hosting rights taken away from them.

Warm-up race
Prior to the Worlds, it is customary for the host club to a host a warm-up race known as the Pre-Worlds. It is not compulsory for anybody to take part as on many occasion, the organizers have chosen to bypass the Pre-Worlds on many occasion.

In preparation for the 2009 and the 2015 1:10 Off-Road Worlds, the organizers made the decision to run the warm-up race as part of the host's national championships  thus the latter attracting an unusually high number of international drivers.

In the event of date clashes, some drivers opt to skimp on participating in their national championship event in favor of the warm-up event to familiarize themselves with the venue.

Preparation
As the most prestigious racing event in the scale modeling calendar, manufacturers are prepared to take extra means to win the championship as much as they can.

In preparation for the 1989 Electric Off-Road Worlds, Yokomo technicians famously visited the St. Ives circuit in Australia three months prior to collect soil samples that was sent back to Japan for analysis. Witnesses there spotted them wheeling a camcorder mounted cart around the circuit to record in a first person view. With the data collected, Yokomo built a replica of the circuit in Tsukuba, Ibaraki that became known as Yatabe Arena.

Teams and drivers usually spend weeks driving around the circuit forsaking non-racing activities such as sightseeing trips, this was until recently, rules prevent this from happening as circuits are required to be closed 2 weeks prior to the Worlds

At the 1:8 Off-Road Worlds in Pattaya, Thailand, the track was open at the start of October and then closed three weeks later, a week before the Worlds; it was claimed that competitors had used the circuit for practice over the period to gain advantages over others. As a result of this, starting the 2012 Worlds, this was amended that the host circuit must be "closed during 90 days before the event" and the layout and surface must be new or resurfaced "60% of its lay-out and/or surface", should a pre-event race be held, "at least 60%" must be "different to the one to be used at the IFMAR World Championship event".

it is also a common practice nowadays that off-road circuits are rebuilt and reconfigured differently to the original prior to the Worlds.

Race Format
Similar to those of the Olympic Games, each event begin with a opening ceremony with competitors, grouped by countries, march onto the track wearing the shirts representative of their national sanctioning bodies and holding their cars. One of them will be carrying a sign bearing the name their representative countries. The host nation is the last to march into the venue.

Nitro
A driver is required to sit through six qualifications The Christmas tree format is widely used in IC racing, this enables a lower qualified finalist to work its way progressively to (eventually) the finals as long as they finish in the top 3 or 4 of each heat.

Only the 1:8 IC Off-Road, a TQ does not guarantee a place in front of the A-mains, it guarantees a place in front of the grid in the A-group semi final. Some TQ winners have failed to make it through the semi-finals through mechanical problems (1988, 2012) and through disqualification (2004).

All A-main in gas powered races run for 60 minutes in total

Electric
In electric racing, d

1982, the finals race was run to 8 minutes, which the European drivers were not accustomed to, became a standard length in 1:10 on-roads

Until 1984, races was run to a Christmas tree format

1987 - now standard 5 minutes

Benefits to manufacturers
Whilst the Worlds does not offer cash prize to winners nor it offer gift prizes of the value of over US$750 per regulations, manufacturers, especially major brands, regards winning the IFMAR Worlds important to them as it help to increase their brand awareness thus it has become not uncommon for manufacturers to use the world championship as a proving ground for their test products. In an interview with Fumito Taki, famous for bringing Tamiya into the R/C car market and designing many of their iconic cars such as the Sand Scorcher; when asked what was the brand's best achievement was, he stated the 2002 Worlds win by Surikarn Chaidejsuriya, who was unknown even in his native Thailand, as it helped to elevate them into a serious championship contender internationally and raised their market importance in the world also in Asia. Following Jilles Groskamp victory at the 2012 ISTC Worlds, Tamiya took the honor of renaming their model, the TRF417WX, to TRF417V5 to reflect on their five championship wins.

It is not uncommon for manufacturers to use the event to test their products; example of this was at the 1986 IFMAR 1:8 IC Off-Road World Championship when it became clear to Kyosho there that they were fielding outdated cars; staffs and drivers made up for their losses by taking photographs after photographs of competitors' cars. The end result became the Akira Kogawa designed Burns 4WD which had a modern design in comparison to it's European competitors, leading to a Top Qualifier spot by Yuichi Kanai, Kogawa's sucessor at the 1:8 buggy project, in 1988. By 1990, it's successor, the Turbo Burns was chosen by 60% of drivers and with it's replacement, the iconic Inferno series of cars, began a wave of six consecutive wins from 1992.

On the other hand, it became a practice for manufacturers to enforce secrecy on their cars such as the 1989 IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship when Team Associated refused to allow anybody to take photographs of their prototype RC10 unless the vital components were hidden from view and keeping the car out of view as much as possible. By the time of the 1991 Worlds, a majority of manufacturers enforced secrecy on their cars.

Entrants' career
Of the drivers who appeared in the A-main finals, some have balanced their racing career with a regular job though it is not unusual for drivers to make a living from racing, some through work in the industry such as owning or managing a hobby shop or circuit, car research and development work such as Kyosho's 2000 1:8 Off-Road champion, Kanai. Adam Drake in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, stated his career, when not racing, involved the research and development of a car as well as marketing which enabled him to be able to afford a customized Lincoln pickup. Kanai's occupation, in comparison, afforded him a Ferrari.

Some worked in automotive design such as Josh Cyrul, a third place finisher at PRO 10 in 1996, who as recently as 2014, worked in advanced vehicle design at General Motors. Additionally, Frank Killam, who at the inaugural Worlds for 1:12 on-road cars in 1982, finished 3rd in the Stock class and 2nd in the modified class in addition to 4th in Large Scale in 2003; also worked for GM as a design sculptor for it's Advanced Concept Center in Newbury Park, California.

Serpent founder, Pieter Bervoets, who finished 3rd at the 1:8 IC Track World Championship in 1985, went into videogame publishing when he in 1995, devised, Virtual RC, a device to use radio-controlled transmitters on videogames. In 2000, he developed VRC-1, a R/C driving simulator with his expertise from racing. As it evolved, Bervoets broke the product from Serpent into an independent videogame publishing company, Virtual Racing Industries, which later produced VRC Pro.

Serpent's Julius Kolff became an airline pilot for KLM but perhaps the most celebrated, post-career wise, is Pedro de la Rosa, who retired for a full-sized career after finishing second in the inaugural 1:8 IC Off-Road Worlds in 1986. He subsequently became a Formula One driver.

1983 IFMAR 1:8 IC On-Road World Championship
After the race ended, Italian Hermes Tadiello was originally awarded the victory before it was officially announced; following protests by FVRC, the French federation, the race had to be recounted via video footage which revealed Tadiello was a lap behind Frenchman David Lecat when the race was completed in its 60 minute duration thus Lecat was awarded the win. The trophy was given to Tadiello without the consent of IFMAR, as its president, Ted Longshaw, had already been ejected from the premises by the circuit owner. This resulted in a lawsuit in France against the president for £250,000 in damages and resulted the world championship contract being drawn to prevent such episode happening.

This drama also led to the development of electronic lap timing as Fons Bervoets, younger brother of Pieter (known then for Serpent and the nearby MACH Heemstede circuit), needing a university project, was asked by Pieter to develop a electric lap counting system. This led to the foundation of AMB i.t. that became widely used in a large number of sporting events all over the world.

2011 IFMAR 1:8 IC On-Road World Championship
As a result, this led to the introduction of control tires from future events. http://news.efra.ws/fileadmin/news/2013/07/Controlled%20tire%20for%20Japan%20V2.pdf

2012 IFMAR 1:8 IC Off-Road World Championship
Originally in 2010, the 1:8 IC Off-Road was awarded to Jundiaí, Brazil to host the 2012 world championship, who hosted the 1:10 200mm On-road World Championships in 2004. A year later, despite earlier assurances, due to concerns over customs entries Brazil was rejected after a meeting by IFMAR in favor of Argentina to host the round

The practice and qualifying was marred by heavy rainstorms as it was

as elsewhere in Buenos Aires, news reports of flooding in the city

rumored that the host circuit was built on a floodplain

The event was also marred by a break-in at Kyosho's cabin, where parts and T-shirts were amongst those stolen. They were eventually traced to one of the partipicants, who was immediately removed from the event and the merchandise returned to the owner.

Controversially during the post-race banquet night, the TQ (Elliott Boots) was unusually not awarded a trophy as the organizer believed they did not have to award such

The 2014 IFMAR World Championship for nitro touring cars was originally to take place also in Buenos Aires. During the AGM in Japan when no FAMAR representative made themselves present, with only one application, it was decided that the was to be held instead in Bangkok, Thailand, who hosted the previous race.

Boycotted races
The past world championships have been a subject of boycotts and threats of boycotts, resulting in low entrants for the former.

The three Worlds, taking place in South Africa was a subject of boycotts, the 1:5 Worlds in particular due to European entrants complaining the excess luggage costs As a result, only seven drivers consisting of South Africans competed

As a result, the Electric On-Road rounds (ISTC and 1:12 Track) was due to be held also there had to be moved to MAC Burgdorf in Germany.

Drivers stayed away from the 2006 IFMAR 1:8 Off-Road World Championship that took place in the circuit built within Ancol Dreamland as a result of rumors being spread about security in Indonesia with one American magazine encouraging competitors to boycott and host an alternative event instead. Despite the boycotting campaign, a full-house of 150 competitors entered; in an ironic twist, the championship was won by an American, Mark Pavidis.

The 9 times world champion, Lamberto Collari, stayed away from the 2013 on-road Worlds taking place in Chiba, claiming concerns over the radiation level of the Fukushima Plant. He was amongst a group of Italian drivers to withdraw.

As a result of this, only two (Japanese) drivers who qualified for the A-mains, had previous finals appearance. Three others who debuted, had previous A-main appearance in other classes.

Cheating controversy
Lamberto Collari, notable for his successes in 1:8 on-road racing, was disqualified in the 2001 IFMAR 1:5 On-Road World Championship over the use of banned fuel substances in his car. He was initially suspended of his EFRA license up until 2005 but following appeal, was instead given a probation of five years. Aside a podium finish in 2003; in the same year, he continued his second wave of winning streak that came to an end in 2011 with a single class record of nine victories.

At the 1993 IFMAR Off-Road Worlds; the electric motor of Ben Sturnham's Schumacher CAT 2000 was found with a hybrid motor illegal under IFMAR regulation. Although compliant with the host country BRCA's regulations, his Tanaplan motor consisted of parts by other manufacturer of approved motors including Epic can and armature with Yokomo endbell. Sturnham, who later became a rugby union player, had his 3rd place finish demoted to a 10th place after all his lap times was removed regardless of post-race protests by Tanaplan's Martin Finnesey that it offered no performance enhancement.