IFMAR Worlds 2026 (Thornhill Racing Circuit)

What a week that was had at the 2026 IFMAR World Championships at Thornhill Racing Circuit. In what could be one of the last events ever at the iconic venue, if that proves the case, they certainly went out on top. They provided a world class venue and a track that proved to be worlds caliber through and through. A lot of talk going into the event of could the Americans run clean enough runs to compete with their European counterparts. In my own opinion this event perhaps shows that maybe, just maybe the typical American track is more difficult and that is why more mistakes happen. Because everyone made mistakes between the tricky whoops and threading the needle in the back and trying to avoid the poles. This track challenged the best and claimed a number of them all the while providing some great racing action throughout.

As for me I went into the event pretty confident that I could do well. I chose to run JC tires for this event to help Phi as much as I could this week and help him try to achieve his potential also. I had done a few days of testing in Houston a couple of weeks before and I really thought I was going to have a great event. As is usually the case I had a good start with a 12th in the first practice for 3 laps as I learn a track quick. But also as usual, I sometimes struggle to improve from there as I’m not so much a muscle memory driver as I am an in the moment driver. My other struggle as the grip developed was just lacking patience. I couldn’t consistently display the patience needed to let my car square up before getting on the gas and because I picked up the throttle too early it would cause some more erratic handling at times which you just can’t display on the world stage and hope to compete.

Setup wise, we started on some different springs that we had success with in Houston but within a couple of runs realized they were going to be a bit too soft for Thornhill as the grip came up. Also having worked on finding mileage and an easier to drive tune we had a soft bottom end feel and after a couple of runs of seeing how much power may of the competitors had, we realized we needed to add back in power to compete on this track that demanded it.

The field of fast competitors in the 1/8 nitro segment continues to get deeper and stronger and at these largest events, when even top 1/10 drivers come over into the discipline they are finding success especially on these higher bite smooth tracks that are very 1/10 esque.

For me seeding was ok and I was able to consistently be in the upper teens to 20s range which allowed me to stay in the ‘fast’ 3 heats once qualifying got underway. But even then I knew that while I was able to consistently string together 3 laps, I didn’t have the comfort for 10min and I needed to find that and I sought it in setup changes.

I tried to run same as Phi for the early runs and in the end can probably say I just should have stuck with it. But after a couple quals of not feeling comfortable I went out in search of it as I had reached the end of my setup adjustments that I thought could help with what I was running.

So I went to longer links to try to slow the reaction of the car a little more and provide a bit more roll. Once the grip comes up high enough, often you start going opposite direction on setup to get deeper roll, not traction roll, and carry good corner speed.

I also went higher in diffs trying to hide my poor driving habit and minimize diffing out. It helps and certain sections were certainly better but what it does, especially at Thornhill is kill some corner speed.

I tried more anti-squat for one run but it caused a pretty violent snap out of the rear when paired with the short links I had at the time. Again, most of this is all exacerbated by my picking up throttle too early and too hard.

Tire wise JC had some nice new treads and while I’m far from fully knowledgeable on their offerings, my week was primarily spent on Overdose, as well as the new Eurobar and Space bar. The overdose is a thicker carcass tire that they often use for long mains for durability. The new Eurobar and Space Bar have a stiffer sidewall than their primary tread patterns which can also aid in support on these grippier surfaces.

Compound wise once a line was developed it was primarily silver compound that was being utilized. Though I used gold on a later practice and in the main and it probably would have been a better choice for my driving style to help me be more consistent as it wasn’t quite as aggressive and twitchy as the silver often was for me.

Spring wise I tried so many different configurations but came back home to the black springs as they just seem to provide the best support and pace needed at Thornhill.

In qualifying it would be my first 3 rounds that got me anywhere. A 32, 29, and 32 were my best full pulls and that would put me 44th overall into the 1/8th final. I made it to Saturday racing but kind of shocked to do even worse than I did in Spain.

My main was the first one up on Saturday morning and I went with gold space bar. The space bar comes in the fastest and has a lot of steering which I hoped would help me in an early run when the track was cooler. I got collected though at the top left in others mistakes and I got the worst of it upside down and into last. I clawed back but just couldn’t be consistent enough. I think I should have stuck with CVA in the rear instead of uni for the support but I did best I could and came away in 8th in the 1/8th final.

Once my race was done my attention went to helping my teammates. I helped Christian Wolhunter as he bumped into the 1/4s and then helped Phi as he bumped into the semi and then the A-Final! I glued his tires and rebuilt his diffs and we got his car ready to go and he was super excited to make the final.

I had been calculating his runtime all week and felt confident he could do what I don’t think has ever been done at a major event and that was to cut yet another stop with a 12:30 pit stop. He and his dad weren’t so sure but they allowed me to take on the race management and we went for it on the first stop. It was nerve wracking when all the 10min guys had already pit 3 laps earlier and here was Phi still going around and our window was going to be 12:30 or 13:10 so because he was doing so well at the start we decided to do the 12:30 and he came in and got out without a hitch. But a couple minutes later as he’s still doing amazing I hear “runaway!”. Heartbreak as I saw his car hitting off the wall on the left of the track. I retrieved it and we diagnosed it as an electronic switch failure and so we opened the radio box and direct plugged in the battery and got him back out to finish the race. It’s almost uncanny the ability of electronics to fail during the biggest moments. Phi took it so well though. He was there, had podium potential, and just did amazing for a 15 year old.

So that was my worlds. A disappointing 49th overall for me, but a great time helping teammates and being a small part of a future world champs young program. A huge thank you to Kyosho and all my sponsors for the support and to Jason and Paul at JC for allowing me to be a part of their program this week. Also to the entire track crew and the Allison’s for the amazing track to race on. Prayers for Chris that he can beat this cancer! 🙏

Next for me is to move across country to hopefully help my wife with her health and we will see what happens from there.

#EnjoyRC