Race Results for HPI Racing!

1998

1997 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001

This is where you can find all of HPI's newest race reports from HPI Team Drivers around the world. Race events are listed with the most recent event first. Races that have lots of coverage have their own series of pages. 

The Impossible Hill Climb!

Check out this crazy French race, titled "Le Monte Infernale"! A huge hill served as the track for any type of land vehicle, and the competition was to see who got closest to the top! Check out this page for the results - RS4 MT fans should like them!

Final results from the 1998 Midwest Series

Since our last report a few months ago, the Midwest Series has wrapped up its final races and come to a close. The last race of the year was held in Peoria, Illinois, and just like our last report, Brandon Bischeff was the class leader in the GTS (Gas Touring Car) category. Other classes in the Series were 1/8 scale 4WD (the largest class by far) and 2WD and 1/10 scale 2WD.

Brandon drove a Nitro RS4 Racer with an HPI Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR body to win the final race, but some DNS standings (Did Not Start) gave the championship points edge to Kevin Roberson, also driving a Nitro RS4 Racer. Kevin won by only three points over Brandon, making it a very tight points battle in the end! Kevin won a Rolex watch and Midwest Series jacket for his consistent performance during the year, and Brandon also got a jacket. The rest of the top ten received plaques commemorating their acheivements.

In the final tally, four of the six drivers who were in the running for the points championship drove the Nitro RS4 Racer. Seven of the top ten drivers also used the Racer in the Midwest Series.

For any Nitro racers who are interested, the Midwest Series for 1999 will race in Cincinatti, OH; Chicago, Il; Detroit, MI; Racine, WA; Toldeo, OH; Peoria, Il; and again in Cincinatti in 1999. Racing starts in April and wraps in October, and of course the races are all on the weekends! The points are based on the best five finishes, so you don't have to race all the races to be competitive! For information, contact the Midwest Series Director Ray Tigue at (309) 633-9300 or email Paul Stenquist at paul_stenquist@detroit.bbdo.com. Be sure to tell them HPI Racing referred you!

'98 Team Orion/HPI Touring Car Classic Results!

Zillisheim, France - The results are in, and we now have the final positions of the '98 Team Orion/HPI Racing Touring Car Classic. This race was meant to be a fun, relaxed race, and was a great way for amateur drivers to get to see some of the best touring car drivers in Europe compete.

One hundred and forty racers showed up from seven different countries to race: fifty Pro drivers and ninety Amateur drivers. The Amateur racers received a free Team Orion Orbital Mod motor and a complete set of HPI X-Pattern tires, which was the control tire for the event.

Pro Driver Top Ten:

Benny Groschel
Markus Lubke
Christian Wittke
Bart Van Geyt
Sebastian Wartelle
Maarten Van De Somple
Jean-Marc Betticher
Andrew Robson
Alex Manciocchi
Mattew Collins

Amateur Driver Top Ten:

Steen Graverson
Daniel Archimi
Nicolas Pasini
Patrick Notturno
Patrick Garbi
Sebastian Leuenberger
Loic Etienne
Alex Jensen
Kim Bendixen
Sven Grun

The top ten Amateur drivers won HPI kits, along with Team Orion batteries and motors. The remaining eighty drivers received HPI bodies, tires and wheels, as well as Team Orion motor brushes and other accessories.

HPI Racing would like to thank all the drivers that attended to make the first Team Orion/HPI Racing Touring Car Classic a great success. The primary purpose of the race was to have a weekend of fun racing for everyone, and that's exactly what happened!

The 1998 Hong Kong International Touring Car Championship

Check out HPI's win at the 1998 Hong Kong International Touring Car Championship!

1998 Japan Nationals - Touring Car

Click here to see the results of the 1998 Japan National races!

1998 HPI Viper Cup Race

Check out the details of the HPI Viper Cup! This 2-day event was held in Tustin, California over the weekend of September 19 and 20. There were a ton of other events happening at the same time: car shows, full-size concours competition, vintage Trans-Am racing, and more! Read all about it, and see the results of the R/C racing!

The ISTC World Cup Competition!

Visit the pits of the HPI Racing/Team Orion drivers as they competed at the IFMAR ISTC World Cup! We have pictures from the pits, competition and trophy presentations. The ISTC pages are a neat way to see what went on before and after the racing.

RS4 Pro wins the Italian Nationals!

Giuseppe de Liguori of Italy (and a member of the Team Orion/HPI World Cup team) won his second consecutive Italian Championship with the RS4 Pro! Another member of the Team Orion/HPI team, Allessandro Manciocchi, placed 4th in the competition, with a total of five RS4 Pro drivers in the top 20 finishers. The race took place over the June 27-28 weekend.

Giuseppe recently emailed Frank with the details of his win: The Italian Nationals were held in Rome, with 45 drivers in Touring Car Modified. The track was fast and large, with fast drivers running low 18-second lap times. The finals were a triple A-Main setup, and Giuseppe had the TQ spot by two seconds over the 2nd place, and ten seconds over 3rd place! His fastest lap was 17.8 seconds, while most of the other fast drivers were running 18 second laps.

In the first A-Main final, Giuseppe built up a substantial lead by the second minute. He finished six seconds ahead of second place because he was 'cruising'. He didn't want to push for a bigger lead and make a mistake.

In the second A-Main final, there was some pressure from second place for the first three minutes, but Giuseppe was still able to win by seven seconds.

In the last A-Main final, Giuseppe was hit from behind in the first lap and had to start from last place, but came back to finish in the middle of the pack. It didn't matter, though -- in a triple A-Main final, two first-place finishes gets you the overall win!

And so Giuseppe was able to successfully defend his Italian National Champion title. Congratulations go out to Giuseppe de Liguori on his win! This has to be a big morale boost for Giuseppe and the rest of the Team Orion/HPI team! We know they'll do great at the IFMAR Touring Car World Cup!

RS4 Pro wins EFRA Grand Prix in Portugal!

From the 26 to the 28th of June, Noor Trading (HPI's distributor   in Portugal) participated in the first EFRA Grand Prix of 1/10 electric touring cars in Portugal. From a field of about twenty-five racers, the RS4 Pro came in first, second and third!

1st - Miguel Macieira (from Noor Trading)

2nd - Luis Madureira (from Noor Trading)

3rd - Ricardo Sousa

Thanks to Pedro Rosa, who provided this information! Pedro also mentioned that Paulo Ricardo organized and ran the whole event, including making the poster you see here. Pedro says that Paulo ran a nice event. Paulo was able to get a major Portuguese newspaper to sponsor the event, as well as a local Citroen dealer who gave out three car alarms to the best finishers!

Nitro RS4 Racer wins Canadian ROAR Nationals!

In the first-ever ROAR Touring Car Asphalt Nationals held in Canada during June 27-28, Mike Tapp of Aldergrove, British Columbia won the 4WD nitro touring car class. Of the roughly 120 racers that entered, about 30 racers joined the nitro competition. Mike tells us that about sixty percent of the nitro cars were Nitro RS4 cars or Nitro RS4 Racers. Mike's car had no modifications to it except the addition of the #A940 Tuned Pipe and #A950 Header and an aftermarket fuel tank. Mike and the second place finisher ran away from the field, finishing five laps ahead of the rest of the A-Main racers. Mike's lead at the end of the thirty-minute main was about a third of a lap, a little over 7 seconds.

We would like to congratulate Mike Tapp on his win at the ROAR Touring Car Asphalt Nationals! This is just the first of many wins for the Nitro RS4 Racer, we're sure!

HPI Nitro RS4 Racers taking hold of 1998 Midwest Series Championships!

HPI Racing recently received information that the 29th annual Midwest Series, a yearly R/C points championship, was being dominated by HPI Nitro RS4 cars! Was this true, we asked? Well, further reports told us that at their latest race in Cincinnati, Ohio, nine of the ten entries in the GTS (Gas Touring Sedan) class were either Nitro RS4 cars or the Nitro RS4 Racer. The winner of the 30-minute main was Brandon Bischeff of Shepardsville, Kentucky, with a Nitro RS4 Racer under a nice Audi A4 body. Brandon finished the main three laps ahead of everybody, wrapping up an excellent race with 76 laps total in 30:13.

The Midwest Series is a non-profit organization that has been operating races in the heartland of the U.S. for almost three decades. In addition to the Gas Touring Sedan class, 1/8 scale 4WD, 1/8 scale 2WD and 1/10 scale 2WD classes also race. You must be a ROAR member to race, and all ROAR rules apply. Races this year go through October, with stops in Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan still to come. If you are interested in the Midwest Series races, contact Paul Stenquist, the Midwest Series Director via email, or call him at (248) 355-7218 (days) or (248) 258-6564 (evenings).