Touring cars and new classes: from a Tamiya chassis to a world title.

Electric touring cars began as a converted off-road chassis in 1991 and, by LiveRC's account, were a world championship class by 1998. The nitro touring, large scale, GT and drift titles came later still, and their first years are mostly known only from lists of winners.

The world championship classes found in the research for the 1980s are 1/8 nitro track, 1/12 electric, and the two off-road classes added in 1985 and 1986. From the 1990s the list grew. This page follows the electric touring car from its start, then the nitro touring, large scale, GT and drift classes. For several of these classes the only dating found is the year of the earliest winner Wikipedia lists, which is not necessarily the first year the class was run.

The electric touring car

A converted off-road chassis, 1991

LiveRC (Aaron Waldron, 9 October 2014) says Tamiya turned its TA-01 off-road chassis into a road-going touring car in 1991, first sold with a Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R body. Wikipedia's buggy article agrees that Tamiya created the touring-car class with the TA-01 in 1991. LiveRC says HPI's RS4 (1995) and Schumacher's SST (1996) then pushed the class towards racing.

The first touring car Worlds, 1998

LiveRC says IFMAR first recognised the International Scale Touring Car (ISTC) class as a provisional class in 1998 at Newcastle, England, where David Spashett (UK) won. It says the touring class ran alongside the existing 1/12 and 1/10 "Electric Track PRO 10" pan-car classes. No other source dating the first touring car Worlds was read, so the date rests on LiveRC's account.

Wikipedia's BRCA article lists 1998 among the years the BRCA hosted IFMAR World Championships, along with 1987, 1993 and 2020; that list rests on Wikipedia alone.

Touring cars at the Worlds since

The 2024 ISTC World Championship was held in Bakersfield, California. LiveRC (updated 5 December 2024) reports Bruno Coelho as Modified champion and Simon Lauter as TC Spec champion. The 2026 edition, planned for Foshan, China, was moved to Bangkok, Thailand, according to IFMAR's release reposted by LiveRC; it was scheduled to hold open practice on 11 November and qualifying and finals from 12 to 14 November 2026, and was still upcoming on 30 October 2026. The 2026 status is on IFMAR World Championships 2026.

Nitro touring cars

Wikipedia's IFMAR page gives the earliest listed winners of two nitro track classes:

1:10 IC Track 235 mm: 1998, organised by EFRA at Coimbra;
Nitro Touring 200 mm: 2002, organised by ROAR at Hamilton, Ohio.

Wikipedia itself warns that these are the earliest winner years it lists, not necessarily the first years. IFMAR's current 1/10 IC track rule book (2024) is written for the 200 mm nitro touring car, four-wheel drive.

At the 2026 edition in Gubbio, Italy, Red RC reports Naoto Matsukura won, his seventh world title by Red RC's count (a LiveRC headline of 14 September 2026 also names him champion, and Wikipedia's page on him, as summarised by a search, lists the 2026 Gubbio win); Red RC described Jilles Groskamp as the reigning champion going into the event.

Large scale (1:5)

Wikipedia's IFMAR page gives 2001 as the earliest listed winner year for 1:5 IC Touring, with Marcel Strauch winning an EFRA-organised edition. Red RC's reports give a numbered sequence for the class's world championship:

2022: at Fontana, USA, Markus Feldmann won the 11th running and became the class's first repeat champion (Red RC, 20 September 2022).
2024: LiveRC's IFMAR news list carries a headline of 10 July 2024 announcing two Worlds cancellations, and a Red RC report seen only in a search summary said the planned Large Scale Worlds in Sydney was one of them. The article itself was not read, so the Sydney detail is unconfirmed.
2026: at Lostallo, Switzerland, Red RC called the event the 12th Large Scale Worlds and the first since 2022, and reported Emanuele D'amico as the winner. The result rests on one Red RC report.

GT cars, nitro and electric

IFMAR's current rule book for 1/8 GT, amended 30 April 2025, covers both a nitro (IC) GT class and an electric GT class (GTE). At the 2025 World Championships in Chile, Red RC (19 September 2025) reports that Alessio Mazzeo won the 1:8 Nitro GT one-hour final the day after winning the Electric GT title, making him a double world champion. A LiveRC headline of 16 October 2023 names Gruber and Neumann as the 2023 GT world champions, but which class each won was not read.

At continental level, Red RC (3 August 2026) reports Jeff Hamon as the first FEMCA 1:8 GT Asia champion, at Brisbane, Australia, in 2026.

Electric drifting

IFMAR published a provisional electric drift rule set in 2018; it was found by search and not opened. Wikipedia's IFMAR navigation lists 1:10 electric drifting World Championships in 2020 and 2022. No winner or venue for either was read, so both editions rest on Wikipedia alone.

Where these classes stand now

Each body defines its classes in its own rule book, and the classes are not the same from body to body. The present-day definitions, body by body, are on the classes, and the motor and battery rules that shaped the electric classes are on motors and batteries history.

Sources