The Italian LRP technician Andrea Leo shared a really nice story about a piece of the RC history: the LRP IPC V6 ESC that was used by “60% of all the drivers at the 1997 IFMAR World Championship”.
A few days ago talking to Jürgen, founder of LRP, I told him that a new piece of history was about to become part of my private collection. I had found an LRP IPC V6. As soon as he saw the pictures Jürgen wrote to me: “I have so many memories, can remember so many hard fought fights to get there. But as Lee A. Iacocca said: ” There is one and only one ambition, to be the best what else is there”. And this is true for the life I live.” I was happy because I knew I had a piece of history in my hands and this is a wonderful thing for me.
I think it is important for a driver to know the history, the origins of the materials we use, especially knowing how many sacrifices, human and engineering resources are behind each product, because only then can we appreciate it fully. Nowadays we go on stage to face our competitions, but few are those I know who before us went up and allowed the growth of a brand.
Returning to our LRP I told Jurgen that I needed him, I wanted to “dig” and find everything I could know about my LRP IPC V6 and who better than he could help me.
Therefore together we have reconstructed the story.
This is history…story of a legendary brand in the RC world…
The year was 1997, an important year for the German company LRP with its ESC IPC Digital…
In Germany, precisely in Mönchengladbach, the EFRA European Championships 1/12 were held and LRP with its ESC carried 7 drivers in the A-Main, 3 of which filled all the steps of the podium, 1° Erik Jonk(LRP IPC Digital with Corally car), 2° Markus Mobers(LRP IPC Digital), 3° David Spashett(LRP IPC Digital).
At 70km away, the EFRA Pro10 European Championships were held some months later in Oberhausen, and LRP, endorsing the reliability of its electronic materials bringing 4 drivers in the A-Main and finishing with David Spashett(LRP IPC Digital with Trinity car) in 1st and Marek Kaminski(LRP IPC Digital) in 3rd after some tough competition.
But the On-Road category was not enough for LRP, now he wanted to win the title in off-road…
So in Barcelona, during the EFRA 1/10 Off-Road European Championships, LRP placed 8 drivers in the A-Main in the 2WD category and 6 drivers in 4WD.
In that circumstance, in the 2WD category, Craig Drescher(LRP IPC Digital with Associated car) went on to win, followed by Jukka Steenari(LRP IPC Digital) and Vincent Heligoin(LRP IPC Digital).
In 4WD Jukka Steenari(LRP IPC Digital with Schumacher car) took the victory with Richard Cree(LRP IPC Digital) finished 3rd.
The IFMAR World Championships in California were approaching, and Jürgen knew he had to give more power to his ESC, so he and his engineering team updated his IPC to the V6 version, for more mid-range power, extra-sensitive brake feel, extra start punch and built-in interference suppression.
Now they were ready to face the 1/10 IFMAR Off-Road World Championship.
The amazing thing was that 60% of all the drivers at the 1997 IFMAR World Championship used the new LRP IPC V6. They were hard-fought World Championships, and LRP placed 7 drivers in A-Main in the 4WD category and 4 drivers in 2WD.
It was a great success for the German company, they had not imagined being able to go so far with that ESC, but their determination and their hard work in anticipation of the World Championships allowed LRP to finish in all positions from 2nd all the way to 8th (yes all top 8 positions except for Masami) in the 4WD class… In order: 2° Jukka Steenari(LRP IPC V6 with Schumacher car), 3° Teemu Leino(LRP IPC V6 with Schumacher car), 4° Craig Drescher(LRP IPC V6 with Yokomo car), 5° William Mitchum(LRP IPC V6 with Predator car), 6° Billy Easton(LRP IPC V6 with Yokomo car ), 7° Mark Pavidis(LRP IPC V6 with Yokomo car), 8° Matt Francis(LRP IPC V6 with Losi car). Memorable.
The history of the LRP brand was forming…
This ESC deserved to be part of my collection…
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