At the 2022 EFRA Annual General Meeting, EFRA members voted to welcome two new RC federations. Today, we are talking with Maciej Orlowski from Poland, who leads the brand new federation representing all Polish RC racers. EFRA is proud to introduce the all-new Polish federation!
EFRA: Hello Maciej, how are you today?
Maciej: Hello, I’m OK. Thank you. A cloudy late autumn in Poland is not my cup of tea, but we have what we have. I’m busy as always, in addition trying to watch Michal racing in US. For the last 3 weeks I’m living in two time zones simultaneously – CEST and EST, it’s not easy…
EFRA: To start with, can you tell us the official name of your Federation in your language, the official abbreviation, and the English translation of the full name?
Maciej: The name in Polish is quite long – Komisja Modeli Samochodów RC Automobilklubu Polski, the official abbreviation is KMS RC and the English translation is Polish Automobile Club – RC Model Car Commission.
EFRA: Well you’re right, that is quite a name! But we’re very happy to have KMS RC as part of EFRA now! So how long have you been involved in the RC hobby and racing and how did you get into it?
Maciej: Frankly saying, I’m involved in RC hobby totally by accident. When my son Michal was 5 years old, he got a present from my cousin: a yellow Tamiya Mad Fighter RC car. We built the car together and Michal quickly got some basic driving skills in our living room under the table and chairs.
At the beginning, we didn’t know anything about RC cars but in October 2006 he started racing and we had to learn everything from scratch. I could see what Michal’s car did on the track and told Michal where he should brake, turn and accelerate. Michal learned quickly though, and soon turned out that he knew more and better what makes him faster in given track conditions. And “the rest is history”.
EFRA: Wow! Well after seeing Michal race and win for many years now, we’re not surprised at his driving skills! And have you done any RC racing yourself?
I’ve been involved in motorsport for some time, but not in RC. I have some full-size rally experience and have spent quite a long time behind the steering wheel of several rally cars.
EFRA: What categories of racing are you personally most interested in?
Maciej: I do not have single favourite category. Each class has something fascinating for me. I love watching 1:12 LMP cars circulating around the track with crazy speed far beyond my perception. I like 1:8 off road racing, big heavy cars moving slowly around the corners, where I can almost see work of each part of the suspension. Every racing car is beautiful when is smooth and fast on the track. We are racers – artists of being fast on the track – as my good friend Jürgen Lautenbach would say.
EFRA: And what categories are most popular in Poland?
About class popularity, it all depends on the time of the year. In summer, the outdoor season is difficult as we do not have many outdoor race tracks. There’s only two tarmac tracks, and both in the south part of Poland. For off road, there’s not a single outdoor 1:10 track and there are three good 1:8 off road clay tracks. That why in the summer we race mainly in 1:8 IC and electric off road classes. In winter it is different as we have clubs capable of building carpet tracks and hosting big races. For each round of Polish nationals, both 1:10 on road and 1:10 off road usually has around 100 entries. Like other places around the world, stock classes are most popular.
EFRA: So can you tell us a bit about the history of the new Polish federation?
Maciej: Briefly… well I will try 😉 In February, this year Liga Obrony Kraju (the Polish National Defence League) stepped down as the governing body for radio controlled model car racing in Poland. For many racers and personally for me it was huge change. National Defence League is paramilitary organization, which somehow still exists, with its roots dating back to communist times in Poland. It was established in the 1950s to govern most of the militarily useful sports like sport shooting, scuba diving and others. RC modelling was classed under the National Defence League as at that time the state had full control over everything that was radio-controlled. So after almost 50 years, car modelers in Poland felt the time was right to take things in their own hands. It so happens that our floating and flying RC friends have enjoyed this independence for much longer 😉
When it comes to organizing something it is all about the right people at the right time and in the right place. Luckily, we managed to gather people who are committed and hold the same views about the future of model car racing. We have decided to bring our sport to the next level of professionalism, get recognition as a real motorsport by national and international bodies with the ultimate goal to have recognition by the FIA (the international federation that oversees all international full-size car racing). Again, I want to mention RC modelers who floating and flying already did this same thing with their own international federations. I want also admit that I feel jealousy seeing e-sports recognition by FIA and national motorsport federations. We have just started to walk along this path…
So now, the first step is done. We are the RC Model Car Commission in the biggest and oldest Automobile Club in Poland, which was established in 1904. We have equal rights as a Sport Commission who organize biggest motorsport events in Poland like for example RAJD BARBÓRKA. The Polish Automobile Club is a member of the Polish Automobile and Motorcycle Federation with the status of a Polish Motorsport Association. Polish Automobile and Motorcycle Federation is affiliated with FIA. We have the power and rights to organize Polish Championships and the winners have become the first official motorsport champions.
Last but not least, soon we will start issuing licenses which enables drivers to race in Polish Automobile Club sanctioned events. What is very important this license includes drivers public liability insurance.
Our Facebook page already exists: Modelarskie Mistrzostwa Polski and the official web page is still under construction, hopefully we will release it soon.
EFRA: That is an amazing achievement, and definitely sets things up very well for KMS RC and all Polish RC racers! You’re probably in contact with a number of tracks, clubs and racers in your country already – how many can you say are affiliated so far, and how are the national championships looking?
Maciej: The Polish indoor 2022/2023 Championships series is in progress. We already have had the 1st round in on road at Poznan Toy Fairs in October and 1st round in off road in beautiful sport venue in Blonie near Warsaw this past weekend. In the Federation’s race calendar we scheduled 3 more rounds with big finals in April 2023 in on road and off road respectively. All international drivers holding Polish Federation license are welcome. Everyone can book into the race on MyRCM.
In winter during the indoor season we have up to 100 entries in both on road and off road. The numbers in summer for the outdoor season are much lower due to the lack of high quality permanent outdoor race tracks. I would love to see a 1:10 artificial turf track, but that needs a lot of sponsor engagement.
EFRA: What sort of goal do you have as far number of racers joining in the first year? And in the first 5 years?
Regarding the numbers, I expect to issue 150 licenses in the first year and 200-250 after 2 years. I’m not going to predict what happens in 5 years…
EFRA: What do you see as your biggest challenge for KMS RC, and how do you plan to overcome this in the short term?
Maciej: Building something new almost from scratch is always challenging, so it is hard to predict what the future brings. Usually, life brings us unusual challenges you never expect! So we will see what happens and I’m sure that our team will overcome any obstacles we see in the future 😉
One new thing for our drivers is a drivers license with public liability insurance. So maybe I can say that I expect questions like “Why do I need it?” Then we need to clearly communicate what it means and why it is necessary in professional motorsport.
EFRA: Final question: do you think we can expect to see Polish racers at European Championship races next year?
Maciej: Yes of course, Polish racers will attend the European Championships. I’m not sure how many, but we will be there!
EFRA: Thank you again Maciej and everyone at EFRA and federations across Europe wish you the best of luck with KMS RC!
Maciej: Thank you for having me!
