Yokomo takes its Drift Challenge to RC SHOP MECCA on October 11, RWD expert only

A one-class event is a sorting decision. Where a meeting splits novice, intermediate and expert, the nervous first-timer has somewhere to go and the fast drivers have someone to chase. Running RWD expert on its own narrows the room to drivers who already hold a line under pressure.

RWD here means the modern 1/10 standard: rear-wheel drive, a brushless motor and ESC on a 2S LiPo, a servo for steering and a gyro between receiver and servo applying counter-steer correction while the driver works the trigger and wheel from the edge of the track. An expert-only entry list usually means tandem proximity is the interesting part of the day rather than whether cars can complete a lap sideways at all.

What the notice does not say is whether the class will be judged solo, in tandem, or both, and it names no judging criteria. Yokomo has not published those details in this announcement, so treat any format talk ahead of the day as unconfirmed.

Two setup-critical facts are absent from the notice, and both change what a driver packs.

The first is surface. The announcement gives an address and a shop name and nothing about what the cars will be running on. Carpet, P-tile, painted concrete and asphalt are different configurations end to end: tire choice, ride height, spring rate and gyro gain all move with them.

The second is tire. Many shop events and maker-run competitions mandate a spec tire so grip is not something anyone can buy. Whether this one does is not stated here.

Anything else — practice time, driver briefing, whether entry closes early once the form fills — is likewise outside what has been published.

Yokomo was founded in 1973 by Tomoaki Yokobori and is based in Adachi, Tokyo, with its track and headquarters in Tsukuba. Its 2003–2004 Drift Package is widely credited with starting RC drift as a hobby, and its RWD line ran through the YD-2 family before being succeeded by the Rookie Drift, Super Drift and Master Drift tiers.

So when the maker that sits at the origin of the hobby puts its name over an event, it brings a level of attention a shop session does not usually get. Shiga is not Tsukuba; the interesting thing about a regional stop is that the entry list is drawn from drivers who normally run against each other every week rather than a national field assembled for one weekend. Whether that produces tighter tandems or a home-track advantage is the question the day will answer.

Entry is through a dedicated form, linked from the event notice on rcmonkey.jp, which credits Yokomo as the source. The event runs October 11, 2026 at RC SHOP MECCA, 131-1 Ichihara, Konan-cho, Koka, Shiga, in a single RWD expert class.