A Long Way From Home: Cane Wins as Muscat Reconnects Malta with West London
Ben Cane and Damian Giddins win 17.5 Touring Car, Matt Digby completed a Tamiya double and first-time UK racer Ryan Muscat renewed a little-known connection between Malta and West London’s August Grand Prix.
Futaba GP 2026 — West London Racing Centre — 29–30 August 2026
Ryan Muscat came a long way to race at West London. Further, it turns out, than the flight from Malta.
In 2003, the Times of Malta reported that British Airways would fly the leading drivers from the Island Radio Model Car Club to London for the International KO Grand Prix at West London Racing Centre.
It was already the club’s second visit. Two years earlier, Malta champion Joshua Anastasi had finished 15th among 150 competitors, while Hayden Sciberras received the best-junior award. Ahead of the 2003 trip, Anastasi said reaching the B-final would represent “an outstanding performance”.The documented connection stretches back at least 25 years.
In 2026, Muscat arrived for his first race meeting in the UK and his first visit to West London’s technical circuit. Saturday brought another first: wet racing at West London!
He loved it.
By Sunday afternoon, Muscat had gone one better than the aspiration expressed by his Maltese predecessor. He qualified seventh and went directly into the 17.5 A-final, finishing sixth overall.
Some stories wait a while for their next chapter.
A modest but meaningful restart
The Futaba GP is the beginning of a three-year partnership between Futaba and RC Vision, created to rebuild West London’s historic August Grand Prix while helping to support RC Vision’s work with young people.
The first weekend attracted a modest number of entries compared with the fields associated with the Bank Holiday GP in its heyday. But the reports from those who attended give cause for optimism that this was just the first lap of the event's revival.
Giddins takes control of a very wet Saturday
Saturday’s weather did not ease the new meeting in gently. Full-wet tyres were fitted throughout the day, creating difficult conditions for experienced racers and an entirely new challenge for Muscat.
Andy Hyde won the opening 17.5 qualifying round before Damian Giddins took control. “Damo” won Q2 and Q3, setting the fastest recorded lap of the day at 17.32 seconds and securing TQ. He then won both A-finals before deep water brought racing to an end.
Hyde followed Giddins home in each to take second overall. David Johnson and Mike Haswell tied on seven points for third, with Johnson securing the final podium place by 1.29 seconds on the tie-break.
In the B-final, Andy Lewis took two victories to win ahead of Aliza Hussain. Muscat completed the podium on his first day of wet-weather racing.
Elsewhere, Matt Digby won the Tamiya/Iconic Stock class and Darren Downes suffered the weekend’s biggest accident. Downes’ Saturday ended with an impressive crash and a heavily damaged car. A total rebuild before Sunday.
Cane arrives with form
Earlier in August, Cane had finished third in the 17.5 class at the BRCA National Championship round at West London. He was the highest-finishing Schumacher driver, putting his Mi10 on the podium against one of the strongest stock touring car fields of the season.
He returned to WLRC for the Futaba GP with serious pace well established.
For the first half of qualifying, however, the advantage belonged to current WLRC championship leader Soteris Liasi.
Sid won Q1 and Q2, continuing his remarkable association with West London’s August GP, having won the 17.5 class at the KO GP in both 2017 and 2018.
Then everything changed.
Cane won Q3, setting the fastest qualifying lap of the class at 15.38 seconds, before winning Q4 as well. Cane and Liasi both finished on two points, but Cane’s faster counting time secured TQ.
The finals were even more decisive.
Cane won A1 by 8.97 seconds from X-Ray’s Giddins. Liasi got close in A2, taking second but Cane won again and secured the overall result.
A3 produced the closest race - fourteen-year-old Kenny Hyde stayed in contention for the full 19 laps and crossed the line just 0.87 seconds behind Cane.
Three finals. Three wins. TQ and the 2026 Futaba GP victory for Ben Cane.
Kenny keeps BEN and Damo honest
Behind Cane, the remaining podium places came down to hundredths of a second.
Giddins finished second, third and fourth. Kenny, driving an AXON TC10/4, recorded third, fourth and second. Both ended the meeting with five counting points.
The tie-break compared their best 19-lap results: 5:07.36 for Giddins and 5:07.67 for Hyde. Just 0.31 seconds separated second from third overall.
Giddins could not quite reproduce his wet-weather domination from Saturday, but he was never far from Cane and completed an excellent weekend with victory on the opening day and second on Sunday.
Kenny, as they say in race reports, kept both of them honest.
At 14, his progress is becoming difficult to ignore. His first 17.5 A-final came at West London’s KOC round in September 2025. He finished fourth at KOC Eastbourne in July. At the Futaba GP, he qualified fourth, reached the podium and came within nine-tenths of defeating the reigning King of Clubs champion in A3.
That is measurable progression for a developing young talent.
Liasi finished fourth overall after his strong qualifying performance, with Dave Ringsell completing the top five and Muscat taking an impressive sixth on his UK debut.
Digby makes scale look fast
Matt Digby delivered one of the weekend’s most complete performances, winning the Tamiya/Iconic Stock class on both Saturday and Sunday.
His replica Mercedes-AMG GT3 looked noticeably smooth and flowing around West London. While some of the scale cars appeared to fight the circuit, Digby linked one corner to the next and stayed out of reach of the chasing pack.
He controlled Sunday qualifying, winning Q1, Q2 and Q4 to take TQ. Nicholas Child interrupted the run by winning Q3 and lined up second.
Then Digby’s car broke in A1.
Child put together a clean 16-lap race to take the opening final, with DJ Johnson second and David Morris third. With two scores to count from the triple mains, Digby had no margin for error left.
He responded by winning both A2 and A3.
Child’s opening win and two second places secured the runner-up position. Johnson completed the podium, with Morris fourth.
Aside from that A1 breakdown, nobody found a way to stay with Digby for long. Saturday winner. Sunday winner. The Mercedes AMG replica looked right and, more importantly, went right.
Downes rebuilds — then wins
Darren Downes’ weekend could easily have ended with Saturday’s huge accident.
Instead, his car was completely rebuilt for Sunday. Downes returned to the circuit, secured BQ and won the opening 17.5 B-final.
A difficult sixth place in B2 left the result open, but Downes recovered again to win B3 and take the overall victory.
Jamie Cruikshanks, winner of the middle final, finished second. Mike Haswell’s consistent third, second and second-place results earned him third overall.
Competitive Touring Car racing at its best.
Special awards that said something about the event
The final presentation included more than the main class trophies.
RC Vision summer-camp graduates Aariz and Aliza Hussain received special Futaba awards as the weekend’s most improved junior drivers.
Aariz started eighth in Sunday’s Tamiya final and raced through to fifth overall. Aliza took second in Saturday’s wet 17.5 B-final and continued gaining experience and speed in Sunday’s larger field.
Their awards connected the meeting directly to the work Futaba and WLRC are supporting: giving young people their first experience of RC racing, then creating somewhere for them to continue.
Muscat received the award for furthest-travelled racer. That one wasn’t close.
“The event was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to WLRC,” he said. “I will definitely be back next year.”
That may have been the most important statement of the weekend.
Thank you to Futaba UK for supporting the event and providing the prizes, to the West London team who prepared and ran the meeting, and to every racer who put the first year on the board.
We’re already looking forward to 2027.
