Rallycross Research

[mac]

I'm just doing a bit of research on Rallycross and I've got a few questions for you - your help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm pretty good with rallying, but I'll admit I don't know much about rallycross - so:

1) What cars run in British Rallycross? What classes are there? What road cars make the best rally cars?

2) Is there any manufacturer involvement in Rallycross in the UK?

3) How professional is the sport in the UK?

4) What is it about rallycross that attracts people?

5) What sort of crowds does rallycross get?

6) Money no object, how would you improve the sport and make it more attractive to a larger audience?

[silver bullet]

Hi mac, I'll have a go at answering your questions.

1. There are basically four classes in UK rallycross
Supercar, 4WD, 500+ bhp, turbocharged fire spitting monsters.
Super Modified, 2WD, with very little restrictions. Some cars in this class pack more bhp per tonne than some of the Supercars.
Stoch Hatch, Almost standard hatchbacks up to 1600cc 8v or up to 1400cc multivalve. Only 2WD, no enginge or gearbox mods, but you are allowed to tweak suspension and brakes etc.
Juniors, Open to drivers between 14-16 years old. The only car allowed is the 1000cc Mini, all cars are built to strict regs.
Also in the UK RPL are running meetings with classes for Euro legal Division 1, 1a & 2
There is also Minicross. As the name suggests it's rallycross for Minis.


2. There are no 'manufacturer' teams in the UK, but there is sometimes involvement between Supercar drivers and the rally prep specialists (ie M-Sport, Prodrive etc)


3. There are no 'professional' drivers in UK rallycross, but you could say that there are some professionals on the thecnical side. Will Gollop, Tony Bardy and Julian Godfrey spring to mind.


4. Non-stop action, short spectacular races, close racing, awesome cars, a friendly atmosphere,full access to the paddock and hopefully value for money.


5. A top meeting will get thousands, but a clubbie winter meeting will only be the die hard fans, maybe a couple of hundred.
A few circuits have said the a big rallycross meeting atracts the third largest crowd on the season behind the touring cars & the superbikes.


6. PRIMETIME TERRESTRIAL TV COVERAGE

[silver bullet]

Here are a few websites that might help.
BRDA
RPL
MDA

[BertMk2]

Just to chip in some more from my point of view:

Best cars to use?

For Stock Hatch the 205 gti is dominant numerically and was for a long while ahead in the performance stakes but now the Saxo appears to have the edge.

Super Modified: For a long time light weight front wheel drive seemed to be the way to go, Novas and Corsas in particular doing well, there does seem to be more of a balance now with rear wheel drive cars coiming out in force (in the shape of Clio V6's, 206 RWD, Focus RWD, Escort RWD, Exige). Which is best? Well the Exige is dominating so far this season but the rest are all very evenly matched.

Super Car: For years it was pretty much exclusively Cosworth powered (with a few notable exceptions) but now a wider range of cars are competitive - this year sees Focus, Escort and Fiesta Cosworths up against Xsara's, an Impreza, an Evo, an Astra, a 6R4, a 306 (with a 307CC on the way), a Corolla, a Clio so there's a good mix. The class is as open as I've seen, it's getting harder to predict a winner form this lot!

What is it that attracts people? I like it because the races are short, sharp bursts of action from start to finish - there's no "waiting for a chance to overtake" - if you get half a chance you've got to have a go because you may not get another. If you do get a less exciting race - no problem, it'll be over soon and the next race will be on Also the Supercars are nothing short of breathtaking to watch - especially when they launch off the line, it makes things like Touring cars look incredibly slow.

SB also mentioned the value for money aspect - from a spectators point of view it's fantastic, at a typical Lydden British championship round there is stuff on track from 9 until not long before 6 (with a short lunch break), that means anything up to 60 races!

[mac]

Thanks guys - just a couple more.

Is there much crossover between rally and rallycross (ie. technically, teams, drivers etc.)?

Do you thing manufacturer involvement would add to the spectacle, or would it take away some of the essence of the sport?

What is the coverage like - from TV to press?

Is there any reason that you could foresee rallycross, with the right cash injection, television coverage and event formats, not being able to emerge as a prominent national motorsport?

[BertMk2]

Ok, some more answers then!

Crossover:

There is some in terms of drivers (both directions - Jonny Milner has done rallycross in the past before heading off to win the BRC and I believe Pat Doran did some rallying beforing heading to rallycross). Junior rallycross also appears to be a training ground for youngsters heading off onto the stages - they can start out in junior rallycross before they could start rallying so they get a headstart in terms of car control etc.

Manufacturers:

Manufacturer support could be great for the sport - it depends on how it's handled, as long as it doesn't drive away the 'one man bands' then potentially it could have a positive impact: manufacturer involvement = higher profile = more people aware of rallycross = more people involved.

Coverage:

Coverage has improved with both the BRS and RSS having TV coverage this year (Men & Motors and Sky Sports), press coverage is largely limited to MN and Autosport (with articles appearing sporadically in local papers around the time of specific events and articles in magazines such as Track & Race Car).

Could it?:

With the right cash, TV, formats, promotion etc rallycross could be huge - just look at what's happening to the WRC - stages are being forever shortened, more 'spectator friendly' stages and super specials - why not just go the whole distance and replace it with Rallycross. Super specials can fill stadiums so why not Rallycross? It's got faster, more spectacular cars, more of them in action at any time and you get the wheel to wheel excitement of circuit racing. It's perfect TV fodder too with short sharp action filled races that can easily be packaged up for TV.

Suffice to say I like Rallycross

[mac]

Some useful info there - thanks Bert.

[Gnomex]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Suffice to say I like Rallycross

Rallycross is what got me into marshaling over 20 years ago. Although I marshal circuit racing as well, there is NOTHING which bears comparison to rallycross.

Recommendation - come to the British Rallycross Championship at Lydden on August Bank Holiday Monday - guarantee you will be converted to our wonderful sport!